Travel Log

From August 9th through the 16th Adam and I went to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We left Ryker home with Grandma Dalton and Aunt Julie. It was really hard to leave my sweet little boy, but Adam and I REALLY needed a vacation. And I knew Ryker was in good hands, so we didn't feel too guilty about leaving him.

Adam and I had a great time in Mexico. On the way there we got stuck in the Dallas airport while our plane was being fixed. We finally left 2 and a half hours late, but at least we made it to Mexico safely. By the time we got to our hotel it was super late and we just crashed. The next day we went to the beach, which was out our back door, and went parasailing and kayaking. The parasailing was more peaceful then it was anything else, but we were up in the air flying behind the boat for exactly 12 minutes. That was much longer than when I went parasailing in Hawaii 5 years ago. The kayaking was fun to do in the ocean, which was a new experience from doing it in a river in Provo. It was a little more physically challenging, but fun.

Our next day we went a did an "Outdoor Adventure" through Vallerta Adventures." If you ever go there, we HIGHLY recommend this adventure. It was our best day of the vacation. We took a speed boat to an island. Then a hummer type truck up half the mountain. Then mules up the other half the mountain. Then we hiked the rest of the way to a zip line platform. The first zip line was 300 meters long (985 feet) and 200 meters high (about 650 feet). From there we did a series of zip lines until we got to the top of a huge, over flowing waterfall. From there we repelled straight down the rock, right next to (or in my case, I ended up under the waterfall halfway down) the waterfall. Then there we crossed rope bridges, more zip lines, more repelling, and then finished it off with hiking, in which we crossed some rivers on foot. There were a couple of times where even Adam go nervous throughout this adventure, but it was the funnest day either one of us have ever had in our life!

Next day we went snorkeling and played on the beach. The snorkeling was okay, but the scuba divers said they saw a lot of variety on their dives, whereas I didn't think we saw a tone of variety in our snorkeling. We took a catamaran out to an island to do the snorkeling and while the catamaran was just sitting there I started getting a little motion sickness, so I got my own goggles I use for racing and jumped in the ocean just to do some freestyle swimming until it was time to go. When we got back we went to downtown Puerto Vallarta and walked around for a few hours, got a meal, and even checked out their local Walmart. :)

Next day we went horseback riding in the Sierra Madre mountains for 4 hours. This was super fun! I wouldn't recommend it if you've never ridden a horse before, but if you have and you're okay with risk, it was way fun. We went through some treacherous terrain and even crossed rivers on horseback. In fact, one lady almost fell off her horse in the middle of the river. One time we were crossing a ditch/stream and Adam's horse decided he was not going in the ditch, so he backed up and full on leaped. The guide calmly said to Adam a few seconds before, oh he doesn't like to cross here so he's going to jump. Adam grabbed on tight just in time to go flying through the air on his horse. Some of the trail we went on was really steep, parts I wouldn't even be comfortable walking down by myself, but the horses did great. I actually felt safer on the horse than if I was trying to do it alone. At the end of the day they made us an authentic Mexican lunch and it was the best meal we had the whole time. Great day!

On our final day we relaxed at the resort during the day and then in the evening we took a catamaran to an island to see the show Rhythms of the Night. It was a Mexican story that dated back thousands of years. It was really beautiful. Then they gave us an incredible dinner by candlelight and we got to walk around the island and then chill in hammocks right off the water until it was time to go back. On the way back our catamaran crew did a hilarious show, followed by dancing for the passengers. It was fun.

Overall it was a super fun trip, and as long as we were staying busy I did okay with missing Ryker, but every night when we went to bed I had to look at pictures of him. Though it was a fun trip, I was happy to come home to my baby.

We didn't do a very good job of taking pictures, but we did take some. Once I get them downloaded on the computer I'll post them.