St. Petersburg, Florida

This Spring Matt and I took a weekend trip to St. Petersburg, Florida. Matt had a conference beginning Sunday, so we flew out a little early and spent some time at the beach. I didn't realize how much I missed the beach. There is something so peaceful about feeling sand between your toes and the sun on your back. Although it was a short trip, it was just what we needed.

We arrived late Friday night and drove to our hotel, the Hilton Bayfront. The hotel was very nice and in a great location. Matt had requested a King room, but they put us in a room with two doubles. We should have asked to switch right away because those beds were way too small. Oh well.

On Saturday, we spent most of the day at Fort DeSoto Park in Tierra Verde. This park was amazing. We went to the North Beach which has been rated among the best beaches in America. I thought it would be really crowded since it was spring break for a lot of people, but it wasn't bad at all. The sand was so soft and the water was gorgeous. It was warm and sunny, but really windy.

















After the beach we stopped by the historic fort to look around. The fort was nothing special. There were a few giant cannons and some empty concrete buildings...that's about it.





We really wanted to go kayaking, but when we arrived at the rental place they wouldn't let us go out on the water because the wind was too strong. We were both really disappointed because it would have been so much fun.

Instead, we rented a bicycle built for two and rode out to the East Beach. This bicycle was so funny looking, we felt like we were driving a clown car. It was really fun to ride along the trail and enjoy the breezes off the water.

When we got to the East Beach there were a ton of para-surfers on the water. I had never seen anyone para-surfing before. Basically, it was a cross between wind-surfing and parasailing. Every once in a while the wind would catch a surfer just right and they would fly into the air and spin around. Matt and I were both awestruck. I really want to try it one day, but I'm sure it's a lot harder than it looks.





Biking back was tough because the wind was blowing against us. It was quite the work out. When we made it back we rewarded ourselves with ice-cream. Well, I got ice-cream and Matt got a sno-cone (or sugar ice, as I like to call it.)





We drove back to the hotel and took quick showers so we could get to the Salvador Dali Museum before it closed. The museum was hosting their annual Dali Fest, which is an outdoor festival with music and ethnic food. Also, the tickets to the museum were half price! I've seen some Dali works before at the Reina Sofia in Spain, but it was very impressive to see so many in one place.

We saw several famous pieces including the Persistence of Memory, which was a lot smaller than I expected. I didn't realize that Dali also got into film during his career. We saw a couple of silent films that were just as twisted as his artwork. Dali did have a sense of humor, though. His piece 'Atmospheric Skull Sodomizing a Grand Piano' cracked me up for some reason.

After the Dali Museum we went to dinner. I had a couple of places that I wanted to try but we discovered they were further away from downtown than I thought. We ended up going to The Garden Restaurant on Central that had an intriguing menu. Unfortunately, the food didn't live up to the menu. I should know better...the fancier the menu, the more disappointing the food. It was still a relaxing dinner and a nice way to end the day.

On Sunday, Matt had to get up early and give a talk about his research. It was nice that he got his session over with first thing in the morning. We went out for breakfast at a local diner and then I walked around downtown St. Pete while Matt went to a session. The downtown area was a bit sleepy on Sunday morning, but it was really nice to walk around and get a feel for the city. There were a lot of restaurants and shops, but I think the downtown area is used more for work than play.

When Matt was done he and some other students wanted to go to the spring training baseball game that was across the street. I was kind of ambivalent about going to the baseball game, but I figured I'd indulge Matt's wishes and go along for the ride. Fortunately for me, the game was sold out! Instead, Matt and walked down to the pier where we took in the gorgeous views of the city. On the way back, we hopped on a trolley for 25 cents that took us on a little tour of the city and back to our hotel.

I spent the afternoon lying out by the pool while Matt went to one more session.

When he was done, we went to the best restaurant called Ceviche. This place was amazing. We started with sparkling sangria and a tabla mixta with fruit, cheeses, jamon serrano, chorizo and homemade pate. I was surprised that I actually liked the pate. Next we ordered a bunch of delicious tapas including croquetas de bacalao, tortilla espanola, vieras rellenas (scallops). Every bite was heavenly. I wish we could have ordered one of everything. I would highly recommend this restaurant if you ever have a chance to go!

After dinner it was time for me to head to the airport. I was so sad to have to leave, especially Matt was staying for a few more days. I would have loved to beach hop for another week, but we were lucky to enjoy the sun for a couple of days.

Alaska

After our Carribean cruise, we could not wait to cruise again. We loved being so active and seeing so much without having to pick up and move each night.

I keep an eye on travel deals by signing up for the weekly newsletters from http://www.travelzoo.com/ and http://www.shermanstravel.com/. These sites can be dangerous because they make you want to go to all kinds of exotic destinations. The nice thing about them is that they educate you on what is actually a good deal. You will see a lot of cruise offers and flight deals. After a while, you start to recognize which ones are really the best offers. If you have flexible travel dates, you can get some amazing deals by booking through one of these sites.

I had been watching Alaska trips for a long time and I'd always thought that would be an amazing trip. Unfortunately, the 'deals' to Alaska were running about a thousand per person. One day, I came upon an offer that was about half that. From watching the travel alerts, I knew this was an unusual deal.

We had been planning to take a trip to the NorthWest during the week of Memorial Day. We had free Southwest tickets to use before the summer, and we thought we would fly to Seattle, rent a car, and explore Washington and Oregon for a week. After looking at our budget, we realized that the Alaska trip would actually be cheaper than our planned road trip. Once we realized that, we thought, what are we waiting for?!

We chose a cruise that sailed in and out of Seattle. That way, we were able to use our free flights and also tour Seattle for a day before leaving. Seattle was incredible. We saw so much in just a couple of days. I miss living in a walking city so badly.

We went to the Space Needle, which was way overpriced. Later in the day we went to the Smith Tower, which offers comparable views for a lot less money. If you are on a budget, I would skip the Needle and just do the Smith Tower.









We happened to be there during the NorthWest Folk Life Festival. This was a stroke of luck. The festival was so much fun. There were bands everywhere and lots of free activities. We spent several hours just listening to music and taking in the sights. We also stopped by a circus tent where you could try out the tight rope, trapeze and juggling for free. I was in heaven.





Next, we walked along the waterfront sculpture garden as we made our way to Pike Place Fish Market.







We ate lunch at a grocery store / cafe that offered fresh sandwiches and salads. When we were done we walked across the street to the market. The Market was an unbelievable rainbow of fresh produce, fish and flowers. If we were not leaving the next day, I would have left with my arms full of flowers. It was really crowded and a bit overwhelming, but it was fun for a short visit.

Next we walked to Pioneer Square where we took an Underground Tour. Although it was very cheesy, this tour was entertaining. The guides were hilarious and kept us laughing the entire time.

By the evening, we were exhausted. We took the train back to the Needle and walked the couple blocks back to our hotel to change before dinner. Our friend Emily recommended a great restaurant, the Flying Fish. It took us a little while to find this place, but it was worth the hunt. We ordered fish spring rolls to share and this is what we got:

Once I got past the fish eyeballs, it was actually delicious. We rolled fish, veggies and herbs inside a rice paper and had little fish spring rolls.

The next day, we stopped at the Experience Music Project for a couple of hours before heading to the port. I know everyone raves about the EMP, but I thought it was just okay. Maybe I was too tired from the day before, but after playing around for about an hour, I was ready to go.

Now to the cruise portion of the trip...

This time we chose the Princess cruise line. Princess is supposed to be a little better than Norwegian, but I think it really depends on the ship. We sailed on the Golden Princess. The ship was just a tad outdated, but it was still very nice and clean. The style was a bit more formal than the Norwegian Jewel. They layout of the ship was slightly better, with the cabins better separated from the rest of the boat, which kept the noise and traffic down.

We decided to save money for excursions by going with an inside cabin. People say that it is worth the extra money to get a balcony, especially in Alaska. It really didn't bother us not to have a balcony. Our room was spacios (for a cruise ship) and comfortable. We were in a great location on the ship.

The food on the ship was excellent. Princess offers scheduled dining or 'Anytime' dining. We chose the 'Anytime' plan because we weren't sure when we would get back each night. Other than the times, the plans were identical. There were two main dining rooms, which served the exact same food as far as I could tell. We ate all kinds of delicious foods including lobster, salmon, halibut, crab legs, and Matt's favorite dessert - souffle.

The buffet was not my favorite. It was SUPER crowded, mostly due to the poor layout, and the food was not quite as fresh and healthy as I would have liked. I guess this is what most people think of when they imagine food on a cruise, but after our experience on Norwegian, we were expecting better. Fortunately, we didn't eat at the buffet very often.

Our ship also had a couple of specialty restaurants which you could pay an extra $15 per person to go to. We went to the Italian restaurant - Sabatini's - and we were so glad we did. The food was incredible. They served so many course that I lost count. We had 5-6 appetizers, soup, salad, pizza, pasta, entrees, and several desserts. Each dish was better than the last. We were warned ahead of time to pace ourselves, so we only had a few bites of each dish. Even so, we were absolutely stuffed by the end. It was one of the best meals I think I've ever had.

I think the food on this cruise had more highs (Lobster and Sabatini's) and lows (the buffet) and less variety overall than we experienced on our Carribean cruise.

On to the excursions...

Our first stop was Juneau. We attempted to sign up for a trip to the Mendenhall Glacier, but it was full. We are SO GLAD it was full because it ended up saving us quite a bit of money. I think they tour was $36 per person for a bus to the glacier and back. We ended up finding a shuttle right off the boat that cost $12 per person for the exact same tour. Plus, the buses came and went every hour so we didn't feel rushed.

We took are time taking in the amazing sights and then we went on a 3.5-mile hike through the adjacent forest. It was strange to see lush greenery next to a huge chunk of ice. The air was so fresh and clean.

After seeing the Mendenhall and hiking for a bit, we went zip-lining in the mountains! This was one of the best excursions we did the whole time. The cruise line offered a zip tour, but it was over $100 per person. We found our own tour through http://www.alaskazip.com/ by doing some research ahead of time. This tour was cheaper and offered more zips. They picked us up at the port and took us to a ski lodge where we proceeded to zip through the forest, hundreds of feet in the air. It was not scary at all because we were hooked up to cables the entire time. It felt like flying.

The next day we went to Skagway. We considered taking the famous incline railroad up to the Northern border of Alaska, but it was over $100 per person. We weren't sure we wanted to spend that much just to sit on a train. Instead, we took the cheaper bus tour which goes to the same place. Our driver was hilarious and allowed us to stop whenever we wanted to take pictures, which you cannot do on the train tour. By the time we got to the top, we were literally in the clouds.

After our bus tour we went rock climbing in the mountains. Matt and I have been rock climbing before, but it had been a really long time for both of us. It was a small group so we each got to do several climbs. They gave us special climbing shoes to make it easier to cling to the rocks. When we were done climbing, we got to rapell from the top of the cliff. The rapelling was definitely my favorite part.

After rock climbing, we asked the driver to drop us off in town instead of at the port. We walked around town for a while, looking at the historic building, and then stopped at a hole in the wall bar for some Alaskan brews.



The next day we cruised through the Tracy Arm Fjord. At first I was a little disappointed that we could not get off the ship in this port. I thought I would be bored just hanging out on deck, looking at the scenery. When we arrived, I realized I could have sat all day just staring. I have never seen anything so dramatically beautiful. It was like being inside a frozen miniature Grand Canyon. Matt and I just walked around, oohing and aahing, taking a million pictures of the exact same thing. I'll let the photos speak for themselves:

In Ketchikan, we decided to just take it easy and explore the town. We walked all over, stopping to look at totem poles, the harbor and all of the quaint shops. Ketchikan was probably the most charming of all of the Alaskan ports. Unfortunately, the salmon were not running quite yet, but we went to the salmon hatchery anyway and just looked around.

Every time someone finds out I've been to Alaska they ask, "Did you see any whales?" I saw whale fin, but that's about it. There were a ton of whale-watching tours, but I just didn't understand paying a ton of money to see a whale pop out of the ocean. There were several whale sightings from our ship, but I wasn't in the right place at the right time. Shoot me for saying this, but I didn't really care.

I did not dress properly for the evenings. I brought a lot of cocktail dresses which were way too COLD. As a result, all I wanted to do was go back to our room and curl up under the covers. I tried my best to stay out and enjoy the many activities including movies, variety shows, karoke, etc. There was even a dance club on one of the upper decks. We went to a magic show one night, which I found really cheesy and weird.

One of the evening highlights was the champagne waterfall. Pretty much the whole ship turned out for this event. It felt a lot like a giant New Years party.

Our final stop was Victoria, British Colombia. We arrived in Victoria in the early evening, so we didn't have a lot of time to explore. We decided to take a bus tour that took us to several different landmarks. We passed by the Empress Hotel, downtown, China Town and several posh neighborhoods. We made a couple of stops including the Craigdarroch Castle, the Legislative Buildings and the harbor. I would go back to Victoria in a heartbeat. There seemed to be so much more to see and do. Looking back, I wish we had chosen an intinerary that allowed more time at this port.

I'm sure I've left out a ton of details, which I will try to fill in as I remember them. It was once in a lifetime experience, and if you ever have the opportunity to go - take it!