The Couple Who Never Grew Up

On August 13, 2015 By Living The Q Life Travel AdventuresIn Walt Disney World1 Comment

We’re in the process of planning a trip to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, so we decided to take a moment to look back at our 20th anniversary trip. We travel as often as we can, but since we both have full time jobs, not as much as we’d like. Travel has pretty much become our hobby and is something that we both love and we feel that it brings us closer together. For our 20th anniversary, we decided to go to Walt Disney World, just the two of us, to bring out the child in each of us. Honestly, just like Peter Pan, we’ve always teased that we’re still just kids ourselves and that one of these days, we’ll figure out what we want to do when we grow up.

We’d taken the kids to Disneyland when they were all very young and it was one of those vacations when we didn’t have a ton of money, but we made it happen anyway. We drove from Colorado to California, stopping in Las Vegas along the way. This was back when Vegas was trying to be family friendly, before they realized it was costing them money, and before they started the “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” campaign. We stayed an the Excalibur Hotel and Casino for one night and then drove across the desert to Los Angeles and Anaheim, where Disneyland is located. It was a great trip, the kids had a blast, and they never knew what a tight budget we were on. We were even able to enjoy a dinner at the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and take advantage of some of the early morning eat and greets where you have breakfast and meet some of the characters.

Things were a little different for our trip to Disneyworld, there would be no driving and we were staying at our Hilton Grand Vacations timeshare in Orlando. We planned in advance, purchasing our 6 day “Park Hopper” passes and some customized maps that you could order online. We also looked at the restaurants and made sure to have special dinner reservations for the night of our anniversary, plus a few other surprises. When we arrived in Florida, it was a stress free experience as we knew that we weren’t on a schedule and could just enjoy everything that Disney World had to offer. Disney World isn’t just a single theme park, it is actually several parks, so we were glad that we had a full week to explore and relax. Even though it was April, we’d also planned a visit to Cocoa Beach since we met in Ocean City Maryland, we thought that a visit to the Atlantic Ocean was in order.

When you enter the park, they ask if you’re celebrating anything special and, if you are, they give you a special occasion button, so we proudly wore our anniversary buttons. We weren’t the only adult couples enjoying the parks, Walt Disney World has turned themselves into quite the wedding and honeymoon destination offering even coordinators that will make any trip special. Whatever your age, we would definitely recommend that you visit Walt Disney World at least once, it is truly an experience that you’ll never forget.

We started our trip by going to the Magical Kingdom theme park, which was the original park and is where Cinderella’s castle is located. Throughout the week we made our way to the other parks as well, including Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and the Epcot Center where they were celebrating the International Flower and Garden Festival. We weren’t shy about getting pictures with the various characters throughout the parks and going on the rides like Peter Pan’s Flight, Its a Small World, The Wizard of Oz, the Haunted Mansion, and so many others that there are too many to mention. We also made sure to watch several of the many parades at the various parks as well as stay in the park to watch the famous fireworks show. We really enjoyed Epcot Center where you could do wine tours and get a different glass of wine from each of the countries represented in the theme park.

The highlight of the trip was our anniversary dinner at Victoria & Albert’s, which reservations must be made well in advance as it is very exclusive, but also very much worth it. Before heading to the restaurant, we went on a horse drawn carriage ride where we enjoyed opening a fine bottle of wine that we’d purchased on our 10th wedding anniversary to open on our 20th. We had no doubts that we’d still be together and very much in love. At dinner, Dona was surprised with a princess tiara and glass slipper on a pillow made of flowers that Pete had arranged to be delivered. To say that the evening met our expectations would be an understatement as it will always be one of our very treasured memories.

Tiara and Glass Slipper at Victoria and Albert's — Tiara and Glass Slipper at Victoria and Albert’s

It was a wonderful week that truly made us feel young again, reminding us that age isn’t a number, but a state of mind. Wherever we go this year for our big anniversary trip (we went to Aspen for a long weekend on our anniversary itself this year), we know that we’ll share new memories that will last a lifetime. In the words of the fairy tales that inspired Walt Disney to create his movies and theme parks, we are living “happily ever after” year after year.

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Empty Nest and Loving It

On August 6, 2015August 11, 2015 By Living The Q Life Travel AdventuresIn MexicoLeave a comment

Within three weeks of our youngest daughter leaving home for college, we were sitting at the beach in Cabo San Lucas. As our friends have gone through the same transition from having kids at home to being empty nesters, we’ve seen two typical transitions. One, like ours, where the couple starts dating again and enjoying the freedom that it offers. And the second, which always saddens us, is when, after spending years devoted to the children and their activities, the couple wakes up to find that the only thing they had in common was taking care of the kids and they drift apart and often get divorced. Happily we couldn’t wait to start spending more time together because not only are we husband and wife, but we’ve always been each other’s best friend. So, as sad as we were to drop our daughter off at college, we were excited to start having more adventures and we were off to Cabo.

We’ve said this many times, but we truly prefer to travel in the off season, so our trip to Cabo was in late October. Our parents, who are avid travelers as well, had given us a week using their timeshare and this would be our first experience using a timeshare. We flew into the Los Cabos International Airport, which is located in San Jose Cabo and is about a 45 minute taxi or shuttle ride to Cabo San Lucas. This was our first trip to Mexico, we’ve been there several times since, but seeing the armed federal police officers all over the airport was unexpected. You deplane outside and then walk into the airport to go through customs. Somehow we managed to go through a wrong door into a room with all of the luggage. There was a large glass wall between us and the room to go through customs with a door where a policeman stood. We went to walk through the door to get into the other room and were quickly and abruptly told that we had to exit the way we came and go in the correct door. No arguing with a man with semi-automatic rifle.

We made it through customs and were prepared for what we would face next, which was the gauntlet of timeshare salesman claiming that they will take you to your resort. We’d been warned in advance and walked through, ignoring the fervent pleas to provide us a ride, and made it to the taxis and shuttles. We chose to take a shuttle, which is cheaper, but you share the shuttle with several other families and couples, so it takes a little longer as they stop at the various resorts until they reach your resort. As you get closer and closer to Cabo San Lucas, the ocean and the resorts start coming into view and it finally starts sinking in that you’re about to spend a week in paradise. We were staying at the Villa Del Arco resort and from the moment we arrived, we knew we were in for an incredible stay.

Resorts in Cabo San Lucas aren’t like resorts in most other tourist locations in Mexico, they have a height restriction on resorts near downtown, so you don’t have these giant monstrosities along the beach. The result of this is that the resorts are smaller, with fewer crowds in the resort and on their private beaches. As we checked in, we were told that if we attended the one hour timeshare sales presentation we would get discounts in town and some vouchers for the resort. Having not been through a timeshare pitch before, we accepted and were off to have a tropical drink while our luggage was taken to our suite. Once we got to our suite, with its gorgeous view of the ocean and the famous arch in Cabo San Lucas (El Arco de Cabo San Lucas), we were truly impressed.

The following morning, we went to our timeshare tour where we were shown the different rooms of the resort and then taken to breakfast with our sales person. Afterwards, we went to the sales office for the closing pitch. We had told ourselves before we went that, no matter what, we were going to say “no”, this was just to get some free stuff. Even though we’d only been there for a night, we were in love with the resort. It wasn’t an easy decision, but after much debating and the sales manager sweetening the pot, we decided to buy what would turn out to be our first timeshare. After the stress of making the decision to purchase, we were off to the pool and the pirate ship bar and restaurant located in the center of the pool. We have swam laps around that ship/bar many times now and it is one of our fondest memories.

View from Our Room at the Villa Del Arco

Another great thing about Cabo is the close proximity to town, restaurants, and the marina. We love going to the restaurants and asking for the fresh catch of the day and having it prepared specially for us. Cabo is also famous for the marlin and other sport fishing, so you can catch some fresh fish and take it to the restaurants to prepare for you and your guests. On this trip we discovered walking down the beach from the resort to town and the marina provided us with many beach bar opportunities with drinks almost always on special and ceviche, guacamole, and fresh seafood always in abundance. Walking from the resort to town to see the famous Cabo Wabo bar or haggle with the beach and street vendors for trinkets to take home is an easy twenty minute walk and some nice exercise to offset the time spent sitting pool or ocean side eating and drinking.

It was the first of what has been many happy trips that we’ve had since becoming empty nesters, but obviously holds a special memory in our hearts. Not only did we become timeshare owners, but we fell in love with our home resort, the Villa Del Arco. Most importantly, if it was possible, we became even closer by sharing another travel experience and have been back to Mexico several times since. For those of you that aren’t empty nesters yet, take our advice, don’t forget to be a couple and foster the things that brought you together, the things that you have in common, the things that will fill your lives when raising the children is no longer your number one priority. You’ll always be parents, there will always be advice to give and wisdom to share, but hopefully you’ll do that while filling your lives with adventure.

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Last Minute Getaway

On August 4, 2015September 20, 2015 By Living The Q Life Travel AdventuresIn ColoradoLeave a comment

We’ve been doing some remodeling on our home and by Friday we were completely exhausted by the noise, dust, and clutter, so we decided to get away for a night. We made reservations for Saturday night at the Brown Palace Hotel and Spa, which is a beautiful hotel in downtown Denver that we’ve stayed at several times in the past. The Brown Palace has been open since 1892 and was built by Henry Brown and despite the similarity in names, Margaret Brown, also known as the Unsinkable Molly Brown, was not related to him. She did, however, stay at the hotel only a week after the Titanic disaster and the hotel rooms are adorned with a picture of her signature on the Titanic manifest. The hotel does high tea in the atrium courtyard in the afternoons and has a very popular brunch on Sunday’s.

Mural Above Elevators at the Brown Palace

We got to Denver in time to check in to our room early and head to the 16th Street Mall for some lunch. We knew where we wanted to go and that was to Katie Mullen’s, which is an Irish pub that has excellent varieties of beer and wine as well as authentic Irish cuisine. We enjoyed an order of Katie’s spuds, which are large potato chips topped with corned beef, sauerkraut, thousand island dressing, and melted Swiss cheese. After having a sandwich, we were off to the Denver Botanic Gardens to leisurely stroll amongst the incredible variety of plants, flowers, and orchids. It was definitely worth the visit, but it was ninety-eight degrees out, so after a couple of hours wandering through the various pathways and hot houses, we were ready for something cold to drink.

Multi-Colored Flower at the Botanical Garden

After a quick stop at the hotel, we were back to the 16th Street Mall and to The Kitchen, which is a seafood restaurant that we go to whenever we’re in Denver. They have a wonderful community hour, their version of a happy hour, where they have small bites and seafood bar items on special along with their drinks. Their oysters are always fresh, which can’t always be said of places in Colorado, so we were quick to decide on a dozen oysters to go with our wine. After another glass or two of wine, some marinated olives, and roasted nuts, we headed back towards our hotel. Still a little hungry, we stopped again at Katie Mullen’s to share a bowl of Irish Stew. We don’t normally go to the same place twice on a single visit, but partially because they were close to the hotel, and mostly because we just love a good Irish pub, we decided to do that this time.

We had heard that there were a couple of new speakeasies in Denver, so we asked several bartenders where they were and which one we should go to and were told about Green Russell in LODO (Lower Downtown). After changing to go out, we headed over to Russell’s Smokehouse, the somewhat secret location of the Green Russell. As we approached the hostess stand, we were asked if we were there for the steakhouse and when we told them that we were there for the Green Russell, we were taken through what looked like a service door to a kitchen or storage room. Once through the door we were in a dimly lit cellar with tables and a large bar in the middle. Stone walls and a 1920’s theme made the ambiance complete, but it is the drinks and the bartenders that are the attraction. We asked for the “Bartender’s Choice”, where you selected a type of alcohol and what style of drink you liked and they surprise you with a concoction that they create. Besides the awesome drinks, the bartenders chop ice blocks to make the large round ice cubes and there is a constant whir of shakers shaking and bottles pouring, very fun to watch.

The next day, we weren’t up too early, not surprisingly, so we were back off to the 16th Street Mall to get some lunch. When we got to the mall, it had seemingly transformed overnight as on specific Sunday’s, Meet in the Street takes over the 16th Street Mall. There are games, musicians, rock climbing walls, paddle surfing, and even parts of the street have been covered with grass for people to sit and relax. The buses that usually traverse the mall taking people back and forth aren’t running and it is well worth visiting to enjoy a community gathering and walk and see everything there is to see. We stopped at Earl’s for lunch, which like most restaurants on the mall, has outdoor seating and opens its large windows so that you can people watch and feel like your part of the outdoor activities. After eating breakfast for lunch, we walked the mall for a while before heading back to the hotel to pick up our car and head back home.

It might have been a last-minute decision to get away for a night, but it was thoroughly worth it. Sure, we were back home to house that was still partially under construction, but we were relaxed and reinvigorated. Sometimes the mind and body just needs a break from the every day routines and an unplanned getaway is the perfect way to do it.

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