Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Snow Fun
I know my blog posts have been few and far between in the last few months. It's definitely not due to a lack of activity around here, but rather the opposite. It's finding the time to sit down and write. I'm hoping that in the next week or so, I will be able to write a post of substance. In the meantime, here are a few pictures from Norah and I the other day.
How can you resist that face???
Oh how I love this girl to pieces!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Mexico Part 2
So the saga continues....
Day 4
We started the day bright and early and headed into town to do some whale watching. Because we listened to a time share presentation a few days earlier, they gave us 3 free whale watching tickets. Score. Even if we didn't get the tickets for free, it was well worth the $40 to go. Not only did we see whales, but we also got to take part in an on-board dance party.
The whales in Cabos are primarily Humpback and Grey whales and they come to this area to have their babies and this time of year happens to be a good time to mate, so we got to see a lot of whales.
I was blown away with how friendly the whales were. They were definitely the show-off types and I liked that.
Unfortunately, about 45 min to an hour into our little excursion, our boat decided to stop working. We were unable to follow the whales around, which kinda stunk, but fortunately, our lovely crew member just brought out more Mai Tai's to keep us happy. That wasn't so bad. Because drinks were free on the boat, some people on board started to have a little too much to drink. And what do we do when we have had to much to drink????? Yup, that's right, jump in the ocean (don't worry, the crew did tell us it was ok to do this, but I opted to stay on the boat), crank up the tunes and start a dance party.
Eventually a little motor boat came to our rescue and pushed us back to shore. I always thought you got towed by a boat, but apparently in Mexico they push boats.
Once we had our feet on land again, we needed some food and to walk around the town a little bit. We ate lunch at an awesome little Mexican joint along the Marina called No Worries. It seemed fitting that we eat at a place like No Worries while on vacation.
After lunch, we wandered around town for a bit. This was the mall in town - pretty impressive for Mexico I thought.
Then, while walking down the street, I saw Heaven right before my eyes. There on the corner, between the Burger King and the Hard Rock Cafe was my mecca.....
I was a very happy girl. I promptly bought myself a grande extra hot latte and savored every last drop. Good coffee was hard to come by (and definitely not cheap) on the resort, so it was nice to have the familiar again. Did you know that in Mexico, they write your name on your cup when you order??? I thought that was pretty cool.
In the evening, we decided that we were going to eat at one of the nicer restaurants on the resort and take in a sunset on the beach.
Day 5
Day 5 was spent hanging out at the resort. We ventured down to the main pool to take in the action going on down there and to take part in some of the ping pong/beach volleyball tournaments, which sadly never happened. Despite the lack of activity at the resort, we were still able to sit by the ocean, enjoy the sun and each other's company. We were not hard done by.
Day 6
Day 7
Our flight was scheduled to leave Cabos at 4:15, so we had a little bit of the day to enjoy time by the pool. We needed to soak up as much sun as possible before we had to venture back to the cold north that is Winnipeg.
We unfortunately were unable to fly directly to Winnipeg from Cabos, so we needed to spend the night in Calgary before we caught a very early 6:30am flight to Winnipeg. Rather than sleeping in the airport, we spent the money on a hotel close by. Seeing as we were only in Calgary for maybe 8 hours, we picked the cheapest hotel we could find. We ended up at the Travelodge. We opened the door to our room and had a little bit of shock as we had just spent a week in the lap of luxury and now we were in a dumpy hotel, all within a 12 hour period.
It did the trick for the night (although I didn't sleep much - I was awake thinking about how clean the bed really was) and by 6:30am, we were up in the air again, homeward bound.
It was a fabulous trip spent with fabulous people. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I could of definitely gone for a few more days in Mexico, but it is good to be home too. Thanks Gareth and Kristen for going on this spectacular adventure with me.
Day 4
We started the day bright and early and headed into town to do some whale watching. Because we listened to a time share presentation a few days earlier, they gave us 3 free whale watching tickets. Score. Even if we didn't get the tickets for free, it was well worth the $40 to go. Not only did we see whales, but we also got to take part in an on-board dance party.
The whales in Cabos are primarily Humpback and Grey whales and they come to this area to have their babies and this time of year happens to be a good time to mate, so we got to see a lot of whales.
The splash in the water was from a sea lion jumping off of the rock. If you look closely you can see 2 more sea lions sitting on the rocks.
What a beauty!!!
One whale took us by surprise and actually jumped out of the water. Sadly I could not get my camera up fast enough, but I caught the splash on its way down. It was the most stunning thing ever and made our trip worth it.
Unfortunately, about 45 min to an hour into our little excursion, our boat decided to stop working. We were unable to follow the whales around, which kinda stunk, but fortunately, our lovely crew member just brought out more Mai Tai's to keep us happy. That wasn't so bad. Because drinks were free on the boat, some people on board started to have a little too much to drink. And what do we do when we have had to much to drink????? Yup, that's right, jump in the ocean (don't worry, the crew did tell us it was ok to do this, but I opted to stay on the boat), crank up the tunes and start a dance party.
The funny thing about this picture is that about an hour prior to Kristen getting into the ocean, she had told me that the ocean is a scary place, we only see about 10% of what goes on and so she's not a huge fan of being in the ocean water. Well, when the crew said we could jump in, Kristen took the stairs in the water and swam around a bit. Please take note that about 15 minutes earlier we had just seen a whale go under our boat. Anyway, it made me laugh.
Kristen made new friends and joined in the dance party. I thought for sure someone was going to go off the end of the boat, but alas, all members stayed aboard. I marvel at her ability to talk with anyone and be so confident and outgoing.
Eventually a little motor boat came to our rescue and pushed us back to shore. I always thought you got towed by a boat, but apparently in Mexico they push boats.
Once we had our feet on land again, we needed some food and to walk around the town a little bit. We ate lunch at an awesome little Mexican joint along the Marina called No Worries. It seemed fitting that we eat at a place like No Worries while on vacation.
All over town there were skeleton figures. I never found out the meaning behind them, but I found it very interesting. This one was by far the most interesting one - I figured I would make a new friend :)
Then, while walking down the street, I saw Heaven right before my eyes. There on the corner, between the Burger King and the Hard Rock Cafe was my mecca.....
aka Starbucks.
I was a very happy girl. I promptly bought myself a grande extra hot latte and savored every last drop. Good coffee was hard to come by (and definitely not cheap) on the resort, so it was nice to have the familiar again. Did you know that in Mexico, they write your name on your cup when you order??? I thought that was pretty cool.
In the evening, we decided that we were going to eat at one of the nicer restaurants on the resort and take in a sunset on the beach.
At one of the bars they had fire pits in the middle of the tables. Kristen and I enjoyed a very yummy glass of wine together in front of the fire. It was the perfect way to end off a day.
Day 5
Day 5 was spent hanging out at the resort. We ventured down to the main pool to take in the action going on down there and to take part in some of the ping pong/beach volleyball tournaments, which sadly never happened. Despite the lack of activity at the resort, we were still able to sit by the ocean, enjoy the sun and each other's company. We were not hard done by.
Can you say Christmas card?????
I have no words for this picture.
Again no words.
I believe this was the front cover photo for Sports Illustrated for the month of February: Swimsuit Edition.
Since we were not allowed to bring our own alcohol down to the pool area, we had to be creative as to how we were going to drink our wine without having to stay in our room. Kristen, the genius that she is, suggested water bottles. So sneaky!
Day 6
One of the things the 3 of us wanted to do while away was go parasailing. On our last full day in Cabos, we headed back down to the marina to see what we could do in terms of parasailing. We found a place that charged us only $35 each to take us out. It was too good to pass up. It was definitely one of my highlights of the trip.
Up goes Gareth:
A mermaid in the air!
Thumbs up!
Next is Kara:
Finally Kristen goes up:
Like I said, definitely a highlight of the trip. The guys who took us out said the rope went out to 600ft. The scenery from up there was incredible to say the least.
Day 7
Our flight was scheduled to leave Cabos at 4:15, so we had a little bit of the day to enjoy time by the pool. We needed to soak up as much sun as possible before we had to venture back to the cold north that is Winnipeg.
Bathing Beauties
Gareth decides to do some synchronized swimming before we leave. Never a dull moment. Trust me.
While waiting for our flight to leave, we managed to rope Gareth into playing a little Yahtzee with us.
We unfortunately were unable to fly directly to Winnipeg from Cabos, so we needed to spend the night in Calgary before we caught a very early 6:30am flight to Winnipeg. Rather than sleeping in the airport, we spent the money on a hotel close by. Seeing as we were only in Calgary for maybe 8 hours, we picked the cheapest hotel we could find. We ended up at the Travelodge. We opened the door to our room and had a little bit of shock as we had just spent a week in the lap of luxury and now we were in a dumpy hotel, all within a 12 hour period.
It did the trick for the night (although I didn't sleep much - I was awake thinking about how clean the bed really was) and by 6:30am, we were up in the air again, homeward bound.
It was a fabulous trip spent with fabulous people. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I could of definitely gone for a few more days in Mexico, but it is good to be home too. Thanks Gareth and Kristen for going on this spectacular adventure with me.
THE END!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)