New Years Eve

I can't believe that today is already our last full day in Jamaica.

This morning Bryan and I slept a bit later (but, yes, he did get up early and grab our pool chairs before coming back to bed).

We ate breakfast at the tables outside of the buffet area. We had a bit of bad service, which frustrated Bryan more than me. But trust me, waiting 12 minutes for coffee and water is not something I prefer to do either. We both just needed to remind ourselves that the Jamaican lifestyle is more laid back. But when you need to ask 3 different people for a water it's hard to remember that.

Other than that we had a beautiful day. The sun was out, and it sure was gorgeous!

Our pool time was great but Bryan pushed his luck a little bit when it came to applying sunscreen. He's looking a bit red now.

We stayed down at the pool area mostly the rest of the day. When the sun went down we went up to the room to get ready for the gala dinner.

We had our reservation for the adults only buffet room. Everything has been really decorated and they had some extravagant foods like crab legs, sushi, oysters, bacon wrapped filet mignon, turkey, and so so so much more.

After dinner they handed out new year goodie bags for everyone. So we each had hats and head pieces, noise makers, etc.

The drink stations were set up everywhere even on the pool deck, but the main location was over by the shopping area where they had performers and a dj and balloon archways and all sorts of decorations.  They didn't get the countdown up on the screen fast enough but we didn't miss it.

From the top of the stage they lit up 'Happy New Year 2015' and dumped a ton of balloons off of the balcony. Someone set off one of those Chinese lanterns that floated out over the ocean.

It was a great way to ring in the new year and now we're off to bed. :)

Happy New Year everyone, here's to a great 2015!

Martha Brae, Green Grotto

Here's my post from yesterday (Tuesday the 30th), I couldn't get connected to the WiFi last night to get it posted.

This morning Bryan and I had an excursion to the Martha Brae River rafting.

We were picked up at 8:30 this morning by our driver Jimmy. He's the same driver we had from the airport.

Martha Brae River rafting was pretty cool. I've never done anything like it. We rode down the river on these bamboo rafts with a guide who navigated our way.

The river was almost blue or a cloudy emerald green. But pretty calm.  Our guide, James, said he's been doing this for 20 years. He was a great guide, and answered our many questions along the way.

The trip down the river was romantic and relaxing, except for getting eaten alive by some mosquitos. Of course I have about 20 bites and Bryan got none. :)

After rafting we had Jimmy bring us to the Green Grotto Caves.  It's a National Heritage Site located just a few miles outside our our resort.  We had the BEST guide ever, Chedd!

It was just Bryan and I with a family from Jamaica. But Chedd was so funny and did all sorts of impressions, such as the crocodile hunter, Arnold Schwarzenegger,  Shaggy, James Brown, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Gandolf and Sean Connery. In addition to making funny jokes like having one of the girls hold his flashlight and calling her the Chosen One the rest of the tour. He also made jokes like the bats only bite people in brown shirts which the youngest was wearing.  It probably doesn't sound that great the way I explain him, but he was so good.

We had to wear hard hats with hair nets and at one point he pointed out a snake that lived in the caves. We thought he was joking because of how he was the whole tour, but it was not a joke and Bryan ran away afraid. I guess I did too. :)
It was a great tour! And we were able to make it back to the resort for our lunch and a ton of sunshine at the pool!

We've met tons and tons of people from the Toronto area and it seems like everyone is here during our same dates.

Tonight we had dinner at the Japanese restaurant and it's been my favorite meal so far. We had a great chef at the hibachi grill, Wayne.  He was fun and engaging. We've had great luck with some of the people we've met.

After dinner I had a drink on the terrace and then we went over to the shopping area. I was looking for a Jamaica patch for my bag, and maybe a charm for my necklace. I found a patch but no luck on the charm yet. We also picked up the painting Bryan had done.  For Christmas Bryan gave me watercolor paintings of our dogs that my friend Melissa did. They turned out so well that he was so excited about the possibility of this turning out well.  I agree, it turned out well, but he can't have any more done or we'll start looking like those crazy dog owners that have shrines of their pets. ;)

We had a great and busy day, so we didn't stay up for much of the evening entertainment.  Our plan for tomorrow is going to be just to relax!

Relaxing, massage, and Italian dinner

Today was another one of our relaxing resort days.

Bryan reserved our spot and waited in the line to reserve our new years eve gala dinner.

When I met up with him he was done making our reservation and the line had become really long.

After we had breakfast, Bryan took a nap back in the room because he had a bit of a headache and I went to lay at the pool.

It was our first completely sunny day, not a cloud in the sky and basically no wind. So it became really hot really fast.

I love our spot by the pool because I can lay right in it without being completely in the pool. I ended up finishing my book and then sat there waiting for Bryan to come down. When he made it, we walked the whole pool area to check it all out.

The clouds started to come in around lunch so we went to the snack bar to eat.

Bryan scheduled me a massage at 3, so I went to the spa for that while he stayed at the pool. The massage was great, I've never had one before though so I didn't really know what to do.

We had our second nice dinner tonight at the Italian Restaurant.  The restaurant is down, further away from our room, but down on the beach. We had a late reservation,  9pm, and even then we sort of received some poor service.  We were there at least 10 min early and it took at least that much time to be greeted by our server. I also feel a bit bad for Bryan, because he doesn't drink he ordered a Coke but he didn't get it until our main dish showed up.

The appetizers and dessert were buffet style again, but at least they had different options. It still took us about 1 hour and 15 minutes for dinner though.

Now, it's late, and I'm exhausted!

Relaxing day and football for Bryan

This morning seemed to come quickly, which I suppose means that I slept like a rock. Our power went out in the middle of the night but luckily we had no where we needed to be.

Bryan was up at his usual early time and went to reserve our chairs at the pool before I woke up.

This morning we had arranged a tour with the people who managed the top level of the resort, Premier level or something like that.

We had to listen to their whole talk about how we could join in on their level to get benefits on worldwide travel and they gave us a full tour for some of the area that's restricted for us currently. Most of it was a bit ridiculous but it came down to spending about 10k and when we said no to that they changed the offer to 5k and when we said no to that they adjusted it some more to be about 2k. At that point we had enough and were less patient. We did get 2 goodie bags for listening to everything which included 3 coffee mugs, a keychain, a sarong, a dress, 2 t-shirts, a towel, a stuffed monkey, a cup, a big bottle of rum and Jerk sauce. So I suppose we don't have any shopping to do!

Plus we were still down at the pool before 11 am.  They always do little activities down on the pool deck. We don't really participate but Bryan totally should have done the trivia contest this morning. Yesterday we asked our driver all sorts of questions about Jamaica so he knew everything! But he would have just won another bottle of rum so I guess we didn't need it!

Bryan left the pool to go watch the Packers game about an hour and a half before it was going to start. Even I know that sitting outside by a pool with a drink in Jamaica is the smarter choice ;)

Bryan stayed wherever he was to watch the whole game and I enjoyed some relaxing time on the terrace with a yummy drink and my journal while I waited. Once Bryan found me, we sort of rushed through our buffet dinner because we were told by my good friend Dan, from my  Antarctica trip, that we shouldn't miss the steel drum band.

And he was right. They've been the best evening entertainment so far! We watched them play for 2 hours and they were great! They had people up there dancing.  And they even played a little Jingle Bells!

Here are a few pics, the one of me with the drink was from dinner last night. The drink was called a Bob Marley and had red, yellow, and green layered in the glass.

The others are from today!

Dunn River Falls

This morning we left for a tour at Dunn River Falls. We were picked up at 8:30 for our private tour.

Hiking the falls was a lot of fun. Because we were there so early it was just our small group.  I was really happy that we brought our water shoes with us, even though the water was really clear and you could see where the rocks were, the current in the falls could make you lose balance easily.

After climbing,  We made our way to the Blue Hole. This is a stop that's been growing in popularity, but there was this tiny dirt road and only one vehicle can go at a time. It was way up into the hills and there were various little vendors along the way selling a certain kind of brownie that wasn't offered at the hotel. Haha.

The Blue Hole was a lot of fun too. This time we just got to make our way down the river by a series of jumps off the top! They also had a big rope swing too!

Our driver for the day was great and we lucked out with 2 awesome guides. We were back at the resort by around 1:30.

So we caught the last of the sun for the day near the pool and we also had our 1st fancy dinner.

We ate at the grill and we were both a bit disappointed because both the appetizers and desserts were what you can have from the buffet! The main course we had was the Chef's Special. This included both some steak and shrimp.  Good flavor but small portions.

There was entertainment tonight but we didn't get to it. Too tired!

So long for now.

A full day at the pool

This morning, with not a lot of surprise, Bryan was up and awake so ridiculously early. But, he's great with letting me sleep in a little longer while he goes out with our pool towels and reserves us a spot.

Yesterday when we were walking around the grounds we had a plan of where we wanted to be.

The morning was partly cloudy and after breakfast at the buffet we made some plans for the week and then relaxed at the pool. It sprinkled for a little bit but other than those moments it was really hot! That sun is strong.

We had a nice walk along the beach and some good food throughout the day.

We had some more musical entertainment after dinner on the terrace, but I couldn't make it til the end. I'm feeling a bit exhausted right now, though.

Til next time.
Here's a view from our balcony this morning and one from the pool.

Jamaican Christmas mon

Bryan and I have arrived at our resort, Grand Bahia Principe, in Runaway Bay Jamaica.

It was a long day for us after being up late to celebrate Christmas back home with my family.  But we're here and having a great time.

We were at the airport with more than enough time to catch our flight. I looked for a bar serving Tom and Jerry's, but had no luck.

Our flight was direct, and flew into Montego Bay. Going through customs was different than how I expected it. Instead of talking to people and stamping our passports we had to use a kiosk that took our picture and print out a receipt. It wasn't working very well and they had 3 people there helping with the kiosks, which seemed silly because those 3 people could just sit in the little booths and process everyone just as quickly.

Our whole drive from the airport to the resort our driver was pointing out all of the "sites", like Usain Bolt's neighborhood and school, Bob Marley's neighborhood, the best place for Jerk chicken, and his favorite hangouts. In addition to all of the tourist stops.

Our resort itself is pretty big. After we checked in it was already dark. Our room is on the top floor with no other rooms near us and we have a view of the terrace, pool, and ocean. Which should look nice when we can see it in the daylight.

We had a bit of difficulty finding our way around at first but I think we'll be good now.

After dinner we sat outside to enjoy a Jamaican band and vocalist.  The music was good and the lead singer was very talented. But when she ended at 10 pm it was time for bed. Bryan's already asleep!

Here are a few pics from today.

I hope your Christmas was wonderful. And even though we may have actual warm temps, I hope the time spent with your family and friends has warmed all of your hearts. 

Heading home

Today was my last day in Arizona before heading back home to finish the rest of Minnesota's winter.

All what I wanted to do was soak up the sun.  So Heidi and I basically spent the whole day sitting at the pool.  It was a beautiful day and when we got hot we went out for a little lunch at the Paradise Cafe.  It's basically Panera but every time Head visits, they go there and take a picture of them outside and send it to me - so we did the same.

After lunch, it was more pool time.  This was the busiest we ever saw the pool, there were about 15 people there.

Then at 3 it was time to come in and get ready to head home.

Now I'm sitting at my gate, getting ready to board, and as much as I'm NOT excited about returning to 20 degree weather, I am excited to see Bryan and the pups.

Last time Bryan picked me up from the airport was when I returned from Antarctica and he surprised me with our beautiful little Ella baby puppy.  Today is her 1 year adoption day. It's crazy to think that she's been in our lives for a year already.

She has no idea how hard I'm about to cuddle her. :)

Thanks Heidi for being a good host, next time I expect u to at least offer to carry my bag up to your place. :)

See ya soon Minne!

Antelope Canyon & Horseshoe Bend

Today was another fun, but long day.

We started the morning with breakfast at the hotel before checking out and making our way to our Antelope Canyon Tour.  We had a little trouble finding it at first because there really wasn't an address associated with the booking.  When we eventually got there we realized why - it was basically a parking lot with a shed off the road where we needed to go out towards the canyon.

They request that you arrive about 45 minutes early, so even with that little bit of finding where we needed to go, we still had over a half an hour wait.

It was long enough for us to determine that it's going to be a sandy ride out to the canyon. And we were right.

Luckily we had a beautiful day and even with our full truck of people (14 + our guide), we were at the front of all the trucks going out there.

Our guide was a little pushy, which probably frustrated me the most.  She pretty much took everyone's cameras and phones to "show us" how to take the good pictures we wanted in the canyon.  She probably took my camera the most because she told the rest of the group that mine was the best equipment (thanks again Bryan).  At one point when I was in my settings and about to change the iso she took my camera and said I wasn't doing it right and when I said "I know, I was just going to adjust my iso" she interrupted me and said that I sound like her students, and that no - I didn't know.

I about lost it.

Regardless of the issue with our guide, I did enjoy the canyon.  Antelope Canyon is the most visited and photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest. We only visited the upper canyon.  It was formed over hundreds of years of water running through sandstone.  It's still a sacred site for the Navajo.  The canyon walls are roughly 120 feet high, it's really impressive.

It was only about an hour long tour, and on our way out we were so happy that we had done an early tour.  There were sooooo many people in it.  We didn't have to deal with any people in our way for pictures, but they sure did.

After the tour we drove just a short bit to the Horseshoe Bend scenic overlook.

There is just a short trail to get there, and it will give you an impressive view of the Colorado River as it bends back on itself.  It's about 1,000 feet high of sandstone down to the river and about a 270 degree bend.

The view is amazing and totally worth the long drive we took to get up there.  It looked like the river was a bit low but there were still boats cruising around it.

The height doesn't bother me, but I am surprised that the overlook is completely open - no guard rails or anything.  It seems like everything now has something put there to keep people safe.

The hike back up the sandy path wasn't that difficult, but it was starting to get quite hot out.

We stopped for some snacks and then made our way back south. 

We stopped in Flagstaff for a late lunch at Jack In The Box (I said I only wanted to eat at places we don't have in Minnesota) and then finished the trip home.

We got back a little after 5pm and then went to see the movie Divergent. 

I thought it was good, but I feel less excited about the future movies because of how disappointed I was with the final book. But I did like how they did the first one, and there were a few differences from the book. Nothing that really changed the plot line, but things that were just shortened or left out.  

Now, after a long day, we're going to relax for a bit - but I'll probably be sleeping before I know it.

Sedona and the Grand Canyon

This morning Heidi, Beau, and I left early to make our way north to Sedona.

We left around 5 am to make it there early for our 8 am Pink Jeep Tour. I slept the entire way to Sedona.

We got out of the car and it was pretty cool outside, so we put on an extra layer and grabbed a coffee before we left.

The Pink Jeep Tour was a lot of fun. We had a great guide and she was really knowledgeable about the area.  The views were spectacular and as it got a little later we could shed the extra hoodie and enjoy the warmth.

We had a little time after we finished to shop before driving up to the Grand Canyon.  We stopped in Williams for lunch, right on Route 66. They were the last town that was bypassed when the highway went in in 1984.

We went to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and basically walked the whole side.  It was a beautiful day, and there were a lot of people there. 

I think I appreciated the Grand Canyon more this time around, compared to when I was here during our family trip back when I was in high school. 

We had a lot of fun, took a lot of pictures,  and then grabbed the shuttle to bring us back toward our car.

From the South Rim we drove further up to Page. Unfortunately we didn't know that the highway up ahead had been closed due to a landslide. So now we had to turn around and make our way back to the other Page turnoff, which was not marked as a detour. It was probably about 40 miles of backtracking, then an additional 44 miles to get to Page. But we made it.

Luckily, Heidi jumped out and checked us in and then we went to park because when we walked back to the lobby a giant tour bus had arrived and began flooding the lobby. So we could just bypass them and get right up to our room.

Now we're just ordering a pizza and we'll all likely crash quickly.

Hanging with Heidi

Sorry for the no post yesterday- I fell asleep before I could write it.

Yesterday Heidi drove me around her neighborhood and past her school.  It's a nice area and her apartment is so mich nicer than my first apartment in New Hope.

We also hung out by her pool and then went over to Westgate for some lunch outside and walked around the Tanger Outlets.

We made dinner at home and watched the movie Frozen.

Today was another fun and relaxing day.

We hungout at the pool before eating and going to the ball field.  We went to the White Sox vs. Angels spring training game at Camelback Ranch.

We had seats but ended up sitting in the grass. Still great seats and I enjoyed sitting in the sun.  A guy who graduated from our high school plays for the White Sox and we were hoping we'd be able to see him pitch. They brought him in for the last inning, so that was pretty fun to see.  His wife used to work with both Heidi and me at A&W so we found her for a quick hello too. 

After the game we stopped for some yummy frozen yogurt and eventually some Mexican for dinner.  Taking it easy tonight because we have an early day tomorrow.

Adios California, hola Arizona

Today we had nothing to wake up early for, but my body must still feel like it's in Minnesota because I still woke up before 7.

Paul had to work today, but Christa and I enjoyed some coffee and breakfast before taking a tour around their complex.  Their little neighborhood is gorgeous! It's so green with tons of plants and flowers with beautiful pools and facilities.  They even have an orange tree grove just across the fence! How cool is that?! It seriously feels like a resort.

After our little walk we decided to sit out by one of the pools to soak up some sunshine. It was so relaxing after our last few days.

We enjoyed our lunch outside on the balcony and then left to go to Google before I needed to go to the airport. 

Paul was still working so I had to say goodbye to him and Mykonos (their cat) before we left.

Google is huge...ok, you already knew that. But really, they are. The whole Googleplex has so many different buildings and it's really a cool complex.  We got to see people playing outside, like they did when they played Quiddich in The Internship, and people were cruising around to the different buildings on the bright and colorful Google bikes.  There's also this fun little garden area where they have all of their Android guys made into big sculptures. 

We jumped out to take some quick pictures and hop on the Google bikes before we were off to the airport.

I was sad that my time in Cali had ended so soon. It really didn't feel like I was in California because it really just felt like I was hanging out with my friends like I always do.  These two always do fun things and I knew we would have had a great time doing anything.  Christa and Paul- you are the best hosts ever and I promise to send you a package of Caribou coffee.  Thank you for everything, love you both!

Unfortunately my flight was delayed a bit, which wouldn't have bothered me so much except that I had a connecting flight in L.A. before arriving in Phoenix.  We thought I would be close to catching it, but just to be safe they booked me on a later flight too.

I swear I've never been so antsy to get off a plane. We must have been taxing in for 15 minutes.  Luckily it looked like my flight here had also been delayed just 25 minutes and we were pretty close to that gate when we arrived.  I ran through the airport all Home Alone-style (ok maybe not that dramatically, but I did run) and they were just calling my boarding zone as I got there. Whew!!!

I think I was the only happy person boarding because everyone else was grumbling about that delay.

I landed in even HOTTER Phoenix just around 8 pm and we made it back to my sister's apartment.

Getting settled in and enjoying a smoothie!

The City: segways, hills, Redwoods, & more

Wow! Another full day filled with fun activities, and I'm just exhausted.

This morning we went into San Francisco.  We did a Segway tour of the city and it was a lot of fun.  Our guide was great and very engaging and surprisingly I didn't fall off the Segway.

It was a little scary to learn that we would be on the street rather than the sidewalk and I have to admit, the crazy steep hills had me nervous- but it wasn't an issue after we got going.

The tour took us through North Beach, Little Italy, around Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf.  We had a lot of fun and the segways were great to go up and down all of the hills (especially since we're feeling a bit sore after our hike yesterday).

After the tour we walked around the city a bit.  We checked out Ghirardelli Square and enjoyed a few free samples, and walked up some crazy steep hills to go to Lombard Street.

Known for it's ridiculous 8 hairpin turns on one steep block, it's quite the attraction.  I remember driving down it with my family when we were here years ago, but it's still fun. And interestingly enough, I learned that it is not the most curvy street in the city, but it's the steepest so it appears more drastic.

We had a delicious lunch in Chinatown and then made a quick stop at Alamo Square Park to see the Painted Ladies and where the opening scene in Full House took place. There were TONS of people there lounging on the grass in the sun, but sadly no signs of Uncle Jesse.

From here we drove to Muir Woods to check out the giant Redwoods. The woods are actually a national monument (I didn't know that).  The land was originally bought back in 1905 by a couple that wanted to preserve and protect one of the last uncut sections of Redwoods, so they donated the land to the federal government and requested it to be named after the conservationist John Muir.

We had a nice hike through the park and then made our way back towards the city to Marin Headlands. This is probably the BEST view you could get of the bay area and the Golden Gate Bridge. Just magnificent. 

After a long (but fun-filled) day, we stopped for Indian Food before coming back to San Jose and jumping in the hot tub for 20 minutes to help our sore muscles.

Now it's time to get some rest, and I don't expect that to be very difficult.

No way, I'm in San Jose!

Friday night I arrived in San Francisco to visit my best friend Christa and her husband Paul.

After some sushi and getting all settled in their apartment in San Jose, I slept wonderfully.

In the morning we had a great, albeit strenuous, hike up Mission Peak. Before they moved out here, I had given them a book on 50 hikes within 50 miles of SF and the Bay area and this was a hike featured in the book. 

The hike offered us some beautiful views and we really had some perfect weather.  The path was listed at 6.2 miles and we caught some stonger winds on the final switchback.  At the top, we felt pretty lucky that we dressed in layers and put back on our long sleeves. The trail must have been pretty popular because there were TONS of people doing the hike with us.

After we were done we enjoyed a quick lunch and a little relaxation before Christa and I made our way to do some wine tasting.  We decided to forgo the Napa/Sonoma vineyards for the closer vineyards in the Livermore region (mostly because the hike took me a bit to get up to the peak so it was later in the day).  However, we were REALLY happy with our experience in Livermore.  We started at Concannon Vineyards.  The place is HUGE. They were having a big celebration, with live music, tastings and other pairings and the guy doing the tasting for us had worked there for 31 years and shared with us some history on their vineyard. Of course the wines I liked best here were their 2 more expensive bottles ($65), but we didn't get anything.

From here we made our way into the main part of town, where we found a cute little olive oil shop where we could do tastings.  The olive oils and balsamic vinegars were so good.  We were even more impressed that the lady working at the counter was the one who runs the farm, and basically handles everything for her business, even down to the design of the labels.

She recommended that we make a stop at 3 Steve's Vineyard.  We really enjoyed this stop. 

Steve got us set up and welcomed us to our tasting (yes, this was really one of the Steve's as their vineyard's name indicates). We had some nice conversation and nice wine.  Everyone here was so personable and it was a great recommendation. We closed the place down but not without leaving with 2 bottles!

After  a nice dinner on the grill (oh my goodness, it was soooo good to have food off the grill again), we went out to San Pedro Square to hopefully catch some live Irish music to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  Well we found a table outside but it wasn't close enough to the music.  My cousin Cory also lives out here and he was able to come meet us for a few beers too. It was fun to see him.  San Pedro Square was a pretty fun area.  Where we were was called the Public Market and it felt kind of like a big cafeteria, with a bunch of different food stands that you can take out on a tray to your table.  We didn't have any food, but we bought a few bottles of beer that they'll open for you to take out to where you're sitting. 

It was a fun night (which is why this is getting posted this morning).

Now I better get up and get dressed in my shorts and tanktop....did I mention it's around 80 degrees and things are green outside? LOVE IT!