The great Adventure Begins!!! PART ONE

Sunday January 28, I was a little teary eyed and sniffly as I left my baby with Kera and drove away. It was a quiet 4 hour drive to New Orleans, and then the instructions became vague and unhelpful. Fortunately, it was Mardi Gras season and we had to stop for a parade. Mom hopped out and asked the nice policeman how to get where we were going.

We still got lost in the maze of roads, but found the right place.... only to discover the parking lot (booked online!) was under construction. Oh, the horrible possibilites! Had we been hoodwinked by an unscrupulous con artist? We drove around and finally found someone who assured us we were okay. We parked and were shuttled to the dock.

Such an enormous sight. 13 stories (decks?) tall and larget than a football field... oh wait. We had to get through the big building first. There wer porters who took our bags as soon as we drove in and all we had to haul around was a small carry on bag. But we had to wait. Wait in a line to get into the building, wait to go through the metal detectors, and more waiting in line to get checked in. At that point, Ino longer needed my passport. I was given a plastic room key that also doubled as my ID and credit card. All ship-board charges would go to my room, and the key was all I needed (well, and another picture ID) to get back on the ship after a shore excursion.


Once on board, you couldn't go to your room till 2pm, and it was not quite 1pm. So we had a lovely leisurely lunch at the 4 course restaurant on the ship. That was neat. I felt a bit underdressed in a T shirt, and the waiters were so elegant and called me "madame", and the food was artistically presented and lovely. At 2 we went to my room to drop off my bag and check it out. I was in room 6032 and I had a window! We went up to room 11025, which was Mom and Dad's room. Then we visited Uncle Steve and Aunt Kathy in room 11008. They sprung for the room with the balcony and said it was worth it.

At 4pm the ship had an emergency drill where you had to practice putting on your life vest and finding your evacuation sopt. And I met my roommate- Sandra, a BYU student from Madagascar. Such a cool girl! I so totally lucked out! So then Mom and Dad and I explored the ship a bit. Oh, the ship was the Norwegian Spirit, by the way. At 6pm we met in the "Windows Restaurant" for dinner. All the LDS tour crowd was suppose to be there, but we didn't know them yet. There were 100 or so in the LDS Tour group. Dinner was a 2 hour, 4 course affair, and I had to hustle to change into church clothes for the 8pm Sacrament service. Just as the meeting was ending, several cell phones went off telling people that the Prophet had died. That was sad.

Monday morning I was up early to run with Dad. We thought about using the treadmill, but so bo-ring! We went ahead and ran on the 12th deck ourdoor track. It took 6 laps to make a mile, and I hate to count! It was fun to run with the roll of the ship. And going one way you had the wind blasting you along, but on the other side it was trying to push you back- lots of fun! We went to the buffet for breakfast and at 10am we met in the conference room for a lecture. Bruce Porter is this guru of ancient texts and Book of Mormon stuff. He was amazing. We also had a meet and greet that was fun. There were a lot of older people there and some of them were a bit long winded, but overall it was fun to learn about them. Even funner was when one couple got up, they mentioned that they been neighbors with another couple who'd already introduced themselves, and that couple jumped up and shrieked "We've been looking for you for years!" It was cute. And another lady discovered that someone in the group had been her German teacher. I love how the world is so small! I took more notes than I meant to with Bruce Porter, but it was such great stuff! No one seemed to want to break for lunch, but we were hungry. Bruce said he would come up with something to teach us and we could meet back at 2.

Did I mention that the buffet has an ice cream bar? I indulged (many times!) and was too tired after lunch. What did I do?!! Did I stay and learn like the self-dubbed "Bruce Porter Groupies"? Or did I slack off and nap while digesting an enormous lunch? Stay tuned for more exciting adventure when I can again keep my eyes open!

(Tell me- do you want it this detailed? More? Less? Pix of what? I took 175 of them!)