goodbye and hello

I'm back. I arrived back to Chino less than half an hour ago and feel so blah. My vacation in the Bahamas with Julianne was incredible. It was so relaxing and adventurous, packed full of activities, but not rushed. Today, as I flew out of Nassau, the clouds were gorgeous and I saw a freaking rainbow in the sky. It was SO pretty. Less than an hour later we were flying over Miami to land, and there was a thick brown layer hovering over the city. What a great welcome back to the US of A.

I was trying to figure out how to sum up my trip on here without having a loooooong post. But. That just might have to happen because the Bahamas was that good

Day 1: We arrived in the Bahamas. We got to Kristi's house and relaxed the rest of the night. We crashed pretty early because we got NO sleep the night before. Traveling days are always tiring.


Day 2: JB and I went to church with Kristi and her family. We were lucky to be there on the Sunday that Kristi's dad gave the sermon. Church was out around 200pm and we did nothing for most of the afternoon. Sundays seem to be lazy everywhere.


We went out around 1000pm to tour the Atlantis aquarium. It was "closed" and all the lights were off, but we were still able to walk around in the dark and look at what we could see. Having Kristi show us around was super helpful...there was so much to see!


Day 3: Kristi took us to Cabbage Beach...my first time seeing the Bahama beach in the daytime! It was gorgeous. The water was so clear and warm.



Day 4: Kristi had to work today, so her cousin picked us up and showed us around a little. We went to an old fort...I couldn't tell you much about it because I'm horrible with history stuff, but I know it was old and had cannons and was used to protect the land. We didn't want to pay to go inside, so we walked around and avoided the security cars.


Later that night, we went out with a bunch of Kristi's cousins to a place with bowling, pool tables, arcade games, and on this particular night, karaoke. It was so fun to be out with a bunch of people and listen to ridiculous people try to sing.


Day 5: JB and I went to the Wyndham and Sheraton hotels to "borrow" their beaches and pools.


Day 6: This was probably my favorite day in the Bahamas. We took a ferry to the Blue Lagoon Island, where the water was gorgeous. Instead of following everybody else, we wandered around to explore and found incredible beaches. We searched for shells and enjoyed the calm peacefulness of the island.


We also paid to go on some sweet water blow-up toys - there was a slide, an obstacle course, a trampoline. We also got free snorkeling gear out of the deal thanks to a flirty guy who worked there.


Day 7: We moved from Kristi's house to Comfort Suites, where we were able to enjoy all the perks of the Atlantis, including the waterpark. We spent the entire day at the waterpark...mostly in the "lazy" river, which wasn't so lazy. In the evening, we dressed up and ate out.


We wandered around the Atlantis hotel, looking at everything. The hotel goes on forever.


Day 8: We went to the waterparks again and met a friend at the Dolphin Cay. He used to train dolphins and was able to get us backstage for a free, mini-session with the dolphins. It was my first time touching and seeing a dolphin up close. It was so cool.


At night, we walked around the Atlantis again. We went to the theater they had (inside the hotel!) and watched an okay movie...but that's fine because it was free! After more wandering, we found the library, also inside the hotel. It was late and closed, but we had nothing better to do, so why not take pictures?


Day 9: We went to the Atlantis waterparks again! We went on all the rides and then walked around the park to take pictures. Later in the afternoon, Kristi met up with us and took us out to eat with her aunt. Then we went to our next hotel, Sandyport.


Day 10: We did NOTHING this day, and it was fabulous. We sat inside our hotel room and watched television while surfing the internet. It rained a lot, but we decided to go out in the evening for some ice cream.


Day 11: Thankful for the sunshine, we went to the Sheraton hotel again to use their beaches and hotel. It was perfect outside. JB spent a lot of time tanning, while I was super engrossed in my book. We went up on a balcony and sat on some comfortable wicker chairs when it got too hot in the sun. So relaxing.


After cleaning up, we went to eat at a restaurant in the Sandyport village, called Barnacles. We got some more ice cream and then attempted to watch a sunset. It was too cloudy to see much, but we took a lot of cool pictures at the Sandyport beach.


Day 12: This was our last full day in the Bahamas. We spent a lot of time in the sun and went out for ice cream at dusk. It was soooooo pretty outside and the perfect temperature.


We went in the pool around 1000pm and loved the slide. We took a couple of chairs, put them in the water, and stared at the stars for a little while. The sky had only a few floating clouds and we were able to see a beautiful shooting star...I have never seen one so clear. It was a good ending to a great trip.