Our vacation

We started our trip south of the border with a *slight* detour to Minnesota so that John could stay with his Nana and Granddaddy. A very strange feeling to leave him for the first time ... we put him to bed at the farm on Sunday night and then went back to Minneapolis where we would be closer to the airport. We even walked over to Saint Anthony Main to have a drink. At 10:00 at night! Wow, we forgot what life used to be like! :-)

We left Minnesota for Mexico very, very early on Monday morning. (We were supposed to leave on Tuesday morning, but it's a long story.) With judgement blurred from getting 4 hours of sleep in the last two days, we upgraded to First Class -- maybe the best $150 of the trip? -- and two mimosas later, we arrived in Cancun.

Royal Hideaway may be our favorite hotel, second only to Chateau Lake Louise where we stayed for our honeymoon. Nothing against our times in St. Martin and Antigua, but this was amazing. We feel so fortunate that we got to enjoy this great getaway.

I could go into elaborate detail about the awesome food, the very courteous staff, blah blah blah ... But instead I'll just share some pictures:

The entrance to the hotel














Our room



















Our villa














One of the friendly iguanas














Dinner at Palazzo, the hotel's Italian restaurant. (One note about the food -- Tommy had foie gras creme brulee as an appetizer!) If you look out on the horizon, you can see Cozumel














This picture really doesn't do the pool/beach justice -- the early morning humidity fogged up the camera lens! -- but you can see the infinity pool, the "beach beds" in the background, and the gorgeous water. If you see the two light-colored umbrellas between the pool and the beach, those were the chairs we used two of the days.