Because of Dave's accident last year, we postponed our honeymoon that we planned on until his full recovery, and had a blast spending a few nights in Park City instead...
Dave's back brace days:
A trip to Costco
Don't worry. He didn't go out in public like this :)
Now, one year later, Dave is out of his back brace, and doing great! (He is still in pain, but you'd never know it. He's doesn't complain.) ...AND we just got back from our "Honniversary" (late honeymoon + anniversary) to Mexico! It was amazing! We stayed in a resort called The Grand Mayan between Cancun and Playa Del Carmen. His aunt and uncle have a place there and were great to let us spend time there. A relaxing beach getaway is just what we needed.
4.25.11 [Monday]
We had such a fun week. We left for the airport at 3:45 a.m. to hit our 5:50 flight out of SLC. Had a layover in Denver, and were off to Mexico! We took the resort shuttle to The Grand Mayan and arrived at about 3:00 in the afternoon. Throughout the week I developed a whole new respect for people who live in humid climates. I couldn't do it! We were DYING and it's only spring weather! I'm a wimp in the heat after another lovely Utah winter.
It was nice that we had the whole afternoon to settle in and figure everything out. For dinner we went to a poolside restaurant at the resort and had DELICIOUS "Make Your Own Tacos."
4.26.11 [Tuesday]
The day we decided to leave the bubble of the resort and venture into Playa Del Carmen! Woot Woot! Our main goal: hitting up Walmart for groceries. We walked out to the highway and waved down a local bus. Nobody on the bus knew English so we took the opportunity to brush up on our mad Spanish skills. Bahaha. I took two Spanish classes in high school, but since Heidi Kunz and I didn't pay very much attention, let's just say we didn't come out of there very fluent. But, between both Dave and I, we were able to get around.
We went to the beach there and went for a stroll along the ocean, took some pictures, stopped for lunch, and even got a free five minute beach massage. Go us!
Pretty sure we were maybe the biggest Gringos in Mexico. Had some moments...got on the wrong bus (arms full of groceries) whacked a few people in the process of getting on and off, and almost got taken out by another bus pulling up in the street right next to our bus door. All part of the experience right? :) Forgot butter at Walmart and stopped at some convenience store. Dave dropped a bag of groceries and our food was rolling around--in the process his finger went through the butter we were about to buy. The lady at checkout showed us the hole and of course we tried to tell her we did it...but the language barrier made it a bit difficult. Good times.
4.27.11 [Wednesday]
This was our bum day. We stayed at the resort and soaked up the sun. It was fantastic. I started reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown while lounging on the beach and would HIGHLY recommend it. It was absolutely amazing! I was hooked and couldn't stop reading it. Let's say Dave was thrilled when I finally finished it:
While we were laying out, a waiter from one of the restaurants in the resort came up and told us that they all the food would be 50% off that night! We double triple checked we heard him right. And we did. We were so pumped and made a reservation on the spot. Had a great time, and went crazy eating the delicious food since it was such a good deal. Yes...well we got the check, and come to find out, our little friend's accent made 15% sound like 50%. Ah well. :)
4.28.11 [Thursday]
Main event of the day: Cave Diving. When we ventured into Playa Del Carmen on Tuesday, we found a dive shop and scheduled a cave dive. Two guys from Colorado started the shop a few years ago. Times like these that I'm happy I am scuba certified. Yeah PADI! We would have had a tough time deciding between diving in the caves or the island, but we were told everything was pretty murky out on the coast because of the weird weather they'd been having. So we figured... why not do the caves? It was pretty intense. A little scarier than open water since you can't just pop up for air if an emergency arose. I didn't get claustrophobic like I was suspecting though, so that was a plus. Neat experience, and we met some funny people. Our guide had a German/Mexican accent. Definitely something we'd never heard before. Made us laugh. Unfortunately all of our pictures we took of this extravagant adventure didn't turn out because it was too dark down there. :(
McDonald's was our saving grace when we finished the dive that afternoon. Air conditioning, familiar food, cool drinks, and ice cream.
4.29.11 [Friday]
FIRST ANNIVERSARY! <3
I have always wanted to swim with dolphins, and of course have it on my bucket list. So on our anniversary, Dave surprised me with a morning dolphin swim!!! We got picked up at our resort in the morning and finished early afternoon. I absolutely LOVED it! Dolphins are such amazing animals. And soooo smart. We weren't able to wear sunscreen when we swam with them, so we got the classic an very attractive lifejacket shoulder burn.
When we got back to the resort, Dave had reserved a table at an Italian Restaurant nearby. The food was delicious, and we had a good time chatting. Our fine dining ended with a scrumptious chocolate dessert with a personalized message from my hubby. What a cutie. :)
4.30.11 [Saturday]
Unfortunately this is the day we had to part with Mexico. We had a BLAST! Such an amazing vacation, a fun time to spend together, and we were able to do so many fun things. ...Although I must say there was a part of us that was happy to get back home. We walked away feeling so incredibly blessed and so grateful to live in the country we live in, for the people we know, and things we have. And of course the lack of humidity in Utah! :)
We woke up early in the morning and headed out to get as much beach time as we could before we left, and enjoyed every last second.
The satisfied craving that became the
We watched Tangled for the first time while we were there and it is the cutest movie! Loved it!
