RV'ing to Orlando to see the Kings

We are on the move, yet again! We headed back to Orlando but this time with Annie Too. We are meeting up with friends, Rob & Kris King. We are excited to spend a week hanging out with them and seeing what kind of trouble we can get into with them!

Visiting Friends in Texas

Now that we are back on US soil we headed for Paige, TX to see two friends from Mexico, Haril and Karen. They were so kind to offer a place to stay with our two dogs. Plus, they planned a full day of awesome sights in Austin.

Austin is a really cool city with lots of unique local art and eclectic shops. After roaming around getting coffee, candy and having lunch, we went to tour the capitol building to learn the history behind Austin and Texas as a whole. It was a great day and it made me realize we need to visit Austin again for a longer trip.

The next day, Keith and Haril did some target shooting while Karen and I stayed in and caught up. It was a lovely visit and we look forward to seeing them again very soon.

Next on our agenda was heading to Ft. Worth to see more friends from Mexico, Vince and Annette. On our drive up Annette had mentioned we should stop by Magnolia Market to check it out as it was on the way. Since I am obsessed with home decor these days, that is exactly what we did. If our car wasn't already completely full I may have walked out of there with more than a few candles...

Oddly enough, we were close to the site of the Branch Davidian location in Waco, TX. We had just watched a documentary on it, so I wanted to go and pay our respects to those who lost their lives and gawk at it a bit as I was curious. It is currently still owned by some survivors and it seems they still operate a church there. It was sad, odd, interesting and creepy all at the same time. We just drove in and drove out - we never got out of the car. There is now a new church building built in the location of where the compound once stood and you can see some of it's footprint. After gawking and stopping to see some cows, we headed to see our friends. 

We met with them at their home where the dogs were very excited to see their pugs again and had a great time playing. That evening all of us we went to dinner with two more friends from Mexico, Greg and Amy, at a really tasty Tex-Mex restaurant (what can we say, we all love Mexican food?!). 

The next day we went to explore Ft. Worth by going to the stock show. We started petting animals at a petting arena and then moved on to the bigger animals - I even had my picture with a 1,400lb steer named Outlaw. The day was really fun and introduced me to a world I wasn't familiar with at all. Keith enjoyed himself and left wanting a truck. We JOKED that maybe in 5 years we will end up in Texas with a giant truck living next to Vince and Annette. Who knows... ;)

The next morning we had a delicious breakfast with our friends of home made biscuits and gravy (not keto) and then we hit the road to Missouri. We had a 8-9 hour drive ahead of us and then a week to relax in one place. We are looking forward to getting there.

Driving Through Mexico

For Keith and I to start our 15 month journey, we needed to drive 4 days through Mexico back to the US. We were both a bit nervous of the unknown as we've heard good and bad reports from friends who have done the drive before. I was most worried about being pulled over by the police and shaken down for money. I prepped for the worst and I am happy to report, we had zero issues. When we do this again, we will do exactly what we did, drive over the weekend and leave super early in the mornings and be done by 4pm.

We started in Akumal and drove the first day for about 10 hours. After seeing thousands of animals (dogs, goats, bulls, monkeys...), an encounter with 2 street dogs that I lured away from us with milk bones, many cenote sized potholes, overcast skies, lots of rain, 4 security checkpoints (none of which made us stop. They loved the dogs though!), tons of street side food vendors, 2 cappuccinos, crazy drivers and great tunes, we made it to Villahermosa in 9 hours and 40 minutes. We went straight to our hotel and decided to just relax in our room due to the dogs and being exhausted. I ordered a domino's pizza, with the help of the front desk, and it was a lazy night of TV. 

We woke up early to get on the road to Puebla, which was over 7 hours. The day seemed so much longer longer than the day before, even though it wasn’t. We drove on a very long boring highway that was only country side, gas stations and fruit stands. No small towns to see. We saw parrots on sticks for sale, the car was X-rayed 3 times, we went through 2 checkpoints, 8 tolls with the most expensive one being $213 pesos. There was more traffic due to construction. Our day started with horrible drivers in Villahermosa and ended with horrible drivers in Puebla. We did manage to get a Starbucks before we started today and that was good - no coffee crankies for us! Our hotel was cute but it was the WORST bed we have ever slept in. 

The next morning we woke up early so we could get on the road to drive around Mexico City (around, not through) on our way to Saltillo. We made it to Saltillo safe and sound - I think this was the day we were most worried about due to having to find Arco Norte and just not sure what driving around Mexico City would be like. The trip included our first train sighting, many many MANY factories, only 2 checkpoints, a ton of police on the roads, the biggest toll at $355 pesos 1 birthday froofroo coffee drink (I turned 42!), a buffet dinner sign for 65 pesos ($3.42), 1 discussion on cacti vs cactus's, donkeys and goats, the many “cafes” along the highway and several highway fires... 8.5 hours down. 

The border was just 3 hours from Saltillo! The drive was a boring drive with lots of mountains and desert, Saltillo is a cute town but there is NO booze on Sunday and most restaurants were closed. We had 1 checkpoint with no one really manning it, we saw 1 dead horse on the side of the road 24 miles from the border (that was a horrific sight!!), the final cost for all tolls was $113.62 USD, at immigration we were the only people there, and we were never asked to see any of the dogs paperwork... 

32 hours and 35 minutes later, we arrived! The whole trip was 2,780 kilometers! 

Would we do it again - YES. It really wasn't as bad as we had expected at all. IF you have any questions on the drive, tolls, where to stay, etc... Just ask!

We Had a Photoshoot for Our Home

Since we plan to rent our home while we are traveling, we asked to have a photoshoot done of our home versus using the photos we were taking from our cell phones. 

I spent most of yesterday cleaning and getting everything put away. We even packed the car a day ahead of time.

Early this morning our property managers came along with the photographer. They brought flowers, wine, food to make it look as if you were setting up for breakfast... It looked a lot better than what we had done. Hoping these new photos help entice people to want to say in our luxurious home in the Riviera Maya. 

Once we get our hands on the new photos, I will post them. For now, here are the old ones... The photos shown here are still from our phones but of the nice style touches they added to make it more "homey". What do you think?

Gas Shortage in Mexico Could Affect Our Drive

A friend of mine recently reached out about a friend of hers who was driving through Mexico on his motorcycle and ran out of gas due to the gas shortage in Mexico happening now. Since Keith and I plan to drive for 4 days through Mexico I started searching for way to know who does and does not have gas on our route. 

Thankfully, Google to the rescue. It seems Google has added a feature to their maps where you just type in “¿Dónde hay gasolina?,” “¿dónde no hay gasolina?” and it will show you who does or does not have gas. I tried it and it's pretty cool!

There are also 4 apps that can also help with this and this article tells you all about it - I downloaded two of the 4 (Gasoapp and Gasolina MX), so here's hoping that we don't run into any issues along the way. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we are a bit nervous of the unknown.

It's Official: I Have Lost My Visa

Don't I look thrilled?

Back in early October, Keith and I applied to renew our temporary resident visa for 3 years. One thing we have found to be consistent in Mexico is nothing is done in a timely manner. My visa is still in process. Keith however managed to get his renewed, a week ago. 

When you have a visa in Mexico you have to fill out exit documentation with immigration every time you leave. Since we have been waiting for ours to be renewed, we have had to buy exit visas every time we left since starting the renewal in October. You can't just leave, you need permission or you risk losing your visa.

Knowing we were leaving for 15 months we were trying to find out if that would affect the process since we wouldn't be in the country. It seems it would have... Apparently they need to take our finger prints again (really? It's not like they change from the last time we did them...) and then have a 2-3 week waiting period to get the card. With us leaving ay a specific date, the timing just didn't work. So, I can't wait any longer as we leave on Friday. So, today, I went and gave it up... 

I was there for 1.5 hours and walked out with a single piece of paper with my photo stating I am giving it up and I have 20 days to leave the country. Adios, Mexico! See ya in 2020!

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!

Packing for 15 Months isn't Easy

Keith and I have been working on a big trip for 2019/2020 and it has finally come time to start packing and getting ready to leave. Our plan is to leave towards the end of January and drive 4 days across Mexico to the USA.

Chance was NOT having it - clearly he doesn't realize he is going with us on this trip. I can't blame him though, most days we pull out the luggage result in him going to doggie daycare or staying with someone else. He's not a dumb dog.

We have altered our condo to have more storage space for us to lock up anything we plan to keep here. We are hoping to rent our place while gone but HomeExchange has actually resulted in us finding several folks to swap homes with us on our travels. I am kind of obsessed with their website!

We are staying in a home in FL for two weeks, Amsterdam for 1 week and Paris for 2 weeks as of right now. We did find a renter for 7 months and several friends plan to rent our place here and there so we are happy to have it being used by folks we know. If you are interested, let us know. Here's the listing.

As for Mexico - we drive from Akumal to Villahermosa where we stay the night. Then we are on to Puebla for a night. We drive around Mexico City and stop at Saltillo for a night (my birthday!). Then we will drive to Laredo, TX to cross the border and head towards Austin to see friends for a few nights. We hope to see a few more friends on our way to Lake Ozark but will depend on their schedules if they are in town. Should be a fun road trip! (This is ONLY the beginning)

We will try and post about our travels, take lots of pictures and even a few videos. Come back and check it out!

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!

Finally Visiting Vallodolid & Casa de Los Venados

Keith & I have been wanting to go visit Vallodolid for awhile now but never seem to be able to successfully schedule a time to go. Our friends, Randi & Dave, have also been wanting to go so we finally were able to schedule an outing.

The drive from Akumal is only about 1.5 hours and you drive through a few small towns filled with local art stores (and lots of street dogs).

I had read about an American couple who bought a home in 2000 and remodeled it while filling it with Mexican folk art. They now own the largest collection of Mexican folk art, which I am a huge fan of, so I had to see it. They open their home up to the public at 10am for a few hours everyday and you can take a guided tour, for free.

When we arrived it wasn't quite 10am so we wandered around a bit looking at shops. Then at 10am we went back to Casa de Los Venados to join the tour. The tour was about 1.5 hours and we were walked through the house and given lots of information on the art, the owners and the home. They wouldn't tell me what the house was purchased for and I was kind of scolded for asking... at-least I felt like I was. The guide made a comment about how he had been told it was impolite to ask about how much people make, etc... Well yeah, that is. I'd never ask that question. Asking how much a home was purchased for, especially when it had been in rubble for about 80 years seems like a fair question. The house was fully restored and they put a ton of work into it to bring it back to it's glory. If only they had redfin or zillow here...

Cathedral in Vallodolid

Anyways, I loved the tour and all of the art. I was so inspired I had to find a few pieces for our own little collection we have here in Mexico and Lake Ozark. 

After the tour we had lunch at a local restaurant suggested by Linda, El Atrio. We had hoped to have some al pastor tacos but they didn't have any. I opted for melted cheese with mushrooms and chorizo and chicken panuchos. So good!

The rest of our day was filled with touring the cathedral, shopping and walking around the main square. It's a cute town and an overnight stay would be really fun. Maybe when we get back from our 15 month hiatus... 

Day of Relaxation at an All-Inclusive Resort

Photo courtesy of Linda

Every now and then it's nice to escape the ever day priorities and head to a local all-inclusive resort. With high season just now starting you can get good deals on hotels before it begins, so we did just that... Our friends, Paul & Linda, invited us to join them for a night at El Dorado Seaside Suites for a day of relaxing with great food and drinks.

After dropping Kevin & Jessica off at the ferry in Playa Del Carmen, we headed to the resort and checked in. The resort is BEAUTIFUL and they have some of the best food in the area. 

We were able to get a beach Bali bed as our room wasn't ready - all that means is laying in the warm sun while sipping cocktails to the relaxing beach sounds. Honestly, it's pure joy!

Keith taking a nap

We get laughed at when we post photos from resorts as people say we already live a vacation life, why do we need another vacation. Living in Mexico is nice but just like anyone we have errands to run, bills to pay, laundry to fold... So yeah. sometimes it's nice to get away from the norm and just do nothing.

Our little vacay consisted of eating, drinking, lounging, eating and then drinking more... It was delightful and not keto at all. Totally worth it!

Thanks Paul and Linda for the invite - as always, it was fabulous hanging out with you two! I am still dreaming about that dinner... #delish

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.

Our Big 2019-2020 Adventure

Soooo, it's official. Keith & I are the owners of a new travel trailer for our big 2019-2020 road trip. We realized some of our most enjoyable times together have been in a car traveling somewhere... So, we found a very light 21' travel trailer to tow up and down the East Coast. My Dad was a huge help in helping us figure out what to buy and making sure the process was very smooth!

We have been in Mexico for over a year now and decided we wanted to head to the US to explore more of the Old Country, all the while, renting out our condo in Mexico. Then we plan to spend the holidays in our new Lake Ozark condo. We will miss our friends but we are excited for a big year of travel and seeing several friends in the US.

If you're wondering about our US itinerary, here is the first draft:

Ocala, FL

Savannah, GA (3 nights)

Hilton Head, SC (3 nights)

Cape Hatteras, NC (1 nights)

Williamsburgh, Virginia (7 nights)

Washington, D.C. (3 nights)

Philadelphia, PA (3 nights)

The Hampton's, NY (1 night)

New Haven, CT (3 nights)

Rochester/Plymouth, RH (3 nights)

Martha's Vineyard, Mass. (day trip)

Boston, Mass. (3 nights)

Portland, ME (3 nights)

Boothbay Harbor, ME (2 nights)

Bar Harbor, ME (3 nights)

Woodstock, Vermont (3 nights)

Niagara Falls, NY (3 nights)

Charleston, WV (1 night)

Charlotte, NC (3 nights)

Jekyll Island, GA (3 nights)

St. Augustine, FL (1 week)

Ocala, FL

We do have two cruises on our agenda as well - it's going to be a jam packed year! Our Mexico adventures aren't over yet... We are just adding in more travel!

#nowearentcrazy #welovetotravel #yesthedogswillbewithus

Our House Hunters International Viewing Party

Many of our friends who came but sadly not all are pictured.

When we found out the air date of our HHI episode, we just planned to watch it alone at home. But after much nudging and many requests, we decided to have our friends over to watch it together on our upper deck. 

Luis made us promise not to watch it before the party, which was very difficult as we managed to get our hand on the episode about a week before it aired. We lived up to our promise and didn't watch it until it aired on the 4th. (That was REALLY hard to do!)

I'm actually glad we didn't watch it as it made it all the more humorous to watch and laugh together with everyone. 

"Dream Killer" is now Keith's nickname and I can't tell you how many times people have said to me "does it come with the bar?". This might be in our top 10 of things we've done together.

Thank you to all who have been supportive of this adventure and didn't laugh at us too much for the show. ;)

Spoiler alert.... For those who don't know us and are wondering why we picked TAO, it was the community. Just look at all those smiling faces - who wouldn't want to live here?!

If You Missed House Hunters International...

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 :)

What Do We Have Planned for 2019?

Here's a sneak peek of our the start of our 2019 plans... Stay tuned...

Our First Trip to the Movies

Keith and I used to go to the movies a lot more but since moving to Mexico over a year ago, we haven't gone at all. We have been trying to do more things that we don't normally do. 

So, on a Sunday afternoon we jumped in the car, drove to Playa Del Carmen and headed to Cinépolis Las Américas. They show movies in English with Spanish subtitles or movies dubbed in Spanish. We weren't really sure how to read the board to see which was which so I had to message a friend for help. Sadly we missed the movie we wanted to see due to the very long lines. So, we opted for the Fantastic Beast movie.

One thing we didn't take into account was the fact that Sunday's tend to be the day all the Mexican families are out and about - the beaches are packed, stores are full and apparently so are the movie theaters. The odd thing was there was another line but it was empty. I didn't pay much attention to it until it was too late. It appears you can join their movie club for $46 pesos ($2.25 USD for the year). I kid you not, we stood in line for 1 hour to get tickets and then 45 for popcorn... Not sure why we opted to do that but I think we figured we are here, might as well. I did try and but the movie pass while in line but was having issues with my signal. Anyways, next time I will be prepared with the membership as those lines only had a few people in them...

As for food, we tried a new place to us - Celia Taco's. We both enjoyed al pastor tacos, a cheese and chorizo appetizers and plenty of sauces to choose from. The food was really good and the restaurant had a really cool hip vibe to it. On the way out they had a Bart Simpson as El Chappo (El Barto) and a Make Playa Great Again sign - it gave me a chuckle. My kinda place!!

Happy Thanksgiving from Mexico

We have now celebrated Thanksgiving #2 in Mexico with friends. This Thanksgiving we enjoyed dinner at our friends, Randi and Dave's. 

Our local restaurant/beach club, Jungle Fish, made our turkey and we all brought our own sides. We actually had the opportunity to go a week before and try the turkey. They were kind enough to make two for us to try. We went with the traditional with white wine gravy but both were great! Tony is an amazing chef and comes up with great recipes.

I was in charge of bringing two desserts (brownies and a keto pumpkin cheesecake), but sadly, one (cheesecake) just didn't turn out as I had expected so Keith ran to the store and bought a cake. He's a life saver!

The night was a lot of fun! We ate and drank so much we left feeling happy yet overly full. It was a great day with friends and I am thankful to have been a part of fun a fun celebration! Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving too!

Our First PGA Tour - The Mayakoba Classic

Yesterday we had the opportunity to go to the Mayakoba Classic to watch Matt Kutchar win the PGA tournament.

Keith is an avid golfer, and after seeing what they win, I wish he was a professional golfer. Matt walked away with $1,296,000.00! 

Anyways, Keith was in hog heaven watching all the golfers and seeing many golf idols! I thought it would be boring but I had a lot of fun, more than I thought. Our friend, Dave, gave us passes to get in as he volunteered for the tournament and had a few extra. Our other friends, Kathy and Dan, came too. I think it's safe to say we all enjoyed the day.

We decided to go to the 18th hole to just watch everyone roll in. I am glad we did as we had the best seats in the house. Plus, if you go to PGA Tour on Instagram or their website, you will see our faces right behind Kutchar as he celebrates his win. Our faces ended up making several papers, Golf Digest and the PGA website.