Mexican Riviera Cruise -Reflections

Overall, we enjoyed this cruise, especially when I compared it to the one I took on Princess over 20 years ago. Back then, I heard about the amazing food and entertainment, and was disappointed in both. 

We still found the entertainment lacking, but had fun in a couple of trivia games. There were a couple of things that were not to our taste that we walked out of. That said, ship entertainment isn't really a priority for us, so it didn't impact our overall enjoyment.

This time, I also went with realistic expectations - that the food would be similar to hotel conferences or wedding banquet food. With this perspective, Princess usually met or exceeded my expectations. 

Vegetable tarts in Phyllo 

Steve with Beef Wellington and roasted duck (the duck was dry)

Delicious channa masala 

Watermelon feta salad

In general, the desserts were beautiful but lackluster. 

Loveboat dream

Coconut mousse (the best part was the coconut cookie it is sitting on).

We splurged for the Plus package and felt we got enough value where we didn't feel the need to over indulge to get our money's worth, although we indulged more than we would have without the package. It was nice to have the WiFi and crew gratuities included.

The package included 2 "casual dining" meals

Pizza and a veal pasta at Alfredo's (ok but nothing special)

Sushi lunch (it was delicious but everyone got identical meals and you couldn't customize)

We could also each get 2 giant sundaes every day (we shared 2 total across the entire cruise)

The package also included up to 15 alcoholic drinks (up to $15 each) per day. We averaged 3 each on port days and 4-6 on sea days.

watermelon margarita 

coconut mojito

Tokyo tea

Plus, it also included unlimited specialty coffees (we had several per day), bottles of flat and sparkling water, cans of soda, energy drinks, etc.

I also splurged on the Enclave thermal suite, which I really enjoyed. I would buy it again, provided there is a thermal pool, put probably only for me, since Steve didn't enjoy it as much. 

We also really enjoyed having a balcony (the Majestic doesn't have oceanview rooms), especially to watch sunrises and sunsets. Whether we get balconies in the future will depend on the price.

For this cruise, we enjoyed the balance between port and sea days (no more than 2 sea days in a row), and the chance to relax between port days.

While we went on two excursions/ tours in Cabo, we didn't purchase any of the ship's excursions.

Oktoberfest in Wisconsin

We took a quick trip to Southern Wisconsin this year.

Listening to alp horns during Oktoberfest in New Glarus.

Governor Dodge State Park

Having fun at the apple orchard

Sedona

We had hoped to see fall color in Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon  today. When we got there, we realized that not many leaves had changed yet.

On the way home, traffic on I-17 was all backed up and it took twice as long as it should to get home.

San Antonio (March 7-10, 2023)

 One of Steve's daughters was graduating from Air Force basic training in San Antonio, so we loaded up the minivan and drove to her graduation. We had a scary moment just north of Tucson as a tire on the freeway bounced and barely missed our car. As we entered San Antonio, the I-10 was closed and we needed to be rerouted. We nearly got T-boned by a car leaving a parking lot, which was also scary. Luckily, we all arrived in one piece and were able to attend her graduation the next morning.

Cadets during graduation ceremony. 

The next day, there was an additional ceremony on the parade grounds.

Following the ceremony, we went to the Riverwalk in San Antonio where we took a boat tour and then had lunch at a seafood restaurant. The lunch didn't agree with me, so I got to "sightsee" in the bathroom, while everyone else went to the Alamo.

We then hung out on the base for a while, to make sure she would make it back by curfew.

We started the drive home late that afternoon. By the time we got to Fort Stockton, we were tired and spent the night at a roadside motel. 

The next morning, we finished our drive home and caught this glimpse of a train transporting military vehicles.

Prescott

We decided to take a quick road trip to Prescott to get out of the heat.

Our dog packed his compass so we didn't get lost.

We spent a few hours at Goldwater Lake.

We also saw javelins near Lynx Lake.

Salt Mines

We were out jeeping near Camp Verde and decided to check out the salt mines. From a distance, it looked like a big pile of snow.

Road Trip to Idaho and Yellowstone (Oct 1-8, 2021)

We decided to take another road trip this year, this time that would take us through Utah, into Idaho, then to Yellowstone, and back to Idaho, before heading home through Nevada. The image shows the "figure-8" route we planned to follow.

Day 1 (Oct 1)

The plan was to leave Phoenix and get to Springvillefor the night. We thought we were taking the faster route through Utah by getting off the interstate, but instead ran into a rancher driving their sheep across the road.

We eventually arrived in Springville and had dinner and spent the night. The next morning, we started our drive towards West Yellowstone MT, with a few planned stops.

Day 2 (Oct 2)

We drove through Utah then headed to Pocatello ID, taking a nice scenic road through the mountains to reach Lava Hot Springs. 

We spent about an hour in the springs, then headed to Blackfoot ID to see the Museum of Clean 

And then we stopped at the Idaho Potato Museum. 

The potato ice cream was delicious (we tried huckleberry).

After driving several more hours, we stopped to visit Upper and Lower Mesa Falls near Aston ID.

From there, we drove to West Yellowstone MT for the night.