I have been a horrible blogger…but, Jason and I got back from Mexico a few days ago! We had a much needed break and got to see each other for a record breaking 8 days in a row! It was a very last minute trip as we were planning on going to Southern Utah for our “honeymoon” but we decided that warm weather was needed. We looked for the cheapest tickets and voila a trip to the Yucatan was born. We flew into Cancun (which is not my cup of tea at all, think Mexican version of Las Vegas only more expensive and you don’t even feel like you are in Mexico if you do happen to stay at one of the monstrous resorts). From Cancun we hopped on a ferry to Isla Muejeres. Our first full day we followed Erin and Aaron’s lead and rented a scouter to tour the Island, so much fun!
We had lunch on the southern end of the Island at this place that was praised to have the best fish on the Island, served with an ancient Mayan spice…Well I should have known better but I ordered it anyway (this would not be the first time that I was served a whole fish head on a plate). I was so embarrassed when it came out, I had no idea what I was in for especially since the price did not indicate that this was a huge meal…
Unlike the last time this happened to me this fish was actually very good and well worth the embarrassment! Below you can see me lifting the fish off my plate, my fork is in the fish’s mouth…
Afterward we walked along the beach a bit and sat in some chairs to let our white skin soak up some sun, this guy next to me was doing the same thing…
Guess he didn’t want any of that sun on his lower half! Since we happened to time our trip during Carnaval we got to enjoy lots of parades and local festivities that were going, it was fun to see the local people dressed up in their costumes and celebrating. Our first night we saw this group of men and woman in pink costumes with flamingos on their heads, they did a choreographed dance in the sand…
While we were on Isla we also took a tour over to Isla Contoy which is a neighboring island that is uninhabited by people except for a research facility that studies some of the wildlife that is found there. We unfortunately only saw one flamingo flying and it was too far away to get a picture but we did get to see some frigate birds, a mantaray, hundreds of hermit crabs, some iguanas and one million hungry mosquitoes. below is a picture of one of the iguanas surrounded by his crab friends living in harmony…
This one had the best house by far…
Our tour guides made us a yummy lunch, more fish, a really good cucumber salad with peppers, fresh guacamole, rice and some watermelon!
The next day we headed back to the mainland and caught a bus south to Tulum. We got a room at Casa del Sol, a cute hostel with cabanas run by Lucy and Abuelita (the little Grandma, this was how Lucy introduced us to her) both spoke very little English so it was a great way to practice our Spanish. Here is a picture of Jas hanging out at the hostel…
The beaches at Tulum were really beautiful, picture perfect white sand and crystal clear water, we walked very south down the beach one afternoon…
Had some yummy tacos with an idyllic setting…
found some friends…
We also went to Coba to check out the ruins there, here is a picture of me at the top looking not so excited about going down with all the other stupid tourists…
That’s all I got for now, will probably be posting the rest of our pictures to picasa in the next few days. I am back on night shifts again and my brain and sleep cycle are all out of wack. We had a great time and I am already missing the warm weather, is it spring time yet?!!!
We went skiing at
The above picture is of Capitol Reef, Jas and I got away last weekend, we first explored Bryce and then on the way home took a quick tour of Capitol Reef. I can’t wait to go back to do more hiking at Capitol it was absolutely amazing there, even better was the fact that we had the whole park to ourselves, literally we did not see another person!
Above is a picture of Jas cross country skiing at Bryce, looks as though he is about to go over the edge! We had perfect weather this day, totally clear and warm enough to ski with just a long sleeve shirt on.
We also had a fun time exploring the SLC night scene which included a sad and hilarious attempt at “bar hopping” we ended our evening by performing Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” at a Karaoke bar, it is pretty safe to say we were the only ones with talent, immediately after our performance despite the entire bar’s pleads for us to stay and give an encore, we left the building. Here is a picture of Lindsay from that night…
After Lindsay left Steph came into town for Thanksgiving! We had a good time as well, one of the absolute highlights of her trip was when we managed to come across 7 Newfoundlands at a very posh pet store in Park City, the owner of the dogs (and the store) must have sensed my love for them (I did tell him at least three times “I love them”) and gave us 2 Newfie’s for us to walk around Park City!!! I was beyond excited, in fact I am still worked up about it, made my month!
Oh Yeah we were pretty serious about it, our very own little Whoville! Steph and I also cooked a turkey and did the whole Thanksgiving feast (mini style since it was just Jas, Steph and myself). The turkey turned out amazing, although I have to say that while Lindsay was here she and I cooked a full turkey breast in preparation for my first bird and it was by no means an easy task, in fact it was a disaster. Luckily the second bird turned out and was just wonderful, all credit going to Steph since I had to work the night before Thanksgiving when she did most of the work making the brine and everything else. This picture is blurry but check that bird out!
That is a tarantula! My first wild tarantula! I was really excited and so happy that I decided to bring my camera with me last minute.
It is official now, I live in the desert.
Here is a picture that gives a better perspective as to how tiny she actually is…
So cute, they also had three baby tigers, a monkey and a giraffe, Kelsey got some good pictures that you can see on her blog 