U.S.

Florida with Friends–Santa Rosa Beach

November 21, 2018 by 21 Comments

One of the great perks of living in Nashville is that it’s only a seven-hour drive from Santa Rosa Beach. Mr. Handsome and I got engaged on St. Pete Beach (near St. Petersburg), and during our first year of marriage, we spent a few days in the Fort Myers area with friends (their relatives had a condo, so it was free). But until last year, we didn’t know about the beautiful beaches of the Florida Panhandle. It’s no wonder why it’s the top vacation destination among Nashvillians.

We weren’t planning on taking a trip in September, but when our Sunday school class planned a weekend getaway in Santa Rosa Beach, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Ten young couples rented two beach condos, and the cost per couple ended up being surprisingly low–about as much as you would pay to stay at a roadside hotel for three nights. We were expecting an older beach house several miles from the shore, and we were thrilled about it. But when we arrived and found this, we were blown away….

New Hampshire’s Flume Gorge

November 3, 2018 by 20 Comments

Last month, I shared photos from our visit to historic Plymouth, Massachusetts. We spent a few days in Boston and the surrounding area (photos from Lexington, Concord, the coast, and the Freedom Trail coming soon), drove up to Quebec City through New Hampshire, and then returned to Boston via the stunning Maine coast. It was a quick trip, but we packed a lot in. Mr. Handsome has been to Boston, but this was my first time to any of the New England states.

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Exploring 400-Year-Old Plymouth

October 17, 2018 by 9 Comments

Mr. Handsome and I recently returned from a trip to the East Coast. We spent the first few days in Boston visiting all the major historical sites with Mr. Handsome’s parents and some of his siblings and grandparents. Then we went off on our own and drove up to Quebec City through New Hampshire and back down the Maine coast. I guess you could call the second leg of our trip a “babymoon.” It was a grand adventure!

I love living history, so visiting Plymouth, Massachusetts, was the highlight of our time in Boston. Seeking civil and religious freedom, a group of 102 Puritans (known as the Pilgrims) led by William Bradford left England in September 1620 and arrived in Cape Cod two months later. After signing the Mayflower Compact, they continued on to the site that would become known as Plymouth, marked by Plymouth Rock.

The rock was much smaller than I had always imagined it. When we saw it, my father-in-law remarked, “No wonder the Pilgrims knew that this was the spot to land–they just had to find the rock with the correct year on it.”…

Fort Phantom Hill

September 23, 2018 by 10 Comments

While in Abilene, Texas, visiting friends, we stopped by a historical site called Fort Phantom Hill. The sun was just about to set on the Texas plains, and the lighting was perfect for photos.

The fort was built in 1851 out of necessity, to manage increasing hostility between settlers and Native Americans. (The area was called Phantom Hill because it seemed to disappear when approached from the nearby river.)

The Fort was only occupied for a few years before it was abandoned and burned in April 1854. Although the wood structures were destroyed, the stone structures provided shelter to various individuals over the next thirty years. …

On Top of the World

July 5, 2018 by 8 Comments

During our trip to the Big Island of Hawaii earlier this year, we drove to the summit of the world’s tallest mountain. Nope, I’m not talking about Everest. What most folks don’t know is that Mauna Kea, one of the Big Island’s volcanoes, is actually taller from base to summit than Everest. The catch is that the base of Mauna Kea is almost 20,000 feet (6096 meters) below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. The entire mountain is about 33,500 feet (10,210 meters) tall, while Mount Everest is approximately 29,035 feet (8849 meters).

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Ancient Hawaiian Petroglyphs

June 8, 2018 by 10 Comments

On our trip to Hawaii’s Big Island, we stayed in a vacation village called Waikoloa Beach Resort, located on the west side of the island, about 30 minutes north of the town of Kailua-Kona. Most tourists book hotels and condos on the west side because it has the best beaches and the driest weather. The east side is beautiful and worth a day trip or two, but Hilo is known as one of the wettest cities in the United States, and the rain can easily put a damper on vacation plans.

Waikoloa is located in the middle of a lava field, which covers a large part of the west side of the island. It is home to well over a dozen condo complexes and hotels, and the groundskeepers have done a wonderful job creating a lush, green oasis in the middle of such desolation. (Don’t get me wrong, the lava fields are beautiful and unique and are one of my favorite parts about the island, but places like Waikoloa tend to feel more tropical.)

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4WD Adventure in Hawaii

May 3, 2018 by 13 Comments

In my post about visiting the Big Island of Hawaii’s Green Sand Beach, I promised that I would share the details of our terrifying 4WD (four-wheel-drive) excursion. From the main highway that loops around the island, we drove several miles on an old, paved road, which was slightly wider than a single lane but still not wide enough for two cars to pass without one pulling off into the grass.

Even on the main highway, we had been in the middle of nowhere. (Aside from a few large towns and vacation resorts, the majority of the Big Island is beautifully secluded.) We took a few turns and arrived at a dirt parking area. Folks without 4WD were leaving their cars to either hike 3 miles to the beach or pay for a shuttle. When I say shuttle, I don’t mean a fancy van or mini bus. These shuttles were muddy pickup trucks, and the passengers stood in the back, holding onto railings for dear life….

Active Lava Flow at Hawaii Volcano

April 27, 2018 by 15 Comments

After our visit to Green Sand Beach on the Big Island of Hawaii, Mr. Handsome and I spent a few hours at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, located on the east side of the island. The five volcanoes on the Big Island are Kilauea, Mauna Kea, Hualalai, Mauna Loa, and Kohala, and there are many others located on the other Hawaiian islands and in the ocean.

Of the volcanoes on the Big Island, only Kilauea is currently erupting and has been for more than 30 years. The current eruption has destroyed a significant number of rain forest, homes, and roads. The lava flow changes on a daily basis.

Sometimes it’s flowing in a location where folks can walk right up to it, which was the case when my family visited the island 15 years ago. See the red? That’s hot lava! Some of the black lava rock is fully hardened, while some is still soft.

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Green Sand Beach

April 24, 2018 by 38 Comments

Mr. Handsome and I just returned home from a trip to the Big Island of Hawaii. It was a long journey (two, five-hour flights each way) but we had a blast. We booked our trip months in advance and were able to find some fabulous deals. (Stay tuned for a post with all the details of how we saved money during our travels.)Our first full day on the island was our busiest. We rose early because of the five-hour time change, ate a quick breakfast, and threw together sandwiches for lunch. From where we were staying at Waikoloa Beach Resort on the west side of the island, we drove south, past the town of Kona and around the southern tip of the island, which is also the southernmost point in the United States. It is appropriately named South Point (or Ka Lae, meaning “the point” in Hawaiian).

Although the area is extremely windy (you can see windmills in the distance in the photo below) and secluded, there are a decent number of cattle ranches.

Located near South Point is a beach, but not just any old beach. This beach has green sand! The mineral responsible for the color is olivine. Apparently it is one of only four green sand beaches in the entire world….

Touring Memphis

April 8, 2018 by 7 Comments

Last month, I posted photos from my tour of Slave Haven in Memphis. During that weekend trip, which we took so Mr. Handsome could attend a conference, we also stopped at a few other places. We just happened to visit while the spring flowers and trees were in full bloom. The city was filled with beautiful trees like the one above….