Cracking up

I guess I'm overdue for a blog entry. Which generally means a lot has been going on. And although that is somewhat true this time, I've still had time to write. Smack! Ow, ok, that hurt. Don't hit me anymore.

June was supposed to be my first month back at New York flying off to exotic international locations. But that hasn't happened. The week before Beth and I went to Mexico, my left ankle started to hurt. I didn't think much of it, and proceeded to have a good time in Mexico while indulging in Amber's 800mg Ibuprofen she procurred from the hotel pharmacy. Mix that with some tequila, and hell, I forgot I had ankles all together. When I returned home, however, and the tequila well dried up and Amber went home with her drugs, my ankle was still there and still hurting.

I decided to see my doc about the situation. She sent me for an x-ray, which showed a problem, but was not clear enough to diagnose. Off to an MRI I go. The MRI showed I have a nondisplaced osteochondral fracture of the medial talar dome. Huh? I fractured my left ankle. I went to the orthopedist yesterday to begin treatment. I am now the proud owner of a second generation Darcor Body Armor Walker Boot. The technician at the prosthetics lab said it looked like something from Star Wars, and frankly, it sounds like something from Star Wars. No, I haven't turned to the "Darc" side, yet. But I might since I am now officially home from work until futher notice.

My next appointment is July 21 where I'll find out if the fracture is healed/healing or whether or not I need to have my ankle drilled. Lovely, I know. The fracture maybe small enough where they'll have to go in and drill several small holes around it to stimulate healing. Sounds rather archaic to me, but if it works, I guess I can't complain. But surely it'll mean another month off of work, and I'm already going nuts. And I'm taking Beth with me.

The upside to all this is Beth had planned a trip last weekend to visit some friends in Reno and then visit with my parents on Father's Day. I got to crash the trip and go with her since I wasn't going to be at work. We got to spend time with Brett and Sherry and Dan and Rene, spend time with my parents, grandpa, both aunts and uncles and several cousins, and visit with Teresa before heading home. It was a fun, four day weekend, although much shorter then we would've liked. I guess I'll be going back sometime next month since I'll be off and have more time to visit. Oh, and next month is my ten year reunion. I'll be going, sort of, but not to the main event.

Tequila'd out

Back from Mexico... can't say I want to be but it's always nice to return home, especially to the fur babies. Our week in Mexico was an absolute blast, and it made Beth and I consider purchasing a timeshare in the future. For pictures, click on "Tequila'd out" above to view our online photo album.

First off, as I mentioned in my previous post, we stayed at the Mayan Palace in Nuevo Vallarta, a gated resort community north of Puerto Vallarta. The property was absolutely gorgeous. There were a few customer service issues that were annoying to begin with, but those were worked out an no major inconvenience happened because of them. Other then that, the trip was perfect.

Our second day started off with massages in the Kaana Spa located at the hotel. The facilities in there were amazing... I could have spent part of every day there. I miss it already. We also ended the trip there, spending our last morning there being pampered one last time before the flight home. That was such a nice treat. After spending a few hours at The Spa, we went to our favorite resteraunt, Tumtah, and had one last meal before heading to the airport.

Our third day there we took a day long excursion out to the Marietas Islands. There, we snorkeled for about an hour, had lunch on the boat and then headed to some secluded beach off North Point and hung out the tide pools for a while others swam and tanned. It was really hot on the beach, hotter then anywhere else we had been. Then we began the 1.5 hour float back home.

Our fourth day was spent in Puerto Vallarta itself. There, we walked along the Malecon, where we shopped and ate lunch. It was at Paradise Burger, and American resteraunt, where we had the best margaritas of the trip. Go figure. The drinks at the hotel were good, but very weak on the alcohol content. The hotel's margaritas left something to desire. I didn't like them at all. So, thanks to PB for making those great 'ritas! There weren't a lot of great deals to be found, but we weren't really looking for much either. We just wanted to check out the local culture and see old town. That we did, then headed back to the hotel and pool to cool off.

The fifth day was spent at the hotel, hanging around the pool, drinking, reading, playing cards and napping. It was a much needed day of R&R.

The sixth day we went on another excursion called the "Canopy Tour." We headed up into the Sierra Madre Mountains where we rode zip lines from tree to tree in the canopy of the rainforest. At some points, we were as high as 90 feet above the ground, either standing on narrow platforms or hanging from cables zipping along at a cool 50 mph! In all, the tour included nine zip lines, two hanging bridges, one tarzan rope swing and a repel at the end. It was a blast, a total rush, that we all thoroughly enjoyed. Apparently there are two other companies that offer a similar tour, and next time we hope to do all three, we enjoyed it that much.

The seventh day we spent lounging again and also taking a leisure trip up to Paradise Village, another resort in Nuevo Vallarta north of where we were. There, there was a mall with lots of touristy type shops in it. We had lunch at a Brazilian-style Churascaria, one of my favorite types of resteraunts. Then, we went to the market and loaded up on booze and vanilla to bring home.

The eighth day, as mentioned above, was spent at the spa, relaxing, awaiting our flight home. It was a great way to end the trip. In all, we had an absolute blast and loved the area we were stayin in. The grounds were absolutely beautiful. Next time, however, we hope to stay in the sister property, the Grand Mayan, which had a wave pool, lazy river and water slide. Now that will be cool... next time. And there WILL be a next time! Viva Mexico!