A hearty thank you to....
-Wendy (mother-in-law) for coming up with the idea and planning the trip, and for bringing a bag of cookies to share on the airplane.
-Collin (father-in-law) for driving 6 chatty women to the airport and getting us there on time.
-Shelly (sister-in-law) for being our tour guide around Hollywood (even though we got lost).(actually, this is Renae with me in the photo)
-"The Men With Guns" (LA county sheriff deputies) for getting us back on track and making us feel safe as we waited in the Metro station at 11:30 p.m. (though later we were chased by a bum... I mean, vagrant).(Let me tell you, it's pretty intimidating to hang out with these gorgeous women!)
-Janelle (sister-in-law) for sticking with "poor-me-with-a-bum-knee-who-can't-run" when everyone else ran off when the bum... I mean, vagrant... started chasing us.-"The Vagrant" for being too drunk (or whatever) to be able to actually hurt us.
-The cast of "Wicked" for putting on a fantastic show.-Renae & Courtney (sisters-in-law) for being excellent, tidy cabin-mates on the ship.-The ship infirmary for dispensing medi-meclizine, which allowed me to enjoy a stormy night at sea without getting seasick.
-Shelly, for not throwing up on me when she got seasick.
-Our cabin steward, for willingly providing a large number of industrial sized plastic trash bags to serve as makeshift rain ponchos, which allowed us to traipse around Ensenada without getting TOO wet.
-The chef at the breakfast buffet for making me a delicious veggie omelet for breakfast every morning.
-Our waiter, for providing extra servings of the yummy molten chocolate cake with ice cream after we all raved about it.
-The "Gunderson Girls" (Jay's aunt Phyllis and her daughters) for their contagious laughter, funny stories, and great companionship.
-The "Brown Girls" (Courtney's mom and sisters) for teaching us to play cards and for being good sports during the name-guessing game.
-The guy at the Alltel store who helped me get a new cell phone just minutes before I left for the airport so that I could stay in touch with my family while I was away.
-And especially Jay, for taking care of the kids and house and for being such a good sport about me leaving them for a few days.
Now, it's back to real life.