Day 4: Hard Rock rocks

My first trip to Hard Rock Cafe was awesome and so was my meal.


I missed posting yesterday because the football game ran late and I didn't get a chance to edit Thursday's photos from Cancun. Tomorrow may be a 2 part blog because Friday was just so cool and we took so many photos. I had to struggle to decide which photo to lead with today, but then I remembered this blog is supposed to be concentrating on detail so I lead with this one. Look at this photo anyway.

On Wednesday we decided to go on a snorkeling trip through the marina, but Steph was feeling sick so we decided to wait until Thursday. The trip was supposed to be from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., so when we woke up at 9:55 a.m. that was kind of out of the question. We didn't even make it out of the hotel until 10:35 a.m. so we missed breakfast at the hotel.

We made a quick trip to the super deli next door and headed to the beach. Today was another relaxation day of not doing a whole lot.

In the afternoon we did take the paddle boat out in the middle of the lagoon for awhile. I hadn't used one of those for a long time. The funniest part of that whole trip was Steph freaking out when we nearly hit one of the posts that was about 200 yards out in the water. Normally, nearly crashing into something wouldn't be funny, but when you're going to hit a wooden post with a plastic leg-powered boat at about 3 mph while you're floating it's actually pretty funny.

After that we showered up and headed downtown for dinner again. Tonight's restaurant, Hard Rock Cafe. I've never been to one and have always wanted to go. Dinner was great as usual. The restaurant was amazing. It was almost like heaven for me. All the music memorabilia and the video playing were great.

I loved that the server kept calling me 'boy' and calling Steph 'girl.'

"Are you ready to order boy?"
"Do you want another drink girl?"

She didn't mean any disrespect. I had kind of noticed it all week with other people too.

Anyway, she did let us know there would be a band playing later on which was great. As we were getting ready to ask for our check it somehow came up that it was our honeymoon. And she goes, "Oh, why didn't you tell me before boy? I'll be right back."

Next thing we know all the servers are coming out there with her to our table. I see two full shots of some unknown black liquid and I think, "Oh, great."

They made each of us take a shot in what I'll call a less than appropriate way in front of everyone in the restaurant. I guess I'd call it PG-13. Funny and entertaining to most people. Shot didn't taste horrible, but didn't taste great either.

We walked around for awhile after that to burn off our food, but then went back to Hard Rock for the concert.

Band is amazing. I'm pretty sure they're called Sombra, but not 100 percent sure. Great guitar players and just put on a great show. Wide variety of covers.

We then head back to the hotel bar for a bit and hang out with our British friends again. Steph's turn to get drunk. I get a little buzzed, but not bad. Steph starts repeating some song line of "A Be be be." Which to me sounds like she's trying to sound like Yogi the Bear. "Hey Boo boo."

Despite missing the boat on snorkeling, literally, we had another great day.

Day 3: Best/Worst/Best Day Ever

It can't be all beaches and fun in the sun.


Wednesday starts off a bit slow. Steph doesn't feel the greatest. She's got a pretty bad cold. Can't hardly breathe. I'm in great spirits. Still riding high off Tuesday's fumes. We go down for a little bite to eat and some R&R.

Breakfast is good and we go to lay on the beach. About an hour or two after laying out I reach in the bag for th camera to take a picture when I notice sand bits in the bag we're carrying the camera in. I freak out because I'm a parannoy with the new camera. After a year working in a camera store I've seen way too many sand cameras come back.

I tell Steph I'm going to shake the bag out and tell her to hang on to eveyrthing in the bag. Here's where things get good. I grab the bag and start shaking. Seems like no big deal. But those who have been married before know that after you get married your wedding ring might not be the tightest as it hasn't been sized for your finger.

On the fourth shake of the bag I feel my brand new ring fly off. My heart drops. I'm freaking. The 10 seconds it takes me to tell Steph seems like an eternity of misery. I quickly say, "Steph, my ring just fell off." Her reply, "So get down and find it," in a not really paying attention manner.

She thinks I lost my new Mexican ring I bought. Then comes the bombshell, "No Steph, my wedding ring."

"What!!??!!? Oh my god, start looking."

Natural reaction. We start looking. People on the beach think we're playing a game until they ask us what we're doing. Wives begin searching frantically as us. Guys pretend to care. I feel dumb. No metal detectors in sight and apparently none to rent in Cancun.

After 15 minutes 15-20 people help us search. Another 5 minutes of searching leads me to a little spot of uncovered sand where I dig my hand like a shovel into the extremely fine sand where middle finger lightly taps a piece of silver band as well as picks up my heart.
Exuberance. The cool part is we meet a few couples while we're searching. Everyone's really nice. The ring stays in the hotel room from now on.

I get a few drinks with one of the British couples we met. Nice people. Very funny people. She's Scottish, he's English. Makes for a lot of jokes. 4 or 5 vodka tonics later I'm buzzing....okay a little drunk. Steph still isn't feeling well so we go back upstairs to the room. I try to take care of her, but quickly pass out on the bed. I wake up 3 hours later. It's only 4 p.m. I feel fantastic though.

We decide to head down to get some food at 5:30. While Steph gets ready I get to watch part of the NLCS game which gets me pumped. We actually decide on going to Hooters for dinner. Steph thinks the hotwings will open up her congestion and I'm just excited to go in general. The best part, the Redsox game will be on.

When we get to Hooters we're the only people in there practically. I ask which tv will be showing the game. They direct me towards the 20 foot cinematic screen right in front of the bar. I'm ecstatic. While eating I realize Stephanie is the coolest wife ever. Honestly, tell me what wife would let there husband go to Hooters and watch a baseball game with them while letting them consume more alcohol after already being drunk once in the day. Let alone on their honeymoon. Luckily I didn't just marry my wife, but my best friend too. Forty hotwings and a Redsox victory later we head back to the hotel.

We go down to the hotel bar for a few more drinks where I get drunk with our British friends again. The night ends as good as it began.

Day 2: A fresh beginning

How can you have complaints when your day starts like this!



Day 2. We wake up. I slowly drag my bruised body out of the rock hard bed. My sleepy eyes focus in and out of the curtain hanging on the slideing glass window. The dark color of the curtain lets little light through. By the looks I assume it's a rainy day.

I go over to the curtain and pull it back. I'm pleasantly surprised to find it's a beautfiul day with the sun shining brightly across the lagoon behind our hotel. Today's going to be good.

We head down for breakfast. I'm a bit worried ti's going to be as bad as lunch. Luckily it's omelettes. You can't screw up omelettes. They end up being delicious.

Time for a little R&R. We relax and peruse the list of marina activities. We finally decide on parasailing for our first activity. It's a life goal of ours so we're pumped. The guys running it speak very little English and I'm pretty sure make fun of my little extra weight in the front, but that's okay. I've got a beautiful wife with me and they only have a couple of smelly guys on a boat.

The 12-minute ride is awesome. 45 feet above the water flying behind a boat is phenomenal.
Next we decide on the wave runner. I've been on one, but Steph hasn't. It's amazing as well. Nothing but pure throttle on that thing. "Have you ever tried not smiling on a wave runner?"

Next back to the beach for a little lunch. Lunch is just okay again. A little disappointed by the food again we decide to go back downtown for dinner later on, but still a little more time for sunbathing. Luckily after two days of fun in the sun Stephanie is still not burnt.

We ride the bus back to the downtown area. Rainforest Cafe for dinner; Mexicani style. Food is great, waiter is very good and I get to see a monkey crawling around on some guys head. It was awesome. We run around the downtown area for a bit. We decide to get our souvenir shopping out of the way. It takes about an hour and a half of running around a place called the Mexican Depot.

Finally it's time to head back to the hotel for a little her and me time.

On the bus ride back we run into this Mexican musician playing for tips on the busy. He starts with a Spanish tune and switches to Oasis' "Don't Look Back in Anger." It's beautiful. Not only is he a great player, but his voice is awesome too. It makes me want to do a photo story on him. I start imagining the multitude of available photos from a story. I even makeup my own little story about him. Where he's been, what his parents do, why he has to ride the bus. All of these things pass my mind as we wait to be dropped off. I tip him a few dollars which seems to be more than most people, but I really loved it.

Sadly I don't talk to him. I never ask him his name, I leave everything to my imagination. In some ways I hate this and in a wierd way I'm glad I'm letting my imagination run wild. Chances are his real story isn't as cool as the one I've made up.

We get back to the hotel. We go get a few drinks from the hotel bar and head back to the hotel room. Day 2 ends up being a huge success.

Day 1

Luckily the blisters on my feet have healed.


It's been awhile. I apologize. I've been busy. You know, marriage stuff. I'm going to update once a day with a photo from each day of the honeymoon. Each day has a photo to go with the stories. Without further ado....

So let me first off tell you that anyone who says going to Cancun is just like being in the U.S. must have a really distorted view of the States. Don't get me wrong. I'm sure it's the most Americanized place there, but still quite a ways. Many people are fairly bilingual there, but not as much as most people think.

We arrived around 1 p.m. on Monday. It's raining. Immediately get out of the plane and go through customs. Thank god customs was a breeze. Didn't get searched or anything. We leave through the gates and get a van to our hotel.

I have to say the hotel was a little unimpressive when we showed up. I think the both of us were expecting a little bit more out of the resort, but being wore out from the flight, the lack of sleep and being pretty hungry gave us a bit of a negative attitude.
We go to eat in the hotel restaurant why they finish cleaning up our room.

The food ends up being horrible. Strike 2. The only way to describe the food was American food gone bad. Finally, we get all checked in. The room is even less impressive.

No remote for the tv, all tile on the floor and the beds are hard as a rock. And apparently they don't believe in rags for bathing in Mexico.

We still try to make the best of things. Get changed, head down to the beach. Luckily after 30 minutes on the beach the weather gets beautiful. Around 4:30 we start to get a bit hungry and want to go to dinner, but since we already discovered the hotel food sucks we head to the downtown area.

We're unsure how far it actually is, but we're up for a walk. Should've brought walking shoes. I made the mistake of wearing flip flops. We end up walking 8.5 km until we get to what they call the hotel zone with all the shops and restaurants.

We finally get settled in at a restaurant called the Mexican Pub. We're the only people there at 5:30 p.m. which seems wierd. Waiter speaks little English. I order a Bud Light, but get a Modelo Light, which is essentially there version of it. We get a stroke of luck though. The owner is sitting there and speaks very good English. We end up finding out everyone in Mexico eats 2 hours later than in the states becuase of their siestas.

We eat our meal which is fantastic. Try to pay with a traveler's check, but we mess it up and he can't accept it. Luckily he lets us pay with US dollars. He then explains to us how use the bus system and exchange our money. We ride the bus back which is kind of cool. If it's one thing Cancun has, it's a very good transit system.

We get back to the hotel and nearly pass out. I've had a few drinks for the day, my feet are pounding with blisters from walking and we're exhausted.

Luckily we're both positive tomorrow will be better.

I'll update the flickr section each day with new photos. Eventually I'll have all them up. Hopefully in a week or so.