Montego Bay: Family Vacation

Our trip to Jamaica last weekend was one for the books especially since it involved lots of family time and relaxing by the pool and beach with frozen cocktails. 
 

We stayed at the Iberostar Rose Hall Beach all-inclusive resort in Montego Bay which exceeded my expectations in terms of the restaurants, entertainment, and overall amenities. Plus it's a gorgeous location for a destination wedding which was the purpose of our trip.

K and I booked a standard room and were so surprised to see this beautiful view from our balcony, considering most resorts charge an upgrade fee for an ocean-facing view.

Like one should do on vacation, I traded technology and my first-world worries for relaxing, exploring, indulging, and luckily spending time with family so I'll let the pictures do the talking from here.

The Restaurant Scene

 

My Cousin's Wedding

Family Excursion

All I can say now is "Take me back!!!"

Vacation Highlights

I'm back and hoping to catch up on all the blogging over the weekend!

Thankfully Friday arrived really quickly this week after returning home from Jamaica on Wednesday night. It's never fun jumping right back into reality but a two-day work week makes it so much more bearable to deal with the post-vacation blues.

We flew to Montego Bay last week Friday for my cousin's wedding and had an amazing time catching up with 20+ family members that came in from three different countries. It was really good for the soul and, being at an all-inclusive resort in paradise, made it that much sweeter!

 

I plan to post a full travel recap next week when I've had time to organize my photos...and my brain, let's be honest...but I wanted to share some highlights from the trip.

Family Time
K and I are the only ones that live in the US so spending time with my parents, sister, and the extended family was much needed. Especially being able to catch up with my cousins and meet their babies (and not-so-much-babies anymore) for the first time.

 

Pre-Wedding Fun
On night one, the bride-to-be willingly agreed to participate in the Miss Iberostar "pageant" which was really a very unorthodox competition involving collecting as many shirts and pants from the audience. Guess who won?



On night two, we secretly organized some extra entertainment from the staff that came to the beat of the Magic Mike soundtrack. She was a good sport and it was no rated-R show but it was so fun and pretty hilarious to cap off the night before her wedding.



The Wedding

This is a given because it was the purpose of our trip but we got to witness my cousin and her love say their vows in a beautiful setting.

Post-Wedding Fun
We only had time to leave the resort and do one excursion on this trip so we picked a catamaran cruise (more to come on this) but snorkeling was one fun part of the excursion.

On our last night we had a bonfire cocktail party on the beach for one last get-together before saying our goodbyes the next day.

Bonus Highlights
Other than all the quality time with my family which is priceless, a huge highlight of our trip was winning two free gifts. I chose a 50-minute massage at the and K picked two tickets to the VIP departure lounge in the Montego Bay airport. So much unexpected pampering but we loved it!

The MoBay VIP departure area offers complimentary food, drinks, and a really comfortable lounge with reliable WiFi access so it was a really nice end to our trip.

So happy to be home to be with my Lola but lots of detoxing and cleaning eating is much needed for the next few weeks.

I hope you enjoy the weekend just as much as I will enjoy sleeping in my own bed!

Exploring Denver

This past Memorial Day weekend, K and I took a quick weekend trip to Denver which I briefly recapped last week here. We arrived late on Friday night so we just had time to grab dinner at Yard House which was conveniently located in our hotel. We stayed at the Sheraton Downtown Denver which is in a great location to explore downtown by foot. I definitely recommend staying there if you're looking for a great location, price, hotel amenities, and comfort of the rooms.

On Saturday morning, we walked to Elway's for some breakfast before starting our adventures. Several people recommended Elway's Steakhouse for a nice dinner but we didn't manage to make it there in the evenings on this trip.

We wondered through the Denver Day of Rock festival and purchased some local art before heading to the Great Divide Brewery to sample some craft beers.

We stopped in the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store to buy some chocolates and candy since the shop smelt amazing from the street.

After exploring the city and visiting several breweries, shops, and the LoDo area we settled at Earl's Kitchen for an early dinner. They have great food and a modern environment in the heart of downtown.

 In the evening we stopped at Union Lodge No 1 speakeasy for some 19th-century-inspired cocktails and really enjoyed the prohibition-era environment.

On Sunday morning we headed to Ophelia's Electric Soapbox from some brunch and I have to say this was one of my favorite brunch experiences. The live music, eclectic menu, bottomless mimosas, and overall environment left me feeling extremely happy we chose this spot to get the day started.

After fueling up K and I headed to Coors Field to catch a Rockies vs. Giants game which was a great time and our seats were only 5 rows up from the field so we can take in all the action. It was definitely one of the better stadiums I've visited with lots of entertainment and team spirit.

The ViewHouse was one of my favorite sports bars and restaurants in the city because it overlooks Coors Field and has a huge outdoor area for tailgating along with great food and drinks.

Some other cool places we checked out on Sunday was Lodo's rooftop bar (which is very close to Coors Field) and Jagged Mountain Brewery to sample some beers.

On Monday it was time to check out of our hotel and head out for a quick lunch at Henry's Tavern. We walked past Henry's several times on the weekend and the restaurant was packed full of people with long waiting lines so it appeared to be a popular spot to eat, drink and watch sports in downtown Denver. On Monday it was quiet so we were able to get right in and enjoy some lunch. The beer cheese soup that K and I shared was amazing.

Overall Denver was an amazing city to explore but I wish we had more than two full days to explore beyond just the downtown area and make it over to Red Rocks Amphitheater.

Past Wanderlust Wednesday travel recaps:

Chicago / Barbados / San Francisco / Las Vegas / New York / Trinidad & Tobago /  St. Augustine, FL / Negril, Jamaica / Alaska / New Orleans / Punta Cana / Sonoma / Miami