Puerto Vallarta 2012

Mexico was so amazing! We couldn't have asked for a better, more relaxing trip.  It was very different than our first trip to Mexico when we went to Cancun for our Honeymoon, but still wonderful nonetheless!  We stayed at the Lindo Mar Resort which is located right outside the city.  It is built into a cliff and all of the rooms overlook the ocean.  The weather was 83-86 degrees and perfectly sunny the entire time. And there was no humidity which was very different than our Cancun experience. We loved it so much.

Our room was huge and included a living room, an eating area, a fully stocked kitchen, and a bedroom and bathroom. The decorations were very charming and gave off the feel of old Mexico or Spain.  

This picture isn't very good but gorgeous pink and purple flowers were planted right outside of every balcony.

living room

bedroom

balcony with another eating area

view from the balcony

Almost everyday we saw dolphins jumping nearby the hotel.  You can kind of see the fin in this picture. We missed the humpback whale season by a month, but November through the beginning of April you can see whales all around Puerto Vallerta, because they come to the bay to have their young. It's definitely something I want to see someday.

Every evening we would sit on the beach or on our balcony and watch the sunsets..here are some of my favorite sunset shots:

At our resort in Cancun there were 5 restaurants.  Even though it was supposed to be a 5 star resort, none of the food was very good, and we were pretty disappointed with it.  We were worried that we would run into the same thing at this resort, but our experience couldn't have been any different.  The food was absolutely amazing and the restaurant was right on the beach and just gorgeous!

These fajitas were the best I have ever had.  I got the recipe from the chef and definitely intend to make them lots!

 We spent most of our days by the pool or by the beach just relaxing, getting sun, and reading.

I decided to read the Hunger Games Trilogy again since I never get to read books for fun anymore because of school. Skyler saw the first movie with me, and he really liked it, so I got him hooked on the books too:) I also read most of the Steve Jobs Biography which is really interesting.  Reading and relaxing so much really helped me to de-stress from a really difficult and stressful year in school!

On one of the days of the trip we took a day cruise on a catamaran that included snorkeling at a National Park called Los Arcos, hiking and and swimming in a river and waterfall in a tiny village called Quimixto, and lunch and more beach time in Las Animas.

A replica pirate ship that was at the dock

Los Arcos

We couldn't see very much when we snorkeled because an earthquake had struck nearby recently so the water was cloudy.

There was a natural slide that you could go down by the waterfall

Here's a couple more shots from the trip:

It was such an amazing time, and it was so nice to spend a week with Sky without any interruptions. It definitely refreshed me for a summer of hard work:)