Our Honeymoon!

A few of you liked the idea of me posting some (well a lot) of pictures from our honeymoon! So, here's the story....

Our first night together as husband and wife, we stayed at a beautiful bed and breakfast in our area, before embarking on our journey south!

The room was absolutely gorgeous and I'm kicking myself right now for not getting pictures. I luckily found these on the Inn's website so I could share our room with you.

When we arrived, they had chilled champagne waiting for us, a lit fire, and wonderful music playing. It was so amazing! We had a romantic first night together and I wouldn't have traded it for the world!

The Journey Continues...

The next day, we ate a wonderful breakfast at the Inn before switching cars and heading out on the road. Our first stop was in Sacramento (of course, didn't get pictures again!!...we actually were having issues with our memory card at this point, so we actually have a good excuse) Anyway, we stayed the night at the Grand Sherton Hotel in Sacramento and were on the 11th floor! It was a beautiful view!

Early the next morning, we drove 6 hours to Long Beach Port to embark on our 4 day/4 night cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico! What a great way to get far away from all the rain in Oregon!

Here's a picture of our room on the ship. It was small, but we were glad to get an ocean view window! It was so nice to wake up each morning and look out to see the bright blue water right outside.

Here is a cute towel animal. They do this every night in your room when they draw down your bed. It was so fun to see which new animal they would make. FYI, the bed, converted from two twins into a king, was actually quite comfortable! We didn't have any problems with it!

The first day, the ship stopped in Catalina Island. Here we are on a small boat that we had to take from the ship into the island. On a side note, this was Mackenzie's first time in Catalina Island. I had been there before because I grew up in San Diego county which is just a short ferry ride away from Catalina.

The reason we had to take another boat in, was because our ship was actually too big to fit into Catalina's marina! Look at the size of that thing!

It was a beautiful day in Catalina! Clear skies, blue water! Unfortunately, it was a little chilly to lay out in the sun or go in the water. But gorgeous, none the less!

Here's my husband looking out into the water.

Here I am, looking a bit confused, in the main shopping area. Catalina is a small island, that thrives off it's tourists. There are a lot places to explore but we didn't have much time here. So we just walked the streets and explored on foot.

Look at that clear water! Oh it's just so beautiful! We don't see water that blue in Oregon, or on the beaches in Southern California where I grew up!

We walked to the "Casino". Now, it's not a place of gambling on the island. The Casino is another name for a place where they have movies, dances, etc.

It had amazing architectural qualities and beautiful artwork.

Say goodbye to Catalina, we'll visit you again someday!

As we were leaving, we saw this cute seal in the water, seeing us off. It was so funny though because one lady started shouting "Dolphin, Dolphin!" Everyone was looking around, trying to find this dolphin and clearly...this was not a dolphin! :)

The ship had several dining options. We took advantage of eating in the dining room, where we had assigned seats. How often can you eat out at fancy restaurant 4 nights in a row? We just had to do it! Here we are at one of the formal nights. No causal wear allowed. It was so fun to dress up!

Here we are after dinner. Sorry this picture is so dark, I wanted to show you what the inside of the ship looked like, all lit up!

The next day, we stopped in Ensenada, Mexico. Famous for it's many vendors and bargaining, but also for La Bufadora. "The Blow Hole"

Here it is, La Bufadora. There are only 3 "Blow Holes" in the world and this one in Ensenada is said to be the biggest. What happens is, there is a special formation of the rocks that when the water comes up to it, it shoots up like a gyser. This goes off every 3 minutes or so.

In Ensenada, we did some bargaining, walked throughout the city, and got to go on this great tour to La Bufadora. Our tour guide told us interesting facts about Ensenada and some of it's history.

The last day was spent at sea as we made our way back to Long Beach. We were able to relax by the pool, watch some movies, go to some shows, and eat, eat, eat. Hey, a girl has to eat after she worked so hard to fit into that wedding dress! haha

Here we are on the last night of the cruise, at dinner.

We returned back to Long Beach at aroudn 7:00am on a Friday and made our way back home...


Before we got home however, we stopped and stayed one night in San Francisco, right near Pier 39. Mackenzie and I both love to visit here!

If you haven't been to Pier 39, its an area filled with shops and restaurants like the Boudin Sourdough Bakery, Ghiradelli Chocolate Factory, Salt Water Taffy, etc.

It also is filled with seals.

And famous for Alcatraz. An old high-security prison, no longer in use. They have tours to the prison, which actually I would love to see but alas, we didn't have time.

We had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe of San Francisco, which was a lot of fun. Mackenzie and I absolutely LOVE music. So it was neat for us to see all of the old guitars hanging on the wall and other music items from famous musicians.

Here we are on the last night of our honeymoon!

Hope you enjoyed sharing in our journey! We sure did!