Hurricane Dodged, Back from Mexico

Today completes my first full week as a house spouse after returning home from our family trip to Playa del Carmen, Mexico (just south of Cancun).

What a way to celebrate the end of one's career, let me tell you!

We spent two weeks in a beachfront timeshare complex with some of my wife's family. And I mean it was RIGHT on the beach! It made it

doubly exciting when we had front row seats for Hurricane Ida. It actually turned out to be somewhat of a non-event as we realized we had a romantic

walk on the beach the night Ida actually passed us (perhaps 100 miles abeam us, beyond Cozumel). All we experienced were some heavy downpours,

the resulting mas grande mud puddles, and occasional gusty winds.

One of the absolute highlights of the trip-- and my LIFE-- was going scuba diving with my wife in a Yucatan cenote (the photo to the left was actually

taken of us on our dive). Cenotes are underground fresh water rivers that have been filtered by the limestone ground. You can see the utterly amazing clarity

of the water. There is no photo trickery here! What you see is what we got! There were fossils and caves that went on and on. It was breathtaking and I

highly recommend the experience for anyone who ever gets the chance. I am still amazed even looking at the photo now.