Mazatlan: April, 2004

You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away, know when to run.

---Don Schlitz (immortalized by Kenny Rogers)
When we bring our kids along on a cruise, our family usually visits the game room or library on our first night out at sea to play some cards, and our most recent cruise was no exception. Soon, we had a new friend, 17 year-old Dustin, who was putting the finishing touches on his own crossword puzzle when we started dealing cards. Dustin and my 16 year-old son, Jay, became good buds on the cruise.

The two of them became the nucleus for regular card games on the ship with everyone from teenagers to a lovely grandmother, Connie, who happened to be a bridge instructor. The games ran the gamut from Poker to Go Fish to Bridge to what we politely refer to as I Doubt That.

Alas, occasionally our floating resort arrived at ports of call, and the card games had to break up temporarily. Our second port was Mazatlan.

The greatest appeal of Mazatlan to me seemed to be Senor Frog's, this port city's crazy cantina that has become a marketing powerhouse, with Senor Frog's Stores seemingly on every corner. For a family cruise, however, this wasn't on our itinerary.

We enjoyed a wild ride in the open air taxi cutting in and out of traffic on the bustling streets of Mazatlan. Shoppers hunting for bargains enjoyed the give and take of the vendors, but we abstained and headed to the beach.

The beaches of Mazatlan tend to be crowded, but there are some fun activities available there, like a speed boat that pulls tourists perched on an inflated tube through the water at high speeds. We rode an amphibious vehicle to a little island, and the ride for us was better than the destination.

We returned to our Fun Ship where we enjoyed the pool, great food, wonderful entertainment and, of course, some more games of cards with our expanding circle of friends.