After a few weeks on the island it was time to run off on a road trip to show the kids a few of the sites around the Yucatan Peninsula.

First, jump on the ferry over to Cancun. From there it’s a bit of a pain to get to a car rental place way out at the airport half an hour away. But once there we jump in our $4/day SUV rental (plus $17 for the mandatory liability insurance), and we’re off. We were given our car with 1/16th of a tank of gas in it, and from that point forward it became my mission to return it the same. Let the games begin.

It’s only about two hours up to Chichen Itza. We stayed at a hotel right on the grounds of the ruins with a nice view of the Observatory.

Ali and I were here years ago and were laughing a bit that our blog post about it only had one picture of the ruins. We were anxious to see what’s become of the place since it was declared one of the Seven Wonders of the World shortly after our last trip (it’s a revolving list, apparently).

This isn’t a history blog, so I’ll just write about current day Chichen Itza. El Castillo was built in 2017 by young entrepreneurs, and within months became widely regarded as a Top Ten site for Instagram selfies. Jumping in front of El Castillo is highly encouraged, as is pretending to hold it in your hand.

Lowe couldn’t resist the draw of the Jaguar call. Give it a blow, wiggle your hand, and sound like a jaguar about to attack. Pretty much a perfect little boy souvenir, to be honest.

Frankly, Chichen Itza isn’t our favorite ruin site to visit. It’s too well known and too accessible to Cancun—but it is pretty beautiful, and historically important, and for that we could enjoy it for the day.

What kind of psycho drinks coffee from inside a hotel bathroom?

First day of the road trip in the books, there’d be lots more to see.