Wrapping up for travel

Mexico here we come!

One of our goals for this year was to start traveling and exploring more now that we've finally got our home base plans "complete".  We wanted to make sure we started early in the year, so over the christmas holidays in VAN we started scheming with our BC friends for a little sunshine and beach time to break up the PNW winter.   We've been having a great time right now, but its fair to say that the weather has been wearing on us.

The cold, wet and dreary northwest winter seems to be unyielding.  It seems like only a few months ago we decided to stay in town through this winter rather than running away...but the past few months have been incessant in terms of grey and rain and it has us wondering what we were thinking when we made that decision.  Long story short...we are thrilled that we already have plans to escape it.  

While in canada we discussed options all over the map but quickly landed on a timeframe that worked for everyone and decided to head back to mexico.  We originally thought we would drive and meet the others or pick them up at an airport, but the conversation led to the caribbean coast and flying into cancun.  We weren't yet sure we were ready for full fledged flying/book a room vacation...but the allure of the riviera maya with our friends was too strong.  Tulum it was!

We somehow found ourselves swamped with clients in december and january, so the focus has been mostly trying to get all projects to a comfortable spot before leaving.  A few design meetings to confirm things were moving along the right track and we think we're set.  This is still a huge experiment for us (being able to work on client projects while traveling) but there’s only one way to learn.  We actually finished up the first phase a few days early, which allowed time to arrange a few much needed renovations (soundproofing, fixing a leaking fascia etc) on the makerflat and even to dive into the sprinter mockup and build out.  We logged our first night sleeping comfortably in the van following the superbowl party!

The biggest news leading up to our trip has to be meeting little Julian Lawrence, who was kind enough to come into the world 10 days early just in time for us to meet and get to know him for a week before leaving for our trip (thank you Julian!).

He’s absolutely adorable, and it’s been so fun to watch them as new parents and to feel our hearts immediately melt for that handsome little guy.  He certainly had us spending a few of our hot tub mornings discussing the "kid question"... and then we quickly got back to discussing our year of travel. ;) The night before leaving for mexico we hit a show we've somehow missed over the last few years but were so excited to finally be able to experience.  We know many of the artists, but even if we didn't...an evening full of 80s and 90s love song covers was not to be missed!  Somehow that also translated into staying out until 2am before a 6am international flight...but we made it work. 

A full day of flying, another few hours trying to secure our rental car (the first few tasks in mexico after being away for a while are always the hardest until you get the mind reset to the right speed), picked our friends up at the airport and we were on our way.  We had a rough set of directions and did the all-too-many-u-turn route until finally finding our rental.  Oddly we remember driving down this same dirt road a few years ago in the bus looking for a spot to camp, but never found one and didn't realize exactly how beautiful the bay was on the other side of the fences.

We unloaded our car full of groceries and took a tour of our temporary digs.  Amazing.

We knew we splurged a bit on the place, but it's truly ridiculous what combining a group of friends in one place can allow you to afford.  This house is perfect.  And huge.  The master bedroom alone is larger than our entire place, and the rest of the house just spreads out forever.  It's ridiculous and opulent and extravagant, and almost right away we feel like we're living someone else's life for a few days...but i guess thats what travel and vacation are for, even if it isn't our "normal" model for doing so.

For tonight the ocean is nothing more than darkness and the sound of waves...but I can hardly wait to see the place in the daylight tomorrow.