Aug1-8 Cabo San Lucas

My first ever girls trip! I wouldn't have dared do it without my sister in law (and one of my best friends) Wendy Snow. She's like a body-guard, so confident, full of fun, and energetic--and she is a spiritual giant besides--so I knew I'd be safe and have lots to do. In fact she orchestrated the whole trip, and my sisters in law Shawna and Amy Schauers, Wendy's daughter Sandra Snow, and our friend Kim Purcell joined in.

Day 1: Early Flight to San Diego, layover, flight to San Lucas, Mexico, we got there by 2:30 pm. We quickly got through customs, but once outside the airport things went a little slowly. Getting our rental car was our first experience with waiting. Then we waited at the Pueblo Bonita Rose (to be told they sold our room to someone else so they were putting us somewhere better with a three day all inclusive bonus for the inconvenience, alright!) Then we waited at the Pueblo Bonita Sunset to check in. We were all starving so we checked out the awesome resort room quickly before waiting to be shuttled to a restaurant. $37 a plate, no way! So we waiting for our car to be valleted back to us so we could find some fish tacos in town. Then we drove quick and waited for the tacos and Los Claros, and by 7:45 pm we were eating dinner, and boy was it good! We had to find the WalMart to get a few groceries to hold us over to our all inclusive days, and it was busy so...we didn't get "home" til after 10:00! We waited a lot in Cabo, but thankfully we were all on vacation and had lots of time to relax and wait. and who funner to wait with than these ladies?

Day 2: Road trip to La Paz. Wendy got us out early to run up and down the beautiful hills of the resort and do some weights in the gym/spa so we were all pumped up to sit in a car for 2 hours driving to the peaceful city of La Paz. They had golf carts that took you from your room to the lobby or your car because the resort was so big! I was grateful we had a car so we didn't have to wait for shuttles and taxi's as well. We visited the cathedral in La Paz, and all had to use the bathroom, so we found a nice looking hotel and asked if we could use the bano, and the bell hop there asked us to check out his hotel rooms and the pool on top of the hotel and get an email address as payment, lol. There was a beautiful view of the ocean and the city from the roof of that hotel! We at lunch in a park and waded in the Sea of Cortez and made our way to a beach, Playa Balandra, about 15 minutes from there to snorkel. That was fun! About a mile of shallow warm waters to swim around in was just what we needed. I bought a swimsuit cover there, and Kim bought us all mangos with chili sauce from a vendor on the beach. We then drove about an hour to the picturesque and clean city of Todos Santos. We shopped there and admired the neatness (in contrast to a lot of the other towns in Cabo) and walked to Miguels to have chili rellenos. The best I've ever had! Stayed in Todos till after sunset and made our way home.

Shopping in Todos Santos

Day 3: Scuba dive/Snorkel day in Cabo Pulmo. We got up bright and early to get our car and get over to Cabo Pulmo, another 2 hour drive away. We met the funnest older lady there who was the scuba master name Pilu, she liked our girly energy. By the time we got all geared up and in the water it was about 10:30. But totally worth it! Warm water, I was in a wet suit but felt totally comfortable. The ocean was beautiful. Tons of sea life along the Pulmo reefs and even Shawna and I up above snorkeling were able to see a ton of fish. Even when there wasn't much to see I stayed and floated in the waves. We were all done by 1:30 pm and again hungry so we stayed at a restaurant there. and waited, but talked and I love the bonding time! I got fajitas, which were actually dry and underseasoned, but that was the only disappointing meal I had while in Cabo. We drove to a beach along the coast and played there for a little bit, then made our way back to down town San Lucas, stopping at another little town along the way called Mirafloras. We saw some burros along the road, and lots of cows. We got into town about 6:30 pm, and while a few of us got information about ziplining, Wendy and I found "Taco Gus" and got some tacos to go, so we could eat them on our veranda at the Sunset. What a fun feast that was! Those were the best street tacos we had ever had. 

view the divers had of us up there snorkeling

Lunch in Pulmo

 Day 4: Rest day. We were all a bit travel weary by now so we took our time getting going. Sandra Kim and I walked through the resort and to the beach, which was pacific ocean side so no swimming allowed! But very beautiful waves. We waited for quite some time at the lobby for information about ziplining and a dolphin excursions we wanted to sign up for. Also we decided to start our all inclusive that day so we had to hang around until noon to get them. I went to the cafe where the wifi was to check my phone. We had a nice lunch at the Golf Course restaurant, we all felt like ladies of luxury being waited on hand and foot while we had our three course meal. The view of the ocean there was so nice, crashing waves! Then we went to the Rose resort and rented some paddle boards for an hour. That is hard to do in an ocean, the wind dragged me right out and all the boaters wakes threw off my balance, and I couldn't get enough propulsion to get back in! I was laughing at myself, had to get on my knees and row with all my might. But it was still fun. We sat on that beach for a while and bought 8 pairs of sunglasses for $80, ha ha. We made funny videos of ourselves running into the sand and laughed ourselves silly. Then we found sushi bar and it was the best sushi I'd ever eaten. They all wanted to hit the dessert buffet that evening so I got out my dates and non sweet chocolate and I brought it in with me and ate that! LOL

Ladies who Lunch

steak with mushrooms and basil

Playa Medano

Dessert Buffet

Day 5: All inclusive breakfast at the buffet and then Dive/Snorkel at Pelican Rock and Neptunes finger. This dive was close so no traveling, our dive master was an Californian guy but still very fun and thorough. Again lots of sea life! I saw a green eel, coral, a nursing shark, and tons of fish just snorkeling! Shawna Kim and I swam to Lover's beach while the others did their 2nd dive which was a ton of fun. We played in the vortex waves on the shore for a long time. We ate at a buffet on the Rose and I was starting to feel bloated from all the food by now. Hard not to over eat when you have so many choices. We planned to shop downtown for souvenirs and I was sorely tired and hot, but after some good finds I perked up and enjoyed it. We went back to sunset and "pool hopped" enjoying some golf cart rides around the resort and seeing the 5 different pools there. I started getting into my book so I mostly lounged and read while the others got wet, but we also had some good talks. Love these girls. 

Wendy always had her camera with her!

Day 6: Ziplining! We got up and out the door by 7:30 to eat and make it to the shuttle taking us to Wild Canyon, got there about 9, then we waited for an hour to be checked in and geared up to do our excursion. If there was anything I learned in Mexico it was "you get there eventually." We had a ton of fun zipping through the desert canyons. there was a lot of cactus and dried up trees, and at the bottom of the canyon a little oasis that looked like a tropical island. They shuttled us back about 1:00 and we went directly to the bistro for lunch. Unfortunately for me, I had an ovarian cyst flare up and had to go lay down in my bed from about 3:00-6:00 that evening. Thankfully we had  no excursions planned so I didn't miss anything. I called Jared and took a nap and held very still. I made myself get up for the sushi bar, I didn't want to miss that! I've got to learn how to make myself some sushi, so good.

Day 7: Sunday. We went to church in town and listened to all the sweet testimonies of the residents there in Spanish. We rushed back to Shawna Amy Kim and Sandra could get ready for the dolphin excursion. Wendy and I stayed at the Sunset and sat on the beach, talked, read our books, and went back to our rooms to nap. I still wasn't feeling 100% so I was glad I didn't opt to do the dolphins. The others had fun though! We had used up all our all inclusive days so we made eggs and had dinner together on the veranda. Gearing up for the fun adventure to end. So sad.

Day 8: Travel home. Out of the resort by 8:30 am, not home til 10:45 pm. Even travelling home I loved being with my Cabo Bella Chicas! So grateful for the experience, and that we were all safe and had so much fun. Jared and the kids had fared very well, I was happy to see them.