Home sweet home. It's raining in Phoenix now, just lightly. Kinda nice, although a sharp contrast from the sunnyness we left behind in Cabo this morning. Overall, the trip was very nice & relaxing. We didn't do a whole lot, here's the quick rundown on activities, followed by some things I learned.

Friday: Dan Crist takes Al & me to the airport where we meet up with my parents for lunch. Fly to Cabo. Check in at hotel, etc. Eat dinner, play cards, laugh, go to bed.

Saturday: Take glass-bottom boat tour to Lovers / Divorce beaches. Watch people surf (or whatever, not really surfing but not sure what it's called). Eat some chips at a beach bar, relax by the pool, go to dinner at a sports bar, shopping, sleep.

Sunday: Bum around the pool, took a dinner cruise in the late afternoon, more shopping, sleep.

Monday: ATV (four-wheeler) tour / driving around on the beach and having lots of fun. Afternoon was spent by the pool again. Ate pizza for dinner at the same place, since we all liked it a lot. Diepenbrock-family hair-dying party in the evening.

Tuesday: Pack, sit by pool, leave for airport. Pass thru all the security, they do a quick check on all the bags you check, and the searched my carry on and patted me down, guess I looked more suspicious than Al (maybe it was the hair or something). Got back, went thru all the annoying customs and carried bags all the way thru the terminals to be picked up (bags get heavy).

Some random things learned, in no particular order:

• It is possible for desert plants, like cacti, to grow right next to the ocean.
• Laptops have to go thru the scanning things at airports separately
• Airports have cool foot things to tell you if your shoes are going to set off the metal detectors (Remember, I haven't flown since pre 9/11 before this)
• I'm sill a wild sleeper, and upon occasion kick at things near me (sorry Al)
• ATV's are very fun to drive around
• ATV's do get stuck easily in loose sand
• the Ming dynasty ruled for 300 years; Ming in Chinese means Brilliant (random trivia on the airplane)
• Traveling from Cabo to Maine can take 2 days, traveling to Phoenix takes 1.5 -2 hours in the air, about 5 hours including customs, waiting for flight, and drive time.
• My parents and Al both like to go to bed and get up much earlier than I'm accustomed to, but I managed to adjust as flying makes me tired anyway.
• Many high schools have random week-long breaks, particularly those on a year-round type of schedule.