Babymoon - Cozumel, Mexico, March 19, 2008

The last day of the vacation and Colleen and I can sense a heaviness in the air.  Neither of us wants it to end, but at the same time we both realize it cannot go on forever.

We woke early.  Going to bed as early as we do lends itself to that.  We were stunned to see that pool chairs had "been taken" by people simply putting out flip flops, books, and other minimal items to secure their preferred spot.  We decided we too would try this ploy and I ran downstairs with our sunscreen and my unused pair of sandals to mark the two chairs we wanted.  The wind promised once again to be howling and we knew we weren't about to try to deal with the sand again.

Since we hadn't had coffee in the room, we chose instead to head to the buffet as quickly as possible.  The food at breakfast is without question the best meal served in the buffet.  From there it was quickly to the room to change into swim gear and down for some sun by the pool.  I will admit that even with SPF 50 on, I still managed to get burnt a bit and Colleen also managed to get cooked in some spots we apparently didn't do a good job of covering.  We managed roughly four hours out there until we both felt we were risking a really nasty plane ride tomorrow.

Back to the room and mostly laying around to read books and another nap for Colleen.  It was nice and cool in the room and I wasn't about to complain.  She awoke and we knew it was time for a quick shower and then down to our last dinner so we could come back and begin packing.

A quick diversion with some thoughts about our new home resort.  I have mixed feelings about the value of the all inclusive package.  We only had 5 meals away from the resort out of a possible 28 total.  Still, I am not sure the quality of the food merited the cost.  The bar has a terrible selection of alcohols and few if any that could be classified as premium.  The beer selection was one on tap, and one available in the mini bar.  Neither of them was what I'd call a good one.  The time to be here is critical.  The first week was mostly families and was significantly laid back.  The second week brought mostly college age guests all aggressive, rowdy, and significantly more rude.  Cloth shower curtains are convenient for the hotel because they can be laundered, but can create a significant leak problem in the bathroom.  Hot water is not in never ending supply.  Just because it didn't rain, didn't mean it was possible to stay on the beach every day.  Now, I am not saying these things to be negative.  I am excited about the premise of this as our resort of choice.  I am just pointing out some things that we'll want to be more prepared for as we return here year after year.  Of course, we also have already made plans to use the 35 resort home network for at least one upcoming vacation.  That flexibility was definitely one of the selling points we found compelling.  The Travel Channel even ranked one of our possible choice among their ten best Mexican Beach Resorts at number 9.

Dinner was supposed to be Italian.  It was at least close.  We came back to the room and began packing.  Sigh.  We're going to miss this place and it is of course the end of an era in some respects.  One phase of our life is closing as another opens and we have to take pause to consider the significance.

At least we had a good time.  It was well worth it and the memories will last a lifetime.

Cheers!