Friday, April 17, 2009

Ten Years

So Jon and I won a trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico at the PMI Christmas party. We were so excited! This year being our 10th anniversary we were able to go back to Mexico 10 years later and really enjoy it. And, it was FREE.

That being said, you may wonder why we didn't completely enjoy it the first time. Well just a little story about our Honey Moon. The night we were married we stayed in the beautiful Stine Bed and Breakfast. The next morning we packed up the Explorer and headed on a road trip to California and ultimately Mexico. We stopped in St. George and got so food Sunday and snacks for the next couple of days. We planned on staying in Las Vegas that night. When we arrived, just after midnight, we searched all over and would could not get a room. There was a huge convention going on and there was no vacancies until Barsto CA. So we loaded up on caffeine and headed out, about 2:00 am we were both deliriously tired so we ended up staying in the back of the explorer at a rest stop somewhere after Vegas and before Barsto.

Sunday morning we woke up and headed for somewhere to eat. Luckily we had bought food the night before. So we ended up finding a the little ghost town Calico City on the way and toured it way early in the morning before it opened ( think the worker felt a little sorry for us) and had our breakfast by the car. We made good time and made it to Laguna Hills we checked in and the attendant who asked if we wanted two twin beds. We said no, a King would be great, why? She said "Oh, I thought you were brother and sister! (A bit disturbing)

That evening we went to get the keys from Jon's mission comp (Keding) to our acclaimed destination beach house in Mexico. He wasn't at home so his parents gave the keys to us and we went on our way. The next morning at about 7:00 we got a call. It was the mom Elder Kedding. She said she had called every hotel in Laguna Hills to find us, so we could stop by and see Keding before he went to work. Hmm… we declined.

So we finally got to Mexico, and instead of going straight to the beach house, we wondered through Tijuana. We parked our car on the States side and went it by bus. Well Tijuana is delightful with all it's nudey bars and furious salesmen. When we had had our share we went to get on the bus to get our car. At the boarder the patrolman asked what we were taking with us. I was carrying the bag so I just told him what we had. Unfortunately I am a HORRIBLE liar, I can't do it. So I rattled off the list of items, candy, pottery, blah blah blah and fireworks. The officer was waving us on while I was answering and then stopped when I said fireworks. They took us aside and rifled through all our treasures. And the "fireworks" weren't just fun and sparkly, they were actually 1/4 sticks of dynamite. Hmm…so we spent a good hour with the officer as he lectured us on the illegal items, and the United States border, then he took everything but the pottery and candy.

So from there, we drove back into Mexico to our beach house, only when we arrived it was actually a double wide trailer on a rocky beach, not just gravel, but rocks the size of your foot as far as the eye could see. Needless to say we spent our beach time trying to get out of the rain and not sprain anything. While we were there we had dinner at the "nicest place in town" and ended up have the chef/owner, Captain Roy spend our meal with us telling us stories about his work in the merchant marines. Not very romantic, but very entertaining.

So when our money finally ran out we headed back to the states, we stopped in Vegas and actually got a room. We toured the Strip and enjoyed the fine delicacies of the M&M, and Coke factory.

The next evening we left for home. When we were right in between Vegas and Mesquite, near the little Moapa Indian reservation and Casino, when the Explorer died. Literally everything went out the lights, brakes, stirring, it all came to a sluggish halt. We both slightly freaked out, then said a prayer and the engine started up again. It got us just over the hill so we could coast to the casino. Once there, it was determined that the alternator went out. So the "nice" night clerk hooked a charger up to the battery so we could get it fixed in the morning. So we figured the casino was empty so we went into a corner and laid down around 2:00 am. The "nice" clerk informed us it was bad for business. Hmm… so we spent the rest of the night trying to sleep in the Explorer. It was freezing so we took out all our clothes and tried to make them into a blanket. We went inside a couple of times to put ours hands and feet in the sink to warm them up. All in all, probably one of the more memorable nights in our marriage.

The next day we got the car fixed and headed home for real without any trouble. And so began our life long adventure of marriage.

Below are some of the pictures of our trip to Cabo. The place was gorgeous, and huge. We spent some of time at Lands End exploring, snorkeling, and getting sunburned. So we also spent some of time in the shade just relaxing. We also went and toured the local glass blowing factory. Cabo San Lucas has our approval, we would go back in a heart beat.

View of lands End from our room.

View of Lovers Beach (Sea of Cortez Side)

Divorce Beach (Pacific Side). No swimming

We only found Puffer fish washed up on the beach.