Puerto Vallarta Vacation Part 1

When Jason's Dad, Lawrence was visiting us in February we were discussing all the places he has been and the vacations he has taken. I indicated that he lives a dream life with all the traveling he does. It helps that he is a flight attendant and can fly for free. I told him I haven't been on a vacation for many many years because I have been raising children. I think that statement kind of startled him a bit because as he is living the dream life, I've always sacrificed my life to raise my children. 

I knew that Lawrence and Mitch had planned to take Jason and Sharon on a nice vacation for Jason's 30th birthday.

 On March 14, 2014 I received this facebook message from Mitch:

Hi Sondra! We just booked our vacation for Jason's 30th birthday in Puerto Vallarta from July 23 - 29! We would love to have you and Brady join us for our All-Inclusive at the Crown Paradise Golden. Lawrence tells me that you haven't taken a vacation in quite a while. So it appears that it is time for one. And what better way to do that than with family! And by the way, we are going to bug you until you say "yes"!

Lawrence sent me this message:

Ok we just booked the trip to Puerto Vallarta. We are staying at Crown Paradise Golden Vallarta. It's all inclusive adults only(18 and over) . We booked on expedia.com including airfare for 6 nights it was $2100.00 for two. You and Brady should really think about joining us.It would be fun. At least check the hotel out and let me know what you think!!! If you decided to book let me know and I'll let you know the flights we booked for Sharon and Jason.

I thought about this for a long time and replied: 

To Mitch: Oh the pressure between you and Larry - LOL! I think we will go... I'm working on it.

To Lawrence:

OK, I've spoken with Brady and I think we will plan on going. Can you give me the flight details so when I book we can be on the same flight as Jason and Sharon. I guess - give me all the details. We will work on getting our passports.

Jason, Sharon, Brady and I worked on getting our Passport. Our first trip outside the United States! 

We booked the trip and started to plan and save for a dream vacation!!!

It was a good deal too - $1050 per person with airfare out of Boise to Puerto Vallarta, 6 nights of hotel and all the food and drinks we want (all inclusive) and an adult resort (18 and over). 

Puerto Vallarta is right on the edge of the Pacific Ocean in the middle Mexico 

 It sits in a bay so the weather and ocean is calm and beautiful!

 We flew out on July 23rd. On the flight from Phoenix to Puerto Vallarta we were handed our custom paperwork to fill out. There was a nice man on our row that is from Puerto Vallarta but now lives in Ontario that helped us fill it out. 

Going through customs was easy. There is a green light / red light system. You press a button and if you get a green light you don't have to do anything. If you have a red light your luggage is searched. Brady got the red light, but Jason, Sharon and I had the green light.

As soon as you go through the airport, you are hounded by a ton of people to get you to sign up for time shares. Just ignore them and keep walking through - don't stop.

We went to the street and got a cab to the hotel. 

 We stayed at the Crown Paradise Golden resort. We were a little early for the 3pm check in time so we were directed to the information desk and he told us about Puerto Vallarta and some of the activities. They brought us a fruity drink and we were having such a great time ...... until ..... he wanted to sign us up for a time share meeting. Argh, I thought we passed all of that and I got sucked in. I politely declined. They cannot pressure me to spend anytime of my cherished vacation on a stupid meeting when I will absolutely never purchase a time share. 

 The hotel was beautiful and right on the ocean. 

 A view from the swimming pool to the ocean. I didn't even step one foot in the pool. I spent every day on my vacation in that beautiful warm ocean. I loved it! 

 I loved that the hotel was just a few feet from the hotel and included little cabanas for us to enjoy when we were not in the ocean. 

 We all had a Deluxe Ocean view hotel room. Brady and I had 2 double beds. I loved this hotel room! It was so solid that when you get up in the night to go to the bathroom, the floor doesn't squeak and wake anyone up. The balcony was wonderful to sit out on in the morning and evening. During the day I was in the ocean of course. I spent very little time in the hotel room. 

 Lawrence and Mitch's room was on the corner facing Puerto Vallarta. The mountains / jungle were so green because we were in the rainy season. 

 This is a view from our hotel room. I loved it! 

This is a silly video I took from our balcony. Brady came out and we were discussing the stamp in our passport. But, you can enjoy the beautiful view we had. (I could go there again and again - we loved it!)

This is where we had breakfast and lunch every day.

This is the bar hut you see right outside our hotel room. It was interesting to sit under the roof and look at how it was made. It was cool!

One of our favorite restaurants we ate at in the evening was Salvadors / A la carte Gourmet Cuisine. 

The other restaurant was called Paradise / A la carte Mediterranean cuisine. This is a specialty restaurant open for dinners, offering a Mediterranean atmosphere and renowned for it's magnificent personalized service and exquisite gourmet cuisine. Don't forget to ask for their spectacular flambeed coffee show. 

Sharon ordered the sexy coffee. It was really a spectacular show. 

 This is Pauly. After Sharon received her SEXY coffee, he made one for Mitch and surprisingly me - AND he feeds you the first bite. I'm not a coffee drinker so others at our table finished it. But, it was a really REALLY fun experience. 

The first night we were in Puerto Vallarta there was a tropical storm. The storm brought a beautiful lighting show over the ocean that looked like fireworks. The rain was heavy and guess what the storm brought?

They've only seen hail 3 times in 20 years. I guess we brought cool Idaho weather when we came. It was something that was exciting and talked about by the local people there. The rain flooded everything that evening and we were soaked as we watched it and tried to move from one location to the next, the water was several inches deep everywhere in the walkways of the hotel. But, it was completely gone in the morning, and we were blessed with beautiful weather the rest of our vacation.