I'm back... or why you should care a lot about my vacation that obviously no one else could ever go on

I actually had two readers contact me about my absence.  See, people love me!  People, plural!

Ryan and I were on our belated honeymoon the past couple of weeks, and so now, you're going to be subjected to a twenty post series on why you should want to read about our manufactured romantic adventure, I mean, cruise.  And then I'll begin the fifteen post series on the actual vacation. You'll see thousands of photos taken with an oversized DSLR (not really--his is an interchangeable lens camera), which Ryan toted through our ports of call, looking just like one of the locals and nothing like a tourist who shouts in English when people don't understand (since they obviously just have a hearing problem).

Or maybe I'll share a few photos today and leave it at that.  Of course, that would be boring since you probably have hours to spend admiring our pictures, but perhaps I'll just schedule a long photo sharing party for next month--expect an invitation in the mail.  You won't want to miss it!

Anywho, to sum up, we were at sea for five days total and had five days in port.  While on the ship, we ate, slept, read, rested, drank, and twiddled our thumbs.  It was a joy.  In port, we explored a little and then went back to the ship for more resting.

A few highlights...Climbing the San Felipe Fort in Cartagena, Colombia (during a taxi-driver led tour that we never really consented to but enjoyed nonetheless):

Beautiful sites on our 4x4 tour of Aruba (which I really enjoyed--I'm not a beach person and yet loved it there):

Great architecture on Curacao (below is a synagogue):

Beer in St. Maarten (we weren't enamored by our visit, maybe because there were five ships in port and nothing but crowded beaches and jewelry shops):

We also stopped in St. Thomas and took a catamaran to St. John. Gorgeous snorkeling.

Overall, we had a wonderful time, and managed to avoid getting burned, unlike our fellow shipmates who de-frocked daily on the pool deck so they could further leatherize their skin (Note: we were on Norwegian, which caters a lot to older passengers.  These mostly naked sun bathers weren't necessarily what you'd see in a swimsuit catalog).  I don't think we'll be cruising again anytime soon since I really like more in-depth traveling (fly to a country and stay awhile), but this trip was just the ticket for two overworked cogs in the capitalist wheel.

We have a few house projects coming up, and no, they don't involve turning wire hangers into a fool-proof way of investing money.  Be ready!