Once upon a time there was a happy couple. They enjoyed their lives & did lots of fun things together. Then they had four kids. While they still enjoyed their lives, they one day realized it had been TEN years since they went on a real, romantic vacation- just the two of them. (no kids) Since their ten year wedding anniversary was right around the corner, they decided to go for it.
The moral of the story: BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR!
Here's the good, the bad, and the ugly of our big, "romantic" getaway.
I'll start with the bad:
1. We arrived at our hotel to find out that since it was the busiest weekend of the year, they were short on rooms and they had taken the liberty of pairing us in a "junior suite" with Seth's brother. (Romantic, huh?) That went over for exactly one night before Seth stormed back to the front desk, demanding that they find us our own room. They did- but sorting out the fiasco wasted about one day of our trip.
2. Day two- we got our own room. Yeah! However, Seth decided to come down with a monster case of the flu. He spent one night, one day, and another night shivering under his covers, begging for more blankets. (It was roughly eighty degrees). So, I spent that day hanging with my in-laws by the pool.
3. During said pool-time, I fell asleep with my sunglasses on & got the most ridiculous sunburn on my face.
4. Seth emerged from his coma feeling terrible. He spent the next three days terribly congested & sweating like a crazy person.
5. Seth's brother came down with the same flu the day before we were leaving.
6. We payed an insane amount of money for a tour of Chichen-Itza that turned out to be a "sell-me-some-souveniers" tour, led by two majorly annoying tour guides. The bus ride to get there took nearly FOUR hours. I was so carsick when we arrived I could barely stand walking around the place.
7. While walking around, however, I came down with an emergency case of the "Mexico Sickness". We were in the middle of nowhere & there wasn't a bathroom in sight. Let me just leave it at that.
8. We arrived back home to find out that all four of our kids had come down with the same flu Seth had while we were away. They were terribly ill & had also caused their Grammy & cousin to get sick.
9. We missed the BIGGEST snowstorm of the year, which dumped a reported FOUR feet of snow on Snowbasin (Seth's mothership). That was the most depressing news we could possibly come home to (other than four kids with raging fevers, I suppose).
Allright- enough of the pity party. Here are a few GOOD things about our trip. My goal is to come up with more good things than bad.
1. Our hotel was BEAUTIFUL. Neither of us had ever been to the carribean side of Mexico & I'd definitely recommend it to anyone.
2. The weather was perfect. I could live there year-round. 80 degrees, sunny & a perfect amount of humidity for my dry, Utah-winter skin.
3. Because of the room mixup fiasco, the hotel gave us all free massages, a $100 credit to the gift shop & upgraded wristbands that included free meals at a lot of really nice restaurants.
4. We went cave snorkeling- very fun!
5. I am glad I saw Chichen-Itza, although I probably will never go back. There are a lot of other cool ruins that are much closer to the hotels.
6. I ate lots of really good food- and it didn't cost a penny. I love all-inclusive hotels!!!! We also ate at a great little place in Playa-del-Carmen that had amazing authentic Mayan food.
7. The beach and the water in southern Mexico are amazing. I would actually love to take the kids there someday.
8. My horrible sun-burn never peeled :)
9. I did eventually find a bathroom out there in the middle of Chichen-Itza, but sufficeth to say, I will never be welcome to use that restroom again.
10. I have a few great photos to look back on. Someday, it will all be a big laugh!
I did it!
These pics are a little old, but I've been wanting to share them for awhile, so here goes. There's really nothing like a fresh spring powder dump. Tiffany & I managed to both get a kitchen pass one morning & made a run for it. The snow was 2 days old, so we didn't think there would be much powder left to enjoy- we were so glad to be wrong. Blair came also, & I was worried I would feel like a third wheel, but Blair made sure it was all about the ladies day!! He followed us around taking our pictures. It was so awesome! We know we still look like girls in these pictures, but at the time we felt like superstars. We kept saying "Oh, I looked good in that one, didn't I???" Also, I should mention that this was (I think??) my first time making tracks down No Name. After we hiked to the top, it was pretty foggy & I was freaking out, but once we dropped in the sun came out & the snow was amazing!!! Tiffany has been through hell & back in the last year & I'm so glad she got to have this day. The Gardners are amazing people & we are so lucky to have them as neighbors!
P.S.- Just a quick shout-out to Blair's new hobby: If anyone out there wants him to follow you around for a day skiing, Mt. Biking, Snowmobiling, whatever- he takes amazing pictures and the fees are reasonable. And really, who doesn't love a good ego shot of themselves now and again????
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