tropical breezes

So, as I posted about several times, dear hubby and I went on vacation to Mexico. It was AWESOME!

Our first tropical vacation together, and our first trip that was just for us. Each time we have gone away (other than our honeymoon) we have to gone to visit friends or family. All of those trips were great and it was wonderful treat to visit with people we love, but there is something so great about getting to be with just each other.

We flew out on a VERY cold morning. -37 degrees celsius (-34 F?) is more than enough motivation to go somewhere warm.



The resort we stayed at was amazing. For those of you looking for a great place to stay, check out the Secrets Capri Riviera Cancun. Seriously.





We went for a VERY long walk down the beach to Playa del Carmen one day.



We saw amazing birds and iguanas all week. Checked out Coco Bongo and it is exactly as crazy as it's name sounds. You should check it out too. But be prepared, we were up until 5am. Yikes!

The food was awesome, the staff were great and super friendly, and lets be honest, who needs the cold? I wish I was still there.

It was a wonderful and much needed break from reality and responsibility, and it was so great to spend a week with Joel.

Sigh.

Maybe next year when Joel is done school we can go to somewhere warm again!

33 days

Until my dear hubby and I escape cold and miserable Calgary for our first ever tropical vacation together!

We have chosen to spend 8 nights and 9 days at the beautiful Secrets Capri Riviera just north of Playa del Carmen in the Riviera Maya.


Photo Credit: Corey Schubert Photography

To say that I am excited would be an understatement. One of the reasons we picked this resort is the "Unlimited Luxury" all inclusive plans they offer. No wrist bands, premium drinks, beach front wait service, and land sports such as tennis and golf are included. There's 6 restaurants and 5 bars, no reservations required and the resort it's self is on the small side of medium. Only 290 rooms!

I have been to Playa del Carmen once before, for work. It was....exhausting. I went with the first family I nannied with and it was a very long 8 days of not much sleep, over heating and just generally not a lot of fun, even if I was with one of the coolest 2 year olds I know. So needless to say, I am looking forward to an adult trip at an adults only resort where we can come and go as we please, eat delicious food we didn't have to drink and do all the exploring or lazing around we want!


P.S. I just found out that there is something called Tequila Bingo there...oh dear, we may just have to play a game or two!

what i did on my summer vacation: part three

Okay, it's a little late to be posting this, but the final installment of what I did on my summer vacation may be my most favourite part: Seattle!

On our last day of vacation we ventured to Seattle.  Both Portland and Seattle are on my list of American cities to visit.  (Also included: New York, San Francisco, San Diego, LA, Chicago, etc.)  Obviously, one of the major pulls in Seattle is Pike Place, but I also really wanted to see the Troll.  Don't ask me why, I just think it's awesome.  Since we only had one day, we didn't get to see near enough, but I was glad to be able to go.  We left for Seattle at 5:30am in order to beat the rush hour traffic and arrived just before 7:30.  We found some parking by the pier, and some breakfast at a really cool Sourdough Bakery.

We walked through Pike Place for a couple of hours.  Sampled fresh fruit and smoked salmon, watched the fish mongers toss around trout and sniffed all the spices.  I was particularly in love with the flowers.  I couldn't believe the piles and piles of beautiful fresh local flowers for DIRT CHEAP.



Things that you would never be able to find in Calgary, like piles of Dahlias, and if you could find them, they would be $60 a bunch, no $10.

I tasted a nectarine as big as my head.



Obviously, they discourage public displays of affection with the fruit.



We checked out the Starbucks flagship, which was really crowded and couldn't resist buying a set of mugs with the original logo on them.

We went to the gum wall. Gross.



Seriously.

Took a cliche picture or two:





And then we headed off to the Troll.



How cool is that?

At the end of the day (read: 4pm) we were exhausted!  Besides all the landmarks, we also visited a really old part of town which I know can't remember what it is called and walked around on crazy cobbled streets.  We watched a glass blower for a while, at lunch in a really delicious but really sketchy, dirty Italian restaurant with the worlds tiniest bathroom/furnace room, and took a thousand more pictures.

We left Seattle around 4pm and got stuck in rush hour.  What were we thinking?  It took almost 3 hours just to get past Tacoma!  When we finally got home we were pooped!  We had just enough energy to pack some food and our stuff up, load the car and collapse into bed before our early morning departure back to Calgary.

Once again, a BIG thanks to Krissy and Lucas for hosting us.  Other than some short trips to visit family, this is our first actual vacation since our honeymoon more than 3 years ago, and it may be our last for a while since Joel is still in school.  I would say the vacation was a huge success and on top of getting to mark two cities off my list, it was so good to see Krissy and her husband.