April 13-16, 2025 - Cancun, Mexico to Fort Collins, Colorado

We started our day at The Grand with breakfast at the Habibi Restaurant on Sunday when we visited with our day pass. The food was good, but the service was SLOW!!! It took over an almost an hour before our food was delivered to our table! Crazy. After breakfast, we headed to the waterpark. We just found chairs and let breakfast settle before doing one of the waterslides and the lazy river a couple times each. We enjoyed seeing the kids area - lots of fun things to climb and get soaked on! We had decided to have lunch at Los Tacos, which we have eaten at before. Unfortunately, we were disappointed with the food.

Oh well. At least we got to see the hawk with it's handler working for a few minutes while we ate. VIDEO https://youtube.com/shorts/P5gLk7fcRQE?feature=share

We headed out to the beach and walked along a little before deciding to go back to The Sunrise and go sailing. Rather than wait for their lobby-to-lobby shuttle, we walked since it's under a mile. We walked through the Nizuc pool and beach area and they had a fun bubble machine on the beach for the kids.

Bubbles video https://youtube.com/shorts/QeXsHrME1Oo

After sailing and showers we headed back to The Grand for dinner. We had booked reservations at The Jade and their menu is very similar to Momo's here at The Sunrise, with the exception of a yummy beef dish they grill at your table. They were out of it! The head waiter was super nice and called to Caribeno and we switched our reservation there. Yummy seafood and a restaurant we hadn't tried before. We had a beautiful view as we left the restaurant.

We managed to get massages again, go sailing several times and went out in the 16 foot Hobie Cat. It is missing its jib sail, but was still faster and Tobey thought it was actually easier to sail than the 14 footers, and we had a great time. No more getting stuck on the beach for us!! :) Let's see, we ate more food - and more food, sat by the pool, read, relaxed, and got more sun than we probably should have.

Our last night's shows were a puppet show - geared toward the children, but still fun to see and the Michael Jackson show. It was fun and a good way to round out our stay. Michael Jackson Video: https://youtube.com/shorts/x9l2Ag87Ye4?feature=share

The wait staff in all of the restaurants are excellent and so friendly. On our last morning we had breakfast at the Gondola Restaurant. Michel, one of the hostesses, told us she would have something special for us this morning if we ate there - and she did! We were treated to a beautiful table and wonderful service! We NEVER saw anything like this during our entire stay.

She made us smile every morning - along with Vanessa - who usually works in the Boganbila Restaurant. Michel gave us many hugs and they both asked us to come back soon.

We were on the shuttle to the airport about 11am for our flight back to Colorado. The view as we departed Cancun was beautiful!

We were ahead of schedule arriving in Denver, but had to circle and circle because of winds in Denver and had a VERY bumpy descent into the airport. Then we had to wait for ground crew so we were not early after all! Oh well, it was a great trip but it is always good to be home. 

April 7-12, 2025 - Cancun, Mexico

Well, our time has been busy - but not busy, if that makes sense. We got here on Sunday and had the luxury of sleeping in on Monday. Our days are similar - buffet breakfast, lounge about, walk around the pool/property, go sailing, play putt-putt golf, have massages, eat lunch, sail, lounge by the pool, and after dinner they have a different show every night. Unless we go to the buffet for dinner, they now require you to make reservations at the restaurants, so we have been doing that, too. Tuesday it rained off and on all day, so we had a lot of down time to read - so I am almost finished with my next book club book.

We spot iguanas every day and have seen coatis (kind of like a raccoon) but didn't have my camera handy.

They are painting several of the buildings and are safety-conscious. The painters are all safety strapped to the buildings. You wouldn't get me to climb that three-story ladder!!!

Tobey had a seafood appetizers at one of the restaurants. The octopus was overcooked and a bit on the rubbery-side. He won't order that again.

This is a video of a special appetizer we had at the Agra, the Indian restaurant. Agra Restaurant special appetizer

There are different shows every night. This one was GLOW.

The Fuego (Fire) Show and a video of the finale.  Fire Show

We have been sailing several times. Yesterday the wind was weird and we had trouble tacking and ended up down the beach at The Grand Moon Palace. Our 30-minute sail lasted more than 2 hours by the time we were able to get back. Okay - confession here! We actually got beached at the Grand and I walked back to the marina (almost a mile) and a couple of the workers took another sailboat down and one of them sailed back with Tobey. We felt lucky, though, because three other boats capsized and they had to help with rescues! At least we didn't do that!

We had more fun today and were zipping along pretty good - so good in fact that when we came about, the sail clipped me in the face and I lost my sunglasses. Bummer!! And I only brought one pair with me. When we got back to shore, a guy asked Tobey if he would take him and his 8-year old daughter out. They were visiting the resort on a day pass and they hadn't sailed before. They had a great time and it was fun watching them. Video of Captain Tobey sailing

We do usually dress up for dinner. 

The full moon over the water.

Tomorrow we have a day pass to go to The Grand (another part of the Moon Palace Resort) so we are off to bed. 

April 6, 2025 - Fort Collins, CO to Cancun, Mexico

It has been a long day - but worth it! We were up at 3:00am and heading to the airport in Denver by 4:00 to catch our flight to Cancun. We originally didn't have seats together, but the gate agent was helpful and gave us two seats together. Unfortunately, they gave a family with two heathen children and a very loud mother the seats right behind us. Before we took off, the kids were screaming, kicking our seats, and flipping the tray tables up and down. Then the mother started reading to them and her voice was so loud we could barely hear each other! Just before takeoff, the flight attendant said we could move, so we did. The dad and grandparents were in the row across from them, and we moved in front of them. Then the kids bounced back and forth between the mom and dad - and the noise continued! I am glad it was ONLY a four hour flight!

We got to the Moon Palace about 3pm and checked in. We grabbed some lunch then changed into swimsuits and took a stroll around the pools and ended up napping on a lounge chair by the pool for a while!

We had dinner at one of the buffet restaurants before the "talent" show and Mexican show. The talent show was kids and some of them told jokes, others did some gymnastic moves or "danced." Fun for them. The professional show was fun and featured lots of traditional dances from Mexico.

We were reminded of the time we drove our RV through all the different Mexican states.

We strolled back to our room and will be calling it a night very soon.

I'm not sure I will be posting every day, but I promise we will be relaxing and enjoying the beach!

February 24, 2025 - Reykjavik, Iceland to Fort Collins, Colorado

After breakfast at the hotel, we checked out and "secured" our bags in the luggage room before taking our final exploration of Reykjavik. (Any room key opens the door, so we hoped that people were honest!)

We headed toward Tjornin Lake to see the statue of the Unknown Bureaucrat. As we got to the lake, the first thing we noticed were the swans and beautiful houses along the lake.

Folks were feeding the swans, so that was an added bonus for us to watch.

The phrase "faceless bureaucrat" is generally not meant as a compliment. But in Reykjavik, these seemingly anonymous workers are immortalized in art. Next to the lake, stands a statue of a man wielding a briefcase, walking toward city hall. It’s a common everyday sight; a depiction of the everyday “faceless” city officials on their way to work. This official is a bit different from its living inspirations, as it is literally faceless. A large slab of Icelandic volcanic basalt sits where you would expect to see a torso and head. The statue was sculpted by Magnús Tómasson in 1994. Monuments to an unknown soldier are common around the globe, but Iceland has no standing army so maybe it is a tribute to the civilians who serve their country is the next best thing.

We walked over to City Hall and looked around at some of the exhibits. There were several tour groups that went through while we were there, so we figured they must be on the Reykjavik City Tour we missed!

Heading back to the hotel to retrieve our luggage before heading to the airport, we stopped to see the statue of Ingólfur Arnarson which honors him as the first permanent Norse settler in Iceland in 874AD. Legend has it that Ingólfur left Norway due to a blood feud he was involved in. Upon seeing land from his ship he asked the gods where he should make his home, throwing his high seat pillars overboard with the intent to settle wherever they washed ashore and they landed here in Reykjavik.

We stopped in a few shops and an art gallery and I met one of the local polar bears.

I loved the ornamental cabbage plants we passed on the way.

Another one of the murals on the buildings in the city caught our eye.

We got back to the hotel and gathered our bags and waited for our shuttle. We chatted with the women who were on our tour yesterday. They were on the Northern Lights tour Friday night that we were supposed to be on and they were lucky to see the lights for almost two hours. Their pictures were amazing. URGH ... we may have to go back!

We had blue skies as we headed to the airport. It was chillier today, and windy, but the sunshine was a nice way to end our trip.

This view is from the plane - over Hudson Bay, Canada, as we made our way home.

Our flight left Reykjavik at 4:55pm and we landed in Denver at 6:30pm - not bad! The nonstop flight is actually 7-1/2 hours. After clearing customs, picking up the car, and grabbing some fast food, we were back in Fort Collins about 8pm to drop Wendy off. While we didn't see the northern lights or the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, we had a good trip.

February 23, 2025 - Reykjavik -- Golden Circle Tour, Iceland

Today's tour took us to the Golden Circle which has some of Iceland's most popular tourist attractions. We were in a small group - six other women and the three of us, along with our driver/guide. We left the hotel about 8:45 and headed off to our first stop, the Frioheimar Greenhouse. It was pretty cloudy and we passed by some of the hills covered in snow.

We saw a geothermal plant. Over 70% of all of Iceland's enery is produced from hydroelectric sources and 30% is geothermal. Over 90% of all the homes in Iceland are heated from geothermal energy.
We beat the big tour busses to the greenhouse. We visited there in 2019, but didn't get the background information at that time - we just had lunch. The greenhouse started in 1995 and they have about 27,000 tomato plants. Everything is organic and they do not use any pesticides. They harvest 2000 pounds of tomatoes a day!

It is all hydroponic and they serve tomato soup, as well as a tomato beer. No, we didn't try any!

They had some Icelandic horses we went out to see, too.
We continued on to the Geysir geothermal area. The wind was crazy but we did hike up to the top of the yellow trail on the map!

The pool looked a little like Morning Glory Pool in Yellowstone, but it was definitey not as vibrant because of the cloud cover.
Stokkur Hot Springs is not nearly as impressive as Old Faithful, but it does erupt about every five minutes.
Litle Geysir

Our next stop was Gullfoss, which means gold waterfall. It was WINDY - and the SLEET was pelting us in the face! Needless to say, we look pretty funny in our jackets with jackets over them!


Here is a video of the falls. If you have the sound on, you can hear the wind!
Gullfoss Video: https://youtu.be/ydB8jONYUac?si=mTnDo5orZmxtAPLm

We didn't spend too long outside before heading back to the bus! After the falls, our guide stopped for us to see and feed some of the Icelandic horses.

Our last stop of the tour was at Pingvellir National Park. We did not visit here when we were in Iceland in 2019, so this was new to us.

Established in 1928, Pingvellir is Iceland's first national park and is now listed as a UNESCO world heritage site. "Pingvellir" means "Assembly Plains," and is the place of Iceland's first parliament which was founded in 930, making it the oldest operating parliament globally. The parliament continued to convene at the fields of the River Oxara for 868 years (until 1798). Icelanders consider it the nation's birthplace.
Pingvellir has a unique geographical setting of a rift valley in the divide between the North-American and Eurasian continental plates. The lava fields are torn apart by tectonic forces, leaving gorges and fissures.
We followed the hiking path through the enourmous cleft to the "law rock" and Oxara River, which are enveloped by walls of basalt rocks.

There were signs explaining the punishments handed out by the parliament in this area between 930 and 1262. Several punishments included drowning in the lake!

Yes, the sun was out for a while and we had beautiful blue skies!

Back to the bus and we were on our way back to Reykjavik.
And then the clouds rolled back in ...

We walked to Reykjavik Kitchen for dinner tonight, then a stroll by the waterfront. No sign of the Northern Lights, so we headed back to the hotel and said goodnight to Wendy. About 9:30, Tobey and I decided to walk back down to the harbor in hopes of sighting those elusive lights, but no luck.

Tomorrow is our last day in Reykjavik, so it has been a very short visit!