Catchin' Up With The Clarks.: Cruising like it's our job.

The funny thing about the title of this post is that it is because of Tanner's job that we got to go on this cruise. Just thought I'd point out how clever I am.

So that's right, Tanner's company- Moxie, provided us with a 7-day, all expenses paid cruise to Mexico. And although it was smack-dab (is that a word?) in the middle of the semester, I wasn't going to let anything get in the way of me missing it! Even if that meant taking 3 mid-terms a week early (in case you're wondering, I highly do not recommend it).

The cruise left out of the Long Beach, CA port. Because of school and work obligations, Tanner and I couldn't leave for Long Beach until Friday night. We were driving. We started the drive at 7pm at night and drove the 14 hours through the night and got to Long Beach at 9am.

Starting the drive!

Needless-to-say there was lots of energy drinks, singing to the radio, movies on the I-Pad and stops at sketchy gas stations in the middle of the night. By the time we got to Vegas, it was about 4am so we decided, what better time to eat breakfast? We were both craving I-HOP so we found the closest one and demolished plates of grease and fat with some hot chocolate on the side.

By this time, we were pretty much delirious but knew that we only had about 4-5 hours left until we got there. Homestretch! About 45 minutes after we left I-HOP, we had to stop again at a rest stop. I went to go pee and when I came back I found Tanner PASSED OUT in the drivers seat. I could barely keep my eyes open as well, so we took a little 30 minute power nap.

Sleeping Beauty

Well after the craziest road trip all the way through the night, we finally made it to Long Beach! We got there at about 9am and we didn't have to be at the port until noon, so we wanted to find a place to be able to brush our teeth and wash our faces... we were feeling quite nasty at this point. Luckily our friends that were also going on the cruise had gotten there the day before and had stayed in a hotel. They let us come meet them at their hotel to use their bathroom! After that we felt a little more human again, but couldn't wait to get on the ship and have a chance to lay down! (Thanks Steph and Karl!)

Soon it was time and after a long checking in process, we were on the boat! Our boat was the Carnival Miracle. It was beautiful on the inside. Mine and Tanner's room had a little view of the ocean with a door.

Feeling 'human' again and ready to get to the Port!

Our 'suite' ;)

Our cruise was a 7-dayer that left from Long Beach to Puerta Vallarta, Mexico and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. We were in Puerta Vallarta for 2 days.

The first day in Puerta Vallarta we decided to go Zip-Lining with a big group of Moxie people in the jungle. We had to take a sketchy bus all the way through the mountains to get to the zip-lining place, but it let us experience the city a little bit more. The Zip-Lining was awesome! It was literally in the Mexican jungle and we got to see all kinds of different animals including monkeys!

Sketchy bus ride

About to Zip!

Tanner with his "After Zip-Lining" Pina Colada ;)

Me with my Strawberry Margarita ;)

The sunset on our way down from being in the mountains... yes, this is real.

The next day Tanner and I decided that we were going to do our own thing. We knew we wanted to go BUNGEE JUMPING but it was quite a ways up the mountain by where we zipped lined so we didn't know how we would get there. Then we decided... Hey! Let's rent a Moped! So that we did.

On our bike!

Hittin' the CRAZY streets of Mexico.... Yikes!

Don't let the smiles fool you... I was scared for my life majority of the ride.

The drive up the mountain on the back of the Moped was so beautiful and so much fun. It was such a beautiful day and it was time with the hubster. What more could I ask for? Well then we finally made it to the Bungee Jumping place. It looks so pretty and beautiful from a distance, but when you get to the top and you are all strapped up and the mexican that hardly speaks english says "UNO, DOS, TRES-- BUNJEE!!!" and your body doesn't move an inch.... that's when you know you've got a problem.

Tanner wanted me to go first, but I just couldn't do it! I can't tell you how many times that same mexican homeboy said "UNO, DOS, TRES, BUNGEE!" and then me just stare at him with blank eyes like... wait.... my body didn't move. So after some convincing, I made tanner get all geared up and I had him go first. Of course he just acted like he had done it million times and jumped off backwards with the most impressive swan dive I have ever seen.

I mean seriously.... Look at that form.

Now.... shall we compare with mine?

So much style. So much grace.

Yeah, I think we can tell which one of us didn't beg a huge mexican just push them off backwards so there was no chance of backing out. Notice how my hands are out and preparing for me to actually hit the ground. I don't know what I was thinking. All I know is that this was the most AWESOME EXPERIENCE ever. How can you beat bungee jumping from a canopy that is extending over a gorgeous ocean in Mexico? It was truly once in a lifetime. And it was amazing.

So relieved!

Then the third day we were at Cabo San Lucas! This is where Tanner and I went on our honeymoon so it was fun being back there almost a year later. This day we just wanted to take it easy and not do too many adventures. Especially because we had already done a lot in Cabo before. So we decided to sleep in and then we headed into town and walked around. We had some tacos for lunch, rode on a little pedi-cab into the city and walked around the little shops. Tanner bought me a gorgeous real turquoise and sterling silver ring that I still haven't taken off and he got himself a Seahawks Afghan... weirdo. Haha. Then we took a water taxi to a private beach that literally no one was on and we laid out and took a nap on the beach and swam in the ocean. It was perfect :)

All in all, it was an amazing trip with so many memories. We are so grateful for the way that Tanner's company (Moxie) takes care of us and makes us feel special. They are such an amazing company to work for and we owe them a HUGE thank you for providing this 7-day cruise to us, completely free.

It was a week that Tanner and I both needed, together.