Yeah yeah, so we�ve been back for awhile and I haven�t written anything until now - life is tough and you�re not always gonna get what you want so deal with it :-P What I lack in frequency I�ll make up in length this time, promise! I kept a little journal of sorts (by �journal� I mean a daily list of events/activities scrawled onto hotel stationary) so I wouldn�t forget anything so I�ll share that list with you now: Day #1 Saturday January 8th *Our flight from Duluth to Minneapolis was almost 40 minutes late in taking off. *Because we arrived in Minneapolis late we didn�t have much time to grab some food before catching the next plane to Houston - we just barely made the gate at which point the ticket taker lady was all, �are you the Rubins? I was just about to page you!� *The rest of our airport and plane adventures today was smooth and normal. *Because our flight into Brownsville was the last one of the evening we caught the last cab available and shared it with a Hispanic man who said he wasn�t Hispanic but rather French (mmm hmm). *We had to drop off the �French�man first as he was closer than our hotel on the island. Where did this �French�man live? That�s right - ON THE BORDER WITH MEXICO! For a brief moment we actually thought we WERE going to be taken into Mexico which made us nervous because it was almost 11pm, we didn�t have passports on us, and well, it�s a BORDER TOWN IN MEXICO! *After we dropped of the �French�man the driver asks if it�s ok to pick up his wife and son at his business first - um, yeah, sure, I guess so! He picked them up at his business (which turned out to be a restaurant) and we (finally) headed towards the island and eventually our hotel. The conversation was a one-sided one as the driver spent most of the ride reciting the menu and prices of everything in his restaurant. *Ah sweet hotel! *The room was great, the view was awesome, I�d never been so happy to be in a hotel in all my life! *11:30pm and I�m STARVING...the hotel restaurant is closed...nothing nearby is open...nothing nearby delivers...thank GOODNESS I was able to find a lonely vending machine hidden way down on the 3rd floor. *Had a feast of Cheetos and Hostess Cupcakes with my husband - what a great first-night-of-honeymoon feast - ha! Day #2 Sunday January 9th *Started our day by walking in the wrong direction because there was a mysterious red X printed on our map which we assumed was our hotel - it wasn�t. *Wandered around the island and got a little sunburnt - must use more sunblock! *Swam in an icy pool...alone because my husband is a wimp :-P *Walked on the beach - ahhhhh, the beach! *Went to a Japanese restaurant so Justin could have sushi - I was having major caffeine withdrawals so I wasn�t feeling well. I thought slamming down a Coke would help, it didn�t. The husband ate his sushi while I waited for my food to be boxed up so we could leave. (No, he did NOT make me stay...he volunteered to have everything boxed up immediately but I made HIM stay.) *Stopped at a Circle K to pick up soda for the hotel room (you know, to avoid another caffeine withdrawal) and I ended up throwing up 5 or 6 times in their bathroom. And let me tell ya - throwing up in this bathroom was one of the more disgusting things I�ve ever participated in. Nothing like throwing up into a shit and blood-stained toilet to make you wanna throw up even more! *Got back to the hotel, started feeling better, munched on a couple of cookies and had more soda. *Late night out door hot tubbin� under the stars and palm trees...was romantic and wonderful until the craziest couple of all Texas showed up! They were loud! They were drunk! They were weird! And they kept trying to convince us that the four of us should hang out and they even tried to get us to go to Mexico with them for clothes shopping and liquor buying - um NO! The female half of the crazy couple kept talking about I looked exactly like Robin Tunney which I, of course, do not. Remember I said they were drunk? Let me make that REALLY drunk. Day #3 Monday January 10th *Went to what was advertised as a local favorite/hotspot but turned out to be a dirty bar with the worst pizza ever - who knew it was possible to screw up PIZZA?!? And ya know what else? They charge you for the water! HA! *Went on a dolphin watch/eco tour today - two of the most amazing hours EVER! There�s something quite indescribable about seeing 70+ dolphins so close and in the wild - it�s something neither of us will EVER forget. *Still more sunburn - must use MORE sunblock! *Enjoyed a lovely dinner in the hotel restaurant as well as free champagne - woo! Day #4 Tuesday January 11th *Spent the day in Port Isabel...two museums and a light house...ate at a decent Italian restaurant that gave me pizza which didn�t suck! Day #5 Wednesday January 12th *Today was the first (and only) day we got up to an alarm clock. *Breakfast at Ted�s - mmmmm, waffles!!! *Went to Sea Turtles, Inc. but got there an hour early...normally such a thing would suck, but in this case they let us walk around and look at the turtles anyway - we had an hour to ourselves! Got to see all kinds of turtles including Lefty and Jerry - quite spectacular! *Took another dolphin tour - who doesn�t love being out on the water...especially when there are dolphins to see? *Had some AMAZING burgers and fries at Tom & Jerry�s where, oddly enough, the entire staff (save for one 19 year old girl) was made up of gay men in their late 20s/early 30s...maybe it�s a gay sports bar? Day #6 Thursday January 13th *WINDY!!! *We wandered around on foot and The Wave looking for food...a couple of hours and a few attempts later we found some. *Shopped for souvenirs which meant a sweatshirt for me (knowing that the return trip to Minnesota would drop me off in sub-zero temperatures) and something for The Cute One as she gets quite pissy if I go somewhere and come home empty handed - lol Day #7 Friday January 14th *Laguna Madre Nature Trail - lots of birds and the threat of alligators though we only saw the birds. *Went back to Port Isabel with hopes of having Mexican food...got screwed so we had pirate food instead. *More walking on the beach. *Toured the University of Texas - Pan American Coastal Studies Laboratory. *Waited for our 4pm sunset cruise that we had reservations for and almost got screwed as we were the only 2 people signed up and they needed at least 8 people in order to go out. With each passing minute I got more and more sad as we had planned our whole day around taking this sunset cruise on our last night of our honeymoon. Luckily at the last minute we were able to get on another boat that had enough people so I got my dolphins, my sunset, and my romantic last evening with the husband. Though it got REALLY windy and cold out there so we ended up being glad it was over - would do it again though because it was worth it! *Went back to the Japanese restaurant so the husband could eat more octopus...this time I wasn�t feeling sick so I actually got to enjoy my bento box of chicken teriyaki! *The husband got to watch the 2-hour premier of Battlestar Glactica on Sci-Fi which I think may have been the highlight of his day ;-) *Went to bed early as we had to catch a cab at 4am!!! Day #8 Saturday January 15th *Woke up at 3am...checked out at 3:45am...got in a cab at 4am...arrived at the airport around 4:30am...tried to print tickets from the kiosk - got spanked on that one...waited until a real person showed up and opened the real-life counter at 4:45am...got tickets and checked luggage...started the 6 � hour trek home... *Arrived home and discovered that we had gotten a parking ticket just 2 hours before arriving home even though we�re allowed to have on-street parking in front of our house. And so concludes the description of Honeymoon Part B (Part A being the 3ish weeks we spent on the east coast visiting friends and family immediately after the wedding). We�ve been home now for almost a week, the laundry has been done, the house has been cleaned, the husband is back lecturing freshman, the parking ticket has been protested and defeated, and I�m back to bitchin� about the weather. This time the weather bitching is completely justified - we�re under all kinds of lake effect snow advisories which are threatening to dump 6-14 INCHES of snow! I can�t guarantee that I�ll update again tomorrow (even YOU have to admit that this has been a pretty hefty slice) but hopefully now that we�re home and back into (somewhat) of a routine I can get back to a normal cheese-ing schedule...
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