There's No Place Like Home

Allyson and Kayleigh racing from the waves

After spending eight days in Mexico, all of us were ready to come home.  Yes, we knew we would be coming back to snow and below freezing temperatures, but we were ready.  We wanted to eat home-cooked meals and sleep in our own beds.  We wanted to watch television without reading subtitles.  We wanted to come home and shop without having people stop us and say, "Hey!  Come look.  Good deal for you, almost free!"

Outdoor market - Marlin loved "dickering" w/vendors

We enjoyed the experiences we had in Mexico, and I would go back to Cabo, but not for a few years.  Cabo is saturated (in my opinion) with timeshare properties.  Some of the salespeople bristled at the term timeshare and preferred to use the term "flexible ownership," call it what you want, it was all the same.  Everywhere you went, someone was trying to get you to listen to a presentation about their property.

Club Regina

Out of courtesy, we attended a presentation at the resort where we stayed.  The stay at the resort, The Club Regina, was the result of an incentive program so we didn't pay for our lodging.  We told the salesperson repeatedly that we weren't interested in timeshare ownership.  He, in turn, kept showing us how we could use our ownership to visit other places.  It didn't matter to us.  We don't feel the need to take week long vacations every year (at one point they offered us five weeks for the same money).  We had to talk to four different people before they gave up.

Club Regina

Later, Marlin agreed to sit in on another presentation in return for tickets to a dinner cruise on a pirate ship and round trip taxi fare. The second property was beautiful, as was the resort where we stayed, but it didn't fit our lifestyle.  Again, the salespeople couldn't fathom our way of thinking.

After the trip, as we sat in the airport waiting for our return flight, Marlin and I talked about our conversations with the resort salespeople.  We knew some of their comments and reactions were purely part of the presentation - "How to deal with difficult guests" but some of our responses to them were foreign ideas.

First, we told them that because we were both self-employed and didn't get paid vacations, we didn't take long vacations.  Instead, we like to take weekend trips.  Second, we told them we didn't take week-long vacations because we didn't like being away from home for that many days at a time.  Third, we told them we didn't need a one bedroom suite at $250-$300 per night, even if ownership meant we would be saving $100 per night.  We don't get away to stay in our room!  You should have seen their faces when we told them we could be just as happy at a Super 8 or EconoLodge!

My "princess" Mariah chasing Tibbs from the horse pen

While they tried to make us feel like we were depriving ourselves by not purchasing with them, we tried to make them understand that we love where we live and don't feel the need to escape.  We are doing what we love to do.  And, we love where we live.  While they wanted to talk about all of the excursions available in Cabo, we told them we work too hard for our money to spend it on excursion at $50-$85 per person.  We have "excursions" of our own, and they don't cost that much.  The girls and I can go horseback riding without making a reservation.  Our family can go fishing or camping without charge, we can take the ATVs out and go riding, we can have a hayrack ride.  Most importantly, we can enjoy each other's company wherever we are.  We don't have to fly to an exotic location to spend time together.

From my living room window - FREE

Sure, I could do without the freezing weather, but I love icicles and fresh-fallen snow.  I could do without the spring rains that seem to go on and on, but I love to see the plants and trees turning green and lush.  I could do without the sweltering heat of summer, but I love homemade ice cream and watermelon, and lazy afternoons on the porch.  I could do without the corn and soybean dust in the fall, but I love to see the grain checks coming in! 

Cabo in January is beautiful and warm, but looking at the ocean and having temperatures that remained fairly constant day after day would get boring.  I need variety.  I need to see, smell, hear, and feel the changing of the seasons.  I would rather experience God's creativity here than anywhere else on earth.