The Seattle Invasion of Mexico Has Arrived

Two great friends of ours from Seattle, Tommy and Regina, came to visit us and we made sure to try and show them as much as possible in 1 week. Sadly for them, the water here is a bit cold right now as it is "winter" in Mexico. I think the consensus was though that it was still beautiful and much warmer than Seattle.

We managed to hit Xpu-Ha beach in Akumal, explore Playa Del Carmen for a day, drive to Vallodolid to see the city and Chitzen Itza, swim in Ik Kil Cenote, Explore/shop in Tulum, take a Catamaran trip to Isla Mujeres with snorkeling and eat many great meals!

Chitzen Itza was somewhere we hadn't been before so we were very happy to check that off our list of things we should have done but hadn't. 

We stopped at Ik Kil Cenote on the way back from Chitzen Itza and it did not disappoint. It was extremely beautiful but VERY cold. I didn't manage to get any photos but look it up online, it's worth a visit.

We were really happy they loved it here and they say they are planning to come back Summer of 2020 (it will be MUCH WARMER then!). Can't wait!

Safe travels!

A Death in the Family Takes Us to Seattle

My favorite photo of all of us!

With Christmas approaching, Keith and I had planned to spend a very low key holiday in Mexico with friends. WE didn't even decorate... Sadly, we were called on the 20th and notified of the passing of Keith's mother, Carole. She hadn't been doing very well for the last month but Keith had been checking in on her often and even flew up to see her in November. With this news, we decided to fly to Seattle for the holidays and take care of anything/everything needed. 

We flew to Seattle on the 22nd and didn't leave until the 29th. For the first two nights we had the pleasure of staying at the Cedarbrook Lodge, which was amazing and cozy. After that we moved to more affordable  accommodations since it was the holidays and we were just there to sleep... We packed up Carole's belongings and donated a lot of items to friends who needed them. Keith did really well but I know it was hard on him having to say goodbye to his mother. She will be greatly missed.

Friends in Seattle at Din Tai Fung

We were very thankful for friends who were able to make time to spend with us while we were there. So many reached out but sadly we were very limited on free time. It really helped seeing them to not lose our Christmas spirit - thank you Andrew and Shelby for feeding us on Christmas and opening your home to us.

It was a quick trip, but thankfully we were able to wrap up everything for Carole and we are hoping to have a little ceremony for her in Lake Havasu in April of 2020. Keith wants to make sure her ashes are scattered with her late husband, Ron (Keith's father). We know she wanted that.

Rest in Peace Carole, we love you and will miss you tremendously!

Our 2nd Set of Seattle Visitors to Mexico

We were thrilled when our Seattle friends, Kevin & Jessica, reached out to come and visit for a few days. We hadn't seen them since we left Seattle over a year ago so it was exciting to welcome them to our new home.

After picking them up in Cancun we took them to one of our favorite local hangouts, Jungle Fish Beach Club, for dinner. We had our first (and only) "are you Keith and Tarah from House Hunters International?" moment. We all got a good laugh at that as it made us feel like celebs, for just a moment.

On Monday we went on a float through the Mayan canals, which was a first for Keith & I. We had no idea they were even there. We drove past Tulum about 15 minutes and met up with a guide who had us follow him on his scooter down the road a bit more and then down a dirt road heading towards the water. Once we parked we walked down the road another 10 minutes to a lagoon with some of the bluest water I have ever seen. We all hopped in a boat with Felix, our boat driver, and he drove us about 45 minutes into the lagoon to a dock. We all hopped out and were directed to check out the old Mayan trading post ruins. It was amazing to see how small the doorways were - we asked about that and Felix told us Mayans were very small and the doors show you just how small they typically were. Think 8 year old height... small.

The canal had a nice current so we all popped our life jackets on as diapers and jumped in. The water was a wee bit chilly but we adjusted quickly. I kept asking about snakes and alligators but was told they don't live there... OK, I'll go with that. I wasn't able to take any photos as I left my phone in the car to stay dry but these folks have a great write up about the float with amazing photos. 

The next day we all decided to go the Xcaret for a day of swimming and eating. We had never been there either and it was more fun than I had thought. Once we arrived we had a little wait to work on getting our local discount on our tickets but surprisingly we were able to get it and our tickets were 1/2 off the normal price.

The park contains a lot of birds and animals but the flamingos were my favorite as I had never seen them in real life. They are beautiful and weird birds. Xcaret was similar to our float but their canals don't have a current. You do wear a life jacket but if you just float on your back it's less effort of swimming through all the caves. The 4 of us had a great time. 

Kevin & Jessica were off to Cozumel the next day so we drove them to Playa Del Carmen to catch the ferry. Next up for us, El Dorado Seaside Suites for a night.

House Hunters International - Adios to the Daily Grind

House Hunters International filmed us at La Buena Vida

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY - our episode of House Hunters International, "Adios to the Daily Grind", airs at 10:30pm EST on HGTV. 
We have 20+ friends coming over to watch it with us tomorrow night. Check back for pictures, our commentary/thoughts and I'll share the video a few days after it airs.

They wouldn't let me wear my t-shirts so I hope I get a few shout outs to my business, The Sweetest Tee. Fingers crossed!

Let us know what you think of the show :)

House Hunters International

We FINALLY have an air date for our House Hunters International episode and we are very excited (and nervous) to see it.

We spent 5 days in May filming it here in Akumal. We also weighed 20lbs more than we do now and we couldn't change clothes for pretty much that whole time... Seriously though, this show is what made us realize how over weight we had gotten. We kept seeing ourselves and saying "OMG, we are going to be on TV looking like this". Then the following week we went to a friends wedding and saw pictures of us and were sure we needed to make a change.

Anyways, back on topic... On December 4th and 5th our episode will air on HGTV. They have called it 'Adios to the Daily Grind' - will you be watching?

I just hope we don't look like total jerks....

Our Roadtrip Across the US

Our roadtrip started September 9th from Seattle to FL last 32 days and was over 6500 miles. We visited 25 States.  Weleft Seattle on September 9th with all we could fit in our Hyundai Santa Fe along with our two dogs, Lionel and Chance.

I won't bore you with details of each stop but I will lay out where we went:

Seattle, WA - (drove through Idaho) - Montana - Wyoming - South Dakota (we drove by Mt. Rushmore) - (drove through Minnesota and Wisconsin (we stopped for cheese and a pink elephant!)) - Illinois (we went to see our friend Jessie and to see a Cubs game) - (drove through Indiana and stopped at our favorite candy company) - Ohio (we stayed here for 10 days with my folks - we went to a Reds game, drove to KY for a day, went to a beer festival and spent lots of time with the fam) - Pennsylvania (Stayed in Hershey and then stopped to see the Flight 93 Memorial) - Connecticut (Lunch with Keith's Coast Guard buddy, Bill, and then dinner at Mystic Pizza) - New Hampshire (stayed in Salem by accident, apparently there is more than one Salem in that area. Either way we still visited Salem, MA. We also made a day trip to Portland, Maine where we had the BEST lobster roll and oysters. On our way back to the hotel we spent a few hours in Kennebunkport. We spent one day in Boston as well where we went to a Red Sox game. One the way to RI, we drove through Cape Cod so I could see it.) - Rhode Island (We went to the Coast Guard base to look for the Willow, but it wasn't there... We had dinner at one of Keith's old hangouts when he lived there.) - New Jersey (We had breakfast with our friend Bonnie and lunch with Keith's Uncle, we drove through NY and saw Manhattan from a distance) - Pennsylvania (We stayed in Philly but had dinner with one of Keith's friends) - (drove through Maryland and Delaware)  - Virginia (We stayed in an airbnb in a cute house on the water and we visited with friends in the area) - Tennessee (we stayed here several days so I could show Keith where I grew up, my college, high school and my friends threw a BBQ for us) -  (drove through Gerogia, planned to stop in Savannah for a night but hurricane Irma was happening so we skipped it and went through) - Florida (our final stop in Ocala at my Mom's)

Cubs game with Jessie!

Red's game with my dad!

BBQ in Nashville with friends!

BB

Funny How Life Works...

I found a draft post from many months ago talking about how we were planning to move abroad in 2 years... I had to post it as we decided to move much sooner than that. This whole blog started at my 40th birthday trip and life has changed since then...

Since my birthday, Keith and I have decided we don't want to live the life we were living anymore. We want more! In the time since my birthday we have decided to move to Mexico full time. We found a place to live, got our temperary visa's started and have started selling all of our belongings.

We sold our business, the boat, Keith's car, my house and are working on selling the house we live in. OfferUp has become a staple of our life as we have sold so many of our belongings. It's quite a process to sell your whole life... The weirdest and saddest thing is seeing all the hard work you have done to have all these nice things and then have strangers offer you $10 for those memories. At the end of the day, it's just stuff. It's rather liberating to get rid of your belongings and makes you look at things more as "do I need this". I'm finding the answer tends to be "no". ;)

Where We Are Going

Keith and I have been researching places to move since we met as retiring early has been a goal. Ecuador was high on the list until they had a huge earthquake and are still recovering. Mexico presented itself and we started researching areas. We stumbled upon an expat couple, Two Expats Living in Mexico, and we were hooked! They gave so much great info we had to go check out the area and see if it really was as great as they said. After my birthday trip we knew we wanted to be on the Caribbean so traveling south to Mexico to check out Akumal seemed like it may be a great fit.

Paul & Linda, of Two Expats, met with us when we arrived and introduced us to several other people while there - everyone was so great! We checked out the area, asked a lot of questions and then, like magic, found the perfect place for us to live. It was the best and craziest week ever and has been quite the adventure ever since. Not even 2 months has passed and we are only 3 months from moving out of Washington. When we set our minds to something, we don't mess around!

The Plan

We officially leave WA on Sept 30th, unless something crazy happens... We plan to drive my car with a small u-haul and our two dogs across the US through about 18 states. We are hoping to see Mt. Rushmore, Chicago, Cape Cod, Boston, Hershey factory tour, Mystic Pizza in CT, My family in OH, Many friends, and whatever else we find along the way.

I'll keep a log of our travels - mainly for us so we can look back years from now and re-live it all. We are both really excited for the drive!

Keep us in your prayers and thoughts - we have a ton of change coming our way!

Love,
Tarah & Keith