We had the pleasure of escaping the winter weather of California and taking my family to this lovely resort for Thanksgiving week. After looking at all our booking options, we ended up booking through an owner on Redweek.com. We were able to book a two bedroom penthouse. WOW! We certainly felt spoiled by the unit we booked. It was on the top floor of the main building, front and center over the pool. We didn't know until a few days in that the entire glass wall was a nano-door...we came home and the sitter had opened it up....AMAZING! We had an enormous outdoor patio area with hot tub, lounge chairs and a table and chairs. The ocean was right in front of us! Past the edge of the Casa Dorada is the Mango Deck...fun place...but we arrived on a Friday and the music (bass) was pumping well past midnight Friday and Saturday nights. No one warned us of this...thank goodness it was only the first two nights of our 7 night vacation. Property was nice and quiet the rest of the evenings.

Our penthouse was lovely. One of the selling points of the PH was that is had a stacked washer/dryer. We have come to really appreciate having a W/D when we travel. Having two kids under age 11, makes for lots of dirty clothes. I was told ONLY PH units have the W/D. We had a two bedroom unit and friends we were traveling with had a one bedroom PH on the same floor. They had an end unit which is always nice.

We shopped at Soriana, a locals grocery store (12 min cab ride) from the hotel. It was fabulous! Their bakery was amazing! Fresh, hot tortillas to be had right from the cooler in the bakery. Their display of bakery products is worth the ride. They had everything you could find in a US grocery store. The store is laid out the same and things are easy to find. They also have a nice hot food counter where you can buy pollo rotisado (rotisserie chicken), rice, beans and fresh salsa....and other items as well. We like to get the pollo rotisado and keep it in the condo for easy chicken soft tacos or to add to scrambles in the morning. They have a nice liquor department with many choices. I happen to be a fan of Don Julio silver...it was my lucky day....they were having a sale, buy two, get one free! The three bottles ended up costing me less than the cost of one bottle at home in CA.

The location of the hotel is perfect. Most nights we walked to dinner. Edith's is right around the corner! It's also a quick 5 min taxi ride to WalMart. Felt like I was back in CA shopping at Wal Mart...more American than locals. WalMart also has an extensive liquor department with reasonable prices. WalMart has everything the US stores carry plus some local items.

Hotel security was appreciated and visible. Each time we walked out the front door, they asked our room number and the same upon our return. It was nice to know someone was paying attention. : ) Also, as an added bonus, the head bellman had lived in CA in a neighborhood right next to mine! He and I had fun comparing notes. He was always happy to answer my questions about where to go for this or that...always with a smile.

Transportation to the hotel: I had done my fair share of research on this ahead of time. I booked a roundtrip ride with Nice Ride Cabo. They were a pleasure to deal with...always by email which worked perfectly for me. You pay for the roundtrip when they deliver you to your hotel. Seems odd, but they always come for you on your departure day. I highly recommend Nice Ride Cabo.

We also used Cabo Babysitters 3 times on our trip. Again, a pleasure to deal with. The gal that owns the business is from the US. She had only 8 sitters working for her at the time. I was shocked that she only had 8. Through our numerous phone calls, I came to learn that she is VERY particular about who she hires. They all CPR trained and have to meet her standards. We had two gal most of the time as there were three families total with a total of 6 children. We had the same girls each time which the kids loved. I'm blanking on their names...but would certainly request them on our next trip. It's a cash only transaction, very professionally handled...you needn't worry.

Favorite restaurant....Cocina Y Cantina at the Hacienda Hotel.

All in all....a great trip!

My advice if you have children: bring your own Children's Tylenol or Motrin and if you can, bring antibiotic ear drops. 4 of the 6 children on our trip ended up getting swimmers ear prior to the end of our stay.

Hotel also had a kids club....it's more of a drop in type of place. There was only one woman on duty each time we were there. Our kids ranged in age from 7 to 10 so they were fine with it.