The Moon Monologues: Atlantis in Fifteen

1. Each morning we ate at a HUGE breakfast buffet (and one of the most expensive: $30/person?!?!). First trip: I managed to keep it healthy with fruits and an egg. Second trip: Waffle, pancake, and english muffin. Third trip: Went back when Chris asked why I didn't get the blueberry pancakes.

2. Re-discovered my love of all things guava, especially guava juice.

3. Spent our first day at the resort in a tube with Chris riding on the resort's amazing "lazy river" complete with slides, rapids, and a conveyor belt that hoisted you to the top of the slides so you didn't even have to get out of the tube to walk!

Tower of Power Water Slides

4. Got to wear my new wide-brimmed hat on day two while shopping in downtown Nassau. Chris got his mermaid on...

Chris, the Mermaid

5. Chris and I had some amazing meals while there, but the best by far was Chef Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill. I had the juiciest pork tenderloin and Chris ordered the local speciality, grouper. Meal was complete with blue-corn bread muffins, and a mediocre dessert topped with sauce made with ancho-chile powder?

6. I was impressed when Chris managed to talk his way into securing a Junior Suite on the top floor for us. (Our first room had 2 double-beds & was on the 4th floor.) It was beautiful, although we spent very little time in it. It overlooked the bridge suite that was once owned by Michael Jackson. It now rents for $25,000 a night with a 4-night minimum.

Bedhead

7. I spent day number three pool-side with Chris and my new book. Four hours of total bliss.

8. Chris spent night number three in utter agony soothing his total body sunburn with aloe vera lotion purchased from the hotel gift shop for an arm and a leg.

9. Ben & Jerry's makes a mean chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Maybe the best. At $8 a cone, we only visited twice.

10. Chris and I had a game going throughout the week to see who could push the elevator button first. The hotel guests LOVED us as we ran each other down in the hallway each morning in a race to get to the elevators first. (I won.)

Exploring the resort's underground aquarium

11. I fought my fear of heights and all rides even remotely scary by finally going down the slide dubbed "Leap of Faith," an almost vertical 60-foot drop through a tank of sharks. Chris prodded me the whole way up the stairs comforting me as I cried and said over and over, "This isn't my idea of fun."

NOT the Leap of Faith

12. Got bored so afternoon four was spent playing Bingo with Chris and a large group of the resort's elderly crowd. Chris won a hat. (Retail value: $30.)

13. Night four, the boredom continued. We went to a 7:00pm movie called "The Time Traveler's Wife" in the resort's theater.

I cried. Chris got me popcorn. And I was happy again.

14. Day Six was spent finishing my new book during our flight home. Sorry, ladies of my book club, I DEFINITELY went past Chapter Seven.