It has been a great number of years since we've been able to take an actual vacation. Life gets in the way, you know? But the Beautiful Mrs. K is not one to let this injustice stand. So a couple of months ago she began planning, getting our passports, gathering vaccination cards, arranging departures and arrivals, scheduling COVID tests, and buying swimsuits. Last week, the results of all of that hard work finally came: a family trip to Mexico. A 6am flight to Houston, then a connecting flight to Cancun. When we landed, we were greeted with what looked like an impossible, chaotic auditorium with lines going every which way to get admitted into the country! Miraculously, 20 minutes later we were in a Lincoln Navigator headed to our resort in Riviera Maya.
To say this place was posh would be an understatement. When we arrived, our Dude met us in the lobby, got us all Margaritas (except Eli, he got a Coke), and explained the layout of the vast resort. Right then, off we went.
The view outside of our room was a small water park for the kids. Which was not to be mistaken for the larger water slides and numerous pools on the estate.
Our rooms were spectacular. They were suites, actually, with living rooms, huge closets, bathrooms with jacuzzis, etc. A bit overwhelming at first.
There was tons of wildlife at the resort. It's in a jungle, after all. This little guy looks a bit like a racoon, a bit like a lemur. But it's actually a coatis. There are everywhere. Like, everywhere. They are immeasurably cute and they roam the place like squirrels roam St. Louis. There were also peacocks, iguanas, macaws, and so many colorful birds that it reminded me of the zoo.
The first day, the skies and the seas were a bit angry. It made for some great photo opportunities, though. The rest of the week, we had fantastic weather. 80's in the day, 70's at night.
Massive fish tank in one of the nightclubs on the grounds.
I guess the staff thought Deanna and I were honeymooners. They made towel sculptures each day that they cleaned our rooms. Funny, we didn't do much in the rooms. We spent 15+ hours each day doing something other than hanging out inside.
The night scenes at this place were amazing. I'm sure all luxury resorts look awesome, but we don't see this stuff much and it was nothing less than impressive.
Also impressive were the actual raccoons. Not to be confused with the slightly cuter coatis, the raccoons were a shifty little bunch of kids. Deanna and I watched this pair scheme together to get something out of the trash can. The guy on the ground was the lookout, and the little dude with his arse sticking out of the can was the point man. Sure enough, they got what looked like an awesome sandwich for their efforts.
There was always food and drink available. A fantastic buffet and any number of restaurants on-site kept you fed if you were hungry. But three nights we made reservations at the 5-star locations. I believe this was the first night, at the seafood location. We ate outside if at all possible, and mostly the staff accommodated us. The other nights were Japanese (freaking amazing!!!) and Mexican (equally awesome).
Our darling children were right at home here. Hanna and Tyson took advantage of the all-you-can-drink nature of Mexican resorts. Eli doesn't care for alcohol, nor is he old enough, so he did get to laugh a lot at the big kids. All of them took advantage of the pools and activities. There was always a water volleyball game, basketball game, or some other kind of contest where the losers got to belly flop. Deanna and Hanna also did a bunch of water workouts. On a rather windy day, we all went kayaking in the ocean, which is a whole 'nother level of boating for this guy. I'm alright, thanks for asking.
This is my favorite photo. This is the boardwalk from the last swimming pool (with swim-up bar!) that leads straight to the ocean. Just a gorgeous 100 yard walk.
On the penultimate day, we took an excursion to Tulum. It was a long-ish bus ride, but what was cool about this? Yep. The big tour busses have manual transmissions. In the hardcore Mexico traffic, these drivers are next-level.
Tulum was awesome. The buildings and structures are so well preserved. The first part of the tour was guided and we learned a lot about the region.
You know I love my panoramic shots.
The ocean view from the top of the temple grounds was breathtaking.
Tourists were no longer allowed to walk down the steps to the beach below because some neanderthals have defaced the property over the years. But even from here, it was a view of a lifetime.
Leaving Tulum, the tour bus took us to Xel-Ha, a massive water park with an inlet to the Caribbean. We snorkeled first in some totally clear blue water and I got to see my first live stingray. We rode some incredibly sketchy rental bikes really fast because we were late for our next gig. Deanna's seat fell off and Tyson jumped a hump on the path and nearly nailed some other sketchy bike renters. All safe, we still had to run to make it to the Sky Bikes, which you see Hanna pedaling above. This was the unexpected hit of the trip. There were cables strung throughout the jungle, through rocks, and even through caves for us to pedal into with these wild and weird machines. Some of the grades that we pedaled up were kinda tough, so it amazed us that these were offered to the general public without some kind of health test. After the Sky Bikes? Dolphins. Yep. We got into the water with the dolphins. Amazing creatures. It was truly a water park to end all water parks.
After a mad scramble to get out COVID tests to be able to board our planes and get home, the trip was over. So many bucket list things, I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff. We are all thankful to the Beautiful Mrs. K for handling all of the balls in the air that come along with international travel in the season of COVID. Do you know what the only bad part was? Missing the Hound Dog. But when we got home and picked Remi up, it seemed that he had a vacation of his own, staying with Deanna's sister and her husband.
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