This time - really home again!

On our last few moments at the beach we took a picture of us....

We had our toes near the water and our chairs in the sand....it was good day all around.....

A view from our "spot" on the beach

And all is well....we got up early and got out of the condo around 9:15 - then of course we got all bamboozled by mapquest and the lady on the GPS and it took us 30 mins to get the hell our of dodge! Somehow we got stuck on the back roads to St Louis!!! It was a heck of a drive until we got into Alabama and stopped for lunch - then we got ourselves situated and on to an interstate. At that point we felt like we were flying! The three of decided we are going back to Destin and staying at the same place.....anyone care to join us next time????

Home again, home again

Let's see - where did I leave off? Oh - I know....as I was laying on beach on Wednesday I overheard this cute, young couple next to me talking about going some place that was playing live music that evening. I asked them what was going on and they said "Go to Baystown - they have live music free every Weds night" They said it's a cute litte place with lots of shops and restaurants. So I got directions for us and we went! Of course, not without our usual driving back and forth at least twice because we were lost - but we made it! And what cute little town it was!

There was a fountain in the square with these sayings 

all around it - here's one that I thought was

very profound!

A picture of the town

The band playing

Patrice and Marge waiting for the music

Marge and I doing the same

The restaurant where we had dinner and boy oh

boy was it  a good one! We had grouper 3 ways - P had 

blacked, Marge grilled and me good ole' fried!

Another view of the town

Watching the sunset as we ate our dinner....

Town square

I'm thinking this is the penthouse - too bad

the tree is in the way - it was mightly

fine lookin'

So that was our night at Baystown....I would highly recommend it if anyone is ever down that way.

A day in pictures

Since we didn't plan to stay all day we didn't bring all of "stuff" just lived on the edge with nothing but towels and a selected beverage

Lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise
this was a cheeseburger and fries
as you can see if was very, very good

                                                       What's left of a chicken salad-

then it was off to Winn Dixie to buy our provisions for the week....

our Darling kitchen

Our DARLING living room

a few shot from our balcony - take that sidewalk past the building in the middle and your at the pool. walk past that and your at the ocean....

the gazebo where we gather for drinks in the evening with our new friends

another balcony shot.

Patrice and Marge ready to go to the beach

the beach

P after a few....

ready to go out to dinner

dinner time.....

more pic and tales of our time to follow

on the road again

What started as a cluster continued for many, many miles.... OK - so we left St Louis around 7:30 - who cares that we are running a little behind schedule? The coffee was hot, the car was a rental and rode as smooth as silk - we were starting the journey. Prior to leaving St Louis P asked me to print out a mapquest. She said she had a GPS so we would be all set. I eyeballed the map the that quest came up with and thought - OK OK - go to Memphis and turn on the GPS - I can get us to Memphis and let the GPS do the rest. We were off in a flurry of laughter. Let the stories begin! We talked and laughed and talked and laughed as we sailed the highway. At about 10:30 in the morning I saw the big, giant sign WELCOME TO MISSOURI. Missouri??? Either that sign is wrong or somewhere along the way I took a wrong turn. I pulled onto the shoulder and said "hand me that GPS" (we tried using it at the start of the trip but my two cohearts in crime said they were technically challenged and couldn't figure it out). So I program the lady and thus begins the back road trip to Destin. It took us a few hours to get here but we made memories! At one point as were we meandering through yet another small town in God only knows what state Patrice said "well, at least we can be thankful there isn't a man traveling with us"
I said "Sweet Mother if there the car would have been turned around and we be back in St Louis with the vac kay over!"
We marched on - going further and further into the hinterlands.
Marge said "When I travel I print out my mapquest and put right up by me as I drive"
I said "Yea and you thought we were leaving tomorrow"
Marge said Do we even have a map? I said "No we have the lady"
Thank God we all have a good sense of humor! Somewhere in Alabama we took at potty stop and as I was waiting outside for the girls I struck up a conversation with another women standing there. "Do you know how far it is to Florida?" I said. She looked at me and said "Florida - I have no idea - we are going to blah blah town here in Alabama" I said "Oh and where are you from?" She said "Michigan" I said so when did you guys leave Michigan?" She said "at 5 O'clock this morning" I said "Really- we left St Louis at 7:30 - you left Michigan at 5 and here we meet at a gas station in Alabama.....I think we were lost a whole lot longer that we thought we were!".

Well long story short - WE MADE IT! Now we are inching to find a map so we can see how in the hotel we got here!

p.s. on a side note - our place is just darling - pictures to follow later today......

Zip - A - Dee - Line???

We began our day determined to do nothing but enjoy our infinity pool and our cocktails - we decided to make our arrangements to go whale watching on Friday. As the arrangements were being made somehow Zip Lining came up....that has been on Marge's bucket list for years so what the hotel? We signed on for the 3:00 run and kept on swimming. Sooner rather than later the time came to leave our pool and put on real clothes and head out. When we got to the "place" I have to say I was thinking "Of all the places to zip line - this is not pretty country!" It was the desert but that is where we were. So we get there and get all geared up and start thinking "OK - where are the zip lines?" First the guides or the "poppies" as they refer to themselves gave us the scoop on how to zip line then they said "Are you ready for your Extreme Adventure?" We politely shook our heads NO and Poppie said "OK follow us" - thus began the climb of our lives. We had to freakin' mountain climb to get to the first zip. By the time we got there the four of us were winded. All of the other people were quite a bit younger than us and they just marched up that hill like old age would never catch them. So we did our first zip line which was scary but once you got out there it was pretty fun. Only after we got done with this zipper we had to hike again to the next one and this hike was vertical! Now mind your the guides kept saying to the four of us "come on mama you have nothing to worry about poppie is here to take care of you" so as we are walking up the hill here comes poppie - I tell him to go ahead of me. Well apparently poppie thought I was about to expire because he got on his walkie talkie and started talking majic. Low and behold when it was time to zip this line he said "Mary Lou, Mary Lou you come now. You will go first. There will be an ATV waiting for you at the end of this line to take you to the next zipper". Well I felt kind of stupid, like what was wrong with me? BUT I didn't reject the ride!!! So as Marge, Sue and Caroline huffed and puffed I was on the back of an ATV getting a very nice tour of the mountain. So we zipped and lined all over that mountain and then we came to a place where we had to cross this rickey rope bridge for the last run. Only once we got over there it was really to repel down the face of the mountain!!! Yes you heard me - I said REPEL! In our group there were 7 women and 5 men. As I stated earlier the other women were younger than us and lets face in a lot better shape than me. I was surprised when one of the buff young things got up to the edge of the cliff and walked away saying "I can't do it - I can't do it" The four of us kept ourselves tethered to the rope and waited our turn. Wouldn't you know the next buff gal did the same thing!!! Couldn't do it. Now it was Carolyn's turn and she couldn't do it either! I thought "I don't think I can do it!" Next up was Sue and she went over the side of the mountain like a man! Now it's my turn and I followed her and went down the cliff into the blue abyss. Marge came up and went over the top too. We were all pretty darn happy with ourselves. We got back to the top of the mountain for our last zip and one of the buff girls who didn't repel looked at me and said "I can't believe you did it Mary Lou!" I looked at her and said "I'm not a chicken - just out of shape!" That shut her buff ass up pretty quickly!! We did our final zip and took our sorry asses home!

P.S. a little add on from yesterday

OK - so we decided to have dinner at Pacifica last night - I mean, as long as we were there might as well enjoy the whole experience. So while we were waiting for the buffet to open we were sitting by the pool enjoying watching the day wind down. OK - now - you know when you go to the ball game and at the 7th inning those guys come out and scrape the infield dirt? Well...we notice a man and it looks like he is scraping the sand. We can't figure out why. Then low and behold another man comes out and sets up a table with a linen table cloth, china, ti-ki torches - the whole 9 yards. Now our curiosity is really up - we go as close as we can get to have a look. I wish I had my camera but I didn't - BUT the sandy beach was as smooth as a dance floor. Imagine, a table, chairs, ti-ki torches - all next to a bed on beach. Come on! It doesn't get much better than that...we talk to one of the men setting it up and he informs us that it costs $250 and you get dinner and drinks - and Sex on the Beach - and I ain't talkin' the cocktail!
It was very impressive - I don't know about my travelin' partners but I will be back with a member of the opposite sex and I will have dinner by candle light on the beach with the bed right there.....I may be 60 when I do it - but do it I will!!!

A day at Pacifica

WOW - today we went to Pacifica, another one of the Peublo Bonito properties. Man oh man was it nice! Talk about living the high life - we spent the day by the pool - after we got kicked out of the bed on the beach. We didn't know it had to be reserved - we thought it was sitting there waiting for us to arrive!



so ... before we knew it wasn't God's gift to us - we played around, just a little




A little exercise by the sea....


Mark oh Mark - where art thou Mark?


Who oh who? Where art thou - Who?

So...we get kicked off of our bed on beach and dog gone it - we have to go back to the pool - the luck of the Irish!



Notice how there is no hard and fast side to the pool? That is so if you want to just lay out in a little bit of water you can. There were two pools here and one big, giant hot tub - which I didn't get a picture of. So we spent our day at the pool with the darling little girl asking us "Is there anything I can get you?" "yes I'll have a Sex on the Beach, please" - or - "hmmmm how about a mango slush - please" "May I see the menu?" Then of course we had lunch served to us right there at the pool. You never have to move if you don't want to. And THAT my friends is a day at the pool!!!

This is a little backward but when you walk into the complex - this is what you see walking down to the pool...


Well....the first thing you see if Sue, Marge and Caroline!!!



Beautiful hedges - all in bloom for the world to see


Fountains fountains everywhere

Our life in pictures

EVEN IN CABO SOMEONE HAS TO THE HOUSEWORK


ENJOYING A MARGARITA - PRE NOON - THAT WAS A DAY


IF YOU ARE SITTING IN THE LIVING AND NEED TO SEE WHO IS COMING IN THE FRONT DOOR - OH MY - YOU HAVE TO LOOK PAST THE FOUNTAIN....

JUST LOOK AT THAT VIEW

Look out on the deck and what do you see? BAM - the girls relaxing in the infinity pool.

Just in case.....

Just in case you are worried - the Earthquake did not bother us down here in Cabo - didn't even know it happened til I glanced at the paper....

Can anyone say Miami Vice...

Imagine waking up every morning and having a cup of coffee in your infinity pool while gazing at the Pacific Ocean....yep that's how we start our days here in Cabo. Yesterday Karen our concierge came to meet with us and we got lots of good information from her. Bill Gates does have the house over by the rocks, also in that neighborhood Jennifer Anniston and George Clooney own homes. Paris Hilton is seen quite a bit downtown sporting a cocktail - we are the hunt for any of these folks! We pointed to a house "down the hill" that is MASSIVE and she said the owners x-wife owns it now. Apparently the owner and his wife started out with nothing and built this whole place and of course they are now worth a fortune. Somewhere along the way Mr let his buddy downstairs in on the act and WA-LA a new younger women in his life. Out with the old wife in with the new one. Only the old wife said "Go on with your bad self - leave me the house by the ocean and I'll be fine without you and your ways" so there she lives happily ever after with nothing but young pool boys to attend to her (Ok I made up the part about the pool boys....but it goes nice with the story)

So back to yesterday the four of us went to the welcome party at noon where they served us free margaritas and cervese - which is raw fish soaked in lime juice, diced up and served with diced up and shredded veggies....all in a margarita glass - nice presentation and it would have been delightful except for the cilantro - but I picked out as much as I could. After that we wanted to go to Rosa beach where you can actually swim in the ocean but had to wait an hour for the shuttle. Marge and Sue decided to check out some jewelry while Caroline and I decided to go to the pool. Big mistake for Caroline and I - we blew off Rosa beach and gave the day to margaritas and then the deathly Miami Vice's. After having our fill and meeting half the people at the pool we can home to our lovely villa - took showers and hailed a cab into town to the cutest little restaurant you could imagine. It was all open air - the roof was the big trees that were all over, with white lights shining every where. The mexcian musicians were singing their songs to all of the tables. An all together wonderful experience. Got home and crashed - hard!

Here is my advise to everyone - learn languages - any language because once you leave the US most people DON'T speak english! I'm charging my camera as I type and then maybe I'll be able to download some pictures and share....

WELCOME TO CABO SAN LUCAS

Hi Everyone - we made it safe and sound down to the tip of Mexico! When we arrived at the airport we had to wait for about an hour for Carolyn to get in so we sat in the cocktail lounge (and I use that term very loosely)and enjoyed - what else? A Corona! Anyway Carolyn arrived in all her glory and we proceeded to get our ride to the 'villa'. We asked the driver to stop at Walmart so we could pick up some groceries and he was more than nice about stopping. Once inside we were a little bit surprised to see everything in Spanish! You think you know your food until you try to figure it out in another language. But we succeeded - got our "stuff" and headed to the land of the rich and famous. When we walked in the villa we were blown away! It is an unbelievable place. Tastefully done and so so nice. The ocean view is a delight. The pool? Beautiful - I woke up this morning looked outside and there were Marge, Sue and Carolyn relaxing in the pool with a cup of coffee. We made a great breakfast and made our way down to Sunset Beach - which is kind of an oxymoron because no one goes to the beach - everyone goes to the pool. You can't get in the ocean because the under tow is so strong - so Sunset Beach is Sunset pool - with a swim up bar and a wonderful restaurant and lots of friendly staff to grant your every desire. We spent the day at the pool. Now we are home - still full from lunch and relaxing in the infinity pool and hot tub - oh - it is hard to be rich! I'll try and download some pics later tonight and post them so you can see this place! We are living in the lap of luxury and it is FUN!
p.s. Bill Gates has a home right next to our complex...
p.p.s. We met some people that went fishing yesterday and caught 4 or 5 fish and stripped one of them and cooked it for dinner last night - they also saw whales and lots of dolphin...we are going to go to the marina tomorrow and see if we can rent a boat and do the same thing.