3 Girls and A Mom

 That's the name of our  "group text" when we text and trust me, it's almost an everyday occurrence that we are in touch with each other!

But to back way up, the 4 of us were together last August and decided that we needed to take a trip for my 70th birthday coming up in July.  The girls decided that I had to be the one to pick a place - of course I think they were all desparately thinking they wanted to go to an all-inclusive resort in Mexico but since we go to Mexico every year, I was hesitant on that.

After thinking about it for a couple of weeks, I decided that yes, that IS where we would have the most fun and the cost is usually quite reasonable!  The girls were so excited when I told them my choice and we immediately started researching Apple Vacations for Mexico!

Of course 1/2 the fun of a trip is the planning!  We spent hours researching resorts, reviews, locations, price, and everything else you can think of!  We did pros and cons of our top 8 resorts and finally whittled it down to the Top 3 - and then we made the final choice!  It was to be Catalonia Royal Tulum!

We had 3 top factors we were going for:  a small resort - a beautiful beach - and a preferred section at an all adults place.  In the end, it didn't seem hard at all to choose this resort and we are SO GLAD we did!

Jill had a travel agent in Ft. Collins that she uses so we booked through her and it was an easy process!  Now the anticipation.......

And before we knew it, Jill was heading to Denver from Ft. Collins and Jaime and I were headed north where we all met at Jessi's to spend the night!  We had an early wake up call and soon we were on the road in my car, as I had made the parking reservations!

The van picked us up shortly after we parked and we headed to DIA!  Because we had paid for our checked bags ahead of time, we just had to go to a kiosk to get the tags put on and then drop off our luggage - certainly a very easy process!  The "bridge" was less busy for security so we headed there to get through!  Even though I had printed out my boarding pass, I had also had it emailed to me!  When I got up there, the guy told me my printed pass wouldn't work and I would have to go back to the ticket counter and get a new one - REALLY?   So I whipped out my phone and showed him my boarding pass online (which was the same exact thing) and it worked just fine!

 Then we headed to United Airlines!    But first Jessi and I had a mission - CARIBOU COFFEE!!  Oh my gosh, I can't tell you how long it's been since I've had one - and it was SUPER DELICIOUS!

We got plenty of looks and stares from people reading our shirts and a couple of them even asked us where we got them!   Jessi had ordered them in different colors for us and they were the perfect t-shirt for our journey to Cancun!

We ate some breakfast and soon were loaded on the plane!  Jaime wanted to sleep so she was across the aisle - the girls were disappointed there were no screens in front of us to watch but they had things on their phone downloaded!  I chose to read and took a quick nap for our flight!

It's always a jolt when you get off the plane and hit that blast of heat and humidity!  WOW!  It about did me in!  We got in the long line at customs but Jill wanted to check out the other side where we saw some people going and the line was a whole lot shorter!  Come to find out, as long as you didn't have kids, you could go through this line and do the computer!  So that's what we did and it all worked out fine!

Our luggage was already coming through on the conveyor belt when we got there - one of Jessi's suitcases took a  LOT longer to come out but at least it made it!

We had warned Jaime (this was her first trip to Mexico) to just walk through all the time share people and others who were asking where we were going, etc. and it wasn't too bad getting through them - we found the guy in the blue shirt that we were to look for and then it was a wait until our van was ready for us!  It was great to just stand for a while and enjoy the warm weather!

Soon we climbed into the van and headed south!  We knew our resort was about 70 minutes from the airport - and it's always fun to look out the window and see the entrances to some of the other resorts!  We were the first ones dropped off - and as we looked at the entrance, we all kind of looked at each other because it was not a fancy or large entrance at all!  But once we got through the gates, it all opened up and our vacation had started!

Check in always takes a while!  We were served a glass of wine/juice (it was good!) and a cold cloth to wash our necks and hands with!  Forms to sign and details to go over!

I always enjoy seeing the lobbies of the resorts as they're always beautiful!

Jessi and I shared a room - only because we BOTH are early risers and walkers on the beach!  Jaime and Jill like to sleep in so that made it an easy decision!

The resort was long and narrow!  4 of the restaurants were around the lobby and once you walked out, you walked across this bridge and pond!

Our building was not far from the lobby area - we felt VERY special being in the Privileged Building!  Jill and Jessi were just 3 rooms away from Jessi and I!

The rooms were beautiful - there was a patio outside of the curtains that faced the jungle but we never sat out there due to the heat and the mosquitos!  We had a mini fridge full of drinks and snacks and a very nice bathroom!  So far, so good!

Our wrist bands opened our individual doors so that made it nice - we didn't have to carry keys of any sort!  And by this time, we are starving and ready for a drink!

To be cont'd......  (many, many days so be prepared!!)