Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Vacation! All I ever wanted...











So, little after-misadventure notwithstanding, our vacation to Mexico was lovely. We went to Puerto Vallarta and the hotel was beautiful (if under construction, and believe you me, our travel agent and everyone else in the world that I can think of is going to hear about that) and the weather...oh, the weather. Was fabulous. Beautiful, beautiful mid-70s, warm breezes and so humid. I had the softest skin ever there. Of course, now we're back to Colorado, I have turned into a raisin. I may have to flee back to more humid climes in self-defense.

Anyhoo, it was all very romantic and warm and I wore a big floppy fabulous hat a lot of the time and no makeup and felt very beautiful. And it really was so wonderful to spend so much time with Mr. Fantastic, just doing whatever, wandering on the beach and frolicking and whatnot. We did a lot of laying around - at the pool, on the beach, in the hot tub, etc, although I did force him into a Canopy Tour one day and a "Snorkel Adventure" another day, both of which wore us out and made us decide that while they were fun, next vacation we're literally doing nothing.

The first night we were there we walked on the beach at night like sappy romantic fools and listened to the waves and looked at the stars - oh, the stars. Well, aside from them being all wonky and backwards and upside down (took us three days to find the big dipper!) the stars were so close and huge and bright. That first night, we sat tangled up on an abandoned beach chair and drank our Corona Lights with lime (because we are ever mindful of our figures, damn the taste) and snuggled and kissed and talked softly and I wanted to cry it was so damn sweet. And as we were sitting there, all by ourselves in the night, out of nowhere there came fireworks. Fireworks! I - well, I have no words. Fireworks, just for us! I am a huge sucker for fireworks - god you should see me on the 4th of July, I'm such a patriotic sap for things that go boom - so you can imagine the look of childlike glee on my face as I sat there on a warm beach in Mexico, snuggled up with my honey watching our own fireworks display reflect off the water. It was like my own personal Say Anything moment. I nearly cried, you should ask Mr. F. God, I'm such a girl but it was awesome. I think my favorite moment from the whole trip. And well, of course you know I fell a little bit more in love with Mr. F right then, like he's the one who made the fireworks. Maybe he did.

Sunday we went to a restaurant called PiPi's, recommended by my friend Kathy, whose daughter lives in PV (that's what they call it, don't'cha know). Great food - they make the guacamole at your table to your taste and my god, it was good. I didn't even need to eat anything else. And Mr. F and I shared the world's largest margarita, although I think Mr. F got the lion's share by dint of it being too heavy for me to hold. Oh, and then on the way home, we missed our bus stop or something and it resulted in me using my high school Spanish to rescue us. I think Mr. F was suitably impressed at how much Spanish I've actually retained. Good on you, Senora Palabra!

On Monday we went on a Canopy Tour, otherwise known as the Zip Line, which is something I've wanted to do for ages. (Okay, something I've wanted to do ever since I saw it on The Amazing Race, shut up.) Anyway, it was totally cool! And kind of funny, since I'm afraid of heights - but I was so psyched to do this, I never even thought twice about the heights. There was more hiking involved than I had thought about but made sense once we got started. You'd hike up a little trail, clip on the the line and zzzzipp across the way, then hike a little trail to the next platform. Eventually we started going downhill to the next platform so it got easier toward the end. It was absolutely beautiful and exhilarating and I'm thrilled we did it. Plus, a year ago, this is something I physically wouldn't have been able to do - wouldn't have been able to take the hiking, would've been too heavy for the zip line - so it was really kind of a milestone for me.

Monday night we went to our "fancy" dinner - got all dressed up and everything. Had absolutely excellent food at the hotel next door. Mr. F and I decided we should just always share filet mignon and scallops and never eat anything else. Yum.

On Tuesday, we went on what we thought was going to be a snorkeling trip but which turned out to be more of a booze cruise. Eh. It was fun, once we realized that the 20 minutes of snorkeling in cloudy water was all the snorkeling there was going to be. We'd really love to actually snorkel some time, but I guess the Pacific side of Mexico isn't known for that - you're better off on the Gulf side. It was a really great boat ride, and we even saw some whales and dolphins while we were out. The boat - I have no idea what kind it was - had these little net thingies at the front where you could sit and sort of ride over the water, and Mr. F was eventually able to convince me to sit in it with him. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get back out of it once I got in! Well, I got out, but not gracefully. It was a long day in the sun and Mr. F's shins got pretty badly sunburned but it was a good time. I think next time, we'll skip that one. Also, when I jumped off the boat, I hit my big toe on something and it chipped my pedicure and is still a nasty black-and-blue.

Wednesday we spent mostly at the pool and ate lunch at the swim up bar, which I had been dying to do. I enjoyed it, although eating while sitting waist-deep in warm water mostly just made me have to pee. That was a really nice, relaxing day and I think next vacation, we plan to do more of that sort of thing as opposed to booze-cruising and zipping through the jungle. Mr. Fantastic lived up to his name and was fantastic about doing whatever I wanted. Tottenham was playing in the FA cup Sunday night and he went out to dinner with no complaint even though he would have a thousand times rather stayed at the hotel and watch the game. I still feel kind of bad about that, especially since they won and he had to miss it.

In all, it was a really great time and I'm so glad we got to spend it together, just the two of us. So often our vacations involve a whole bunch of other people and we don't get time to be sappy and romantic and walk on the beach and make me feel twenty again. And I forget that it's not just me that's the sappy romantic one. That it's Mr. F who wants to sit in the hot tub together and watch the sun set. Do you know, everywhere we went, people asked us if we were on our honeymoon? They kept saying how happy I looked. Maybe that's just a thing they say there to all the couples, but I felt like we were on our honeymoon. All giggly and hand-holdy and just...you know.

Oh, here. Stop rolling your eyes at me and go look at the pictures.