On our wedding night Justin and I spent the night in the Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake City. That is a very cool place! Justin chose the "Enchanted Forest" room which was awesome. The bed was in a tree! Justin was really sweet and had them cover the floor with rose petals and had chocolate strawberries waiting for us. My sweet sister had packed us a basket of goodies so we had a little picnic in the forest before bedtime cause we were ravished! She is so thoughtful! (Thanks Cas!)
...
The next morning Justin and I slept in a little bit, checked out of the Inn, and then headed to the airport. I seriously hate airports. They give me so much anxiety, especially the security line. But fortunately for us everything went very smoothly and we had no difficulties getting to our terminal and had plenty of time until our plane left. This was Justin's first ever plane ride and he did swell! He was SOOO nervous before take off but once we started moving he started laughing with the tingly sensation you get. I of course laughed at him, cause I am nice like that, and all was well. We had a layover in Atlanta Georgia. That airport is HUGE and we had to run to make our connecting flight (or so we thought) but again everything went really smoothly. We landed in Melbourne, Florida in pouring rain. I guess the rain decided to follow us.
In the Melbourne airport we met the nicest lady that gave us some water bottles and helped us find transportation to our hotel. When we got to the hotel we ordered Dominoes pizza, since it was so late and that was the only thing open, and pigged out and watched TV.
The next day (Saturday) we had the entire day to just chill or do whatever. I thought we would hit the beach but it was still raining cats and dogs (we found out there was a hurricane on the coast, but luckily it didn't get to us). We were lucky enough to have a little philly cheese steak restaurant next door to our hotel so went over there for lunch. We took a nap, watched tv, and snuggled that day which was nice because we were both so tired from the wedding and the day of travel. That night we walked a block in the rain and stumbled upon the best Italian restaurant that I have ever been to! Seriously, just talking about it is making my mouth water! I wish we had one in Utah! Everyone there was super nice and our waiter was hilarious and gave us free cheese cake cause we were newlyweds. (I felt like Monica and Chandler after they got married... if you don't get the joke, you need to watch more Friends). We vowed we would come back after the cruise because it was that amazing! YUM!!
On Sunday we got a taxi to the cruise ship and spent all morning going through security and boarding the ship. This was also Justin's first cruise and he was completely flabbergasted at how ginormous the ship was. He was like a little boy on Christmas morning- haha it was so fun to see his excitement! That day we toured the ship, checked out our room, went to the show that night, and ate... a lot! Here's the funny story of that day: when we went to our room we noticed that all of our bags were there except for my big one. We just figured it hadn't made its way to us yet and thought nothing of it. Well, a while later we got a phone call from a security officer telling us that he needed us to come downstairs immediately. We head to the security area and one of the officers tells me that my bag is being witheld and I need to come with him to see why. There is another guy, probably around Justin's age, whose bag didn't make it through security either. So I leave Justin behind and follow the officer and the other guy off of the ship, through a long winding warehouse, and finally to a table where both of our bags are sitting with about five security officers hanging around them. They inform us that there is something illegal in our bags and they need our permission to go through them. We both consent and they start going through our bags. The officer searching mine pulls out some furry sex handcuffs and says that these are not allowed on the ship. I was so embarrassed! My sisters gave them to me for one of my showers, and unthinkingly I just threw them in my suitcase when I was packing. I could have died! The guy that I was with explained that he had gotten married the day before and a bridesmaid had packed his new bride's bag. The poor guy has to watch as piece after piece of lingerie is taken out of the bag to get to the bottom where the handcuffs are hidden. haha I am just thankful that mine were somewhat on top! We both were laughing and making jokes on our way back, but I know we were just trying to hid our embarrassment! Sheesh! hahaha
The next day on the ship was an all day sail day. Justin and I ate a ton, laid out in the sun, got some fancy drinks, and went to "Battle of the Sexes" game that night. It was a fun day, relaxing day.
On Tuesday the ship pulled into Nassau. We got off the ship and into a very interesting cab that was a van. Our cab driver was an insane driver! We were a little bit scared for our lives, but luckily made it to where we needed to be in one piece. As we waited for our ferry to take us to Paradise Island we ordered some lunch and Yay! they had Mt. Dew! As we ate we made friends with a crippled pigeon who probably ended up eating as much of our lunch as we did. What can I say? He was funny! So anyway, our ferry came to pick us up and we went on the most beautiful ferry ride I had ever been on! We saw the island where Gilligans Island was filmed, and also Oprah's and Chuch Norris's homes. Wow! What would it be like to be THAT rich?! Sheesh. The ferry dropped off us at Paradise Island, the name isn't that far fetched, and guess what we did there??? SWAM WITH DOLPHINS!!!! Ah! It was amazing!! Probably the neatest experience ever! We got to hug, kiss, feed, swim, and dance with them. They also did this really cool trick with us where you lie flat on the water and the dolphins come and push your feet so you are practically flying across the water. It was an amazing feeling! The funny story of this day was when Justin and I were feeding the dolphins. The trainers told us to hold our fish high so that the dolphins could see them. While Justin was holding his fish up a seagull swooped down and stole his fish. It was hilarious. The trainers told us that that seagull is famous there and does that all the time. They have named him Steven Seagull (get it?) haha. When we finished with the dolphins we went back to town to shop and then ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. I had never been there before, wow. Yum!
On Wednesday the cruise ship pulled into Freeport. Justin and I were supposed to go snorkeling here but there weren't enough people that signed up so it was cancelled. We were kind of bummed, but we went shopping and then found a taxi that was going to the beach for a few hours. The beach was so pretty with the whitest sand and bluest water I have ever seen! We swam, layed out, drank pina coladas, and watched an elementary school boys band perform. (Cutest kids ever!) That day was amazing as well. I can't beleive how beautiful it was down there, it made me want to move down permanately.
Thursday was the day that our cruise ended. That day we got off the ship and found a cab that would take us to our hotel in Melbourne. Our cab driver was a New Yorker who suggested that we go see one of the sites in Florida since we had nothing planned for that day. He gave us a brochure and told us he would be happy to drive us anywhere and pick us up as well. What a nice, nice man! As we were looking through the brochure we saw an add for Universal Studios. Guess what that means?? HARRY POTTER LAND! As soon as I saw that I tried to hide my excitement at the possibility of going there, but I guess not very well because Justin insisted that that's where we could spend the day. I tried to tell him we could go somewhere else because he is not that big of a fan, but he could tell how much it meant to me and agreed to go. (I married a good one folks!) Ah. Harry Potter Land. Need I say more? I was pretty much in heaven. I took a thousand pictures and was running around like a little kid ... and a chicken with it's head cut off... and a lunatic. All of those things combined. Justin was so patient with me and just kept smiling at my enthusiasm and nodding along like he cared about things like butterbeer, puking pastilles, and mandrakes. After Harry Potter land we went through Seuss Land for a little bit. Justin bought our future child a little 'Thing One' onesie. Sigh. I love that he is already thinking about children so much that he is buying them clothes. Did I mention I married a good one? Cause yeah, I did!
After Universal Studios we met our driver and he took us back to our hotel. By the time we got there we were hungry again so we hit our favorite Italian place for dinner again. I think it was even better the second time if that's even possible.
On Friday we slept in, ate lunch, and drove to the airport. Again everything went great and we didn't even have to run to our connecting flight again. The last flight felt like it took fooorrrrrrever, but we finally made it home. My mom picked us up at the airport and we spent that night in Fruit Heights telling all of our stories and passing out the gifts we had gotten everyone.
It was a great trip. I honestly never imagined that my honeymoon would be that perfect. I already want a repeat haha.
