Vacation to Cancun!

Cancun, Mexico
Riu Caribe Resort
Ahhhhh. I love that feeling I have right after getting back from a relaxing vacation. Life seems a little brighter, like it has a fresh new start. Waking up in the morning isn't so hard, and the daily routine of life doesn't seem to treacherous. For a while. Unfortunately the feeling doesn't last for long. But I'm going to enjoy it while it's here!

Monday
The alarm woke us up at 1am. We got ready, loaded the car, and were to my parents at 2! We loaded their luggage and ours into the van and were on the road to PDX by 2:30. We arrived at the airport right on time at 4, and were checked in, through security, and waiting at our gate by 5. Our plane was on time, and in no time we were on the plane to Cancun. We had a plane change in Denver, but we arrived in Cancun at 3pm. Our resort was beautiful. The lobby was filled with plants. The floor was marble and beautiful. We were greeted by "Welcome drinks" and the staff ushered us inside and got us checked in. The weather was amazing. Sunny and 85.....perfect. Our rooms were big and had a balcony with a view that looked over the ocean. I've never had an actual ocean view room, so it was really neat. Of course our mini fridge was stocked with water, pop, and beer, and we had a mini bar with 4 full size bottles of liquor! All restocked daily!
We were anxious to see the beach and I was craving a bahama mama! We hit the lobby bar to get drinks before heading down to the beach to walk along with water and check it all out. It was a really nice beach. Soft white sand, clear-blue, warm water....ahhh. A picture of paradise.
We changed and got ready for our first meal. We wanted to do dinner at the buffet and we were all very surprised by the quality of all the food. There was Salmon, Prime Rib, pastas, salads, fruit, potatoes, fajitas, burritos, tacos, and so much more! And the dessert bar was to die for. A variety of about 10 different desserts to choose from, and they were all rich, creamy, and delicious. After dessert they offered us cappuccino's. We took them up on the offer, and we are so glad we did. The cappuccino's were so good. They became a daily, sometimes more than once a day, occurrence. After trying the buffet and loving it that much, we couldn't wait to try the specialty restaurants. There was a Mexican, Asian, and Steakhouse specialty restaurant.
We finished off our first night with some drinks in the lobby bar and watching the entertainment for the evening. There was a Mariachi Band that was really good, and after that it was Karaoke night! It's always fun to see people making fools of themselves, and every now and then be pleasantly surprised by a really nice voice.
We were all very tired and headed to bed pretty early our first night. We were excited to get up and start a fresh new day.

Tuesday
First things first! We were up at 8, and on the beach by 9. We found beach chairs to lie on and we laid on the beach and played in the ocean. Warm clear blue water is so much more fun to splash around in than freezing cold dark blue water that is on our Oregon coast. We had a great day. After lunch we spent some time at the pool. We had reservations at the Mexican Restaurant that evening, so at 5 we headed in to shower and get dressed for dinner. The Mexican Restaurant was very nicely decorated. They had big beautiful plates and the room was big and all marble. We had appetizers, drinks, and ordered our entree. I got chicken filled with pumpkin sauce that was very tasty. After dinner we went to the show of the night: Grease! It was a lot of fun. I love watching the dancing. They do such a good job.

Wednesday
We had a wonderful breakfast at the buffet before heading down to the beach. Fresh fruit, cappuccino's, fresh omelet's, french toast....the list goes on and on. I don't normally eat breakfast, but with so much good food, I didn't have a problem filling a couple plates!
We layed on the beach and played in the ocean all day. Our dinner reservations that evening were at the Steakhouse. The Steakhouse was their most popular restaurant and it was very hard to get in at a good time. My dad did the best he could, but the earliest time they had was 9:30! I was starving by 7, so we decided to go have a snack at the buffet. Our snack ended up being a whole dinner, because it's impossible to say no to all the good food they have. Even if you just have a "bite" of everything you want to try, it still fills your plate! Don't worry though, we didn't cancel our reservations at the steak house!! :) At 9:30 they brought us our drinks and a roll with butter. A few moments later they brought out an appetizer platter with vegetable tempura, onion rings, and chicken wings. It was so good. When we finished that they brought out Caesar salads. I'm not kidding, I think it was was best Caesar salad I've ever had. Then we order our entree. We all ordered the rib eye steak. Once our salad was finished they brought out soup. It was tomato and cream of artichoke. It was red and white and somehow they just separated it right down the middle. It was really cool, and very good. Once our soup was finished they brought out our steaks. They came with cooked spinach, a baked tomato, and a red potato. By the end of this meal I was stuffed. Everything was so good. They weren't done yet! For dessert they had baked alaska, which is ice cream cake that they light the frosting around the outside on fire to "bake" it. It was really fun to watch them make it and of course tasted amazing! By the time dinner was over it was almost midnight. Dinner was more like a show that night.

Thursday
You guessed it, breakfast first and then off to lay on the beach.
It was another beautiful day. Sunny and 85. We got our beach chairs and were lucky enough to find a little beach hut today, so we could get a little shade when we needed to. Trav became friends with the beach bartender Ross today. Ross mixed us up lots of special drinks. He made me wonderful bahama mama's, pina colada's, and riviera maya's! After lunch he really started mixin the drinks for us, and by dinner time Trav was ordering us shots! Ross made some delicious fruity shots. We had dinner at the buffet that evening, so we could go anytime. I was pretty drunk by dinner time and my poor parents were in for a treat. I made it through dinner fine, but for dessert I got a large plate of strawberries and chocolate sauce and I ended up getting chocolate sauce everywhere. Trav usually takes care of me, but he was as far gone as I was this night, so he was no help. My parents actually made me leave the restaurant (and the strawberries and chocolate sauce). After dinner we went to the show of the night, which I don't remember. But I'm sure it was good. I spent most of my time at the theater bar that night. On our way home from the theater we stopped at the lobby bar to order another drink. Trav ended up ordering another couple rounds of shots, and we noticed that a couple guys sitting next to us seemed interested in them. So, we ordered another round, for all 4 of us. Thats when we met Dan and Von from Philly. They were really nice. It was their first night there. We learned a lot about Philly, and they asked us if we go cow tipping since we're from Oregon. Ah Oregon, what a great reputation you give us! In conversation we found out it was Von's 26th birthday, so we of course ordered more shots to celebrate. We ended up taking shots until the lobby bar closed, and then stumbled up to our room to go to bed. We woke up at 4am and we were both laying on top of the covers, still in our clothes, with all the lights on in the room and the door to the balcony still wide open! Reminded me of our college days!

Friday
Needless to say we slept in! Not to late, but until 9:30. Then we headed to breakfast and back to the beach. We didn't visit our favorite bartender Ross though! We said hello to him and that we wouldn't be drinking that day! We had another great day just laying on the beach, soaking in the sun, and playing in the ocean - riding the waves. We had dinner at the buffet again and it was, as usual, amazingly delicious. The show for the night was Mexican dancing. It was fun to get a glimpse of their culture.

Saturday
More of the same. Relaxing on the beach all day again. Today was a pina colada day. I even got Trav hooked on them. We played cards on the beach and took naps and just relaxed. We had reservations at the Asian Restaurant at 7:30. It was really good! I don't eat sushi, but I do like rice rolls with veggies inside. They had rice rolls with red and yellow peppers inside and a wonderful soy/teryaki sauce to dip them in. The Miso Shiro soup was really good (2 bowls good) and the entrees were scrumptious. My favorites were the duck, the sweet n sour pork, and the chicken teryaki skewers. They had fried ice cream for dessert which I love. The show for the evening was Caribbean and it was so good. It was one of my favorites. The dancing and outfits were amazing. My parents went to bed after the show, but Trav and I got a table in the lobby and enjoyed the live band and a few more drinks before heading to bed.

Sunday
How could it already be Sunday? I felt like we had just arrived, and it was already our last day in paradise! We had a very lazy day on the beach, and my mom and I went shopping at the vendor booths set up around the hotel. We painted a little ceramic candle holder for mom's neighbor. It was a lot of fun. We bought a few bracelets, and my mom got a necklace and I got an anklet. I also found some maraca's for our neighbors and a hand painted Mexican margarita glass for Air. That night Trav and I saw a gentleman painting in a style that we had only seen before in Victoria when we were on vacation there one time. We loved it and ended up buying a painting when we were in Victoria and we got to get one in Mexico to! It's a beautiful beach-scape with palm trees and the ocean with a couple dolphins jumping out of the water. It reminded us of our trip, since we spent most of our time just laying on the beach looking at the ocean. That night we had reservations at the Steakhouse again, this time at 6:30! We loved the steak house the first time so I was thrilled to get to go again....this time at dinner time! It was scrumptious again and we had a great time talking and eating.
After dinner we went to our last show, and it was the variety show. It had dancing from all over the world - USA, Spain, Mexico, and more. It was another great show. After the show we got all packed up and ready to leave in the morning.

Monday
Trav and I got up at 7 so we'd have time to get one more walk on the beach in. It was a gorgeous morning, with no wind at all. We walked along the beach several time and collected some nice shells. Before heading in to shower we took one final dip in the ocean. It was sad to say goodbye. After we got ready we checked out and went to breakfast before catching our shuttle to the hotel.
Our flights were on time, and Trav and I got to sit by each other on both of them. We got home at 10pm and got ready for the work week.

Tuesday when I woke up for work I felt very refreshed which is just how I wanted to feel. Being back at work was hard though. By the end of the day I was exhausted! And COLD. Bur. Going from 85 - 45 is a big change. Tuesday night we picked Emma up from Air's. And Air had taco's for us! Yum. It was great to see Emma again. She's grown so much. She is getting so big! Her stitches looked good too.

So, now it's back to normal life. I can't wait to go back for vacation again! Thanks again mom and dad for making it possible for us to go with you! We had so much fun.