Vacation recap
I think it's safe to say that this past week has been pretty badass. Some mishaps, some very boneheaded decisions, but a good time overall.
Wednesday, 9/12: Began the day by working at 5am. Suffered through work, and then bolted out the door at 1:30. Went to Urban Renewal to get my hair cut at 2. Ended up chopping something like 8-9 inches off, so now I have a chin length bob that curls in, not flips out this time. From there, went to my mom's to pick up some things, went to Target, and came home to pack. Had reservations at The Corner Office at 7:30, where my coworkers Jordan, Jamie, Jessica, Linda, and Mike met up with us; Mike brought two of his friends, and my friend Andy came as well. Drank too much, ate way too much, but had a blast with them all. Came home around 10, finished packing, and then got a text from Ricardo. Ended up going out again at 11 to meet up with him and two of his friends at Andrew's. Had a few drinks, and then walked over to Milk Bar for Trundle's new night. Again, drank too much, danced a bit, threw some ice all over the bar. Again, a good time. Went home at 2:30am, and decided to just stay up, since I had to be at the airport the next morning at 6 anyway.
Thursday, 9/13: I didn't exactly stay awake, even after an entire pot of coffee. Got a frantic call from my grandma at 5:30am asking why I wasn't at her house. I had everything ready to go, was still dressed from the night before (oops), and could be there in 15 minutes. She said no, now you have to find your own ride to the airport. Not what you want to hear at 5:30 in the morning. :P So I called a cab, since I knew NOBODY would take me at that time. Dropped like $45 on the cab ride to the airport, and as I get out of the cab, I see my grandma, aunt Debbie, and cousin Vanessa getting there at the same exact time. I go over to meet them, and see Fil Diablo getting out of a car, as bleary eyed and tired looking as I felt. A bit of a surprise at 6am, but chatted with him for a few until my grandma told me to stop hitting on strangers (which amused me greatly), and then went to check in for the flight. Got through check in and security, lost my group, got food and sitting down by the gate. Everybody else on the flight started to trickle in, which was actually a pretty good sized group (my grandma, aunt, and cousin that I mentioned, and also my great uncle Ed; great aunt Margie and her daughter, Theresa; my great uncle Mark, his wife Sue, and their kids, Jenny and Colin, my cousin Colin's wife, Marina; my great aunt Jeanie, who had come down from Alaska to Denver the day before.. then my cousin Justin (the groom) had two of his friends, Nick and Mike, on the same flight as well). Got on the plane, and then the next three hours to Los Cabos was spent sleeping for me. Got to Mexico, and the heat and humidity hit me like a ton of bricks. All of us get in a shuttle from the resort, and I swear to god, Mexican cabbies are the worst fucking drivers in the world. So bad I ended up getting car sick and puking all over myself in front of my family, since the driver wouldn't pull over and I couldn't stop it. Now, this was not from the alcohol the night before. If it had been, I wouldn't have stopped after getting sick just that one time. :P
We get to the hotel 45 minutes later, Vanessa and I go to our room, I took a shower, and then met up with the rest of the folks there for the wedding (my cousin and now wife, Erin, and her family, my aunt Cindi, cousins Cory and Melissa, and Melissa's boyfriend, Agustin), and we all go to the marina in Cabo San Lucas to get on a boat for a sunset cruise around the coastline. My aunt Cindi tried to set me up with Jeremy, a friend of Justin's from college who lives in Seattle, which didn't exactly work out.. haha.. but I ended up talking to him for most of the 1st part of the cruise. Nice guy, but.. meh.. I was fine for about half of the cruise, but once we got a little into the Pacific Ocean, my stomach started hating me again. Melissa and Erin had the same issue, so the three of us were sitting with the old ladies while most everyone else is getting drunk and dancing on the 2nd level of the boat. Though my grandma got TRASHED. I've only seen that a few times in my life, but when it happens, she's the fucking hilarious. She talks shit and everything.. haha.. We finally dock, and then go to dinner at the hotel around 9. I have only water, and then go to the room, where I slept for like 12 hours. Luckily, that's where my mishaps ended. :P Safe to say, my first day was pretty rough. Not as bad as my aunt Cindi's the day before. She decided to go swimming in the ocean, got caught in an undertow, and was taken out to sea a bit. Agustin had to go get her, and they both barely made it back. Thank god they did, though. And on the way back from dinner that night, my grandma, who had a wheelchair for this trip - even though she can walk, but has a bad knee - did get dumped on accident into some bushes. I found that pretty funny. :)
Friday, 9/14: Vanessa and I both woke up somewhere around 10:30. Got up, put on the swimsuit, and headed out to the pool. Talk about fucking gorgeous. If you haven't looked at the link above, you can see what I mean in their photo section. Ran into with Jeremy, who told us our entire group was in one certain area. Sat out with mainly Vanessa, Colin, Marina, Jenny, Mark, Sue, and Cory. Colin, Marina, and I ended up going back and forth to my room a lot, since it was closest to the pool area, and there are liquor dispensers in all of the rooms. So many, many, many shots of tequila were done. I should also mention that Colin and Marina are 29, so they're not much older than me, same with Jenny, who is 30. They may be extended family, but I swear, it's funny to me to see all the similarities between us all. We all behave the same way, look a lot alike, and all drink heavily as all people from Irish decent should. :)
The poolside drinking continued until 3 when we all went inside to get ready for Justin and Erin's wedding at 5:30 on the beach. I've been to many weddings, but I have to say this was the most beautiful wedding I've ever seen. Only 35 guests were there, but I swear half the hotel was lined up on the railing above the beach watching. There wasn't anything special really set up.. just a few rows of chairs, but the guests were facing the water on a completely clear day. Justin had 4 groomsmen, Erin only had a maid of honor. Her mom walked her down the aisle (just rose petals scattered on the sand), and Erin looked so beautiful. Traditional long dress and all. Just no shoes. :) The only time I came close to really crying was when I saw Erin's mom, Maureen, burst into tears at the alter. It was really sweet. The ceremony wasn't long at all, and we all went back inside to a private courtyard. Dinner and all of that went by pretty fast, and then all of us but the Three Stooges (as my grandma and her sisters were being known as that weekend.. they're all close in age - late 60s to early 70s - and all bumble around a bit.. haha) went to the hotel bar and drank more. Some local dude came up to me and kept saying that he was coming back to my room with me and tried to get me to kiss him. Freaked me out a bit, so Colin and Marina walked me back to my room, with Marina threatening him in Spanish (seeing as though she's from El Salvador, she was our main translator). Went to bed around 2am.
Saturday, 9/15: Somebody calls our room at 8am to say we're going into town to go shopping that morning. Vanessa got ready to leave, and I said fuck that and went back to sleep. Didn't wake back up until 11 when she came back. I dragged myself out of bed, and got ready to go out to the pool again. Vanessa and I had lunch at one of the buffets there, and then back to lounge at the pool. Jeanie and Margie were there, so Vanessa and I stayed with them. Most everybody else went to ride ATVs on the beach. Sometime that afternoon we get word that my uncle Mark had gotten his ATV stuck on a trail, flipped over the front of it, and landed on his back. Unfortunately, the ATV flipped as well and landed on his chest. So his wife and kids went to the hospital with him. He's not all that old, maybe in his mid 50s (my grandma is one of seven siblings, and she's the oldest of the 5 of them that are all still alive), but since he has diabetes and high blood pressure, they wanted to keep him overnight for observation. Had enough of the pool around 6, took a nap, and had dinner at 8 with Vanessa, Sue, Jenny, Colin, and Marina. Went back to the room and went to sleep. After that news, wasn't really in the mood to party. :P
Sunday, 9/16: Really just more of the same as Saturday. Slept in, had lunch, back at the pool. This time Melissa and Agustin made it down, since Melissa had been battling a kidney infection during the trip, she wasn't really doing all that well and stayed in on Saturday. She got medication delivered to her, so she was feeling better. So Vanessa, Jenny, Cory, Justin, Melissa, Agustin, and I stayed at the pool for a bit. Around 3 or so Vanessa, Melissa, Agustin, and I went down to the beach for a bit. Nobody really wanted to venture out before that due to what happened to Cindi. We walked down the beach for a while, though Melissa and I got a little too close when a big wave came in, and we both got knocked over. Agustin had to come pull us up and out, since neither of us could get up after that. Went back to the hotel, and 14 of my family members (pretty much the entire family except Justin) did dinner at the steakhouse there. After dinner Vanessa, Cindi, Debbie, Jenny, and I went to the bar. Again. Vanessa stayed out for a while, so I went back to the room and packed my stuff, since we were leaving the next morning. I was just about asleep around 1am when she comes in all drunk and chatty. Which I'll give her credit for, since she had a bad sinus infection the entire time down there. I would have stayed in the room. :P Hell, I did a bit and I wasn't sick. Oh well.
Monday, 9/17: Got up early, had breakfast, and met everybody in the lobby at 10 to leave for the airport. Pretty much everybody was going back on the same flight (my grandma, Margie, Jeanie, Theresa Vanessa, Debbie, Ed, Cindi, Melissa, Cory, Melissa, Agustin, Nick, Erin's bridesmaid and her husband, and myself). Sat up front to hopefully not repeat getting car sick. Came close and got scared half to death by the traffic, but luckily it didn't happen. Took sleeping pills in effort to sleep on the plane, but that didn't happen, either. Ended up being awake for most of it. I fell asleep about an hour away from Denver, and we go through a bunch of storms. The turbulence woke me up and make me panic a bit, since I didn't know it was coming - I had slept through the announcement that it was probable. I would have been fine had I heard that. Got back to Denver, got home, and almost immediately crashed. I missed Arcade Fire at Red Rocks, but I don't think I could have made it up there for the show. So I ordered a pizza, washed the clothes I took with me, and went to bed.
Tuesday, 9/18: This day was the only reason I even wanted to come home at all - Muse at Red Rocks. Went to the store for food and water, picked up Jenn, and we got in line at 1pm. Not a whole lot of people there at that point. Ended up talking to the people around us. A guy that came down from Seattle, a couple from Alaska, and a guy and his dad from Wisconsin. I was kinda surprised to see so many people come to Red Rocks for this show. It was actually pretty pleasant, as far as waiting in line early goes. Anthony met us right as the doors were about to open, and we got seats in the third row, a bit off to the left. Immigrant (first opening band) was kinda crap. Juliette and the Licks were kinda amusing. Though Juliette Lewis is a bit of a freak - and all I could think about was her character in "The Other Sister" while she was performing. But Muse.. oh my god... that was the third time I've seen them, and it was *by far* the best. My friend Will was there somewhere, and we kept texting each other about the fact that neither of us could get over how great it was. That band knows how to put on a fucking show. Seeing them at the Fox Theater a few years ago was great, as was the Fillmore show, but it's obvious that band is accustomed to arenas. Red Rocks = awesome.
So there you have it. Today is my last day off before I have to go back to work, and I didn't do a damn thing except have lunch at Applebee's. Though I did discover that their caramel appletini is pretty freakin good. Felt like a full day to me. :P
Wednesday, 9/12: Began the day by working at 5am. Suffered through work, and then bolted out the door at 1:30. Went to Urban Renewal to get my hair cut at 2. Ended up chopping something like 8-9 inches off, so now I have a chin length bob that curls in, not flips out this time. From there, went to my mom's to pick up some things, went to Target, and came home to pack. Had reservations at The Corner Office at 7:30, where my coworkers Jordan, Jamie, Jessica, Linda, and Mike met up with us; Mike brought two of his friends, and my friend Andy came as well. Drank too much, ate way too much, but had a blast with them all. Came home around 10, finished packing, and then got a text from Ricardo. Ended up going out again at 11 to meet up with him and two of his friends at Andrew's. Had a few drinks, and then walked over to Milk Bar for Trundle's new night. Again, drank too much, danced a bit, threw some ice all over the bar. Again, a good time. Went home at 2:30am, and decided to just stay up, since I had to be at the airport the next morning at 6 anyway.
Thursday, 9/13: I didn't exactly stay awake, even after an entire pot of coffee. Got a frantic call from my grandma at 5:30am asking why I wasn't at her house. I had everything ready to go, was still dressed from the night before (oops), and could be there in 15 minutes. She said no, now you have to find your own ride to the airport. Not what you want to hear at 5:30 in the morning. :P So I called a cab, since I knew NOBODY would take me at that time. Dropped like $45 on the cab ride to the airport, and as I get out of the cab, I see my grandma, aunt Debbie, and cousin Vanessa getting there at the same exact time. I go over to meet them, and see Fil Diablo getting out of a car, as bleary eyed and tired looking as I felt. A bit of a surprise at 6am, but chatted with him for a few until my grandma told me to stop hitting on strangers (which amused me greatly), and then went to check in for the flight. Got through check in and security, lost my group, got food and sitting down by the gate. Everybody else on the flight started to trickle in, which was actually a pretty good sized group (my grandma, aunt, and cousin that I mentioned, and also my great uncle Ed; great aunt Margie and her daughter, Theresa; my great uncle Mark, his wife Sue, and their kids, Jenny and Colin, my cousin Colin's wife, Marina; my great aunt Jeanie, who had come down from Alaska to Denver the day before.. then my cousin Justin (the groom) had two of his friends, Nick and Mike, on the same flight as well). Got on the plane, and then the next three hours to Los Cabos was spent sleeping for me. Got to Mexico, and the heat and humidity hit me like a ton of bricks. All of us get in a shuttle from the resort, and I swear to god, Mexican cabbies are the worst fucking drivers in the world. So bad I ended up getting car sick and puking all over myself in front of my family, since the driver wouldn't pull over and I couldn't stop it. Now, this was not from the alcohol the night before. If it had been, I wouldn't have stopped after getting sick just that one time. :P
We get to the hotel 45 minutes later, Vanessa and I go to our room, I took a shower, and then met up with the rest of the folks there for the wedding (my cousin and now wife, Erin, and her family, my aunt Cindi, cousins Cory and Melissa, and Melissa's boyfriend, Agustin), and we all go to the marina in Cabo San Lucas to get on a boat for a sunset cruise around the coastline. My aunt Cindi tried to set me up with Jeremy, a friend of Justin's from college who lives in Seattle, which didn't exactly work out.. haha.. but I ended up talking to him for most of the 1st part of the cruise. Nice guy, but.. meh.. I was fine for about half of the cruise, but once we got a little into the Pacific Ocean, my stomach started hating me again. Melissa and Erin had the same issue, so the three of us were sitting with the old ladies while most everyone else is getting drunk and dancing on the 2nd level of the boat. Though my grandma got TRASHED. I've only seen that a few times in my life, but when it happens, she's the fucking hilarious. She talks shit and everything.. haha.. We finally dock, and then go to dinner at the hotel around 9. I have only water, and then go to the room, where I slept for like 12 hours. Luckily, that's where my mishaps ended. :P Safe to say, my first day was pretty rough. Not as bad as my aunt Cindi's the day before. She decided to go swimming in the ocean, got caught in an undertow, and was taken out to sea a bit. Agustin had to go get her, and they both barely made it back. Thank god they did, though. And on the way back from dinner that night, my grandma, who had a wheelchair for this trip - even though she can walk, but has a bad knee - did get dumped on accident into some bushes. I found that pretty funny. :)
Friday, 9/14: Vanessa and I both woke up somewhere around 10:30. Got up, put on the swimsuit, and headed out to the pool. Talk about fucking gorgeous. If you haven't looked at the link above, you can see what I mean in their photo section. Ran into with Jeremy, who told us our entire group was in one certain area. Sat out with mainly Vanessa, Colin, Marina, Jenny, Mark, Sue, and Cory. Colin, Marina, and I ended up going back and forth to my room a lot, since it was closest to the pool area, and there are liquor dispensers in all of the rooms. So many, many, many shots of tequila were done. I should also mention that Colin and Marina are 29, so they're not much older than me, same with Jenny, who is 30. They may be extended family, but I swear, it's funny to me to see all the similarities between us all. We all behave the same way, look a lot alike, and all drink heavily as all people from Irish decent should. :)
The poolside drinking continued until 3 when we all went inside to get ready for Justin and Erin's wedding at 5:30 on the beach. I've been to many weddings, but I have to say this was the most beautiful wedding I've ever seen. Only 35 guests were there, but I swear half the hotel was lined up on the railing above the beach watching. There wasn't anything special really set up.. just a few rows of chairs, but the guests were facing the water on a completely clear day. Justin had 4 groomsmen, Erin only had a maid of honor. Her mom walked her down the aisle (just rose petals scattered on the sand), and Erin looked so beautiful. Traditional long dress and all. Just no shoes. :) The only time I came close to really crying was when I saw Erin's mom, Maureen, burst into tears at the alter. It was really sweet. The ceremony wasn't long at all, and we all went back inside to a private courtyard. Dinner and all of that went by pretty fast, and then all of us but the Three Stooges (as my grandma and her sisters were being known as that weekend.. they're all close in age - late 60s to early 70s - and all bumble around a bit.. haha) went to the hotel bar and drank more. Some local dude came up to me and kept saying that he was coming back to my room with me and tried to get me to kiss him. Freaked me out a bit, so Colin and Marina walked me back to my room, with Marina threatening him in Spanish (seeing as though she's from El Salvador, she was our main translator). Went to bed around 2am.
Saturday, 9/15: Somebody calls our room at 8am to say we're going into town to go shopping that morning. Vanessa got ready to leave, and I said fuck that and went back to sleep. Didn't wake back up until 11 when she came back. I dragged myself out of bed, and got ready to go out to the pool again. Vanessa and I had lunch at one of the buffets there, and then back to lounge at the pool. Jeanie and Margie were there, so Vanessa and I stayed with them. Most everybody else went to ride ATVs on the beach. Sometime that afternoon we get word that my uncle Mark had gotten his ATV stuck on a trail, flipped over the front of it, and landed on his back. Unfortunately, the ATV flipped as well and landed on his chest. So his wife and kids went to the hospital with him. He's not all that old, maybe in his mid 50s (my grandma is one of seven siblings, and she's the oldest of the 5 of them that are all still alive), but since he has diabetes and high blood pressure, they wanted to keep him overnight for observation. Had enough of the pool around 6, took a nap, and had dinner at 8 with Vanessa, Sue, Jenny, Colin, and Marina. Went back to the room and went to sleep. After that news, wasn't really in the mood to party. :P
Sunday, 9/16: Really just more of the same as Saturday. Slept in, had lunch, back at the pool. This time Melissa and Agustin made it down, since Melissa had been battling a kidney infection during the trip, she wasn't really doing all that well and stayed in on Saturday. She got medication delivered to her, so she was feeling better. So Vanessa, Jenny, Cory, Justin, Melissa, Agustin, and I stayed at the pool for a bit. Around 3 or so Vanessa, Melissa, Agustin, and I went down to the beach for a bit. Nobody really wanted to venture out before that due to what happened to Cindi. We walked down the beach for a while, though Melissa and I got a little too close when a big wave came in, and we both got knocked over. Agustin had to come pull us up and out, since neither of us could get up after that. Went back to the hotel, and 14 of my family members (pretty much the entire family except Justin) did dinner at the steakhouse there. After dinner Vanessa, Cindi, Debbie, Jenny, and I went to the bar. Again. Vanessa stayed out for a while, so I went back to the room and packed my stuff, since we were leaving the next morning. I was just about asleep around 1am when she comes in all drunk and chatty. Which I'll give her credit for, since she had a bad sinus infection the entire time down there. I would have stayed in the room. :P Hell, I did a bit and I wasn't sick. Oh well.
Monday, 9/17: Got up early, had breakfast, and met everybody in the lobby at 10 to leave for the airport. Pretty much everybody was going back on the same flight (my grandma, Margie, Jeanie, Theresa Vanessa, Debbie, Ed, Cindi, Melissa, Cory, Melissa, Agustin, Nick, Erin's bridesmaid and her husband, and myself). Sat up front to hopefully not repeat getting car sick. Came close and got scared half to death by the traffic, but luckily it didn't happen. Took sleeping pills in effort to sleep on the plane, but that didn't happen, either. Ended up being awake for most of it. I fell asleep about an hour away from Denver, and we go through a bunch of storms. The turbulence woke me up and make me panic a bit, since I didn't know it was coming - I had slept through the announcement that it was probable. I would have been fine had I heard that. Got back to Denver, got home, and almost immediately crashed. I missed Arcade Fire at Red Rocks, but I don't think I could have made it up there for the show. So I ordered a pizza, washed the clothes I took with me, and went to bed.
Tuesday, 9/18: This day was the only reason I even wanted to come home at all - Muse at Red Rocks. Went to the store for food and water, picked up Jenn, and we got in line at 1pm. Not a whole lot of people there at that point. Ended up talking to the people around us. A guy that came down from Seattle, a couple from Alaska, and a guy and his dad from Wisconsin. I was kinda surprised to see so many people come to Red Rocks for this show. It was actually pretty pleasant, as far as waiting in line early goes. Anthony met us right as the doors were about to open, and we got seats in the third row, a bit off to the left. Immigrant (first opening band) was kinda crap. Juliette and the Licks were kinda amusing. Though Juliette Lewis is a bit of a freak - and all I could think about was her character in "The Other Sister" while she was performing. But Muse.. oh my god... that was the third time I've seen them, and it was *by far* the best. My friend Will was there somewhere, and we kept texting each other about the fact that neither of us could get over how great it was. That band knows how to put on a fucking show. Seeing them at the Fox Theater a few years ago was great, as was the Fillmore show, but it's obvious that band is accustomed to arenas. Red Rocks = awesome.
So there you have it. Today is my last day off before I have to go back to work, and I didn't do a damn thing except have lunch at Applebee's. Though I did discover that their caramel appletini is pretty freakin good. Felt like a full day to me. :P