Puerto Vallarta

Our last day in Puerto Vallarta, and the weather was everything we had hoped for when planning the trip. We split up for the morning -- Caty and Laura went to swim with dolphins, while I slept in before exercising and going in to town to see if I could find the best authentic tacos.

Caty said the dolphin adventure was 'the best experience in her life', so we'll count that as a win. Laura loved it too, both the mama and baby dolphin were super smart and super cute. We won't have any pictures for a little while, but we'll get some sent to us by the company.

My mission was also a success. I did some research (wanting very much to not have a plane ride home dealing with food poisoning) on local street carts and settled on Tacos El Mareno. By the time the cab had made the 10 minute drive down the cobblestone road from the resort, it was the lunch rush. Tons of locals were milling around, which I took as a good sign. I summoned the remnants of high school Spanish to place my order, and then shortly thereafter tucked into freshly made carne asada tacos -- super cool to watch them make the tortilla in front of you. The hot sauce was no joke either. Yum.

I had some time to kill before Laura and Caty's cab brought them back to meet up, and wandered into a craft brewery in the gay section of town. While not amazing, the beer was better than expected and my fellow patrons and bartender were pretty friendly.

When Caty and Laura arrived, we headed down to the beach to enjoy some magnificent sunshine and surf. Caty loved getting pushed around by the waves. After ~45 minutes we had to drag Caty out of the water, lest she turn into a lobster. While walking towards a cab location, Laura let out a shriek -- I turned around and found her horizontal, nearly submerged in the water as the tide pulled her towards the sea. She had tripped on a towel, we think; it happened so fast she can't quite remember how she found herself in that situation. She was embarrassed, but laughing too hard to pull herself upright... I ran over and fished her out. We all got a good chuckle out of it, but Laura's phone paid the toll due to water damage :(

We bundled up our wet belongings and went back up to the hotel to lay in the shade at the pool, aka Caty went swimming again.

For our last dinner I found an authentic Mexican restaurant in town. Caty was grossed out that they served cricket tacos, and I may have threatened to get some for the table... We had some tasty margaritas, smoked fish tostadas, barbacoa, and duck carnitas. Heavenly. Caty was a big 'flan' of dessert #DadJokesAllVacationLong.

That's the end of the family Mexico journey. Another early morning to catch a plane back to Madison -- we're ready to see our pup!Read more