¡Hola Amigos!

I am officially done traveling for the summer!

July 6th marked my first time out of the continental US; and will hopefully represent the beginning of more international trips to come.
Mexico was a blast.
We stayed at a huge resort in Riviera Maya called the Grand Palladium, which was one of a kind to say the least. There was tons of wildlife present and it felt like many parts of the area were still untouched despite being in the midst of a massive hotel group.

There were hundreds of these little guys running around the resort. They loved company and would stand on their hind legs to beg for food.

I spent the majority of my week being a beach bum or laying by the pool with my mom and her friend's daughters. We only left the resort for one day, and it was to go to Xel-Ha (pronounced "Shell-Ha"). Xel-Ha is a park in Riviera Maya where a freshwater river meets the ocean and, in turn, creates an incredible wildlife habitat for visitors to snorkel and tube through. The float down this river was only an hour long, but incredibly enjoyable since we spent the first half of our day exploring some nearby Mayan ruins.

The Mayans definitely knew how to pick a good location

The heat and humidity are borderline unbearable when you're this close to the Equator so getting to spend the remainder of our afternoon in a river was total bliss.

I couldn't think of 9 better people to share my first international experience with and am so thankful for the opportunities I had to travel to new places this summer. Stillwater, I'll see you in 4 days!

These next couple weeks are about to be extremely hectic, but I will try and keep this updated as much as I can.

Also, a huge thank you to Phil-C for the photos from this trip. You rock.

Until next time,
Lex

Lex in the City

What an incredible past several days it’s been!

Last Saturday I left Texas to meet up with my dad, step mom, sister, and 2 stepbrothers for this year’s family vacation. We try to do something fun together every summer and this year we have two destinations: New Jersey and NYC

I flew into New Jersey, where we stayed Saturday-Wednesday. This half of our week long adventure was focused mostly on the kiddos. With my brothers being 9 and 10, my sister being 5, and being 18 myself, it can be difficult to find vacation spots where we can all enjoy ourselves. We spent  a majority of our time at the New Jersey Six Flags and Hurricane Harbor parks. I would be lying if I said it was only enjoyable for the younger ones. I got to feed GIRAFFES (a dream come true!) and nothing makes me happier than wave pools and lazy rivers. Basically, despite it being a kid-orientated couple of days, I couldn’t have enjoyed myself anymore. Sometimes it’s great to just enjoy some Swedish Fish flavored Italian ice and sweat it out at an amusement park for three days. Although by the end of Day 3 I was absolutely exhausted...

We ended up becoming great pals.

In the middle of our New Jersey portion of the trip we took a break from the rides and chaos to have a relaxing day at Belmar beach. The boys got some private surf lessons while I napped in the sand and made my skin a bright shade of crimson just in time for our trip to Hurricane Harbor the following day.  The beach day was definitely my favorite part.  We ate 3 Brothers Pizza, enjoyed the sand, and went to the boardwalk to finish off our day away from Six Flags.

I sadly did not take any pictures at the boardwalk, but it was beautiful!

Wednesday eventually rolled around and, after I ate my body weight in fried food, we headed to the Big Apple. Before crossing the NJ-NY border we took a ferry ride to Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty. My sister, Karina, was so stinkin’ cute. When the kids found out we were going to Ellis Island via boat ride she exclaimed “Because we are fishing for liberty, right???” Absolutely precious.

Our hotel in NYC couldn’t have been better. We stayed at the Double Tree, which was right in the middle of Times Square. I have been to upstate New York countless times, but this was my first time actually seeing New York City. Even with the constant flash flood warnings it was breathtaking. I don’t think you could ever run out of things to do there. For the three days we were there we were constantly on the go, and it still felt like there was so much more to see and do. This is definitely a place I will need to return to in the future. Despite several changes of plans due to the rain, my first experience in the Big Apple was one for the books. 

If you're ever in NYC be sure to check out Ella's Stardust Diner. It's a really unique dining experience you could not get anywhere else. So much fun!

The pictures were limited on this trip because my iPhone can only do so much. I didn't have quite enough room for my camera this time around, but hopefully I will make up for the lack of pictures in my next post!

See ya'll in a week. It's 2am and I have to head to the airport at 5:15, but I couldn't just leave the country without posting first. Mexico, here I come!

Be back soon, 

Lex