Puerto Vallart Part 6: Bucerias and the Final Days

The sea lions and dolphins were in Nuevo Vallarta which was about 2/3 of the way to Bucerias. Bucerias was the little town that DeA explored a lot last year. We started with DeA's favorite restaurant, El Gordo's.

It's right on the beach, with the sun setting behind us.

"Dad, is this where you took the picture of Mom last yeah picturer?"

"Yeah, how did you figure it out?"

There is a guy on a horse like in that picture"

We walked over to the plaza where the churro guy was last year. He wasn't there, but another cart was there. Ryker and Dave had been looking forward to churros the whole trip, but especially after the poor experience with the gringo churros earlier in the week.

They passed the taste test, especially the cajeta filled one. 

There was a Nicaraguan family selling pineapple tamales. I had never had a Nicaraguan pineapple tamale, and I just had to try it. It was kind of open, and then the nice lady torched it with blowtorch to caramelize the pineapple. It was freaking delicious. I wasn't even hungry and I couldn't stop eating it.

The churros were so good, Dave and Ryker went back for seconds.

The kids wanted to play pool every night, while the adults sat around, watched 90s music videos and had ice cream. It was a fun way to finish the evenings. Jim Crocky finally made and appearance on one of our last days. The kids were impressed.

Ryker's wart randomly fell off one day. Looks like that will save us at least a co-pay next month when he was scheduled to visit a dermatologist. 

He kept ordering a chocolate milkshake at every restaurant. He was disappointed that Mexicans didn't know how to properly make and American milkshake. Finally, he discovered the perfect milkshake at a Canadian owned restaurant. 

Rock picked up a Hawaiian shirt and Dave couldn't stop himself from making fun of him. He called him Magnum, like Magnum PI, and other fun stuff.

The maid had fun with Jens' stuffed animals.

Schnookums looked good by the pool.

Magnum discovered that the waiters don't ask for payment, only for your room number. The kids started ordering drinks and eventually nachos and burgers.

We had a hard time finding good fried ice cream (dessert was a priority and constant effort during this trip). The Canadian owned place with the milkshakes came through again.

It was awesome have Mama Zista and Papa Dave with us. We are all glad that they decided to meet us!

The boys were too busy trying to catch an iguana to pose for a picture.

Jens loved her hair all week

We checked out at noon, but the cab didn't show up until 12:45ish, so we played a few rounds of Uno

Alaska was a cluster during check-in. It was a clown show, and we had to hurry to our gate. We did settle in, and other than the mask-obsessed flight attendant, we had a good flight. We even got to see Whit and Stewie's new house.

Jens' hair was pretty epic after she and DeA and Mama Rae took out all the braids.

Puerto Vallart Part 5: Sea Dogs

We were able to add a sea lion encounter to our dolphin swim for pretty cheap, so we jumped on it. They had a California Sea Lion that had survived a hurricane but was badly hurt. The facility rehabbed her, and now she shows off her pretty smile and cool swimming tricks. Her name is Lucy, and she was just like a water puppy.

We all got to hug her, pet her, and swim with her. 

The dolphins felt like they were kind of annoyed with us, but wanted their fish treats. Lucy seemed like she liked the interaction with us, and only wanted her herring when she did tricks outside of the water.

She was a ton of fun, the kids ended up liking Lucy more than the dolphin.

She had a cute/awkward smile, the kids loved it.

I thought it would be a fair trade to swap Leo for Lucy straight up, but the kids disagreed.

While the trainer was talking, Lucy would swim between and around us, looking for pets. When we did scratch her back, she would lean into us just like Leo would do