Destination Wedding - The Arrival

Last year around this time, I meet up with my Carter cousins for the 60th birthday party of my Cousin Dovin and his girlfriend, Rosa. This year we Carter Cousins are meeting up/down in Mexico for Dovin & Rosa's destination wedding. My first ever 'destination wedding' so now I can say I've 'been there, done that'.

The drive passed through Organ Pipes National Monument

For starters, Cousins David & Tom did all the thinking (for me at least!) arranging for a hired van & driver. All the rest of us had to do was to Phoenix, Arizona. There at the Phoenix airport we did a quick meet n' greet at a terminal, then we loaded into our van, where we hit the road Jack! We drove through tiny Arizona towns and through Organ Pipes National Monument (YAY!).

When we got to the Mexican border, our driver lady told us we all had to grab our luggage and walk through the gates (state side) and then walk along the passage and into Mexico! It was possibly a tiny bizarre, but that's how they do it.

This was looking back, after walking from the US side,
to the Mexican side, where our driver picked us up.

So we did just that, and the photo just above was us having just walked in to Mexico. Here we all are after crossing into Mexico. The lady in yellow was also crossing over and we told her she was an honorary 'Carter Cousin' for the sake of the photo. We'll never ever forget dear what's-her-name!

The Carter Cousins plus one 

David also booked the hotel resort where we stayed at. We got a suite. Here we are in the lobby, after arriving at the resort. 

Fresh batch of Carter Cousins, left to right: Jonniann (San Diego, CA), Carol (Queens, NY),
Rhonda (Chandler, AZ), Michael (Jonni's Hubby), David and Cousin-in-Law Tom (Denver, CO)

And here is our view from our HUMONGOUS balcony, looking west

Here's the view looking East

This is about only 1/3 of the balcony

                                                     






There were several places to sit and have a chat, and the couches turned out pretty handy for taking a quick nap too.

Everyone checking out the Suite - this is the kitchen 

And this is about half of the 'living room back there,
and we never even used the big dining room table

Other half of the main room, and the open door on
the right is the room Cousin Carol and I shared

Want a soak anyone? The tub
that goes with 'MY' room

Each of the four bedrooms had its own luxury bathroom. I call them 'luxury' because they had giant soaking tubs, which is one of my dreams when I get my next house - my own soaking tub!

Finally I'm back to my cuzzies! We met up in the lobby with other cousins that are staying at other resorts nearby.  Thank heavens this time our separation from each other was no more than a year at Dovin's birthday party Oct 2018. 

Michael, Tom, David, Matt II in the green hat, Marisa in the yellow pants and Carol in green

It was decided the family and friends of the bride and the groom were going to meet up at a local Mexican Restaurant (OK, even if they served only Swedish food, it would STILL be a Mexican restaurant, right? So we somehow figured out how to get everyone there because our van was long gone, but somehow we got there. As the photos I took are all rather ghastly I'm ending this here.

Interestingly (for 'moi' anyway) after the buffet dinner, Rhonda, Carol and myself got a ride back to our resort through a friend of the Rosa, the bride. Sadly, Tom & David didn't get in on the ride scene, and they walked along the beach back to the resort. Quite romantic I'd wager, and successful as they made it back!

Tomorrow is the wedding and our little group went to sleep with the sound of waves on the beach and maybe just a teensy bit of my snoring in the background.