December 2020 Christmas in Indy

 We headed back to Indianapolis for Christmas. This time we decided to split up the drive with a stay in Chattanooga at the very cute RiverView Inn Chattanooga. It had a great fire pit and an excellent hot chocolate station. 

This Christmas will be remembered for two things: I made everyone wear masks all the time and I bullied my parents into buying a house - well visiting a house. The masks were due to COVID. Everyone was super annoyed at the time, but I think they were glad we did it. We still had a lot of fun at Zoolights and Connor Prairie and playing games. Glenn taught Chloe to make cookies. 

October 2020 Cancun Mexico Content Trip

 Our experience in Cabo went so well that we decided to head to Cancun, Mexico to visit four resorts. 

Now Sapphire was my favorite of the trip. It's a family all inclusive resort. The service was great. The dining was good. We upgraded to an incredible oceanfront swim up room that was right on the beach. The server would come over from the beach bar. It was the perfect social distancing option since the pool area was more crowded than we were comfortable with. A hurricane had recently passed by. That's why the palapas are damaged. 

Dreams Natura - We loved our room here and the adults only swim up bar. I got recognized by another travel agent from the Trips with Angie YouTube channel. We had a really hard time with dining here. We decided we would only eat outside due to COVID. Only one of the restaurants had outdoor seating open and that restaurant was only open one night during our stay. We got room service two nights. 

Dreams Riviera Cancun - It was a culture shock going there. The resort had higher occupancy than we had experienced. We walk up to the restaurant and there's a buffet open on the beach - serve yourself with a dance class happening right by it. We decided to eat a lot of our meals in the room. 

Secrets Playa Mujeres - We ended the stay at Secrets Playa Mujeres. We spent two nights in a junior suite swim up and the upgraded to the Master Suite with private pool. The hurricane caused some flooding that led to a smell in the swim up room. We really enjoyed the bali beds that came with Preferred Club. The Asian restaurant was great. It started raining during our Mexican dinner, but we were committed to outdoor dining. 

August 2020 Trip to Cabo

 As Florida numbers climbed, we decided to get out of town. We headed to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The resorts had very strict protocols and were limiting occupancy. 

We started at Secrets Los Cabos. We upgraded to a Preferred Club room. The most magical thing happened during this trip. Glenn posted a review of our dining to a Facebook group. The executive chef called our room and asked to meet with him. We met with him just before dinner. Chef Israel appreciated Glenn's comments and wanted to know where were eating for the rest of the week. The chef team surprised with an incredible whole fried fish for lunch and an incredible multi-course tasting menu at the Asian. It was delicious and incredible and such a gift. A real "pinch me" moment. 

It totally made up for the explicit rap loudly playing at the main pool. 

For the second half of your stay, we headed to Sandos Finisterra. The protocols weren't quite as strict here, but still better than home. This is a family all inclusive resort built into the cliff by the Cabo marina. We enjoyed the food and spending our days in the shade of the adults only pool. 

June 2020 Indy Visit

 In the beginning of June, we decided to head to Indianapolis to see the family. We drove straight through to avoid any issues with flights or hotels. We had a terrific visit with lots of outside time, game playing, and lil C using me as a mattress. 

2020 Quarantine

 We got home from the cruise and stayed home. We opted for grocery delivery, but supplies were limited. We found out our local bar - Peabody's - was selling groceries. That was perfect. We could get supplies for lunch and dinner. Those options became the COVID lunch special - a chicken quesadilla with spinach and cheese and carrots and hummus. 

We kept busy with walks around the neighborhood, virtual happy hours, Hambone's Monster trivia, decluttering and updating the house, and virtual festivals: ATX, Longmire, and Tampa Theater Beer Festival. 

March 8, 2020 Celebrity Edge International Women's Day Sailing and the Cruise where the world shut down

 Honestly, the most memorable part of this cruise will be sitting on the infinite edge balcony getting email after email of cancellations and questions and worries as COVID 19 took over the world. We worried about being able to disembark. We grieved the cancellation of the dream Panama Canal cruise we were supposed to board right after this cruise. It was stressful. It was hard to have to break the news to the crew that their cruises would likely be cancelled. They worried about their families, their income, and what would come next. 

Even with all that, we still had some incredible moments: 

One of the officers playing the electric guitar in the middle of the martini bar. 

Listening the the full leadership team talk about the challenges of being a woman in the maritime industry. 

We spent a lot of time at the nightclub for the Captain's Club happy hours, games,  archery, and live band karaoke. Our bartenders Nova and Brandon. We absolutely loved this band. I even corrected the Cruise Director when she got the band's name wrong at the Captain's Club happy hour. 

 

February 22, 2020 - March 7, 2020 Cancun Mexico Content Trip

 In March, we took two weeks to visit resorts on the gulf coast of Mexico.  Three of the days, we spent in a van traveling from resort to resort. 

We stayed one week at Hard Rock Riviera Maya Heaven section. Some of the highlights were live band karaoke. 

We used the resort credit to get a cabana for the day. 

In the evenings, we'd start with a nice happy hour at the lobby sushi bar. 

The foam party was super fun to spectate. No way I was getting in that water. 

We took advantage of the resort credits to book a private dolphin swim. It was everything I dreamed it would be. 

After a week, we headed up to the Cancun Hotel Zone for a stay at Live Aqua Cancun. We loved the dining especially the Italian restaurant. We also had a great time at the Tequila tasting and the beach bar. 

We booked the catamaran excursion to Isla Mujeres with snorkeling. It was so much. We enjoyed walking around the island and had lunch at a cute restaurant. 

February 8, 2020 John Heald Cruise on Carnival Conquest

We follow John Heald - the brand ambassador for Carnival Cruise Lines on social media. Once a year, he hosts a cruise. You sign up to have access to special events with him including Q&As, karaoke, or Cigars under the Stars. 

Glenn asked a question that got a good response. I asked about question about adding more vegetarian dishes that match the crew's nationalities and the room went bananas. It became a long standing joke for mean people - Don't Take My Meat. 

We also went to the Chef's Table and it was so delicious. 

The ports of call were Grand Cayman, Roatan, and Cozumel. We went to Mahogany Beach on Roatan. We like the beach bar there. 

Onboard, we were pretty excited to win trophy at trivia. 

Our go to drink this cruise was the leftover Pumpkin beers from Parched Pig. They had the big bottles on special.