Whew! We've just returned from two weeks of travel — the first week was a little vacation getaway before another quick work week in New York. Now that we're home, resting up and have had a chance to scour through the mess of collective camera and phone pics, we're looking forward to sharing a couple roundups from our latest trips here on the blog.
Every March, Tim and I travel down to Mexico for a little winter getaway (you may remember our vacation pics from last year) — today we're sharing some of our favorite vacation photos if you care to see...
This year we were able to take Brandon with us since JMU's Spring Break coincided with our travel plans. We took Stephanie to Mexico during her Sophomore year at college too, so were excited to get the same chance to spend time with Brandon together. And — spending time with Brandon is always a good reminder of just how tall 6'4" really is, ha!
If you follow us on Instagram and/or Facebook, you may recognize a few shots from our trip and know a little bit behind our transit woes getting down to Mexico. Long story short, we ended up stuck in the Philadelphia International Airport for an entire day, only to find out we'd need to spend the night in Philly for a direct to Cancun flight rebooking the following day. Womp Womp...
It did, however, give us the chance to get to know the Philidelphia Airport a little better. I think my favorite part was seeing all the fiddle leaf fig trees potted in sunny spots along the running walkways:
I was even pleasantly surprised to cross paths with this American Bison sculpture on display in the airport that I recognized from Etsy. I've seen it so many times online, and it was just as enchanting to look at up close and in person:
But who am I really kidding — it wasn't the ideal way we'd planned to spend the first two days of vacation:
After spending what felt like an eternity in transit, we finally arrived in Cancun, waking up the next day to this breathtakingly sunny view over the resort pools and ocean, which seemed to immediately wipe away any and all previous travel woes. It was then, we felt the stress of winter starting to just melt away...
The majority of our week was spent soaking in the sun by the resort pool and on the beach. We ate the tropical fruits and drank the tropical drinks — watermelon juice, coconut juice, green juice, piña colada, margaritas and Mexican beers.
Each day Tim and Brandon would play pool volleyball and beach volleyball later in the day. There was an infinity pool with lap lanes reserved for swimmers, which was like a dream come true for me. Growing up I swam competitively, so I always enjoy a chance to get some laps in when the opportunity presents itself. It's the first time I can say I was able to wake up and hit the lap lanes to the rising sun, sound of birds and crashing waves in the distance between breaths.
In general, it was a needed a break — just making that time to spend together with nothing pressing on our plates.
Midway through the week we ventured out from the resort, planning a day trip to one of our favorite spots in Mexico, Isla Mujeres. Isla is a small (under 5 miles long) island not far from the Cancun coast and quick ferry ride away — the name literally translates to "Island of Women." We toyed with the idea of spending our honeymoon on Isla, or even a long weekend getaway at some point — it's certainly an idea for the bucket list.
The ferry is about a 20 minute ride through the Caribbean Sea, which is as turquoise blue in person as it is in pictures. We got there early to catch the first ferry and loved watching all the local captains preparing their boats for tourist trips (probably booze cruises, ha!) in the Marina for the day ahead.
Because Isla Mujeres is such a small island, it can be covered rather quickly in a golf cart, which is a tourist favorite. We rented one for a couple hours and put Brandon in charge of the first leg:
Gotta hand it to Brandon, he stopped carefully over each and every speed bump so poor Mary wouldn't fall out the back, ha!
Tim and I have made the trip to Isla several times and knew we'd want to make a stop at the southernmost tip of the island, Punta Sur. It's a cliff edge with incredible views, wildlife and Mayan history:
While we'd been here several times, we never knew there was a park with winding paths and caves just beyond the tip of Punta Sur. Brandon immediately saw the walkways along the Caribbean Sea and wanted to venture out, so we learned something new!
We found ourselves walking through "Cliff of the Dawn," the easternmost point in Mexico. It's supposedly the first part of the country to be touched by the rising sun each day and is filled with caves made of coral that the ocean waves crash and spray into.
When I caught Tim snapping photos of the ocean spray, I excited ran down to the ledge and asked for a portrait shot. Here's the resulting shot just after a giant wave came crashing onto the ledge, completely soaking my back and behind:
To wrap up our day trip we found a lunch spot on the beach and ordered a spread of shrimp, fish and chicken tacos to share, along with one of the most powerful margaritas I've ever had:
To close the week, we took Brandon to one of our favorite dinner spots in Cancun, Harry's, where we reminisced about the week and took photos to compare exactly which of the two got the tannest (I'm incapable of tanning so didn't come close to qualifying). We didn't tell Brandon about the giant spools of cotton candy that come at the end of every meal, so it was fun to watch his face when they brought it to the table.
As you can probably gather, we had a great time in Mexico, even though it took us a little longer to get down there than we'd originally hoped. Most of all, we enjoyed spending time with family and a change of scenery from our winter routine.
Until next time...
What about you? Do you have a favorite vacation spot or great tip for things to see and do while in Cancun?
Discover More:
I really enjoyed this post and pics of your lovely vacation--thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to take a look and comment! We are glad you enjoyed them.
Delete