Puerto Vallarta - Day 3

Monday morning, bright and early, we reported to Vallarta Adventures all ready for our Outdoor Adventure!

Waiting for our boat. This is right before Jamie got pooped on by a bird. Gross, but so funny. Sorry, J! ;)

Marina Nuevo Vallarta

On the speedboat

We then sped across Banderas Bay to an inlet where there was a little town and marina.

We then boarded old military 4x4 vehicles and bumped up the hillside into the Sierra Madres

When we arrived at base camp, we got a quick safety lesson and then were harnessed and ready to go! We then rode mules up the mountain and spent the next 2 hours zip-lining and rappelling over and down the mountains, along a river and even IN the river! It was amazing! I will post pictures of this part when I get them from Mike and Jamie...

Back at base camp we dried out, looked at pictures of our adventure and ate some yummy homemade quesadillas.

We then headed back down to the marina and once again hopped onto our speedboat and sped away back to Nuevo Vallarta.

On our way out of Vallarta Adventures, we stopped and watched the dolphins. They are so amazing! :)

That evening there was another huge storm, and I was able to get some awesome bolts of lightning at the beginning and the end...

Puerto Vallarta - Day 2

Sunday we went to a time share presentation... for 6 hours. Yes, I wrote that correctly. We had agreed to go when we first checked in on Saturday and knew that we would be pressured and that it would be long. Just not that long. Much of it wasn't too painful, mind you. Our Presenter (or pressurer) was named Melissa and she was our age, American, very sweet. We first took a golf cart tour of the entire resort grounds (it is massive) and she took us to (free) breakfast at a yummy buffet restaurant on the grounds. Then she took us to the new resort, The Grand Luxe, which you can't even buy into except as an upgrade once you already own with the Grand Mayan. Uh-huh.

These pics are the view from the backside of the Grand Luxe. Jack Nicklaus is building a golf school or something like that out there, it is apparently going to be very nice.

After the tour and food, we spent the next 4 hours being pressured by about 7 different people to buy into the Grand Mayan. (Wanna know their first offer? $98,000. HAHAHAHAHA!!) Not sure how many times we said no, but it got old after awhile! Once we made it out, we had earned 50% off excursions, 50% off massages, 10% off our entire hotel bill (Including all meals that were charged to our rooms), as well as the upgrade to ocean view that we had gotten when we checked in. The guy who booked our excursions told us that the Grand Mayan gives the most high pressure talks and it is known as "buy or die". He was impressed that we didn't buy OR die!! Was it worth it? Barely, but yes it was.

This is just a pic I took on our little tour of one of the wave pools. Pretty cool!

After we made it out, we were exhausted and spent the rest of the day at the pool and then dinner.

Puerto Vallarta - Day 1

Ok Mom, I know you have been waiting and waiting for our trip pics, so here goes! I took a ton so I decided to divide it up by days. Bear with me...

We got up bright and early (ok, maybe more like dark and early!) and headed off to the airport with Mike and Jamie.

SO EXCITED!

Our flights went pretty well. Not sure if I will fly into San Francisco again, given the choice. Our flight was delayed a bit due to fog (when is there not fog in SF?) and landing right next to another plane at the same time on adjacent runways is a bit freaky. But we made our connecting flight and landed in Puerto Vallarta right on time.

We took a shuttle to our resort and wow, it was amazing! I have pics here and there, none that really do it justice at all. The Grand Mayan was beautiful and I can't imagine that I will ever stay somewhere else like it, ever. When you walked into the main entrance, it was pitch black with little shafts of light shining on 8 massive Mayan idols/gods, probably 4 stories tall at least. Mayan drums were being played and wow, it was impressive.

One of the feet of the Mayan gods

Some of the artwork on the way to our rooms

After agreeing to listen to a timeshare presentation the next day, we got upgraded to ocean view rooms. Yeah, Baby!!

The view from our balcony.

This is the lazy river straight down from our balcony. We spent lots of time on it!

Our room

After getting our stuff settled, we headed down to find some food. We ate at Samba, one of the resort restaurants.

You gotta have margaritas in Mexico!!

The view from our table

Nachos!!

As it grew dark that evening, the clouds rolled in and we witnessed the most amazing thunder and rain storm I have ever seen! It was awesome!!

Crescent Lake

We were so excited to go camping with Paul & Jacque, Casey & Alyssa and Derek & Rachel this summer! We went to Crescent Lake, which is an absolutely beautiful place in Central Oregon. We had fun hanging out, exploring and enjoying the water!

There were little frogs everywhere. Can you spot this guy?

Kahz came too.

Don't ask

Uncle Derek gave Zack and knife and taught him how to whittle. He was a happy camper (haha!).

Sadie and Drew love to help out with food prep!

The sunsets were AMAZING.

Me and my girl

BOAT TIME!!

Watch out, Drewby at the wheel!!!

Sweet guy

Sadie and Alyssa on the tube

This spot used to be Indian reservation. Uncle Casey showed the boys how to find arrowheads (or parts of arrowheads!)

Driving the boat

Yes, I actually went. Not my favorite pastime, but I did it for Sadie. :)

Sadie and Papa Paul

:)

Helping Uncle Derek stack wood

The silly guys - Uncle Casey and Drew

Drew found a bunch of bark and decided he wanted "bark armor". So Derek and Rachel helped him make some!

Bark Warrior

Drew and Grandma

Zack's driving!

Beautiful girl

This is proof that Zack DID actually go on the tube. For about 30 seconds, but at least he did it!

We had such a great time camping with family and look forward to many many more trips with them. We love you guys!