The Big Five O

I met my husband when he was 21 years old. This year he turned 50!
You can't spend a milestone birthday doing the same old routine. So we booked a cruise and drove to New Orleans to celebrate.
At a dinner stop in Canton,Mississippi I enjoyed one of my favorite beers.

The next morning we spent a couple of hours in the French quarter.
Stopping by the French Market.

Strolled over to Bourbon St for coffee.

I stopped in to Pat O'Brien's to grab a hurricane in a go cup.

We strolled past Jackson square to check out the artists setting up for the day.

Then it was time to head over to the port to board the Carnival Dream.

Our first stop was dropping our backpacks in our room. An inside room is small but has plenty of space for two people and their stuff for a week's long cruise.

We headed to the top deck for a round of mini golf while people were busy eating at Lido.

The next day at sea we lounged around and read for hours in the warm caribbean air.

We took in a beautiful sunset at sea.

Our first formal night was on our first sea day and I was able to wear my newly knitted shawl.

The next day was THE birthday day!

We booked a two tank dive through Carnival for our day in Mahahual Mexico.

As soon as we were in the water we knew it was going to be a challenging dive due to the rough conditions of the sea.

Underwater the visibility was very poor.

So we chose to call it a day after our first dive and spent the time relaxing shoreside while the rest of our dive group went back out for their second dive.

Carnival does a pretty good job trying to accommodate special diets. Husband was able to order a slice of  gluten free cheesecake.

 They also sang him Happy Birthday and presented him with a small cake. But took it away after he blew out the candle because it wasn't gluten free.

Even our room steward wrote a birthday message on our room mirror.

 The next day we were in Belize. Not the best weather on this day. Rainy but warm temps.

We booked through Carnival to go to Caye Caulker. About an hour boat ride away from Belize City.

Once on the island we rented a golf cart for a couple of hours. (Only $25 US)

 We drove almost every street here as it's a very small place with no cars and only sand paths for streets.

We found a really nice veggie friendly cafe called Namaste Cafe with fresh Kombucha and I enjoyed a delicious vegan lunch.

Of course I enjoyed several Belikin Beers this day too.

Husband was searching for a small spot called Miss Alma's Belizean Home Cooking. In the picture below it's the red boarded up shack. By the time we made it back to the spot she had sold out of chicken for the day.

 She recommended he stop at Aunties take out for chicken, rice and peas.

Back in Belize City we enjoyed a couple of rum punches and some freshly made plantain chips.

Our next stop was Cozumel. 

Unfortunately the scuba dives we booked through Carnival were cancelled due to an ocean swell that made conditions too hazardous. So we spent the day at the cruise pier.

We found a great spot called Panchos and enjoyed excellent tamarind and mango margaritas, guacamole, chips and salsa.

With a beautiful palm tree view.

We were strolling sea side and I noticed these two palm trees close to the water that would be perfect for hammocking.

I headed back to the ship for my hammock and set up for a few hours of napping and reading.

Listening to the sounds of the surf was a wonderful way to spend our last port day.

We enjoyed our last formal night later in the evening with another chance for me to wear a new shawl.

Another day at sea for the next day. We camped out on lounge chairs on the back deck. I knit and watched DVDs and enjoyed one final day of summer-like weather.

Back in New Orleans I made a quick coffee stop at PJ's before heading across Lake Pontchartrain and our long 14 hour drive back to Northern Illinois.