Saturday, January 30, 2010

Dia TRES~ Cascadas, Cabo San Lucas BCS Mexico

A beanie and sweater in Mexico? Yep. Kathi is always cold!

We took a taxi to Club Cascadas this morning for a visit with friends of Bob and Cathy. Banana pancakes and a spread of yumminess greeted us!

My family stayed at this property when I was in High School. It is the same way that I remember it and is a close second to the paradise found at Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach.


Kath was a portrait model for me. I'm learning how to take soft photos. Don't you just love her look? I've seen it a time or two.

Senorita Bonita

Bob put his feet up for a bit...

The view from Medrano Beach

The best junk on the beach! I did speak some espanol with the vendors. Mucho silver (plata), sunglasses and sarongs a plenty. After a few minutes I was ready to get away from all of the bargaining!


Again. Nobody in the pool. No complaints here!


We took turns getting massages on the beach.

And then did some chillin' on the hammocks.

A flattering photo on a hammock? Next to impossible. But we tried!

We headed back to Sunset Beach for a bit and then headed back into Al Centro (downtown) for dinner.


The Happy Couple ~ Cathy and Bob. Is this the first photo of Cathy? I think she must hide a lot. We took the shuttle into town. The shuttle OUT of town is a lot more eventful though... nothing like watching the inexperienced and or underage drinkers struggling after a night of too much tequila. It's so much more fun to be the one doing the laughing versus being the one laughed out. I'm. Getting. Old.

With Little Missy Glamour Girl. I so can't do the at-the-pool all day have silky shiny cute hair. So it's a pony tail fancy twisty do for me!

An Italian dinner in Mexico? I had that same thought. UNTIL I ate at Salvatore's.

We enjoyed a brilliant home style Italian meal. It was affordable, the atmosphere amazing and the wait staff attentive and fun. I think I'll be a food critic in my next life. Hopefully I will learn to like vegetables.


Kathi, Cathy and MMH

A little love for our server!

Pucker up!

My (poor) attempt to capture the beautiful Luna Halo that we saw after dinner. Science lesson: The ring around the Moon is caused by the refraction of Moonlight (which of course is reflected sunlight) from ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. The shape of the ice crystals results in a focusing of the light into a ring. Since the ice crystals typically have the same shape, namely a hexagonal shape, the Moon ring is almost always the same size. Source: here

Nothing like ending the night with a scoop of helado from Thrifty ice cream. It's just like it was when I was a little girl (now at Rite Aid). Still rectangular scoops and still under a dollar. It was fun to translate all of the flavors from Spanish to English. I had a scoop of sorbeto de arco ~ rainbow sherbet.

Manana? Maybe some shopping. Maybe. But probably more of the pool. I'm loving it. Most of my recent trips have been so full of to-do's, to-sees, to-go. I'm liking this change of pace! I can keep up!

Friday, January 29, 2010

Dia DOS ~ Pacifica ~ Cabo San Lucas BCS Mexico

After a great night of sleep last night we were up and at 'em (guess who was the very last to roll out of bed) and enjoyed a breakfast on the patio.

Bob and I had our first photography lesson. Bless his heart! Exposing then recomposing.

Kathi and I took a Big 'ol walk around and down to the beach and Pacifica. Bob took some pics of us from the patio with his ginormous lens. (Evidenced below!) When I get my hands on them I will post them. How fun! So paparazzi-ish...

Don't we look so athletic! Kathi walked 15 miles last week with the Loma Linda Lopers and I'm reluctantly quasi sort of at least pretending to train for the Disneyworld Princess Half Marathon this March with Lindsay and Jennifer!

Kathi is hard at work propelling her life to the next level (Uplevel!) poolside at Pacifica.

And me? Making friends with the Pablo from the Activities Staff. Sunscreen on? Check! Water aerobics with six women over 50? Check!

Posing...

All of those aqua bicep curls make a girl thirsty. I swam on over to the swim up bar for a sweet lava flow. Yummy.

I spotted a gorgeous happy pretty thing. A ring. And I want to have a ring someday. Like this ring. Right hand, left hand... no me importa (not important to me!) but some bling would do me some good. Don't 'cha think?

I love the sapphires around the center (conflict free) diamond. And yes, I did ask to photograph this. Isn't that in some photography etiquette book somewhere?

For quite some time I was the only person in this pool. And it's a huge pool. Pacifica is an adult only (hence the empty kid free pool!) holistic resort. It boast a zen like atmosphere. Sadly, Kathi and I didn't find anyone willing to comp us a day at the spa. Sigh...

I practiced using my new settings (no more "auto" mode on my camera anymore) and can't believe the difference in my photos! THANK YOU, BOB!



Who needs a room? Just leave me here on the beach!



I couldn't believe how empty the beach was. A beautiful day and no crowds = a great vacation day!



This is one of my favorite shots so far.


The lobby




Blurry backgrounds! I learned how to do blurry backgrounds!

Bob's all ready to take some sunset shots. He is an excellent photographer and an even better teacher. That's saying quite a bit since I'm not the quickest or most patient student!


We dined in tonight Costco style. All of our hard work of swimming, sunning and strolling meant one thing ~ a night of soaking!

BLISS!

Manana? A whole lot more of nothing. Oh yeah!