Happy july 4th to all my cancun buddies—today in florida it is a beautiful sunny holiday with a packed beach where I am going soon—Have a report to share—sorry its late-- and best wishes on this july 4th—here are some flowers that are are in bloom—like the nite blooming cerus and flowering vines and a sunset from last evening…

And now another part of my trip report…

On Wednesday morn of my trip in May-- I certainly wanted to look my best for my arriving friend danette so I got up early with the sun..

And I went down to the gym for my third day of exercise, enjoying the new equipment and using the weights and machines. I did a fruit plate for breakfast in my room, then went to the business office for Internet. I even had time for the beach and pool where I enjoyed the time on the beach walking, etc…

By one pm I was there in the lobby. The hotel was mostly emptying out and it wasn’t busy—I saw Danette at the desk. They had given her a welcome drink—guess they do that now, but not with me, and she had a nice person at the desk, who said he gave her a “wonderful” room, 801, on the 8th floor of course. She invited me up to see the room and we embraced and talked as the bell boy took her bags and we went upstairs to her room….which indeed was lovely…for one thing it was on a higher floor and sported views from the hallway like this—views of Cancun…

Danette also had a HUGE balcony—3x times wider than mine and also covered which looked towards the sunrise of Punta Cancun.. Here are some pics of her room…

View of balcony from room….

A bird on her porch with sunrise…

A bit of history….Danette and I last saw each other when she visited me in NSB a year ago. She had started to go to Cancun in the mid 90’s—and became friends with FRAN from NY..these ladies often traveled together and had lots of adventures with pirates, condos, and a lot of fun times..

Me and my ex partner got into the action for several years and stayed with them at the condo—FRAN was very nice and generous to me and let me stay with them—later thru the years we vacationed together in separate places and always got together with them. We had many adventures. We all enjoyed each other so much we also were on Isla in various places…Danette and I rented a house on Isla several years ago too…here at breakfast at m&J’s on Isla Mujeres…

Or lounging in robes on the house balcony…

One of my best trips with fran and danette was in Santa Monica

And Hollywood

where we enjoyed the Fairmont Miramar

Near Santa Monica pier

And of course Venice Beach and the fabulous ambiance of it all…

During that trip Danette was on crutches…she is a trooper…on another trip to Cancun she had a broken arm…

Danette was in excellent condition physically on this trip to the coral beach, but extremely tired from working her executive job and running a dept. involving employee benefits in a company in San Antonio. She carried her blackberry and had to keep in touch….This trip was also special for her as we all were going to go to the bayview grand condos on the ocean in a few days to meet up with danette's daughter Jennifer and her fiancé Jonathon, who are now living in Dallas. Jennifer had just graduated and this trip was her gift—a week at the Bayview Grand. These days at the Coral beach were to be very relaxing for danette. When danette asked me to join her in the condo I extended my trip 4 nights to do it and was so glad, cause I couldn’t bare to check out and go home if she was going to stay on in Cancun.

Danette was very pleased with her room, and had never stayed in the coral beach –so I was happy she did this for me—it was a great decision…we were at a place catering to our every whim, and could be together for breakfast, beach and pool, and dinner.

Len and Mary also know danette. They had vacationed at the same time and we had had a party on Isla with fran, danette, etc…So we all were going out to dinner this evening…

After getting danette settled in I gave her time to relax and unpack. She looked lovely…here is a pic of us together later that evening at dinner…

I called Mary and told her Danette had arrived and we were going to meet up with Len and Mary at Lorenzillos..for dinner…Later in the day I went back to her suite for cocktails to enjoy her beautiful view.

We had a very nice talk over cocktails…about the upcoming trip of her daughter and of our pasts, etc. Danette is a strong person—and she is a great mom, who brought up her daughter and has a lot of responsibilities in San Antonio like looking after her mom I was proud to have her around me at the pool and hotel cause of her beauty and poise and great sense of humor. She also loves to read, gets up very early, and is good at keeping her thoughts to herself—and has a mysterious aura about her. And shes a great photographer and again I thank her for the use of her photos.

Later we got on a bus and went to Lorenzillos—we went there cause it was across from the Gran Real and len and mary didn’t have to walk far and it was a quick bus ride for me and danette. I had forgotten that len had chosen the most expensive seafood place—but it was across the street from them—no walking…We all met and had a great time and an expensive dinner of seafood with all the trimmings…

We decided to meet again the next night at Casa Rolandi's and Danette and I went back to the hotel, where tired Danette went to her suite and I decided to go for a quick tour of the Congo Bar. D was too tired to go dancing and I decided to go, for a bit. I went over there and had a coke and danced a little, but the mix of songs was pretty lame—think YMCA for example and no current songs—I almost managed to avoid a shot girl, but one danced with me and before you knew it, had a shot poured down my throat when I wasn’t looking—then I realized it was a double glass and then on the side she also managed to get me with—I gave her the tip for her efforts then left the place and home to bed.

In the morning after exercising, danette and I met in the restaurant and had a little repast of fruit and toast. It was fun being with her and we planned her day of rest---lounging by the beach today—After breakfast we went online in the business office then got ready and went to the beach—we were for hours catching up on our news and taking strolls.

It was a perfect day of lounging…

It was total relaxation and before you knew it time flew by—danette and I met up for cocktails in her room-- and we met with len and mary at casa rolandis. We all enjoyed that meal and good times. Next report—moving on to the condo…..

Greg, so glad to see another chapter posted!

Love the new pics, and the old ones, too.

Wow! Danette's room was lovely!

I'm glad that you decided to extend your vacation.

Can't wait to see the condo.

How was your dinner at Lorenzillo's?
I've heard people either rave about it, or complain that it's just overpriced and overrated.

last nite len complained to me at dinner about LORENZILLOS-- here in nsb at his house--its overated , too expensive, and our waiter "had no personality at all "--and thats what len remembered the most--"never again he said"....see that?

she deserved one. and Kudos to you D for helping Jeni get her BA And MA. and Way to Go Jeni!!!!!

i'm sorry you never got to meet Mom, she would have been very proud of you. missing you guys and the FACB. tim

i'm very proud of you too. i forgot to say that! tim

Great report, Greg! Brought back lots of memories! Maggie keeps saying she wants to go to California because she has never been there but loves the movie 'Lords of Dogtown' which is filmed around Santa Monica and Venice Beach, I think. She still is nervous about flying, though, so God knows when I'll get her there but I wouldn't mind going back myself.

Keep those reports coming!

Fran in NY