For some of you, this is going to be a shock: Nikki and I did not go to Antarctica.  We went to the Caribbean.  Yes, more than one of you out there bought it and believed me when I said we were going to see penguins, weather stations, and ice shelves.  It was more like clear blue water, warm air, and good food. 

We were on a cruise, and it was excellent.  Honestly, I don't know if we'll ever do a Caribbean cruise again (they're a bit too slow-paced for us), but it was still a blast.  Last year's European cruise was a lot faster paced and more fun.  We had stops in San Juan, St. Thomas, and Tortola.  We were supposed to stop one day in the Bahamas, but the seas were pretty rough that day and they wouldn't let us tender off of the ship to go ashore. 

So, how did I get the shape of a spoon on my head?  I turns out that you can get sunburned in the shade.  Nikki and I were already a bit sunburned, so one day we decided to go out and read on the boat's deck in the shade.  After 4.5 hours, both of us were bright red on one half of our bodies.  I was wearing sunglasses the whole time, and it resulted in a big white patch over my left eye with a straight stripe going back to my ear (e.g. a “spoon” shape).  The other side of me didn't get burned so it was only one half of my face.  It looked rather odd.  We figured we got burned because the sun reflected enough off of the plexiglass half-wall that was part of the rail on the deck. 

Pictures from the trip are here.  Sorry, but the images aren't really labeled at all.  I'll try and take care of that in the near future.