15 yr. anniversary trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico!

Brett surprised me with a weekend trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico which is where we went for our honeymoon 15 years ago. Wasn't that sweet?! Tina was wonderful and offered to watch the kids for the 4 days. What a trooper!

We flew First Class--and let me tell you there is a huge difference between first class an coach. The seats are huge! Instead of a soft drink and the option to purchase for $5.00 a sandwich that was wrapped in saran wrap 2 weeks ago, you get a serious meal even though it is just a 2 hour flight to the first layover. We're talking salad and breadsticks to start, lasagna and then chocolate never letting your drinks get half empty. Coach people can't use your bathroom, so you don't ever have to wait, it's less bumpy and I think somehow you get there faster---Ok, maybe not, but it is not something I am accustomed to at all! But i could get use to it.

Our HOTEL--room wasn't too shabby either, nothing but the best for his lady! We actually had a suite that was quite SWEET! Living room, dining room, full kitchen, bedroom & 2 bathrooms. Hello, it was as big as our first house! Balcony overlooking the magnificent pools that were practically touching the ocean. Swim up bars but we never used them.

TEQUILA & GEORGE- Those were the iguanas I had my pictures taken with, carson thought it was cool. There was also this gold pirate statue dude, he didn't move for hours. I went up and put in some $ in his tip jar and he moved to shake my hand. I freaked out, shook his hand and we got a picture together.

GLASS BOTTOM BOAT RIDE--We walked a lot around the marina, shopped for the kids, watched a X-Files movie with spanish subtitles and took a glass bottom boat ride out to the "arch". Our glass bottom boat driver was a maniac, we could pretty much look into the glass at the bottom of the boat and see snorklers he was driving over, then he would make this obnoxious seal sound louder than any seal would ever make. I guess this was his trademark or signal to other boaters or something, letting them know something or another..I personally think he was advertising his annoying mannerisms and maybe making other people really glad that they were on the boat that they were on. Not exactly a relaxing ride. We did see the arch, lots of colorful fish and he picked up about 8 people from a beach and they joined us for the ride smoking their cigarettes in front of us so the smoke would come back and gag us. It was an adventure, we laughed about it.

FOOD-Then every day, twice a day actually--we had the ritual. The taco ritual. Brett must eat tacos, must find the best authentic tacos in Cabo. I ask locals in my broken spanish for the best taco stand that is NOT for tourists and we go on our hike off of the main drag. These are not taco bell tacos but rather the little soft flat tortillas with the onion/ salsa mix on top of the carne asada. He puts on his hot sauce and I just wish they believed in cheese on a taco. We found some pretty good taco spots. I did talk him into one really nice dinner--and boy was it nice! It was Chris Ruth's Steak House. Brett has been to this restaurant in Hong Kong and said it had the very best steaks in the world. He was correct. Fanciest meal I'd ever eaten, our waiter, Eduardo was like our private water as he only waited on our table and one other table and those people left when we were ordering. So, he stood there behind brett with his hands folded in front of him waiting for our glasses to be half full then he calls to some other busboy kid who fills them up, and when there is a bread crumb that falls from my breadstick--he calls for the same kid to come and remove it from the white tablecloth. This goes on the whole dinner, the food was extraordinary and I highly recommend if you ever see a Chris Ruth's---you make a way to eat there once and order the filet mignon.

SIESTAS- Mexico is known for it's siesta's and we certainly didn't want to offend their culture, so brett especially found a hammock, a bench, the bed, the pool side lounge chair, whatever and took his siesta. After all, it is vacation!

DRIVE- Well, we're not really into the whole tourist thing so since we rented a car, I decided we should use it. I asked some guy where we should go for a drive and he told us some dink town 2 hours away. I said--let's go! We got out of town into the sagebrush and saguro cactus country when the rental car's "check engine" light came on. It was about 98 degrees and the thought of walking miles and miles for help, didn't sound like fun. Brett said it was the transmission, that didn't sound good to me. We kept going. There were cows, horses and donkeys that wandered across the road at random. Brett wasn't sure what to do about the speed limits whenever he obeyed them people zoomed past us like we were stopped, so he just went with the traffic at like 180 kph. I think he liked seeing those big numbers on the dash. I just kept thinking the car was going to blow up. We survived it and got to this town, it was small. Hard to believe it was really on a map. Anyway, someone told us that the "hotel california" from the Eagles song was here somewhere. We found it, and ate lunch there. Brett was a bit mesmerized with the humongous nude drawings of a male and a woman by the bathrooms---since one boy went into the wrong one. We didn't get a better picture because we didn't want to look like perverts staring at the naked drawings. We went to a mission there and went inside and prayed (it was Sunday and we missed going to church). We made it all the way back to Cabo later that day with the "check engine" light still on.

FISHING- There are only 3 things I will get up early for, hot air balloons- fishing and a crying baby. We got up at 5:30am, packed our stuff, drove to the dock where the people tried to swindle us into paying more than we agreed to the day before. They said we needed to pay for the fishing license and the bait. We said we'd only pay for the bait. You barter in mexico that's just the way it is. They said no, we said "see ya" and walked back towards our car in the dark wishing we had never got up. They ended up telling us that today for some reason, they don't actually need a license. Weren't we lucky?! So on the boat we went. It was beautiful seeing the sun come up while we were out in the ocean. I thought, this is worth getting up at 5:30 for. Being the ever so scared in water person that I am I asked our driver for a life jacket, he kept saying he'd get it in a little bit. Then half hour later, I'd ask again and he'd say "the boat is good, everything is good" as he waved his hand over the gauges at the front. Good or no good, I'm in the ocean in this little boat with a stranger (who could be a hired killer) and a husband who well....we don't always get along. Brett kept saying "you'll be fine...you don't need one honey, you'll be just fine". I asked the driver if he had ever fallen overboard as he was leaning over to grab his line one time, he said "no, i have never fell but many people come fishing and fall". Excuse me! where is that life jacket?! I finally stopped fretting about it and figured if it was my time it was my time. Then I looked at brett to see his face not looking so good. I reached out to touch his arm and he was very clammy. I asked how he was doing and he said he was going to be sick. He never did get sick, he made the whole 4 hour ride- yeah! the ocean was very choppy and our driver was not afraid to use the power his engine had and put us all over the ocean. We got some tuna in the beginning and were excited. Then he chopped those up and put them out as bait and we were able to catch the big dorado. We remembered them from our last fishing trip there. We got 5 Dorado, one too small we had to put back and brett reeled in the big one he had me take a picture of. A group of guys (bachelor party) went fishing the day before and we saw their catch hanging--a humongo Marlin. We were looking for one of those, but didn't get one. It ws a great time fishing and I survived with no life jacket even.

HOMEWARD BOUND-- of course, I had to buy these impossible to take home star light fixtures for our back porch, and brett had to get this hammock chair which meant carrying a large 3 ft. stick past customs as a carry on. Came home to hugs and kisses and Tina and Luke who were probably anxious to get home but never let on.

HOME- I was careful not to drink their water, but I forgot you probably shouldn't kiss a Mexican fish. So, Montezuma's revenge appeared a day later ( what I personally did to the guy is beyond me, and i think he needs therapy if he is still full of revenge after all these years!)--

All part of the Mexico experience. Heard some Oregon guy was killed by the Police in a restaurant we walked by several times the same weekend we were there--yikes. God took good care of us, over and over again--He is always so good.

Adios y Vaya con Dios