Ever since the beginning of Spring Steve and I had been wanting to plan a "getaway" with just the two of us. Every couple needs that time away from the kids to just focus on their relationship....whether it is just hiring a babysitter to watch the kids while you go out to dinner alone or something else, but Steve and I wanted to plan a trip somewhere warm. When we were looking at our options of places to go we knew we wanted to go somewhere we've never been before. We had already been on a cruise to Cozumel, Mexico and that was a couple of years ago. We threw out the idea of an all-inclusive resort and started looking at our options. After looking at several resorts we were kind of worn out because the cost of everything seemed crazy....I was about to give up because I really didn't think it cost that much! Before we were about to give up I found information for a travel agent and gave her a call.....this call was a lifesaver to our travel plans.
After talking to the travel agent we were confident we could find something within our price range and for the time frame we wanted. Most people think of travel agents and think $$$ but that's not the case, with our travel agent at least. We paid a $50 "retainer fee" which is refundable if you book something through her. She charges the fee up front just in case she does all the work for you to find a trip and then you don't end up booking anything....kind of saves her butt for all her time. So basically it was free to have someone else do all the work for you and they take care of all your plans (flights, resort/cruise, airport transfers, hotels (if needed), etc.). So basically if anything went wrong she would take care of it so you wouldn't have to stress out about it. LeNee (our travel agent) found us a really good deal and I knew we were getting a good deal because I searched long and hard for a trip under our budget and I couldn't find it. Travel agents book vacations for a living so why not trust them with your travel plans. Anyways end of my travel agent bragging (this wasn't sponsored in anyway by her, I just wanted to give some info to fellow friends looking at booking a vacation but are hesitant about getting a travel agent because they fear it is expensive).
Steve and I drove up to Seattle to drop Logan off at my sisters house so we could head out to Mexico, but before we left we spent the day at my in-laws cabin and had a little fun on their boat. Most of the Boyd gang up at the cabin! Missing Christy and her family, Bryson (who didn't want in on the picture), Dakota (on her mission in Taiwan), Corbin, and Westin (in Boise).
Before this picture was taken I was able to run around Lake Cavanaugh which totaled 7.86 miles (according to my app). It wasn't one of my best runs ever, but it was such a fun run! The view of the lake as I was jogging around was beautiful! I definitely love Washington and it's greenery! This family I married into is pretty sweet too :) Love all of them!
Day 1:
Sunday morning we woke up at 3 am to catch our flight that left around 6:30 am. My brother-in-law Creed took Steve and I to the airport and that was probably one of the hardest short drives I've been on. It set in that we were going to be away from Logan for 5 days and I wouldn't see him again until Thursday night. But I knew if that's all I focused on the whole trip that I wouldn't have as much fun, so I just made my sister send me lots of pictures each night and that was good enough :) We had a layover in LAX for a couple of hours and then we boarded our flight to Cancun! I have to admit...I felt so cool boarding the plane that said it was departing to Cancun (I am one lucky girl)!
On our flight headed to Cancun as we were descending all we could see for hundreds of miles was trees!! So many trees! Literally a jungle!
Airplane selfie
We got off the plane and searched for our airport transfers and found them pretty quickly. The gentleman that was helping us get our bags was really thrown off that a "white guy" like Steve could speak Spanish fluently. Our driver was so nice though and really familiarized us to Mexico and what to expect. The drive from the airport to the resort was about 1 hour 15 minutes. We went past a couple of towns and then into the gated community of Playacar. Our resort was within Playacar about 10 minutes. We then unloaded our luggage from our "van" and headed to the lobby of our resort to get checked in.
We got to our room, threw our bags on the floor, and headed to dinner :)
Nothing too fancy, but it was really close to everything so we didn't care!
Steve and I went and ate at the Italian Buffet near our room and then went to the plaza to see the nightly show.
Day 2:
We started off the morning by waking up around 7 and walked to go get breakfast. We could literally see the palapa "hut" (where breakfast was) from our room window. The buffet had anything from pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, yogurt, cereal, fruit, juice, potatoes, to chilaquiles and other authentic Mexican food.
Our view walking to breakfast
I felt like we were the first ones awake because there was no one to be seen, it was 7 am afterall
Breakfast
After breakfast we put our swimsuits on and walked down to the beach. It was only a 2 minute walk from our room.
Empty beach, we came at the perfect time!!!
So beautiful!
After swimming around for a little bit in the ocean we decided we wanted to go check-out the kayaks for a little bit.
The water was perfect and it was so fun to kayak in the middle of the ocean in Mexico!
After kayaking we played in the water again and took some short naps on the beach chairs. It was so relaxing and so perfect!!! The weather was perfect (except for the humidity) it was roughly high 80's with 100% humidity!
We then decided we wanted to go check out the bikes for a little bit and explore the town of Playa del Carmen. Giselle (this sweet, kind younger lady) from our resort said she could take us to 5th Avenue (famous shopping area in Playa del Carmen) on our bikes and then we could just come back whenever we wanted.
Inside one of the Mexican stores
These were the upper end stores in the area
After shopping on 5th Avenue we headed back towards our resort and stopped at these shops on the way in Playacar.
More shops in Playacar
As we were coming through the resort gate we saw these things running around. We had seen them before that morning, but weren't able to get them on camera. I don't know exactly what they are but they look like a cross between a mini pig, a guinea pig, and a rat lol
We headed to dinner at the French Restaurant. We were the first ones in there and had the place to ourselves for a little bit.
Some of the best food I've ever had!! I started with the Lobster Bisque for the appetizer, had Filet Mignon for the main entree, and had Baked Alaska for dessert. SO GOOD!!
Steve had some crab appetizer, had Rack of Lamb for his entree, and dessert he had mint ice cream.
My dessert was probably the coolest part of our day. They gave me my dessert and asked if I wanted flames....I said yes because I didn't really know what that implied or what they would be doing....our server picked up my plate and brought it over to a different table. He poured some rum into a metal vase, started it on fire and poured it back and forth between two vases. The alcohol was on fire and it looked so cool!!! After a couple of minutes he poured the liquid over my dessert and it looked like my dessert was on fire for a good minute or so, hence the slight char on the top of my dessert. The alcohol was cooked out by the time I ate my dessert and my completed dessert was so good!!
We then headed to the show in the plaza for the rest of the night.
Continued on Part 2
I really like the picture of you at the table in the restaurant! Mexico. Looks bomb!
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