The Third Annual Doodle Trip!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Well, we are back and I think we would all say the trip was a rousing success.  I still don’t know quite how it happened last year, but I was assigned the job of planning this year’s trip and I have no problems admitting Jane did a better job.  I did not want to pick the location and have all the Doodlers show up at the location and give their best imitation of Jeff Probst and say, “we hate this place and we are voting you off the island!”

The poor travel agent had gotten prices, etc. for several places, including cruises, but all kept getting nixed by the group, so in the end, we took a vote and an all-inclusive trip to Mexico won.  By the time we finalized the plans, I had almost decided to start drinking and not quit until the trip, but thankfully, Todd the travel agent continued to take my calls and it all worked out. 

 

Traveling to some of these places during hurricane season can be risky, but so far we have been lucky.  This trip we did not encounter a hurricane, but ended up finding out that they aren’t kidding when they say a tropical depression produces lots of thunderstorms, high winds, and heavy rains.  Now, I don’t want to blame it on any group in particular and I hate naming names (Christine, Darby, Tracey), but I ate dinner with this group (Christine, Darby, Tracey) one night and after listening about some of their past vacations, I am pretty sure they should now be referred to as the Troublemaker Trio. 

Just in case you want to be able to identify them....this is Tracey, Darby, Christine, and Doris (ignore Doris, for now) 

Again, I am sure it was entirely coincidental and I would NEVER want to point fingers and blame an innocent group of people (Christine, Darby, Tracey) for our bad luck this time, but no weather problems on the first two trips and then they (Christine, Darby, Tracey) show up and all hell breaks loose. Just sayin’.  Luckily, it was only two rainy days and some of us still managed to get to Cancun to shop and to Xcaret.  The ones who didn’t shop stayed behind to play Mexican Train, which happens to be a dominoes game and not a game of chicken with the locals at a nearby train track.  I don’t exactly know what went on during the game, but I do know there was money involved and soap went missing in several rooms and Deanna seemed to be burping soapsuds at dinner later that night.  Something about an old fashioned way to fix a potty mouth, but again, I know nothing.  I hope Kathy was not involved, but I was gone that day, so I can’t be sure.

Deanna with her bubbles!

At one point, someone suggested the idea that the married couples renew their wedding vows with Nicky officiating and all of a sudden this idea took on a life of its own.  John kept saying he really hadn’t wanted to do it the first time and he hated to make the same mistake twice.  Bill was willing to do it only if there was no jewelry involved and the only thing he had to slip on Ronna was a pair of gift shop water shoes. Dave seemed agreeable if Jane was willing to spend their honeymoon night a couple miles up the way at the nude beach. (Not really, but it made for a fun read)  Jeff and Vicki scheduled an excursion that day that meant they wouldn’t be there for the ceremony, but Tracey and Kathy agreed to fill in for them and give the locals something to talk about, as if me yelling for John to hurry up and get up the aisle wasn’t going to be enough. Tim scheduled a bachelor party, but was willing to allow Christine and Dori to attend. 

Christine just got the news that she made the bachelor party list!

Dori (with Ronna) just found out, too!

We quickly came to realize that Tim had missed his calling and should be a wedding event planner, because he had bridesmaids assigned, wedding attire instructions for us all, and even told me to spike my hair and fix it for my big day.  I not sure if Tim wanted John to look like Tupac Shakur or was just teasing him, but he kept insisting John wear his “Let’s Dance” shirt, his hat turned backwards, and some chains around his neck. In addition, he worked on teaching him some rap dance moves, but in the end the only thing John learned was he needed a Motrin for his sore neck in order to keep up with Tim.

Best man with two of the grooms!

Throughout most of the planning, the wedding couples sat around discussing how this all started and who was responsible for thinking we wanted to renew our vows, but Jane and I know an opportunity when we see one and elected to get some jewelry out of the whole thing and ran with it up at the jewelry store.  The best thing about the whole ceremony though was, Nicky changed it up at the last minute to include everyone in a friendship renewal ceremony and did a fabulous job as our keynote speaker, with Tim adding a heartfelt “best man” speech.

 

Our week was crammed pack with adventures, Bill’s magic tricks and raffles, a couple of birthdays (Judy and Vicki), meals, plunge pools, whirlpools, spa trips, pool time, excursions, laughter, tequila, dancing, swing bars, and friendship. 

It wasn’t all fun and games, as some of us decided the Lazy River sounded like fun at Xcaret.  The first warning we ignored was the sign that said if you had some of these medical conditions, not to enter the water.  When we asked why, the guide said the water was very warm and required you to be active.  He also told us to go right, but pointed left, when we asked which side was better.  We opted to go right, only to find out later that everyone else who went the other way had the ride we had been expecting.  Our second warning that the guide may have been nipping at the old Tequila before coming to work was when we put our feet in the as described “very warm water” only to discover that meant it was so cold it was going to turn us “Fifty shades of blue.”  The next problem after you adjusted to the temperature was the river seemed initially fun. It lulled us into a false sense of security with the current moving us along right up until it didn’t anymore, when it was too far to turn back. By that time, the signs on land were reading it was a 30 minute walk back to someplace better and all of us opted to continue in the hopes that it would get better. It didn’t.  At some points, it was if we were in one of those pools that challenge you to swim against the current, which was definitely not what I was looking for when I first got in the water.  It also made me incredibly nervous because I have seen some of these people eat and I didn’t want to end up like the Donner party if we all got stuck in there indefinitely and they had to pick who had the meatiest legs and therefore had to be sacrificed for the group’s survival.

Doris seems pretty happy to be in Hell!

We also had a group of people that kept catching up with us that made it hard for us to kick and use our feet without knocking someone’s teeth out and I kept running into a couple that stopped to take pictures.  I could only imagine them showing family and friends their vacation photos and saying…oh, look; here we are in murky water taking a selfie again.  It seems to me if you have seen one of those pictures it should be enough.  Ronna took photos and videos, but kept saying she didn't know if her camera was working and Leslie had on a Go Pro, which turned out to have an audio feature as well.  I can’t even imagine what she has on that tape other than two women letting out bloodcurdling screams and yelling something in Spanish when they felt something in the water.  The only word I understood was hombre, which I knew did not mean snake, but we all stopped.  Luckily, I think Ronna thought they said there was a man ahead serving margaritas because she swam through the area they were screaming about and said the only thing in the water was seaweed.  I am also sure at some point I said I was going towards the light, even if it was heaven. Little Judy hung on to Leslie’s feet part of the way and I guess I could have played the hero and let her hang onto my bigger feet, but I think it would have sunk us both. Besides, I did hear John throw her an olive branch, so to speak, more than once and told her she could hold onto his rudder, but she kept saying she was fine and wouldn’t grab on.

Wait a minute, that isn't John's rudder...that is Sir Perky...one of the raffle prizes!

Judy also kept correcting me when I called it The Lazy River and Dave finally coined the term Tunnel of Terror, which seemed more on par with reality. In the end, we all made it out, but quickly answered in the negative when Kathy and Deanna said we should go back and do the side they did, which they loved.

 

When we first entered the park, one of the excursions was a snake massage, which showed a picture of a young woman on the beach with a large python snake on top of her. Of course, this was the one thing John wanted to do, although I think he thought the young woman was included in the massage. The funny thing is it was right after I told him I would never touch him again if he let snakes on his body that he seemed hell bent on doing it. Well, lo and behold, we found out the snake massage had been permanently cancelled and the reasons given were vague, but we assumed maybe the snakes decided one day a massage was over and went about telling the client in a less than appropriate way.  I know John was thrilled when I told him I would still be able to touch him, but his offer of his own personal snake massage daily got old real quick and I finally had to tell him, his snake did not look anything like the big one in the brochure.

Why do I keep accidentally downloading Sir Perky?

Andréa, Nicky’s sister, arrived all the way from Canada with all of her stuff in one bag, which instantly made her my packing hero.  I packed and unpacked for two weeks before the trip and still had an embarrassing amount of bags.  I think I was finally able to take out one pair of shorts for me and a couple of shirts for John, which meant we schlepped bags all through the airport and customs. Meanwhile, Andréa even had a water filtration kit in her bag and always looked great.  Nicky gets the award for traveling the farthest, all the way from Ireland, and is just the loveliest person. I honestly believe she would take a plane, train, car, bike, camel, or burro to get to our vacation spot and we all love that she is willing to endure a very long flight to be with us.  We had a lot of Texans this trip and all of them were big Texas A&M fans. They included Tracey, Darby, Christine, Doris, and Doris’s sister, Monika.  We were instructed to call Monika by her childhood nickname of Presh, which is short for Precious.  No one actually said how the name started, but after a gift exchange, I have my own ideas.  This year we decided it would be fun to all bring a $5.00 dog related gift (although we had a couple of cat gifts too) to exchange with the group. The rules allowed two steals of any gift and this is where it got ugly.  Doris stole an adorable stuffed dragon meant for Fudge and Vern right out from under their noses.  She just walked right up to me and said, “That’s so precious!  Give it to me.” I am sure Christine is going to pipe in that I originally stole it from her, but just ignore her, because this story is about Doris.  Anyways, putting two and two together, I am thinking Monika had some toy ripped out of her hands on Christmas morning by Doris as she cried out, “Precious! Now, give me that gift” and the name stuck.

She even sent me a picture of Knox gloating!

All of the Texans were new to our group, except Doris, and were a welcome addition.  I won’t tell you who doesn’t have a Doodle in that group, but I think they will tell you it didn’t matter to anyone and we still talked to them. Vicki and her husband, Jeff, were also new this year and seemed to have a great time exploring some interesting places in Mexico. We also added Bill, married to Ronna, and what a nice guy. He brought music, raffle gifts for all, and had some fun magic tricks up his sleeve that he shared with us. All of the rest of us have been on one or both of the previous trips and plan on continuing on the next one. I sure hope our newer members come back.

 

I really can’t stress enough what a generous group of people these Doodlers happen to be….generous with their friendship, encouragement, support, and gifts. We had so many gift exchanges on our trip that several people had to check luggage coming home and I filled the suitcase I was sure would be empty on the way back.  Leslie issued a moratorium and said all future gifts must be 5 ounces or less. I think this is a great idea because I had a suitcase filled with framed prints, wiener hats, Sir Perky novelty bottle stoppers, Flat Laurie magnets, and other miscellaneous things that I hoped I would not have to explain to customs. 

I was not the only one with odd hats in my bag! Ronna had a few, including a Buzzard hat she gave to Judy! This is Ronna and Kathy!

I am pretty sure I would still be there waiting to be cleared if they had opened my bag….Sir, I am with a dog Internet group and these are gag gifts. We also decided next year we are outfitting Dori with a tracking system so we can find her at all times when we go to dinner. Ronna and Bill brought us all the cutest shirts imaginable and when you see a picture of them, I guarantee you will want one.

Leslie and Judy ordered matching Tervis tumblers, but added Flat Laurie to the back.

The other gifts we received were all personal and wonderful and if you want to know more, you will just have to come on a trip.  There has to be some secrets about our trip.

 

I just want to end this very long blog by saying we were all thrilled that Tim’s health allowed him to come on this Doodle trip.  We all feel that Tim is the heart and soul of our Doodle group and he just makes it better by being there.  He can defuse any situation in 10 seconds flat with a hug.  He reminded all of us several times that this was the best day ever and how many other sons do you know that look at their mother and tell us she looks just like a movie star?  I also have to laugh every time I think of him saying to John, “truth?” when John reluctantly agreed with me that he would miss me if he didn’t see me on guy day.  It just is impossible to overlook the important things in life when Tim is around.

A Best Day Ever! Laurie, Judy, and Tim snuggling!

Well, that’s it, folks! I can’t believe after all that planning another trip is over. Until next year……….

P.S. Despite all my jokes, this is a wonderful group of people. I hope others add more pictures to this discussion. I pilfered most of these from Facebook.

P.S.S. Sadly, Flat Laurie did not make the trip, except on Ronna's shirt and the back of the Tervis tumblers.

she is somewhere in Texas....in a box....screaming for Doris to let her out :)

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Kathy, I'm amazed Tim took this picture...can't wait to show him!

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Oh thanks Kathy though the one I saw was red in colour but you are for sure right about it's name.

[Kathy and Winnie Schuyler]

And here's that culturally significant Mayan temple.  Now, Ronna, where are your promised "cultural pictures"???

[Kathy and Winnie Schuyler]

Here's a picture of the 12:05 shuttle group leaving the hotel.  Tim took it with my iPhone.  We thought he cut off our heads, but he did NOT.  Didn't he do a great job?

[Kathy and Winnie Schuyler]

Nicky, That ring-tailed mammal is called a coati (co-ah-ti) and I think our guide said it was in the racoon family.

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

I saw lots of wildlife, a ring tailed (Mexican) type Lemur outside the room hopping in and out of a bin. Lots of little lizards,  An Iguana, beautiful coloured birds, the snake who slithered across my path very fast. I love seeing all of these creatures though the snake startled me a bit but was gone in a flash. Oh and my sister packs everything in her carry on bag. I watched her do it lots of times and she did have more going back than on the way but I'm still not sure how she does it. I may video it next time and sell the information to Laurie  Lol

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Nancy, You are so welcome :) I forgot to mention that Nicky saw a big, black snake at the resort. I wonder if he was doing snake massages?

Lynda, Yep...Dori has been on the last three trips!!

DJ, Finally...a comment that makes sense. LOL No one got arrested....this year :) LOL

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Wow!  Thanks so much for sharing with us stay-at-home lazies.  What an exciting trip ya'll had. Snakes! Loinclothed men! Tunnels of Terror! Swing bars (loved the explanation pic)! Mexican Train (one of my favs)!

[Lynda Kamrath]

I knew Dori was on a trip, but I didn't know it was this trip.  Sounds like fun, as usual. 

[DJ & Chance]

Gremlins again.  LOL.  I was waiting to read about the trip and you did not disappoint.  Somehow the adventures will live in your mind more vividly than the days of easy sunshine and lounging around the pool.  I just glad none of you got arrested :)