Traveling to the Cruise!

Alrighty, I am finally getting to our CRUISE posts! We don't have internet at our apartment yet so I have been bumming it off of anyone I can! I brought my laptop to the salon with me today so I can update during down time. :)
 The first couple days of our trip were traveling days. We left Idaho Falls on Saturday, September 22nd and headed down to Salt Lake. Chris's cousin Bruce and his wife Lauren were kind enough to let us crash on their living room floor that night since we were flying out of Salt Lake on Sunday. When we got to their apartment, the 4 of us headed out to go to dinner at The Pie! Such a yummy place with a really fun environment. We filled up on cheesey bread and pizza. We could barely move when we were all done. We headed back and visited for a while before going to bed. The next morning, Bruce and Lauren wanted to go out for breakfast before we had to head to the airport. That day, church was cancelled for  all of Utah because of the Brigham City Temple dedication, so they were able to spend some more time with us before we had to leave! Yay! And they introduced us to the BEST breakfast place in Salt Lake City, "The Park Cafe". It's a cute little cafe across the street from a pretty park :) Good name for it right? We ate the BEST french toast, with lots of bacon and eggs and orange juice. The perfect meal to keep us full till we got to California that night. And it was super cheap! They were then nice enough to drive us to the airport, and let us keep our car at their apartment so we didn't have to pay for a week of parking. Thank you Bruce and Lauren! You were a lifesaver!

 

We got to the airport and checked in, and had a couple hours to waste till we departed at 2pm. We made sure we had lots of candy, magazines, and drinks for our traveling. :) Chris had forgotten his sunglasses at home so we ended up getting some cheap ones at the airport for him, which ended up being better so he didn't lose or break his $150 ones! That would have been a tragedy. Well, we boarded the plane, and headed to Phoenix! We had a 1 1/2 hour layover there, where my bestest friend Sarah came and saw us with her cute little baby during that time. It was so nice to be able to see her, even if it was only a short time. She made me some really cute gifts for my birthday, and we got to play with little Lyla who is hilarious! I love the little faces she makes, like this one:

 

We asked Chris to take a close up of us, and this is what we got :) haha

 

Haha. But the hour passed quickly and it was time to get back on the plane and head to Los Angeles! It was a short flight and we were there in no time at all. Our boat was leaving the next day out of Long Beach, so we booked a hotel in Long Beach for that night and a shuttle to pick us up from the airport and take us to the Holiday Inn. We found our bags and went outside to find our shuttle. If you ever need a shuttle service, Prime Time Shuttle is FAST!

Not just with their service.....also their DRIVING! Chris and I were riding in the van on our way to Long Beach, and we were literally scared for our lives! That driver weaved in and out of lanes so fast, and instead of getting in the right lane to turn right, he would wait till the very last second to weave over and turn the corner. We wanted to kiss the ground when we arrived at our hotel. :) But, he got us there quick!

It was a really nice hotel that my mom was kind enough to get for us for the night. Really nice service, comfy beds, and super close to the port. They even had a shuttle service that took us down the street to Jack in the Box after we set down our bags so we could get some dinner. We ate our food, and went to bed exhausted from the day. But we were excited to get on the boat the next day!!

We woke up and went down to the dining room where they made us breakfast. I got on the treadmill for an hour while Chris got ready and packed to leave. I knew I was going to be eating a lot of food that week so I wanted to feel like I was helping burn it off a little bit :) It was finally time to head down to the port! Our hotel shuttle took us down there with a couple other couples who had stayed there that night as well.