Here are some snapshots from our day at Chichen Itza…
And here are the photos we took on the ship. I definitely wish we had taken more.
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Here are some snapshots from our day at Chichen Itza…
And here are the photos we took on the ship. I definitely wish we had taken more.
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Earlier this month, I posted pictures from our two-day vacation in New Orleans, Louisiana. The first day was spent touring the French Quarter, and on the second day we visited the Audubon Zoo.
On the third day, we met up with Mr. Handsome’s coworkers and embarked on a four-day Carnival cruise. (We went at the tail-end of hurricane season, so tickets were much cheaper than usual, and most of the trip was paid for by Mr. Handsome’s boss as a Christmas present/end-of-year bonus.)
Neither of us had ever been on a cruise before, so we didn’t know what to expect. It ended up being a wonderful experience, although looking out and seeing nothing but the vast ocean and knowing it was 10,000 feet deep was a bit disconcerting. Thankfully, the seas were calm the entire time.
We thoroughly enjoyed the towel animals that the room steward left on our bed, although I’m not quite sure what they are. Maybe an anteater and a gorilla?
Our cruise stopped in Cozumel and Progreso, both on the Yucatan Peninsula. In Cozumel, we took an excursion to the ancient Mayan seaside city of Tulum. Our tour guide from Sun & Fun Tours was a lovely Mexican woman whose English was absolutely perfect. She was the reason why the trip was so wonderful.
Outside the ancient city was a marketplace for tourists. There was a tall pole in the middle, and several men were hanging upside down and spinning around. It was quite a sight to see!
Later, we visited a local park and swam in a cenote (natural pool). With permission, Mr. Handsome and I did a 15-foot cliff jump. (It took quite a bit of encouragement from my husband and our group, but I finally made the leap and was glad I did.)
Before heading back to the ship, we enjoyed a traditional Mayan lunch of chicken, pork, rice, beans, vegetables, homemade tortillas, fruit, and hibiscus iced tea. It was hands-down one of the most delicious meals I’ve ever had. (The week after we returned home, I was inspired to make Mayan rice and beans for dinner. I will share that recipe with y’all soon.)
While we ate, I snapped a picture of this odd looking animal. It was the size of a goose but looked like a duck. Completely different than anything I had ever seen.
If y’all would like, I’ll share photos from our second shore excursion later this week.
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A couple days ago, I posted pictures of our first of two days in New Orleans, Louisiana. On the second day, we visited the Audubon Zoo. (We must have a thing for zoos because we had just toured the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere several weeks before.) The Audubon Zoo was very clean and well kept, and there were a lot of neat exhibits to see. It took us about three hours to go through the entire property.In Nashville, the giraffes were too far away for us to get a good view, but in New Orleans, three of them were standing right in front of us as we walked past their enclosure. For some reason, they were all quite focused on licking whatever was in sight. We took a couple snapshots…
We walked past the elephant exhibit just as the zookeeper was performing her daily inspection. The elephants are trained to raise their feet on command so the zookeeper can examine them. The crowd “oohed” and “ahhed,” and I’m pretty sure the animals were hamming it up on purpose. Is it just me, or does the one on the left looks like it’s smiling?
The Audubon Zoo is home to a “giant anteater.” I thought he was way too small to be considered giant, but then again I’m no anteater expert. The little guy was extremely friendly. Maybe he thought we were bringing him some ants…
Did you know that anteaters consumes an average of 30,000 ants daily? At that rate, I can’t help but wonder why we still have ants in our world.
I can’t remember what species of bear this is, but it is apparently the original “teddy bear” (as in the species that inspired the stuffed animal). The picture isn’t great, but he sure looked cuddly!
Then there were the flamingos. Their enclosure stunk like shrimp, but they sure were pretty.
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How many of y’all have spent time in New Orleans, Louisiana? We visited a few weeks ago for the first time, and we really enjoyed the uniqueness of the crescent city.We spent the first day doing a self-guided walking tour, rather than pay for a tour guide. (I also brought snacks from home to save on restaurant bills. LOL.) Our hotel, which we got a really good deal on, was located several blocks west of the French Quarter.
One of my favorite stops was the St. Louis Cathedral. What a gorgeous building, both inside and outside.
We also toured the Old Ursuline Convent, built in 1752. The sanctuary was beautiful, and we were able to walk past a staircase from the original building, which was completed in the 1720s. The steps were lopsided from nearly three hundred years of wear and tear.
We spent a few hours just walking the streets of the French Quarter and admiring all the diverse architecture.
Built between 1722 and 1732, this structure was formerly a blacksmith shop. It is now used as a restaurant, so we were able to peek inside.
We have a few dozen pictures of buildings, but I’ll spare you the boredom and just post a few.
That evening, we took a quick stroll down Bourbon Street, just to see what it was like. Even though it was a Thursday night, there were tons of people out, and there were some pretty strange things going on. It was quite the experience.
We ended up eating at the Gumbo Shop, a restaurant located in a quieter part of the French Quarter. Formerly a private residence, it was also built in the 1700s.
I ordered a tasty chicken dish and a nonalcoholic honeydew daiquiri. Both were delicious!
We also stopped at Cafe Du Monde for a $3 plate of beignet donuts. We got powdered sugar all over ourselves, but they were fabulous.
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After spending the night in Fort Bragg, California, we stopped by the famous Glass Beach before continuing on our way. During the first half of the 20th century, the area was used as a garbage dump. Today, all that is left of the dump are millions of smooth pieces of glass that have washed up on shore.
We stopped for lunch at Ocean Cove Lodge in Jenner, California, where we enjoyed a beautiful view of the ocean.
Then we continued driving down the California Coast to San Francisco! The road was quite harrowing, especially the spots where there was nothing keeping our car from toppling down the cliff to the ocean more than 100 feet below.
We had dinner on the bay at Guaymas, a Mexican restaurant in Belvedere Tiburon.
Later that evening, we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge for a few hours of sightseeing. Fort Point is one of the best spots to photograph the bridge.
We are avid fans of the TV series Monk, so we stopped by the street corner that is shown in the opening credits (Montgomery Street and Green Street). It also happens to have an iconic view of the skyline, which is why many commercials and TV shows have been filmed there over the years.
Before heading to our hotel, we stopped by Ghirardelli Square to pick up some milkshakes and chocolates. (Is your mouth watering? Mine sure is!)
Do any of you live in San Francisco? If you do, your leg muscles must be made of steel! The hills were beautiful, but boy were they steep. I was amazed to see so many townhouses with garages built on the hills.
The next morning, we drove Mr. Handsome’s family to Oakland Airport and then spent two hours sitting in traffic on the Oakland Bay Bridge. Before returning to the airport to catch our own flight at 1:00pm, we did a quick tour of the SS Jeremiah O’Brien, a WWII cargo ship, at Fisherman’s Wharf.
Our goal was to take a double-decker bus tour of the city, but the heavy traffic caused us to miss it. If you’re planning a vacation in San Francisco, be sure to ride the historic trolleys (schedules and maps can be found online). I grew up watching the show Full House and was eager to see the Painted Ladies (a block of Victorian row houses), but we will have to save that for our next trip.
We did stop at In-N-Out Burger (any fans?) It was greasy, but oh so delicious! Overall, we had a great trip.
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It’s time for another batch of pictures from our trip out West! After visiting Multnomah Falls, catching up with family and friends at my brother’s seaside wedding, and spending a day sightseeing along the Oregon Coast, we arrived in Northern California to visit the spectacular Redwoods.Ever since I was a little girl, I had been dreaming about visiting the Redwood Forest. It actually turned out to be even more majestic and breathtaking than I had imagined.
To walk up to the base of those massive trees and try to wrap my mind around the fact that they are hundreds (and even thousands) of years old was truly amazing. It’s one thing to see a building or other man-made structure that was build before the year 1 AD, but to think that these trees have sustained themselves for that long is such an awesome thought.
We drove past many Redwoods that had been darkened and hollowed out by forest fires but were still standing strong. Then we learned from one of the park rangers that these trees are naturally fire-resistant. How neat!
As we were walking through the beautiful forests, I kept thinking how neat it would be if we could watch a time-lapse video of everything the Redwood Giants have witnessed over the past two millennia. The tree below is a spiral tree, which means it was formed by multiple “shoots” from the same root system.
After passing through Crescent City, California, we enjoyed stopping for a few short hikes in the Redwood National and State Parks near Berry Glenn and Orick. I found it quite hilarious to see Mr. Handsome dwarfed while standing next to even the medium-sized Redwoods.
Some of the trees had little hideouts in the middle of them, which made for great photo ops. Here’s one of Mae and Lena…
I think Lena is trying to find the top of the tree!
This picture is a little dark, but seeing Lena’s tiny head poking through really captures the size of the trunks.
The “Big Tree” extends 304 feet above the forest floor and is an estimated 1500 years old. Wow!
The bright orange and yellow leaves and the vibrant green moss made the forest look like a scene straight out of a fairy tale. This isn’t a Redwood, but it’s still a beautiful tree.
Later that afternoon, we stopped at Humboldt Redwoods State Park and drove through the Avenue of the Giants. (Thank you to the readers who suggested we visit Humboldt. It was time well spent!)
We came across a tree that fell last winter, but unlike all the others we saw lying on the ground, it had splintered.
This is the Dyerville Giant, which once stood a whopping 362 feet tall with an estimated age of 2,000 years and a circumference of 52 feet. Before it fell in 1991, it was believed to be the tallest tree in the world.
Before heading to a hotel for the night, we stopped at the Chandelier Tree in Legget, California. At 315 feet, this tree is approximately 2,400 years old. Visitors with regular-sized vehicles can drive through the base of the tree, but we were in a 12-passenger van, so that didn’t work out. There’s Mae standing in front of the opening…
We spent 16 hours in San Francisco (pictures coming soon) and then headed home. Now that we’ve seen the Redwoods, the trees around here just aren’t that impressive. LOL.
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It was early October, and the weather was chilly (around 50 degrees Fahrenheit). There was rain in the forecast, but it always seemed to clear up just as we were pulling over to snap pictures
at lookout points or embark on a short hike. The ocean looked quite different than it does further south, but it was still beautiful.
You can see Heceta Head Lighthouse in the background at this lookout point. Mr. Handsome loved the view so much that he did a painting of it a few days after we returned home.
The coastal highway curves along the cliffs, providing a new, breathtaking view at every turn.
At one spot, we stopped and walked down to the shore, just as the sun was setting. It felt really strange being on a beach wearing heavy coats.
My sister-in-law Lena happened to climb up on a rock at just the right time for me to take this photo. Look at that spectacular sky!
We exhausted all the possible photo ops on that beach. Can’t wait to make a scrapbook!
These next two are my favorites. The originals were beautiful, but Mr. Handsome edited them to make them even more gorgeous.
Stay tuned for photos from the Redwoods, the California coast, and San Francisco!
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After just 10 minutes of hiking, we arrived at this beautiful waterfall. The vibrancy of the green moss made it look like a scene straight out of The Lord of the Rings.
Our pictures turned out so well, despite the fact that they were taken on an iPhone. The backdrop almost looks fake, doesn’t it?
After that first stop, we continued along the path, which snaked up the hillside and provided an excellent leg workout.
Mr. Handsome found a giant rock that jutted out from the path and had nothing below it. I had a slight freak-out moment as he climbed out onto it and asked me to take his picture. You could tell that the rock used to be much bigger and that part of it had toppled down the cliff. Needless to say, I was relieved when he stepped off.
As we continued walking, another couple came up behind us and did the same thing. (The wife freaked out while the husband climbed out onto the rock and asked for a picture.) I had to laugh at that…
The view from the first lookout point along our hike was stunning!
By that point, we were quite tired, but another group of hikers told us that the next stop, Fairy Falls, was gorgeous and not to be missed. So we continued on for another mile. This waterfall was smaller than the first one but still worth the trek.
After making our way back down the hillside, we drove a few miles to Multnomah Falls to snap a quick picture.
In order to make it to Lincoln City for the rehearsal dinner, we weren’t able to explore any of the other falls. After the wedding, we headed down the coast to San Francisco. More pictures coming soon!
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Happy Friday! Sorry for the delay in posting over the past week. Mr. Handsome and I were on a jam-packed vacation, which included my brother’s wedding at a seaside chapel in Lincoln City, Oregon; a three-day drive through the Redwood Forest and along the California coast; and 24 hours in San Francisco. (If you follow my Facebook page, you have probably seen a few pictures that I posted during our trip.)
We had a blast! Those of you who live on the West Coast are truly blessed to be surround by such breathtaking beauty. I have tons of photos to share, so I’ll start from the beginning. Here are my snapshots from my brother’s wedding. (Hopefully when we receive pictures from the photographer, I will have even more to post.)
The bride’s mother was in charge of the reception hall decorations, and she did a fabulous job. I was totally impressed to hear that she came up with all the arrangements without looking at Pinterest.
After the rehearsal dinner at the church, we all headed over to the reception hall to help add the finishing touches to the decorations. Mr. Handsome was quite proud of the pillar that he and a few other groomsmen decorated:
The wedding cake was definitely the most unique I had ever seen. Half the layers were chocolate, and the other half were vanilla. I just love the vibrancy of the flowers!
My brother and his new wife sat at this newlywed table during our delicious dinner (salad, salmon or chicken, veggies, and rolls).
The reception hall was also on the ocean, so we enjoyed taking family photos with the sea as our backdrop.
Most of my aunts, uncles, and cousins were able to make the trek from Canada. Mr. Handsome’s parents, grandparents, and two youngest sisters also came to the wedding and drove with us down the coast. It was wonderful to have both our families together.
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A few weeks ago, Mr. Handsome, myself, and four of our friends visited the Ark Encounter, a theme park located in Williamstown, Kentucky. The park, which opened in July, currently houses a petting zoo and a life-size replica of Noah’s Ark but will eventually feature other attractions, including a walled city and a replica of the tower of Babel.
At 510 feet long and 80 feet high, the Ark is the largest timber-frame building on the planet. As we walked through the multiple-story museum located inside, we could smell the sweet scent of freshly cut wood.
The $90 million ark was funded by donations, bonds, and memberships (appropriately called “boarding passes”). The structure was constructed using the latest environmental technologies, making it one of the largest “green” building projects in the nation.
Mr. Handsome and I were amazed by the sheer size of the ark replica, and we thoroughly enjoyed walking through the exhibits and learning more about the history of the original structure. The top floor of the museum featured several dozen manuscripts of the Bible printed over the past two thousand years.
If you’re looking for a family-friendly getaway, we highly recommend visiting this northern Kentucky attraction. The Ark Encounter is just a day’s drive away from 2/3 of all Americans, as well as millions of Canadians.
As we were leaving, a storm blew in and made for an epic photo op!
Here’s a video that shows an aerial view of the ark…