Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Moon Palace Resort, Cancun, Mexico ~ November 25-29, 2009

During Thanksgiving weekend, I had the honor and privilege of traveling to the Moon Palace Golf & Spa Resort in Cancun, Mexico with the Cleveland State Women’s Basketball team. This was my third experience at an all-inclusive resort and once again, quite memorable and definitely my favorite way to travel! Unfortunately, Steve wasn't able to make the trip with me due to the cost as well as his continued immobility on crutches. Luckily, the resort offered free calls to the U.S., so Steve and I were able to talk and he was able to listen to me brag about my stay :)

An added bonus was that my mom and Rich were also in attendance as they were able to join the Cleveland State Men’s Basketball team. As always, we had a great time!

I joined my mom and Rich for dinner at La Trattoria, an Italian restaurant located at the golf course, to celebrate their 21st wedding anniversary...they both agreed, it's always more fun with Shannon :)

The resort itself was totally massive. It’s actually impossible to try to explain it's vastness in words. It is divided into three sections, Sunrise, Nizuc and Grand. We stayed in the Sunrise section and literally had to take a charter bus (offered by the resort & running every 15 minutes) to the other sections.

The view from our balcony.

The exterior of the buildings.

To our surprise, each room had a huge jacuzzi along with a balcony, mini bar, and 24-hour room service. This picture shows Britt's (our Graduate Assistant) cot next to the jacuzzi. She preferred to hang out and sleep in our room versus with one of the players. She never knew a couple of 30-year-olds could be so fun!

Overall there were 14 restaurants that offered a variety of fare, including Mexican, Brazilian, American, Italian, and Asian, as well as 12 bars. Our favorite restaurants were Arrecifies (Brazilian) and Mo Mo No Hana (Japanese)…both with outstanding food that I would have enjoyed again if we had the time.

Greg (our Sports Information Director) at the Brazilian restaurant...dinner consisted of lots and lots of meat!

A delicious swan cream puff for dessert.

While the beach was not great, the pool was awesome! As you might guess, that is I where I could be found when we had free time. I was determined to have a tan upon my return to the Cleveland cold...and I succeeded!

I had a really great time with my co-workers and the women’s team finished 1-1, falling to Marquette (69-66) and defeating Iona (64-58). The games were played in the ballroom on the second floor of the main lobby and offered a full buffet and full bar (all free, of course!) throughout all of the games. As you can imagine, it was very nice.

The buffet and bar.

Overall, it was a great stay and it was neat to be able to share the experience with my friends and the people I work with everyday. We had a lot of fun, with some really great weather, while also watching some great basketball...all things that I really love :)

Me & Liberty at the tournament banquet.

Me & Sallie

Greg, Britt & Shannon

I'm not sure what city, state or country our next trip will take us to, but I do know that I can't wait...