Top Ten Memories of Mexico

Back in February, we took advantage of Reading Week, some Aeroplan points, a daughter who flies free because she's under two, and a cheap cruise deal to go on vacation.  We flew into Los Angeles, California, and boarded the Carnival Splendour for a cruise to Mexico and back again. Here's my top ten memories from our trip.

1.  The Carnival Splendour
This is the boat we spent our week on.  Here, it's moored in the bay at Cabo San Lucas.

2.  Our room on board the Splendour
This was our cozy quad room on the ship, with Sunshine's fold-down bed on the left and Lily's crib on the right.  The girls looked forward to coming to our room every night after dinner to see what towel animals our steward had left for us.  I looked forward to coming to our room because the steward also left chocolates for us.

3.  Lover's Beach in Cabo San Lucas
What is there to do in Cabo?  The beach!  We hired a boat to take us around to Lover's Beach, where we hiked around in the sand, admired the rock formations, and then let the girls play for a while.  I'm not sure how I managed to take this picture without any people in it, as it seemed like everyone from the ship had joined us at the beach.

4.  The Church in Cabo San Lucas
On our second day in Cabo, we left the touristy waterfront behind to visit a church.  I liked the cacti and the palm trees—all the foliage there was so different from here.

 
5. Hiking around Cabo San Lucas
We hiked up a viewpoint and had a snack while admiring the city.  To our right, the boat was out of sight behind the condos and hotels of the waterfront.  In the distance ahead, we could see the bare brown hills of Mexico.

6.  Viewpoints in Puerto Vallarta
For our day in Puerto Vallarta, we hiked into the city and then hired a taxi driver to show us around.  Here's one of the viewpoints we stopped at.  If you look very close, you can see the Splendour tucked in behind those three office towers on the left.

7. My hubby and I
Okay, we need one picture of the two of us, right?  (I think this is actually the only one from the whole trip.  And one of very few pictures of me, too—the problem with being the one usually behind the camera.)

8.  The Puerto Vallarta Zoo
We took the girls to the Zoo here and spent a fun hour exploring.  I found the English translations of the signs about all the animals to be extremely funny.  Here's a sample:

9.  The Cathedral in Puerto Vallarta
We visited the Cathedral here too.  It was a beautiful church with stained glass windows, an ornate altar, and lots of statues of saints.

10.  Hanging out on the boat
One day, while Sunshine was in the children's program and my husband was at the art auction, Lily and I just wandered around the boat together.  We rode the glass elevators up and down, ate ice cream, played with her dolls, and took some cute pictures.  (This also gives you a sense of the decor on the Splendour—those pink leopard-print polka dots were everywhere.  Oh, and notice the coffee cup...)