By Request...

...the Hickses go to the Caribbean! And by "by request" I mean "my dad told me to do it."

After the wedding (left) Bevin and I flew to Miami and boarded the Liberty of the Seas, which is one of the largest passenger ships afloat at 150,000 gross tons (more than three times the size of the Titanic yet apparently more buoyant).

At right we are posed in front of the ship in Labadee, Haiti, which wasn't as bad as it sounds. It's actually a private beach owned by the cruise ship company. The ship offloaded some relief supplies during the stopover.

Following Haiti came a stop in Jamaica where we rode a miniature Chinese bus that was definitely not built for American-sized posteriors to the Martha Brae river, where we went for a ride on a 30' bamboo raft (left).

Then, after a stop at the Grand Cayman Islands for curried goat at MacDonald's and some quality snorkeling, we paid a visit to sunny Mexico (right), where Bevin's mastery of Spanish drew the admiration of visitors and locals alike.

And then it was back to Miami and back to Illinois, where after a brief rest we drove out and saw the final battle of World War II at the museum! Hey, an entire week without trains? Unthinkable!