Ensenada – Homeward Bound

    We arrive in Ensenada all too soon… marking the final night of our voyage. The ship tied up at the pier just before 8pm and guests were allowed to check out the town until 11:30pm when the ship would prepare to leave. Our dinner time was 8pm so we did not finish eating and saying our goodbyes to all the staff until after 9:30pm. After that we got off the ship to see what we could see in Ensenada at night. As it turns out, the only things we saw were loud busy night clubs, like Papas & Beer, and pharmacy stores with large advertisements for selling viagra and other such easily obtained items. We took a stroll through the main thoroughfare and then hopped on the shuttle bus back to the ship. Then Laura went up to the stateroom balcony and David took photos of her waving down to him on the pier. That was fun.

    Then after getting everything packed and trying to get as much sleep as possible… we were awakened early on Saturday after arriving back in San Diego. This was David’s birthday, November 7, 2009. The ship was very busy with stewards cleaning rooms and trying to have the almost 1500 guests disembark the ship in an orderly and timely manner. Our disembarking time was between 10 and 10:30am (the last one) and we carried our own luggage off the ship. Then we hopped a taxi to the airport, had a quick lunch at the Chili’s while watching the Iowa Hawkeyes lose their first game of the season, ruining their 8-0 start. David talked the United airline attendant into switching us to the direct flight instead of the flight that connected through Chicago. This flight left a little earlier than our original and shaved at least a couple hours off the total travel time. Happy Birthday to me! Then we went through security where David’s iron boar (from the zoo) almost caused a problem, but they liked the animal statue and let me through with it. We snapped a few nice photos of San Diego from the air as we took off… and you can see the cruise ships at the pier and Petco Park nearby. As if to signal the end – Laura’s iPod randomly played the Radiohead song, “Honeymoon is over” during our flight home. Laura’s father met us at Dulles on the other end to schlep us home late that evening. We even stopped by the Denny’s in Manassas for a late Birthday dinner where David enjoyed a nice Moons over My Hammy!