This post originally appeared on my 89 year old grandfather’s blog – Grampa Currie’s Blog and I just had to share it here too. I have been trying to get that guy to go to Tulum with us for years and finally I took matters into my own hands and bought the guy a ticket! 🙂 We had an awesome time and I’m so glad he wrote about it.
My Granddaughter Ashley, had been trying to get me to apply for a passport, since Adam and Eve. I finally gave into her and got one in 2014. This took a little doing as I needed to find my birth certificate which was not an easy task. I was born in Pasadena, California and I didn’t know which hospital, I was too young at the time to remember and no one around anymore to ask. Â So, I checked through Vital Statistics in hopes that they had some records, but it turns out that they had a fire that destroyed a lot of those old records a few years back. After a lot of research I was finally about to find the hospital and got them to send me a copy of my birth certificate.
Getting a passport is not an easy task, I had to make a few trips to the post office in Rock Springs, WY, found out I needed a photograph. Then had to go to Walgreens where I was able to get a special size passport photograph which the format has no other use but for passports (silly I know). Anyway, then I headed back to the post office just to find out that I needed an additional type of picture ID. Lucky for me I happened to have an old driver’s license which they were able to use. By this time I’m about ready to throw in the towel, why can’t they have all these things in one place to make life easier?  Finally I made it back to the post office with my goodies, signed a bunch of papers and gave them a bunch of money. Then, it took a couple weeks for the real thing to show up. For almost two years it had been sitting in my safe… all that work and not even one stamp on it. Time to change that!!
A few months ago, Ashley invited me to take a vacation with my 2 favorite Granddaughters, and Grandson in Law. I turned the offer down because I had just purchased 4 new tires ($1251.57) for my truck and couldn’t afford the trip. Much to my amazement, the plane tickets and 5 nights in a condo were already paid for… the trip was a Christmas present from Ashley and Frank. How could anyone in their right mind, turn that down? The plan was for me to drive to Gunnison, CO on February 3rd, stay the night at Karen’s, drop my dog Goldie off and drive to Jessie’s house in Denver the next day. Franklin and Ashley would fly in from San Francisco and meet at Jessie’s house, then we would all fly out of Denver the the next day, to Cancun, Mexico.
This was all great, except when I got to Gunnison, Karen asked if I had packed everything I needed, including my passport. I had just finished driving 7 hours from Manila, and I had forgot my passport. Can you believe that? The only thing I could do was to have Karen and me drive back to Manila, get my passport and drive on to Denver by way of Elk Mountain. Karen was more than willing to drive because I had just bought a new vehicle, with just 200 miles on it, chicks dig the new car smell. Â Elk Mountain is the worst portion of I-80 to drive in the winter time, and this was no exception. The highway was snow packed from Green River to Cheyenne, Wyoming. Karen did a great job driving and we made it to Jessie’s in great time. She was planning on staying another day and then motor back to Gunnison.
- The plane ride to Cancun was uneventful. Got into town, rented a car, 90 minutes later we made it to Tulum.  The drive was interesting, in Mexico they drive like they do on I-25 in Denver (Crazy). I was hoping Tulum would be warm, but it turned out to be quite chilly, it was “winter” so the temps were around 70’s. The Condo was really nice, a three bedroom furnished apartment. It had everything you could need, washer/dryer, a rooftop deck and a wonderful outdoor sitting area, and 2 bathrooms. We
always had breakfast in house, Ash and Jess did a lot of chopping every morning… peppers, onions and potatoes. Franklin would come back from his morning runs just in time to cook up the eggs and for us to eat outside. We went thru a lot of hot sauce and salsa, It was nearly impossible to fill these three peoples bellies. Wherever we went, they had to eat. Â Where I just sat back and drank Tequila.
The town; great town, I got so I knew where I was in town by keeping track of the big ice cream cone and anchor in the middle of the walkway. The Mayan Ruins were amazing, we went to a cenote where the girls went swimming, being careful of the snapping turtles. We did get to spend some time on the beach, the sand was clean and white and the water turquoise. Jess and I were wading and she spotted a small stingray right in front of us. It wasn’t long before a bigger one showed up. We cautioned the people nearby, but they thought we were kidding. Those things are mean, Hombre!! Â Remember what happened to the Alligator Man.
Our five days are up and we are headed back to Cancun. Airport security SUCKS!!!!  I would just as soon have terrorists rather than go through Airport Security and Customs. As soon as we were ready to board the place Jessie realized she had lost her customs ticket which needs to be turned back in before leaving the country… she had to run all the way back out of the security area to get it, in the meantime, the rest of us had boarded the plane. The seat belt sign had come on and no Jess. She was going to be stuck in Mexico, hey not a bad place to be stranded with all that wonderful Tequila.
Ashley being a good sister, got off the plane and stayed in Mexico while Frank and I ordered a cocktail and enjoyed the inflight movie. Â They would eventually catch another flight an hour later they landed in Denver and met up with Franklin and I as we were having a $10.00 beer at the airport bar.
Thank you Grandkids.