Mexico One More Time

Thanks to our friends John and Paige Storheim, we got a second chance to visit Mexico about 6 weeks after our first trip. It was truly fantastic!

I know that this sounds shocking, but we actually drove there. To some people, this sounds terrible, but I honestly love road trips. (As an aside, we figured out that we have already driven across the country 9 times since our kids were born. That's 9 times in 9 years.) It gives the entire family a great chance to talk and learn to get along. We are all cooped up in a small space, so we have no other choice.

On the way down, we went through Vegas. I love driving through Vegas with kids. It is such an awesome spectacle. Then we went over the Hoover Dam and down to Phoenix. It was nighttime when we went over Hoover Dam so we didn't get to see much. The drive to Phoenix was scary. I don't know why they can't get a friggin freeway from Vegas to Phoenix, but it was a two-lane highway, with lots of trucks, most of the way. We arrived and stayed a Holiday Inn, cramming everyone into one room. We arrived at about midnight.

By about 8 a.m. we were up and going again. We washed our disgusting car, grabbed some breakfast and then headed for Mexico. To get where we were going -- Puerto Panasco or Rocky Point -- you head west and then south. You drive through some small towns and then the last 45 minutes is through a National Park filled with huge cacti. It was beautiful. (There were almost as many cacti as there were ICE agents parked in cars along the road.)

The border was pretty uneventful. We had heard about all of the fighting relating to drug trafficking, so we were a little nervous. But the town we went through was small and sleepy and our crossing was uneventful. We didn't even have to stop the car.

From there we drove about an hour and a half to the town of Puerto Panasco. Jake was excited because he has been doing the Spanish program at school. He was pretty good at saying Ola and Gracias, but that was about it. We stopped at the store and bought a bunch of food and then drove to the hotel -- called the Grand Mayan Resort. The GMR is located about 15 miles outside of town. There is nothing around this place. See google earth link here. The roads we took to get there were all dirt. We thought we were lost.

But the hotel is very nice. We had a two bedroom suite located just across the hall from the Florences and the Storheims. (I felt sorry for anyone else with a room in that hall because our kids were pretty noisy.) The hotel was great. It was very nice and clean, the food was terrific, it had nice pools, a nice spa, a good gym, a large sandy beach, and a great golf course. It wasn't very full, so we kind of dominated the place.

We bought a meal plan and planned to eat a few meals in the room. However, thanks to Paige we negotiated all of these deals whereby kids under 12 ate free and we got 2-for-1 breakfasts if we showed up before 9 a.m. As a result, we paid about $10/day for all the great food we could eat. I mean, omelets, bacon, fresh fruit, cereal, pancakes, yogurt, fresh juices, soups, steak, grilled shrimp, beans and rice, cheeseburgers, fajitas, sushi, and a gazillion desserts. They did not realize that the Mormons were coming when they made the offers they did. We definitely got the better end of the bargain.

The trip was fun-filled but quite relaxing. Because we were pretty isolated, we never worried about the kids. They went around in a pack, building sand castles, wading in the water, swimming, having their hair braided, making pottery, and playing soccer on the beach. They usually spent the afternoons inside playing Wii or watching movies. After they ate at night, we usually sent them back to the room so that the adults could hang out and talk. It worked out great.

As part of our hotel, we received a free spa treatment and a free round of golf. So, the boys turned metro and had a massage together. (My massuese was tiny -- less than 5 feet tall, more than 60 years old, and had the smallest hands I have ever seen. But she did a very nice job.) We also played a round of golf on a very tough golf course. The views along the ocean were beautiful -- like a poor man's Pebble Beach. (They played a girls NCAA tournament there the weekend after we left.) We also took the kids over there to hit balls.

We drove back to Utah on Saturday. We made it in one day. We left at about 6 a.m., stopped at the Hoover Dam (cool unless you are afraid of heights), grabbed an In-N-Out burger in St. George, and made it home at about 11:15 p.m.

The trip was awesome (and cheap). Here are some pictures (thanks to Paige and Andrew for these, our camera died yet again!).

Looking out at the beach from the pool deck.

Our fantastic Mexican spread poolside!

Matt and the kids in the indoor pool.

Matthew at dinner. Oh the food! Yes he has five deviled eggs.

All 13 kids.

Matthew, Jake and Henry in the restaurant.

The whole group. Good Friends!

Jake, Katie, Laurel, and Abby at the beach. They built quite elaborate sandcastles.

Claire, Kate, Laurel, and Abby showing off their braids and enjoying their "Miami Vice" drinks.At Hoover Dam.