Vacation Time!

And just like that, our week in Cancun has come to a close.  We did leave an hour early for the airport just to be safe.  I would consider the airport "busy" but not overly so for a Saturday during Spring Break.  We saw lots of masks, rubber gloves, and hand sanitizer. Our flight was on-time for departure and early into Indy.  No issues. We ordered dinner from the Pizza King on the way home and have already unpacked, started laundry (and by we, I mean my wife here), and are sorting through the mail. We had a great week of weather.  84 for the high and 77 for the low.  Nice breeze all week to keep us from over-heating.  And just a few spots of peeling skin (mainly my bald forehead - which is large enough to be called a Five-head). As things stand right now, we are following the rest of the nation and sequestering ourselves here at the Ranch.  Sandy hopes to finally get some sleep as she now has the option of hitting the couch if I snore too...

So we went out to dinner at Casa Rolandi - an Italian joint right across the street on the lagoon side of the road.  Sandy was hoping to enjoy her ox tail ravioli, but alas, that has been taken off the menu.  She had the cheese stuffed ravioli in a veal & truffle sauce.  I had the stuffed crab black ravioli.  And we each had a soup to start the meal.  Not very crowded in there at all.  Hmmm. On the way over and on the way back, we talked with two different couples who were both leaving tomorrow to go back to the US.  Neither of them had concerns about getting back home.  One couple from LA and the other from Oklahoma.  We're feeling like we have more than a good chance to make it home yet tomorrow. As dinner was completed, we sat and watched the sun go down.  Yep, we had a pretty darn good week!  We return in November with Kathy & Alex for another week.  Looking forward to that already. The sun starting its de...

Well, it has been six full days since I have worn socks.  Underwear sure, but not socks or shoes.  It's been all shorts, swimsuits, my flippy-floppies, and usually an orange PF t-shirt.  Then, we get back from lunch today and what is happening?  The US & Mexico have decided to close the border for all but essential travel and trade.  Awesome (my perspective).  Meltdown (my wife's perspective).  I mean, there are millions of other places that are worse to be stuck in than Cancun, MX.   And I am here with my bride.  Winning! We checked the internet for news and logged into Delta to confirm that we will be on the flight tomorrow morning.  Fortunately, Delta let us check in, which means that the flight must still be a Go, right?  Only one way to find out - show up at the airport and try to catch a plane home. The only problem with staying for an extended period is medicine.  I only brought enough of my pills to get m...

Well more of the same, with just a few subtle changes.  If you've read the previous posts, then you know exactly what we did today.  Sandy did finish a book, so that's one apiece so far. The change?  The staff has always been pleasant and cleanliness has been superb.  Today, however, things went up a notch or two.  We can smell the anti-bacterial cleaning solutions.  And the buffet has changed.  Things are now individually plated.  No more touching the spoons / serving yourself.  The resort has gotten busy with ensuring everyone's health / safety relative to this corona-virus.  We would estimate that the crowds are down a bit, but not much for Spring Break time.  They are definitely a younger crowd than December.  But still, plenty of people around. We did see an outfit today that would be considered obscene by everyone else who saw it - not judging - just saying that if you saw it (which cannot be unseen).  First of...

Sandy is sending best wishes to Nick & Shelby as she enjoys her Banana Monkey on the sun deck! We awoke this morning to no power - as predicted.  Know what?  It's still paradise, power or not.  We headed to the sun deck about 10, we figure.  Stayed there until Noon.  Back to the room to eat snacks for lunch.  Then back to the sun deck.  Stayed there until 4. We heard the radio at the pool bar and then saw mixed drinks start flowing at 2:49 so power was back on.  That did not affect the drinking.  I continued with Cap't Morgan and Coke while Sandy had Sprites.  We (both - pay attention) hit the ocean.  Sandy only to her knees, but still In The Ocean.  Then to the pool where we may have had some more adult beverages. Back to the room for showers.  We have a 5:30 reservation for Hacienda Sisal tonight.  It's still part of the all-inclusive, you just have to reserve your spot. I had the lamb and San...

Well, yet another productive day at being unproductive.  Slept in a bit today.  Rolled out at 10 and then hit the pool until 12:15.  Lunch.  Back to the sun deck.  I was in and out of the pool, ocean, and pool again.  Sandy did the pool once.  The wind kept it cool once you were wet.  Oh the drama of being in paradise. Lunch was next door.  We ordered off the menu to try something different.  Sandy's steak sandwich was so tough that she couldn't even bite through it.  My Philly cheesesteak was awesome. We got a message from the resort today.  It seems that some needed utility maintenance is going to shut down all power to the resort from 8 am - 3 pm tomorrow.  Guess we just turned Wednesday into a shopping day.  We have orders from a little guy back home about what we are to be bringing back.  That along with vanilla.  Belay that.  Asked at front desk - the power outage impacts the entire islan...

We got up this morning at 0800 - a tad bit earlier than yesterday.  We hit the kiddie pool until Sandy said that she was hungry.  So we swapped our suits for some dry clothes and had lunch at the Char Hut here next to the pool.  We reslathered the sunscreen and then hit the sun deck. I swam in the ocean because it's here.  And, also according to my wife, had naps 3 & 4.  Whatever - who's keeping count anyways? Back to our room at 4 to take showers and change into our evening clothes - shorts and shirts and flops.  <-- That's as dressed up as we get on this vacation folks. We walked over to La Distileria restaurant for dinner tonight.  Of course we had the flaming tequila cheese and we washed it down with Banana Maya beverages.  Then I had the beef tacos with corn shells and cactus while Sandy had the stuffed chicken.  Whatever sauce they used on that chicken - it was smoking hot.  I'm talking like a 7.5 or an 8 on my heat sc...

We crashed about 7:30 pm last night and did not roll out until 9 this morning.  Well, that does not count the five times we were up to use the restroom - at least for me. We hit the chairs around the kiddie pool at 10 and stayed until lunch.  Lunch was at the Char Hut here near the pool.  Then after slathering with sunscreen again, we hit the sun deck.  We went into the pool a couple of times and I even went into the ocean to cool down once.  Thank goodness for the breeze or it would have been really hot here today.  84 and mostly sunny.  Tough to take. I did find the resort cameras online if anyone would like to check out our weather.  I am wearing my orange PF shirts.  So if you see orange, it's probably me.  Go here: https://www.royalresorts.com/weather-and-webcams-in-cancun-and-riviera-maya/ Then select the Royal Sands Phase 2.  There are several cameras, but here is our section: The orange arrows (top & bottom) a...

Our children have been out of college / high school for some 10 odd years now.  But here we are, still living the dream of Spring Break in Cancun!  Did I mention, without the kids??? The view from our balcony Oh, and, we got word that after we departed from Indy, Mulberry received some 3 - 4" (about 8 cm, Dave P.) of SNOW at home.  Yep, we got picture confirmation.  One photo was a bit blurry, but there may have been a 'middle finger' in all that snow!  The thought! So we figure 2020 will be the year of the coronavirus, and in 9 months there will be a whole bunch of coronial babies running around because there ain't much else to do!  Which means to say that this trip almost didn't happen.  Not because Cancun is shut down, nor the airport.  Work called and needed my expertise.  Fortunately, they found a replacement to handle it while I'm out.  Should not have been too difficult I imagine. So we rolled S from Mulberry at 0500 t...