The Rock Boat Niner!

Where to begin with an amazing week on the Rock Boat?! Well I guess I can explain what it is first. It's a Carnival Cruise hosted by Sister Hazel that goes to 2 ports and has about 30 bands playing shows on various stages the whole time. We went to the Bahamas and we were suppose to go to Half Moon Cay, but the waters were too rough. I also knew like half the people on the boat so it was like a great party with old friends! Day One we saw Gaelic Storm (hilarious), Sister Hazel and Stephen Kellogg & the Sixers (thanks Brittney for hanging with me). Food wise, they had buffets and snack bars, pizzerias, asian and sushi, a Deli, coffee shops and ice cream round the clock. We ordered room service a couple times and did the sit down dining room one time. It's weird to not order based on price since we already paid for it! Oh and the constant stream of coffee into my system was helpful! The booze was pretty cheap too. Although I snuck pineapple rum and Sky Vodka on the ship and had alot of mixed lemonades. Running down steps tipsy with a rocking boat was def. a challenge at times hahaha. Ok day 2 we docked in Nassau and we got on a sailboat and sailed out for about 30 min. to snorkel. I had a full one peice and rash guard on but and i was still worried how cold it was gonna be. I jumped into the water, screamed some profanities and swam back to the ladder haha! The Bahama guys didn't blame me since the water was a numbing cold 70 degrees and us Southerners can't stand it. But Matt did it anyway and got some pics. Then we all drank Rum and i danced the Cha Cha slide on the roof as we sailed back. That night I saw The Kin (hot aussies), Green River Ordinance was really good and finally Hanson took the stage at the Lido deck. Some girl got mad that she couldn't push her way up to the front and threw her drink in a girls face like 3 people over from me, I got splashed a little and we were like,"That did not just happen" ...crazy Hanson fans. So someone dared Hanson to play til 3am...they started at 12:30. ugh. it was amazing though as usual. They were stepping it up a little since alot of the crowd had not seen them before. I think they earned alot of respect that was long overdue. I took lots of pics and video of course. Those will be up on myspace and facebook soon. Next morning was Meet and Greets and I finally got my tour jacket signed. Talked to the guys a bit. Ran into Zac a few times walking around and Ike and Nikki the last night but Taylor i think was hiding a little more. I guess 2 girls kissed Zac and he pushed them off of him. and Taylor told some fan that her sanity was questionable haha. Anyway, saw Stephen Kellogg again and Goose took his shirt off and did the worm and shit. It was hilarious! Colleen, I wish u could have been there! Then we headed out to the Lido deck for the "St. Patty's day" party with Gaelic storm and showed off my drunken irish jig and jazz hands. Next morning Half Moon Cay was canceled so I parked my ass on a lounge chair out on the deck with new vampire books and beer and chilled all day. Watch the Obama inaugeration and Sister Hazel did an surprise set with dreadlock wigs and did island songs with free booze for 1 hr. THAT WAS CRAZY. Saw Curtis Peoples that night(who looks like a Jonas with a Jack Black look-a-like bassist) Gaelic Storm AGAIN, lol but they had Irish dancers this time. Hanson was up again and i was 3 rows back and center standing on a chair. I could see PERFECTLY. This was my 33rd show and it made my top 3! The waves were kicking up bad and i felt like i was surfing on my chair. Taylor had bright red super skinnys on and he even crawled at us during "In the City" so funny. Stephen Kellogg came on and did a song with them and so did Tolcher. Even Sister Hazel rocked out with them. They did every song and cover I love and I haven't sang/screamed/danced that hard in years. ahhhh. In the morning we did a mile walk with Hanson around the outside deck of the boat it took us 4 laps and the guys were all in sunglasses and Taylor had scary shorts on... this was the last day i went to the rest of the Meet and Greets and Matt got his poster signed by every single band :) I went to the sixers last show, Wideawake, and an amazing acoustic Michael Tolcher set! He has changed and grown alot and i was impressed. We sadly packed our stuff in our cabin and headed to the finale show with Ernie Halter and Sister Hazel. The shows were great and Sister Hazel called Hanson "Rock Ninjas, that don't ever quit and will groove you into submission". Then all the bands came together onstage and sang "We are the World" with Hanson doing most of the solo verses. It was so cute. Then each band played 2 covers and played late into the night. Blackberry Smoke's "Sweet Home Alabama" and The Sixers "Piano Man" was my favorite. Poor Zac was a left handed drummer on a right handed drum set. He looked retarded lol. That was the end of my trip but a couple other things that were cool was the Artist trivia with Tolcher, Boots and the 2 lead guys of Gaelic Storm, there are not words to say how funny that was. I got some great autographed Merch and lots of band conversations I saw my friends Amber and Jen, Jessica and some other frequent front rowers I knew and of course my Florida friends. Thanks to Joe for letting me leave my car at your place and for the ride and having Lawrence pick us up. That was really nice of you and it won't soon be forgotten. OH and my sub Teachers, Alexis, Amber and Lindsay. Thanks for covering my classes. And last but not least, special thanks to my parents for flying down here to take care of Ezra!!! And I'm sorry this is so long but you guys said you wanted ALL the stories. So there you go. See you on the Boat next year bitches! Peace.