Crusin'

There are a lot of things that most people love that I just never quite "got."

In high school, for instance, one of the "big" events (if there were any "big" events in small-town South Dakota) was cruising. I never much did it, but I guess the concept was . . . driving around. Maybe stopping and hanging out with other cruisers too, I don't know. Like I said, I never quite "got" the whole deal. Maybe it had something to do with that I just wasn't very popular -- nobody wanted to cruise with me, nor talk to me while cruising -- but whatever the reason, it was really never my thing.

Obviously there's no correlation beyond the word, but fast-forward to 2009, and everybody loves vacationing on cruise ships. What's the hype about? I would wonder. What is there to do on a ship that I can't do at home? I don't like to sit by the pool, and frankly we have pools in Louisville. If I wanted to gamble, that can be accommodated with a modest drive. Really, what's the deal? "Oh, the food is incredible, and it's everywhere!" people would say. Cool, I can get with some good food. "The cabin boys come and fold towels into animal shapes!" others would exclaim. Ummmm, ok.

Nonetheless, Laura's always loved the idea of a cruise, and so with our 10 year anniversary coming up, I thought it might be time to give it a shot. I took her to Iowa for our honeymoon, after all, so I figured I could step my game up. Mobile AL to Cozumel and another port near Playa del Carmen Mexico it would be, then.

I still don't get it. The food was fantastic and in abundance. I dug it. The towel animals were surprisingly fun. The ports were nice, we went snorkling which was exceptional even for an anti-water guy such as myself and saw some Mayan ruins, which was interesting.

But seriously, what there was worth a week of my life? We did a lot of napping and reading on the boat. Which is fine, but I can do those as well from here (already have today, thank you!). Of course it was great to spend some time with my lovely bride, but we do a pretty good job of making that happen in our regular lives, too. And most importantly, she had a good time, but after about three days I think we were both ready to be back at home.

Much like this post, then, I just didn't quite get what the point was.