From Bahamas to Obama

I just got back from a week long cruise in the Bahamas with entire ship full of Canadians! I was invited to go by my former Vancouver neighbor....she won it through work and was kind enough to invite me as her guest! I had a blast and spent most of my time in the ship's spa...ahhh...now that's heaven. Anyway, we docked in Key West (where I finally took a tour of the Hemingway House which was truly interesting) and in Nassau. Weather prevented us from docking in Coco Cay, so that was a bit of a bummer, but I don't mind days at sea in the slightest. Of course, the ship was getting stir crazy, so I did have to share my spa a bit more. My friend and I bought week long passes to this thing called the Persian Gardens which consisted of saunas, turkish baths (wet sauna), mood lighting showers, and the best...heated stone chairs! I mostly sat in the chairs reading the next books in the Twilight saga and watching the ocean go by. Ahhh....

Anyway, during dinners we talked with lots of different people from all over Canada, and everyone enjoyed hearing of how I was from the States, and then we often talked about the exciting upcoming Inauguration. It's really nice seeing people excited again about what's happening in the US as opposed to being disdainful of us or afraid of our administration. I have to admit I share that sentiment and am finally feeling proud to be a part of this country again. At any rate, we also saw that ALL over the Bahamas there were t-shirts and souvenirs depicting Obama. It's very interesting to see how so far, everyone is excited about this man.

Of course, the biggest buzz is here in DC itself. Because my cruise is so close to the inauguration, I feel the need to talk more about this than the cruise itself. I mean, this is just SO huge! On my flight back from Miami, there was a group of people flying to DC for the inauguration and they were from the US Virgin Islands...people on the metro were clearly coming in for it too...the city is just buzzing. I would love to attend the inauguration, but sadly, I'm having a bit of land-sickness now (I only get this after week long cruises...how annoying), so I probably won't fight the crowds and cold weather. This is probably a blessing in disguise. But I will be watching the inauguration with friends. So far I've been watching things on tv like the concert at the Lincoln Memorial and Oprah. I know it's cheezy, but I often find myself tearing up with these shows...I'm so genuinely excited about this!! I'll definitely post more about it later.

I hope everyone finds tomorrow as exciting as we're finding it to be here...