Wow. What a week. Let me recap:



Saturday, 8/9

As I expected, I got over to Pierre's around 4:30am to find him barely packed. We finally left his apartment around 5:20am, arriving at the ExtraCar parking lot---a service I hadn't tried before (I usually go with SeaTacpark.com), but they had some good rates so I was curious. Wrong. Their customer service was horrible. I had to give them all this information which was already previously supplied on the website. Really poor. Very disappointed. As a result, they wouldn't wait to take me to the airport and we had to wait 10-15 minutes for the next shuttle to pick us up. We arrived in the terminal around 5:55am (for our 6:15am international flight) to, of course, find out there was no way we would make our flight. Even if we had arrived an hour before that, I don't know if we would have made it. We then spent about 45 minutes with a ticket agent, finally deciding to try standby all the way there via Los Angeles. We first attempt the 8am standby to L.A. (the "harder" flight to get on) and get on! Yay! One down, one more to go. We hang out in LAX for a few hours...and well...we never make it on the flight, although (we find out later) that our bags continued onto Mexico. So there we were, in L.A. for a night, without our bags. No problem. We got a "distressed passenger voucher" to stay at the Westin, which was really nice. Then we rented a car and got lunch, going to Greenfield's Brazilian Bar-B-Q Steakhouse upon recommendation of the Thrifty guy. Oh my god--it was incredible food. For $21/person, we had all you can eat buffet--it was okay. But the best part--the waiters kept walking around with HUGE skewers of meat to serve you: chicken, sausage, t-bone, filet, ribs, etc.... all slowly cooked over an open fire. It was sooo delicious. After lunch, we drove over to Monterey Park to surprise my grandparents--boy, they were surprised to find out I was standing right outside their door! After spending some time there and stumbling over my Chinese, we headed out for a drive around Hollywood, Rodeo Dr. and Beverly Hills just to drive around...and eventually headed back to the hotel.

Sunday, 8/10

We finally arrive in San Jose del Cabo! The hot weather slaps us so hard--but it feels good. I was immediately conned into thinking the timeshare guy was actually the shuttle guy. After spending way too much time with the guy and eventually refusing his offer, we realize we missed the shuttle out to the hotel and are left with only the option of an expensive $65 "private taxi" to our hotel. Not happy with this, we consider renting a car---only to be "helped" by an airport employee who, in the end, just drove us over to the other terminal to show us that there were other shuttles--thus "saving us a lot of dinero" and then expecting a tip. [sigh] welcome to mexico. We jump on the shuttle and get to the Westin Regina Hotel which was just gorgeous. It was an open air lobby and just so bright. The room was incredible and spacious with a balcony facing out to the ocean. After settling in, we changed and headed out to one of the seven pools at the resort to finally sit down, have a strawberry colada and relax. We finished the evening with a fancy schmancy dinner at Arrecife, the fancy schmancy restaurant at the resort...and fell asleep really quickly with such good food in our stomachs.



Monday, 8/11

Happy birthday to us! If I haven't mentioned it already, Pierre and I bizarrely share the same birthday. It started off a bit rocky unfortunately. Once again, we were led into being invited into a "first time visitors' breakfast" (coupled with 50% off all activities). We realized soon after that it wasn't just a breakfast but another skillfully operated attempt at getting us to buy some 43 year vacation package. ugh. After about 2 uncomfortable hours of that, I saw Pierre storm off angrier than I had ever seen him in my life. Ah well--we recovered fast and immediately took advantage of the activities discount and booked an ATV tour trip for later in the afternoon. After resting by the pool again for a bit, we headed out for an ATV Tour out in the desert. It was soooo much fun! It was a 3 hour guided tour with so much freedom to drive around and explore on our own. After getting more comfortable, I drove as fast as 65 km/hr! (although very briefly--it was a bit scary) It just felt incredible to ride through the wind like that, out in the open desert. After that completed, we headed back to the hotel, changed and went out to Cabo San Lucas, the larger of the two "Cabos", about 21 miles from the hotel. We grabbed a seafood dinner at a restaurant recommended by our taxi driver---saw the biggest oysters ever--the kind that you can only eat by chewing and chewing..ew. I eventually had to just cut it up because I'm the "slithering down the throat" sort of oyster eater only. But I got a lobster tail that was so yummy. Together, we ate so much food. Great birthday dinner. Finished off the evening getting a drink at a club called Kaboo.



Tuesday, 8/12

Woke up early to catch the 9am shuttle back into Cabo to join a snorkeling tour which also just amazing. We saw pelicans, sea lions, a manta ray flip flop out of the ocean, and of course lots and lots of fish. We fortunately joined a very small tour---me, pierre, 2 others and our 2 tour guides. Throughout the day, I was so happy that I wasn't part of the 60+ person snorkeling tour boats that we saw. It was a lot nicer to just hang back with a smaller group. After snorkeling, we saw someone on the marina carrying a large marlin that they had just caught--it was huge! We then grabbed some lunch (i was loving all the guacamole I was eating) and then walked around town for a bit, shopping for jewelry and random things. Headed back to the hotel to chill next to the pool again. I then decided I wanted an oceanview massage as the sun set. They have these tents propped up right on the cliffside--quite private. My god--I'll never forget this massage. There's nothing like relaxing like that while the wind blows by and the sound of the ocean waves crashing against the rocks. [sigh] Finished off the evening with a dinner at one of the hotel buffet restaurants where there was all you can eat steak and lobster tails! I ate so much good food on this trip...



Wednesday, 8/13

Time to leave! We spent the morning getting some breakfast and chilling by the pool a bit more. It was oh so hard to leave. Caught our flight in the afternoon and was back in Seattle by 8pm, having dinner at Figaro. We found Ludo and Jean-Michael there---Jean-Michael had apparently recently started working there and was our waiting for the evening. Anyhow, delicious food again. Came home. Found Misha eagerly waiting for me. I love my cat.



Thursday, 8/14

Got to work at 9:30am to hear a "Finally!!! She's back!!" No wonder. Crazy things happened with my project while I was gone. I ended up getting SLAMMED at work, working until 2am. Nothing exciting about the day except to get a phone call from my brother since he was in NYC and the huge East Coast Blackout had occurred and he wanted to know if I could check on the internet about any eta for electricity to be back up since his car was stuck in a parking garage. He told me people were climbing out of sewers from the subways below...crazy.



Friday, 8/15

...which brings me to today. Crazy day at work again. It's 9:48pm and I'm still at work, working on some crazy bug, feeling like I'm still in an intense launch mode. I'm not happy and I'm hungry. I should leave. Pierre and Jaiss are hanging out at the Cactus Club Restaurant. Yeah, I should leave. See how exciting my real life is?



I am soooo happy that I already have my tickets and have planned to be out of here, yet again, for Thailand this coming Wednesday. My mind still needs some clearing up before I can really get back into full work mode again--or else I'll scream.