This Is How The Florida Vacation Went

Day 1 – Left for Florida. Flight was delayed by half an hour so we left about 11:30 pm PST. We arrived at the airport about 7 pm. A long wait in the airport especially when there’s an 8-year-old that’s easily bored.

Day 2 – Arrived in Orlando at about 9 am, local time. Took the shuttle to the car rental place, that took longer than necessary, but was in Universal Studios by noon. Went to a couple of rides and the Hogwarts Express. It rained. Got to the resort about 9’ish or more around 10 pm. The two men went to nearby Walmart to shop for supplies. They arrived and made a wonderful saltless (we forgot to put salt and pepper on the grocery list) chicken fajita.

Day 3 – Second day in Universal Studios. Got to take a lot of the rides and was in long lines for most of the day too. Those rollercoaster rides were too much for me, but I had to go on them. I just closed my eyes the entire time. Also went to a ride that soaked us from head to foot, which was good given the heat and humidity of the day.

Day 4 – a break from the theme park routine. Decided this was beach day. Drove 1 ½ hours to Cocoa Beach. Beautiful beach, warm water, wide sandy beach and not crowded. On the way back, stopped at a Venezuelan restaurant for dinner – we had arepas, tostones, fried yucca, empanadas, etc.

Day 5 – DisneyWorld day. Today is the only day we allotted for Magic Kingdom. And today happened to be the hottest and most humid day of the week. The heat was brutal. I nearly lost it. We did a few rides, went back to relive memories by going to Pirates of the Caribbean, It’s a Small World and Jungle Cruise. These rides are not magical anymore. Anyway, rain happened again, like each day this week at about the same time every day. Waited out the rain then resumed activities and watched the magical electrical parade and the fireworks at Cinderella’s castle. Left after the 9 pm fireworks, our friends stayed behind until the park closed.

Day 6 – Husband and I went back to Universal Studios to take the Transformer ride, because we didn’t do it on day 3. We also took the Hogwarts Express going the other way and did a bit of shopping. While we spent the day in Universal Studios our friends had another beach day. They drove to Daytona Beach and enjoyed sun, sea, and sand all day long.

Day 7 – Flight out is at 10 pm today. While our friends went to Universal Studios, the husband and I went for a drive to Tampa a little over an hour’s drive. Then we scouted out the food trucks and got some more Latin food before heading out to the airport. Husband got sick on Day 5 – he was coughing and was running a fever. On day 7, I got sick. Got home at 3 am.

COMMENTS: I enjoyed Orlando more than I expected and more than I enjoyed Miami. Although in Miami's defense, I was only in the city for 2 days and that is simply not enough time to taste and see the offerings of the city.

Cocoa Beach is quite nice too. The beach part is awesome, the main city is not so much. At least didn't get to see much. I would not rule out a return to Orlando with or without a visit to the theme parks.

One more vacation time on the list for 2016 and that's coming up in November (2 weeks) and I still don't know where we'll go. However, one thing is sure, we will stay stateside for this vacation. We are thinking of revisiting San Diego since it's nearly 10 years since we last visited it and now that I have reconnected with my college pal who lives in San Diego and who came to visit me in July I thought San Diego is a sure destination. Likewise, I am thinking of spending a few days in Sedona, long overdue. I've been planning on going back to Sedona since I fist visited it nearly 10 years ago also.

A little update

Checking in right before going to Disneyworld. Been here in Orlando for 3 days now, today is day #4 for this weeklong vacation. I understand I have not written here in nearly 2 months, which is really a shame. NOt that there are a lot of things that happened that's worth a post, although come to think of it, there definitely are a few stories I would love to share. But that's for another post.

We've been lucky for the most part with weather here. The heat is there but the low humidity makes the heat a lot easy to manage. Today however is different. The forecast calls for 87% humidity + 90+ heat, can you handle that? The question is can I handle that and I'll be going around Disneyworld.

See you later. I'm going to change my wardrobe into something that would make me cooler the whole day.

Back From Cancun

Cancun is not for everyone. And not all who goes there are spring breakers boozing around the beach making a fool of themselves.

In my few trips to Cancun, I have just once seen a crazy nightlife and that was when we stayed in the heart of Hotel Zone, where the hotel/resort we stayed in was a stone’s throw away from Hard Rock Café bar. But the hotel zone is just a small part of Cancun. Sad though that many who visit Cancun only get to see that part.

In truth, Cancun has many resorts and beaches and other establishments that cater to families and nonparty goers who just like to lazy about in the sand sipping some fruity drink with a kick.

In this just concluded vacation, I was lucky to stay in the Hotel Zone, but far from the maddening crowd where I joined others in beachcombing. We visited the famous ecological theme park XCARET, which is about 1 to 1.5 hours drive. If you go to Cancun this is a must visit. For no particular reason did we not visit this park in previous visits, but since on this visit we had nothing on the calendar but relaxation by the beach, we thought it was time to see it. We were floored by the beauty of the park, the variety of activities to suit everyone’s tastes and physical capacities and fed the hunger in this culture vulture.

I must say, we are already thinking about our next visit which is in 2 years. Yah, we don’t want to do Cancun in a yearly basis, because after all there are so many beautiful places to explore and only so little time to do it. But, we’ll be back Cancun, just save the lounge chair on the beach for us.

One Quarter Down, Three To Go

In a little over a month I will be visiting the beach paradise Cancun for the third time. For someone who wants to visit as many new places before going back to the old ones, I surprised myself with this decision to go back to Cancun again.

How can I make this visit memorable? How can I see Cancun in a different light? I will be staying in the Hotel Zone, just like we did on the first visit. On the second visit we had a rental in a resort in the Puerto Morelos area, far from the chaos of the tourists in Hotel Zone and closer to the local culture of downtown Cancun.

On both visits, we spent significant time in the city. The first time we were there for 6 days and did the touristy things like visiting Chichen Itza (Mayan pyramid) and a boat ride to the mangrove forest. The second time we were there for a medical procedure, hence we stayed longer (12 days) and were more sedentary and lounged more on the beach than being a tourist. In addition, we were able to see and mingle a lot with the locals on the second visit because of our distance to the Hotel Zone.

Now that we are going back to the Hotel Zone, which on the second visit we saw so many changes that I hardly recognized it, I want to do some touristy thing in addition to finding more things to do than what is on Trip Advisor's list. I want to see what the locals see and eat where the locals eat again. Maybe there's a festival that is not on the Trip Advisor's list that will coincide with our visit to the city.

The husband is looking into visiting one of or both of the theme parks nearby - Xcaret and Xplor which are both water activity parks. I had checked their websites and so far from what I gather these are not something I am interested in partaking. Besides, the price for entrance is a bit over my budget.

Also the fact that we are staying in all-inclusive resort means that I would be eating all my meals in the resort, which makes the chance of hunting for local food becoming slim to none. It seems so wasteful to spend for food outside when you have already paid for your food inside the resort.

I don't have too much expectations for this upcoming vacation. Although I must say that I have fallen in love with the beach in Cancun. The color of the water is soothing, the white sand that turns pink when hit by the sunset is a sight to behold and the beach combing is unparalleled. This being the anniversary trip for 2016 I hope I can find something to spring as a surprise to the husband. I have not been going beyond the call of duty of the wife so I need to step up to the plate and do something he is not expecting but something that will blow him away.

Anyway, a few pics from Cancun.


Cancun 2013


On the beach of Xpuha, an hour's drive from Cancun, 2013


Cancun 2010


Cancun 2010

Hello 2016

Tomorrow will be a week since we got back from our nearly month-long vacation in Bangladesh and Bali over the Christmas and New Year Holidays. How did it go, you ask? Read this. Another lesson from this trip? Just don't travel during the Holidays. Don't. The fare price is double the regular price, and very crowded too. But the rewards somewhat outweigh all the hassles. We were with family and friends on Christmas day since my nephew had organized a party and invited friends over. So little kids brought their parents too and the house was full of people laughing, talking and eating. So much fun!

We were invited for a NY eve dinner across town and we encountered the famous Dhaka traffic jam. I was trying to hold my pee.

In between Christmas and NY, we traveled by train to seaport city of Khulna for 11 hours to board a 3-night cruise of the world's largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans (national forest, half belongs to India and the other Bangladesh). The cruise ship carried 36 passengers, including this lady whose blog I read. Small world isn't it? Before leaving Bangladesh, I paid a visit to another blogger who now lives in Bangladesh permanently.

Now Bali is the part of the vacation that solely for us. WE always do this when we go to Bangladesh, we set aside a few days in a different location just for the two of us to recharge our batteries. Being with family can be too overwhelming as well you know. However, Bali is too HOT!

I'll tell you more about Bali later on. I'm still not fully over my jet lag.

Back from Vacation

Back from a 5d4n Mexico beach vacation, I am now here to report about it. Although what is there to report about? We stayed in a resort, all-inclusive, fronting the blue of Sea of Cortez. It's funny I know but each time I go on vacation, my period shows up. My last vacation I got my period when we landed in Venice. What is that about?

Anyway, I kinda dug the resort vacation this time. I have been to Cabo once, when the cruise stopped for a day there. This vacation is different from that. We didn't rent a car as we intended. We didn't go to explore other towns as planned. But we enjoyed our time. We went shopping, walked on the beach, soaked on the jacuzzi, joined other Warriors fan in the Sports Bar watching games 4 & 5 against the Rockets, went on a sunset cruise by The Arch, had a pamper me time at the spa, and parasailed.

However, on the last 2 days the temps was boiling hot. Unbearably hot. It was the kind of heat that would give you a headache. Mine hurt like crazy, not a good feeling when you're trying to have a fun time.

Well, hello there!

It’s awfully quiet around here lately, isn’t it? Sometimes it’s good to be quiet to balance all the noise in real world. Life has been monotonous and routinary, is that even a word? Okay, it’s not a word. Let’s just use ordinary. It’s been pretty ordinary around here. Five-day work period, 2-day weekends. Although it’s especially a cool and mostly overcast month of May it seems. No rain, though. Pity that’s what we need around here.

Here in the Bay Area it’s pretty crazy if you’re a sports fan. The GS Warriors are in the conference championship, up 2-0 over the Houston Rockets. Believe me I work my schedules around their play-off games. Nope, I do not watch them live. It’s too expensive. Cannot afford with my paycheck. But I get together with friends and we take turns having viewing party, sort of. And of course the San Francisco Giants just finished not only sweeping the hated archrival the Los Angeles Dodgers, but blanking them in all 3 games!!!

This is why my blogging is taking a back seat for the time being.

In a few days I’m off for several days in the beach of Cabo to soak up the sun, the sea and the sand. I cannot wait. I’ve done a little bit of research, but for the most part I’m looking forward to a little rest and relaxation and plenty of hot sand between my toes and hopefully my share of the margaritas.

There’s a place called Todos Santos, which is about 1.5 hours drive from Cabo. It’s a small town famous for its arts and crafts and the home of Hotel California. No, not the one mentioned in the very famous Eagles song. However, look up the net and you’ll see everyone’s taking their selfies with the hotel. I want to see it. It’s going to be iffy if we’re going to rent a car for a day to do some sightseeing, but if we do Todos Santos is in the itinerary for sure. Oh and the capital city of La Paz, although according to the net that’s all 4 hours of driving away. Wait and see.

It’s the time of the year that discontent sets in. I don’t know why. Probably because half of the year is over and nothing has been accomplished. It’s always the same old routine, the same old regrets, the same old pessimism.

As soon as we get back from Cabo, I’ll get going on prepping for a chocolate item that I will be entering for the fundraiser, the annual Chocolate Extravaganza at church. While I had been lucky in the first year to bag a spot in the top 3 taster’s choice, the following years had been unsuccessful. I do want to revisit the recipe (truffle) that I entered on the first year where I bagged 2nd place but tweak it a bit. I’m thinking of changing the flavor from mint, which I was not crazy to begin with, to something different. Maybe amaretto. I would have to experiment first.

So for the time being, enjoy your summer. And if you’re on the other side of the world where summer days are dwindling giving way to cooler, or rainier weather, I sure hoped that you made the most of the sun and the sea and the sand this year

Some random updates

How can I let this blog lay idle for three weeks? Was I that busy? That uninspired?

Anyway, some of the things that happen between the last post and today:

We had another bbq at home with friends from church. There were 12 people who came, 10 adults and 2 kids. We are getting so good at this, because at the end of the day there was only a little bit of food leftover. Usually we prepare way too much food for grilling and no matter how much people eat, we always end up with so much food to freeze. And I'm not one to enjoy eating leftovers from 6 months ago.

After months of toying with the idea of having girls night out, we finally did it. I organized a women's happy hour at Chevy's. Four of us gathered after work on a Friday and chatted our way through margaritas and chips and dips, quesadillas and tacos, chili rellenos and tamales. By 10:00 pm, my phone was ringing. The hubby was inquiring what's taking me so long. This was my first night out with the girls since I got married.....7 years ago!!!!

Speaking of 7 years, we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary by taking a road trip to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite. Until this trip, I didn't realize that all I know of Lake Tahoe was the Southern part. This time we stayed in North Lake Tahoe and enjoyed the pleasant weather and blue skies. We stayed in a charming little cabin, watched sunset by the pier, walked the private beach, ate late dinner at a kitschy restaurant, grabbed snacks and beer at a local brewing company restaurant and drove around the lake stopping at different points. It was a wonderful vacation.

Two days in Lake Tahoe, then we retraced our 2008 road trip to scenic Highway 395. The difference this time we stopped at the south Mono Lake site where we saw the larger tufas, such a joy to see.

In addition, we took Tioga Pass to Yosemite. Compared to 2008 (we also visited on Memorial Day weekend)there was less snow on the mountaintops, which was quite disappointing but did not detract from the overall beauty of Yosemite. Took a day trip to Yosemite stopping at Toulumne River, Tuolumne Meadow, Olmstead Point, etc.

For the night we stayed at a friend's cabin in Groveland. They invited us to stay over so we can assess the cabin's rental worthiness. They are planning on putting it up for rental when they don't use it. According to them, they get plenty of usage, sometimes driving up there (3+ hours from bay area) 2 weekends a month. What we saw was more of a second home. It was set up as a home, not a cabin that is rarely used. It's big and the location is perfect, about 30 minutes from Yosemite. It has 2 br 2ba and a huge deck that is shaded by oak and pine trees. Deers roam around freely.

Lastly, I got to see the new X-men movie. I thought it was good, I enjoyed it fully.

So there, I think that's all that has happened since the last time I signed in here. Hopefully I will find something interesting to write about and share.

One month later.....

Here I am nearly a month later. Honestly don't know how I was unable to post at all during that time when I was religiously and regularly posting in my other blogs.

I'm writing now and I still don't know what to write.

It's May now and April just flew by. The past month just seemed to be filled with activities, or you may call them chores :).

A few hours ago we just had our first bbq. Had a few friends over and had a wonderful day. The day turned out to be a bit breezy, but nothing like breezy like yesterday. I overate again, lamb skewers, kebab, steak, korean bbq-marinated chicken wings,grilled veggies, potato salad, etcetera etcetera.

Yesterday we were invited to Fundraiser for a choral group. A friend of ours is a member of the group, we saw their concert last month, and so he paid for the whole table and invited couple friends of theirs. When we got invited I asked what the dress code was and I was told it's Cinco de Mayo so anything Mexican. Idiot me, I borrowed my mom's Mayan traditional dress and wore it for the fundraiser. On the drive to the venue I was having second thoughts. I knew right then that I made a mistake of dressing up. But we were too far from home to turn back and change. Besides I thought no one knows me anyway.

Well I was right, no body dressed up in Mexican attire. Well there was one. Everyone else was wearing casual dress. Anyway, our friend said to me, "You were not kidding, you do have a Mexican dress!"

Since it was a fundraiser, there were both a silent auction and a loud (live) auction in addition to a raffle. One from our table won in the raffle, after she proclaims she never wins in raffle (that is aside from the one she won at our church fundraiser). The one item I bid on silent auction I won because no one else wanted it. It was a handmade earring. The hubby bid on several items, but won a set of bone china tea set made in India.

Well I guess this is all for now. I'm all too preoccupied with planning our fall travel. BTW when we mentioned about our plans for fall, a couple who were in the bbq with us seemed to be interested in joining us. I like the couple, so it should be fun.

Back from Vegas

We just got back from a 4-day road trip to Vegas. A wonderful winter break. Stayed in Excalibur and one day drove 3 hours to Zion National Park in Utah where we hiked two different easy trails and ate Subway sandwiches for lunch under the beautiful sunny blue sky. We went crazy photographing the incredible red rocks. Another day we went to revisit one of our favorite places in the world, Valley of Fire State Park, where we went crazy with shooting everything in sight again. One day we hoped to get back there early and go hiking, to trails we never been.

Dining wise we were not planning on getting on any buffets. After driving 9 hours from home on the first day, our dinner consisted of Baja Fresh burito and salad. On the second day, I had reservation to a Brazilian churrascaria called Pampas located inside the Miracle Mile Mall at Planet Hollywood Hotel & Casino. I was able to snag a deal from Travelzoo so that was good. On our third night we had dinner and a show at Excalibur's Tournament of Kings. A very good show, okay food. We were good with eating. We didn't go crazy with spending for dinner. We even got a breakfast buffet and the dinner and a show in exchange for sitting on a timeshare presentation. Haha, I know. We are curious about what's out there so we sign up. The freebies are not bad either.

All in all we had a good time. The long drive was both tiring and relaxing. On the drive to Vegas, I took the first shift and I probably drove 3.5 hours. We stopped for gas and subway somewhere in Tehachapi. Then hubs took over until we reached Vegas at about 7 pm.

On the drive back, he took the first shift of driving per my request. I find the city driving layout complex especially when trying to find the freeway exit. Good thing he took the first shift out of Vegas because it was extremely windy and blustery. The little compact that we were driving was unstable. I nearly got carsick, which I never do, ever.

All through the California desert area, the wind was blowing like crazy. There was dust spiraling in the distance, tumbleweeds dance from one side of the road to the other, but the passing scenery was truly relaxing for both of us. We had the radio on alternately on PBS, on a pop station (always trying to find a Pink tune) and on classical station.

So the first vacation of the year is done and over with. We usually do a little overnighter around our anniversary (May) so that's one thing to look forward to. Until then, it's back to the salt mines for the both of us.

Oh we pray for rain. And snow in the Sierras. We badly need precipitation here in California. The gov't is already talking about mandatory water cuts and hopefully it won't get so bad that the water need to be rationed in the summer time.

Daily October (9)

I was a little depressed yesterday after realizing that the year is almost over and I hardly went anywhere this year, even though I have cleared my required/mandatory 1 big trip + 1-2 small (read: California)trips for the year.

Yes, that's how we structure our annual vacations. We have to have one big trip and up to 2 small ones. To be considered a big trip, it must be at least one week and must take a plane, domestic or otherwise.

Small trips are generally your run-of-the-mill overnighters in the coast or two-nighters up to 250 miles from home.

My big trip for the year was an 2-week sea and sand in Cancun. The two small trips are a 2-night camping trip in the Sierra Nevada and a 2-night Mendocino get-away. While all these are satisfying, I seem to want more. So greedy of me, I know.

Thankfully, yesterday as I opened my email I got this notification that via Travelzoo, Southwest Airlines is offering a too-good-of-a-deal-to-pass-up trip to Vegas, 3 nights including air for $129.00. Yap, that's about the same price we paid for the same package we took in 2009. 4 years later the same package is available.

So without delay hubs and I went online and bought the deal, although from the dates that were available we chose the first week of February next year to go to Vegas. I figure in February all the chaos of the holiday season has died down and life should be running quietly then.

The promise of a good time in Vegas perked me up. I've got a little hop to my step today.

Don't You Just Hate It When Plans Go Pffft?

I do. This is why I seldom make plans and always play things by ear. My latest disappointment and plan that went kaput? I planned on blogging daily while in Mexico this past vacation I took.

What happened? I didn't foresee the following: that internet connection would not be available for free. While I made a great deal with the accommodation, the lack of internet was something I thought could be remedied easily. Sure there was internet connection, but for a fee. A large fee. Like $25/day. Huge, considering I was paying $40/day to stay in a beautiful studio suite by the beach, inside a family-oriented resort.

Still on the first day I thought that I could easily go to any cafe with wifi, like Starbucks for instance, since we rented a car for the duration of our vacation. But there were some days, most days actually, that we preferred to laze about in beach chairs looking at clear turquoise waters of the Caribbean and/or walking the fine white sandy beach.

Anyway, that's that. It's done. Can't cry over that no more.

Let me report that the vacation was wonderful. We flew out of SFO on July 27th at night and arrived midnight in Denver. We had a 10-hour layover, but that was shortened because of the delay in taking off at SFO. We had the presence of mind to reserve a hotel room so we can rest fitfully that night. Early morning of July 28th, we flew out of Denver to Cancun.

This would be my second time in Cancun. The first was in 2010. On that vacation we stayed for 6 days and stayed mostly in Hotel Zone, which is where all the tourists are - the center of tourism so to speak.

We did many things for the first time on this vacation. This time around we stayed in Puerto Juarez area of Cancun, and we drove everywhere. We drove to the cathedral, to the pharmacy, to the grocery store, to Costco, to Walmart, and to eat at roadside eateries, where all the diners were locals and not one of the servers spoke any English.

We spent my birthday with daytrip to a small island immediately across the sea from Puerto Juarez, an island called Isla Mujeres. What a charming little island it is. The shopping and dining is fabulous. We also got to visit the turtle rehabilitation center.

A tip from a local gave way to our discovery of a public beach called Xpuha. We initially planned on a road trip to Playa Del Carmen when the local suggested we check this public beach out. She said it's her favorite beach and only locals know it.

Since we were in Playa Del Carmen in November or was it December, we decided to see something new. And boy oh boy, what a beautiful beach it is. In addition to the beach being a local haunt, it is also popular with the backpacker community.

All in all, I felt like I have gotten to know more about Cancun and my appreciation level is getting up there after this vacation.

Oh, I'm also burned. The skin in arms are now starting to peel. I hate that feeling.

Camping Trip Reporting, etc.

The Sunday before yesterday, we set out to our camping trip. The 9:30 am meeting time wasn't met, as expected, but the delay was minimal. By 9:45 am we were leaving the cool breezes of the East Bay area towards the Sierra Nevada, in central part of California.

The drive was long. We gassed up at Costco in Richmond and that was the only time we gassed up again that day. We were driving a Prius so we had no worries on our part. I was worried about the other car, because it's a smaller version of an SUV.

Five hours later we were pulling up into our secluded cabin. The exhuastion from the long drive and the worries I had that we might have been lost despite following the direction carefully and aided by GPS dissipated the moment I stepped inside the cabin.

Felt like going home again. Six years ago I was here with family camping for two days. I loved it then, that's why we came back this time. I wished I came more often, but the long drive was a deterrent.

Our only goal was to relax, enjoy nature, especially the river. Just like the first time, we were the only people for miles, although we have seen the park ranger drive through and a truckful of hunters in their camo gear.

The river was a big hit with our friends and their two kids who are below 12 years old. The kids love water and they both are swimmers. The couple were impressed by the beauty of the surroundings, mountain on one side of the river, clear calm river full of boulders and the serenity and privacy of the beach.

For two days we lazed about the river, taking in the warm air, the cool water, the hot sand. We ventured for a mid-day hike/walk one day walking alongside the river. We collected recyclables (beer bottles, soda cans) and piled them up near the road for the park ranger to collect them. Some campers just don't care. They keep trashing, a pity.

At nite we played board and card games. We sipped champagne, chugged beer, cooked meat over the fire, roasted marshmallows and almost had diabetic coma from the smores.

On our last day we drove out to Kings Canyon/Sequioa National Park to see the giant trees. Made a lot of stop, took pictures with the trees, ogled the largest tree - General Sherman and enjoyed our last day with nature.

On the drive out of the park, our friends who were tailing us saw a bear cross the street. Apparently, the bear just let us pass before he crossed the street. How fun for the kids.

Long drive home again. Back in time for late dinner at 10 PM. Then work the next day.

ETC........

Grudgingly agreed to check out neighboring town's street festival yesterday. Was in no mood for this sort of thing. I was really lazy yesterday, but because of the marriage contract I signed years ago, I was legally bound to accompany the hubby to run errands. Wasn't too bad. I even liked the places we went - Fry's Electronics and the grocery store. In fact, he saw a smart phone that was within our price range and has all the "bells and whistles" of the other smart phones that cost over 4 times the price we paid (it was on SALE). So I was happy. That was why I relented to go to the street fair.

As with any street fair there was music, lots of food, and many items for sale. I lingered in the jewelry tent where my quest for an every day ring (read: fashion) continues. I tried every design, every stone, every type they have. Not one called out to me. My hubs found something so he has a souvenir.

There was a tent/stall that advertises coffee. We stopped there. We love coffee. WE got samples, they were good. The lady said it's direct sell coffee, just like Avon or May Kay. If I'm interested she'll be able to hook me up. I got her contact number. She gave me a packet of coffee to go. On the way back home I read the packet's ingredients. Not one of them is coffee or cacao. I will not contact her.

There were quite a few giveaways from here so I left very happy. My husband was gloating on the way home. He said the reason he always seem to drag me around is that I never want to go anywhere. Furthermore, he said if left alone, I'd choose to hang with my cats instead of going out to be with people. Boy, he knows me really well.

MORE ETC.....

I'm prepping for another trip. This time for about 2 weeks. I'm going to the beach. To beachcomb. Maybe have time to visit Mayan ruin.

Happy Wednesday

Happy Hump Day!

I cannot wait for the weekend to come. The reason? I'm going camping, er cabining with friends. It's camping but we're going to be staying in a cabin. I've been to this cabin before with family several years ago. We had a blast, especially moi. I enjoyed its remote location, it's quiet surroundings, the fantastic river across the street with large boulders/river rocks where one can sit for hours while dangling feet in cold rushing river water. It's a perfect site for get-away. Get-away it is, 4 hours drive from home.

However, it is like 50 degrees warmer!!!!! Oh boy, I've seen the forecast. It's going to be 3 digit there all weekend long. I've known it to happen, but I'm sure the river water will cool us down. If that doesn't work, the cold beer and river water will do the job perfectly.

In other news, it won't be long before my next plane ride again. I am looking forward to this trip, in more ways than one. I'm not saying anything more until after the trip, but we will be away for roughly 2 weeks.

Memories

Somewhere I heard, that vacations last longer than they usually are because of the photographs we took. Personally, I don't get to enjoy the vacation when I'm on vacation because I'm somehow pressed to go to this spot, see this attraction, buy this souvenir or sample this delicacy. I don't really just breathe in the sea breeze or the mountain air and sit in a rocker or boulder and enjoy the vista. I do that long after I've gone back home. Memories of my stay at the beautiful Mountain Paradise Resort in Arenal, Costa Rica.















The rooms are in small houses/cabins and laid out all over a well-manicured lawns with gardens that I'm sure required many gardeners to maintain. I was sad to leave the place, because it was just relaxing and peaceful out there, not to mention a total immersion to nature. Every room I believe has a jacuzzi at the back patio/porch area that has a clear view of the main attraction in this part of Costa Rica, the Arenal Volcano.

We were too busy exploring nature (volcano and waterfalls) that we didn't have time to enjoy the hotel and its grounds.

Still here

Memorial Day, the unoffical start of the summer season, had come and gone. Personally, I feel it's all downhill from here. The rest of the year would be gone before we know it. But it's a nice change to have a little more heat than we normally have. Although I'm pretty sure I'd be whiny when I can't get some sleep because it's too hot. Still summer is a time of creating happy memories. I have a camping trip in July at the same cabin we stayed at a few years ago with family. I'm going with friends this time around.

I took a short 3-day get-away this Memorial Day. We drove out on Monday, Memorial Day itself, happy that the traffic was all on the other side of the road. We stayed in Mendocino at the Mendocino Hotel courtesy of a Travelzoo voucher. I fell in love with Mendocino at first sight many years ago and vowed to return and stay at this historic hotel. I was a bit deflated when I was given my room number and was told that my room was on a separate location. It's actually just behind the hotel, they have two garden houses that double as garden suites. I have no complaints about my room, have been dreaming of staying in a Victorian room. The garden setting is likewise very charming - well all of Mendocino is charming.

We timed our arrival perfectly. The flowers are all blooming. Each house is decorated by blooming garden.

We didn't have a plan or a list of what to see, although we did research about them. Most of the eateries close at 8, some shops close earlier. We looked around for places to eat, but nothing attracted us. For one, we don't want to spend too much for meals. Not only were we conserving our pennies, we were also planning on avoiding ingesting too much calories on this trip. Thankfully we found a local grocery store (like Whole Foods) that has a good deli. We bought salads and Mexican food and Indian food from them. Their food is amazing. Plus, they don't give you a paper or plastic bag with your purchase. You have to make a separate purchase for bags. Then they give you a token (dime for a bag) signifying you bought a bag. The token is to be placed inside one of the four glass containers before leaving the store. Each glass container is for a local charity. What a nice gesture.

At a Vegan/Veggie store I found an ylang-ylang oil, which brought me home to the Phil just by smelling its fragrance. I wanted to buy one bottle, they come in small bottles, but it's way too expensive for me, it was $18.99 for a small bottle. Can't afford it.

This part of California is wet and foggy. We had rain for the first two days. Well, more of a drizzle on and off on the second day, but it was foggy. We went to see the Albion river, the Mendocino Botanical Garden, the Mendocino Headlands State Park and the Glass Beach. We stopped at stores to browse merchandise. Also stopped at a nursery to find the plant we wanted and found. It's called Tower of Jewel. We forgot to stop on the way home to buy it though, yikes.

The hotel didn't offer free continental breakfast, so we went looking for breakfast. On the second day, we went for brunch (yes we were on vacation so we got up late) at Eggheads, a local dive. Good food. We both had omelets. I was craving for hash browns, but they only have country potatoes. Not the same. So on the third day, despite all good sense, I dragged the hubby to Denny's for hash brown. It's the only one we could think of that has hash browns, so we forced ourselves to have some Denny's breakfast. Not that their food is bad, it's just not good. You know what I mean.

The rocky, rugged coastline, the charming Victorian houses, the plentiful wildflowers, the tall trees, the cold wind, the salty air, kelp all over the beach, the scenic Highway 1 - there's so much to enjoy in the north coast. I didn't realize that last year we were up here on the north coast again for our anniversary, except we went further north in Eureka as our base. It's just beautiful up there.

Especially when the sun comes out and the fog lifts and the sky is blue and the ocean is pretty shades of blue. Yes, it was like that on our third day, our last day.
We found ourselves singing the California state song while watching the waves crashed on the craggy bluffs..... I love you California, you're the greatest state of all.

And we cruised the Caribbean

November is a very nice month for cruising in my opinion. The weather is pleasant and mild and even the humidity in places in the Caribbean is quite manageable.

We sailed for a whole day. Our foursome pretty much joined most of the activities on board and snacked our way through the day.

Our first port stop is at Costa Maya in Mexico where the four of us signed up for a tour of the Mayan ruins Chacchoben. We joined 6 others in the van and travelled an hour to get to the ruins. Having seen the ruins at Chichen Itza I would have to say that visiting this is nothing compared to it; however, there is one ruin where you can climb up on top, which is pretty cool. Everyone seemed to be here though as the place was crowded quickly. As soon as we boarded the van to take us back to port, the rain came down in buckets :)

The next day, the ship docked in Belize. This was hubby's birthday too. While we were on the tender that would take us to port, we inquired about cave tubing tour from one of the employees of the boat. He said he know somebody and there's another couple interested. So our tour became 6.

We travelled over an hour into rural sceneries to get to the cave and the river where we will be doing the tubing. When we entered the "park" and the van parked, we were asked to change into our bathing suits. I wore something that was okay to get wet, I had change of clothes afterwards.

We began the tour by getting our tube (salvavida) and our headlights. Our footwears were inspected and one lady in our group needed to rent water shoes because she was wearing the wrong shoes (flip flops).

Afterwards, we carried our tube and hiked thru gravel-lined path in the rainforest; crossing the same river twice. By the time we reached the same river the third time, we were ready to enter the cave and began the tour.

The river and cave setting was so magical. I hated the fact that I didn't have camera with me. I don't care if it would get wet, I should have brought the little one.

We floated on our tubes inside dark cave infested with bats, cold river water and quiet except for the many tour guides and tourists who were floating alongside us :)

That was one true blue fun experience. I could stay in the river for a whole day, heck even a week and be content.

On the drive back to the port, we stopped at CHEERS bar and restaurant where we grabbed some snacks. We had enough time to shop at the port area and so we did. I get so inundated by the same old souvenirs they sell everywhere, so I browsed and made sure I got the mandatory ref magnet that I collect. While the other couple shopped some more, the hubs and I stopped at a restaurant to try conch ceviche and fish tacos. That is where they found us and shared a bite with us. Afterwards we browsed at the stores some more.

The next day we were in Honduras. Roatan is a small island and that's the part of Honduras we visited. We signed up for island tour and we got to see as much of the island. We met some local kids in one stop and decided to get them some candies at a grocery store and returned to their place to give it to them.

Hands down best pina colada I've ever tasted is in Half Moon Bay resort and restaurant in Roatan, western end. Fresh pineapple juice, fresh coconut milk and lotsa booze. Two thumbs up.

Our last port of call was Cozumel. Okay so I have misconceptions about Cozumel. Before coming here I thought it's one of those made-up for tourists town with all shopping and I wouldn't like it. It is a made up tourist town, but I liked it, hah!

We didn't stay in Cozumel instead took a 45-minute ferry ride to Playa del Carmen (outstanding beaches, I wanna go back) where we would sign up for a tour of Tulum ruins, another Mayan ruins. This ruins however faces the water and the beach area is to die for, unfortunately we didn't have time to explore the beach. The ruins though is fascinating, they all are.

We got another full day at sea the next day so we again participated in everything.

Our boat docked in New Orleans and we were out of the boat by 10 am. The hubs and I walked leisurely from the port to our fabulous hotel in the French Quarter where our friends were waiting for us to have a little tour of the French Market. New Orleans is walker friendly, especially this part of town. Sightseeing on foot is advised.

I must say that New Orleans is really fabulous. The food. The music. The arts. The architecture. The shopping. What more could one ask for. As a bonus, we got wonderful weather the entire time we were there.

I'm back and ready to tell a story

I'm back from my 11-day vacation for 3 days now and I'm ready to tell a story. So grab a seat and get comfy. This could get long, very long.

Thanksgiving was a blur this year. I'm thankful for so many things, both the good and the bad that happened this year. The good brought joys to the heart and the bad always come with lessons in life.

Anyway, my plans for Thanksgiving initially were to have a simple Thanksgiving dinner at home. As a family, we don't normally gather for Thanksgiving, only Christmas. Hence I always invite people who have nowhere to go to for Thanksgiving. In the past I have a motley crew of guests.

This year though I was a bit hesitant to extend invitation to friends because I know that I would need to be rested on Thanksgiving because our vacation starts the day after Thanksgiving.

With that in mind I didn't send out any invites, but we had bought all the fixings for the meal including a 20-lb turkey. No way are we able to finish that just us, so I called brother #4 and invited him and his family over a few days before the holiday. I knew his family doesn't do anything on Thanksgiving. That is exactly the reason why I didn't extend an invite to my other family members especially brother #2 who always have a spread on Thanksgiving.

At the last minute however, brother #4 called to say that his daughter and her family are coming over for Thanksgiving and if we would be able to join them. My niece was sick and would need surgery a few days after Thanksgiving and because of this we couldn't say no. I told my brother that I have a whole Thanksgiving feast ready to cook. So I told him I'd cook everything (well technically the husband is the cook) in the house and haul it over his the day of. Furthermore I instructed him not to get any turkey because, well I have enough for everyone.

So that's how our thanksgiving played out. 3 out of 4 brothers came to lunch, we ate with gusto. I marveled at how my nephews seem to have mastered the art of baking. Joe made us wonderful cheese biscuits, he bragged courtesy of Food Channel. Brian made a delicious sweet potato souffle. Even my niece's 7-year-old daughter made a dish. Her contribution to the table was the cranberry sauce. We told her that this year is the beginning of a tradition. She would be expected to make the sauce every single year.

We made a quick exit after a few hours because we were going to have friends over for dinner. We have some food at home and our friends joined us for dinner. They do not do thanksgiving, it's a cultural thing I suppose.

On Friday, brother #3 drove us to the train station; instead of going all the way to the airport by car, we opted to take BART. It's easier that way. Our plane took off on time at 1 PM. After an hour and a half we were landing in picturesque Salt Lake City. It's gorgeous from up there. Another hour later, we were boarding our flight to New Orleans!. We arrived in N.O. around 10 PM, immediately boarded the shuttle to the car rental, chatted with friendly locals at the car rental place who pointed us to the best eats in town we have to try and then decided to drive on local streets instead of the freeway to our hotel because we were scouting for a grocery store. We found a Winn-Dixie (don't have it in Cali) and got some essentials - sunblock, conditioner, lotion, vodka :), and frozen food for dinner.

It was past 11 PM when we drove up to our hotel and checked in. We were surprised at how lovely our hotel was, better than we expected for the price we paid. The parking however was another story, because although they have a parking lot in the back, it fills out too quickly.

We were meeting our friends in New Orleans, they flew in on Thanksgiving from New Jersey. We planned to take this trip together, but didn't talk about the hotels we'll be staying. Turned out our hotels are next to each other. Go figure.

On Saturday while our friends took a segway tour of the city, we decided to do a DIY of the city. We went to the Garden District, drove around ogling beautiful houses, stopping at the famous cemetery and was tempted to join a tour currently in progress, but I didn't want to cheat. I told my husband that we'd shoot and then google for information later.

Afterwards we drove out some more discovering churches and parks and the riverfront shopping area including the Mardi Gras museum. We parked the car a few blocks away and met our friends at the riverfront mall food court. We shared lunch and hurricane (a cocktail muy delicioso), then walked from the Riverwalk to the Mardi Gras Museum, which is a few blocks away. Browsed there, went to the riverfront, took pictures, then decided to walk from the museum to where we parked our car. Turned out there was a thousand blocks from point A to B, however, New Orleans is a walker friendly town and there's plenty to see.

Eventually we got to our parking and we loaded up the car so we could drive them to the garage where they parked their car for the day. But we hit so much traffic that the guy decided to go on foot to fetch the car. He would drive the car to the hotel and we'll meet him there. From there we would take one car and hit the nightlife of French Quarter.

French Quarter is party central. In my humble opinion as a party pooper, it is crazier than Vegas. Bourbon Street filled with people, all with drinks in hand in party mood. We walked around until we found the brewhouse that was recommended to us. There was a wait of 20 minutes so we sat in the bar and ordered 2 of the beer tasting menu, 5 different beers. Then decided to get something else, a cheese plate. By this time we lost our appetites for what the brewhouse had to offer so we cancelled our seating, and moved to next door Hard Rock Cafe. I know it's not our style to eat here. But remember we were with another couple who love to eat here.

I was almost full from the beer and the cheese plate, so hubs and I decided to split an order of fish and chips.

We walked some more after the dinner and then time to go back to the hotel.

Sunday we were embarking on a Caribbean cruise for 7 days. Check in starts at noon. We woke up early to see the sights. Being a Sunday the streets of New Orleans were empty. We returned to French Quarter, went to the cathedral and Jackson Square, drove out to the riverfront and French Market, then plugged in the city park in our GPS and drove around the beautiful and spacious park with old oak trees that have long graceful limbs. We saw a wedding under a picturesque oak tree, very romantic.

Then the hubs dropped us off at the port while they returned the cars. This gave us girls a time to chat. Here's the deal. I've known this couple for a very short time. One day to be exact. I knew them for one day 3 years ago in another cruise. We went on a day excursion with them in Cairo visiting the pyramids. We were in the same Mediterranean cruise. That excursion consisted of 11 people including us, 9 of which are our facebook friends. So via facebook we kept in touch; hence we were able to plan this cruise with them.

Technically I don't know them, because I probably have exchanged a dozen words with them prior to this trip. But from the very beginning it seemed like we were old friends. There was no awkwardness, only catching up, can you believe that?

So the time we were waiting for the hubs to return, we chatted furiously and shared future travel plans.

The hubs returned and we got checked in without any hassle. Now off to the cruise.

Will tell you all about it soon. Needless to say, I need a vacation after the vacation because I'm very tired :)

Catching Up

Let me try to catch this blog up with what's going on in my offline life.

Seasonal cooling has begun shortly after the clock turned back an hour. So now it gets dark really early. The cooling feels so good especially last weekend as I was doing my errands the breeze was cold and there's definitely the chill in the air associated with the season.

Also had the second offering of our Monthly Night Out program at church where I am a member of this committee. My husband co-chairs the committee. For our second monthly night, we had GAME NIGHT. People come with board games and we spent the night, well at least 2 hours, playing games. Every event is with a meal and this time around we had sausage and salad with spiced apple cider. I played uno and jenga. There were a group that played monopoly, another cloo, another scrabble, and blanderbash I think it was, and also chess. It was a fun night.

Last night we went out for dinner. It was Veteran's Day weekend so I had the day off, but hubby didn't. Veteran's Day fell on a Sunday so the town activities were on Sunday, but gov't employees had Monday off.

We went to Curbside Cafe in San Francisco. I throughouly enjoyed my night out with the hubby. We met up with another friend and her hubby and their two boys. We weren't seated together in one table, because of the fine prints of our dining vouchers, but that didn't matter anyway because the place was very cozy - small - we were like dining in the same table.

The decor was Parisian (it's a Parisian bistro), very quant and charming. I totally adored it. The food was excellent. I have to do a separate posting for this here. I'd love to go back to that restaurant.

The dinner ran long and we were late at our church meeting. We barely made it to the meeting. We probably sat for the last 20 minutes of the meeting.

So that's what's been happening. I have so many things in my plate right now. And as usual my lack of time management is making it extremely stressful on my part to handle this time of the year.

I'm about ready to pack my bags again and travel. But first I'll have to help hubby fix Thanksgiving Dinner at home.

I'll tell you more about my trip in the coming post. My flight won't be till after Thanksgiving.

Weather, etc

I do not have any complaints with our gorgeous weather. It's hot, even reaching the 80s with plenty of sunshine and the most beautiful blue skies. BUT, it's autumn. Where is the crisp air, where is the chill when a breeze passes by? Where is the smell of burning wood coming from the neighbor's fireplace? Where is the hot cocoa at night?

While the Indian summer that we're experiencing has been delaying its exit, I'm not sure I want the lovely weather to end. It has been gorgeous as I have said before. Today at 8:30 am it was already 77F as I was driving to work. No doubt the temp will rise some more by the mid day. I just wish I was outside today in a park or something enjoying the good weather.

I've been quite preoccupied with church stuff, as usual. As a member of the committee that puts out monthly Saturday night events, my hands are full. Not only is the first Saturday night this coming Saturday, I'm also keeping an eye on the following monthly events, as they are more hands-on. I don't know why I even volunteered to help out in the planning of the events. I can be a masochist sometimes.

I know it's good to be involved in social activities, let alone church functions. And these activities combine both the church community and the larger community. Sometimes, I feel overwhelmed by the task at hand. Opening an e-mail can be daunting sometimes. I don't know what's waiting for me out there. What other tasks I must do, what alterations I must perform, etc, etc.

It's all good. It's using one's "talent" for the good of many. I did put that quotation in there because I still am not sure what my talents are. I know my leadership qualities have long eroded and I'm content with assisting people who's leadership qualities leave nothing to be questioned.

However, my talents seem to be completely lost when it comes to the website I'm trying to maintain. It's our church website, it's just not an ordinary personal website where I can just ramble on and on about the weather and the movies I've seen. I cannot seem to generate a post about the functions/events we've had lately. A fellow church member who not only writes a blog, but also has published the contents of that blog into a book has agreed to write an article about said function. It has been a month and I have not heard from her yet. I don't know why I hit a wall when I open the website and attempt to update the contents. I feel like I don't have full confidence in myself and I'm always second guessing my intentions. In the end, nothing gets published. Sigh!

This October has been quite blah overall. It's work and church and housework. Although lately the housework part has been neglected plenty. I've also been harping about pulling out the box that contains the holiday decors from the garage so I can start decorating the house, but other than getting cat food from the garage, I haven't been there lately, let alone dig out the box of decorations. May be this weekend. Oh no, I'd be tied up with church events all weekend. Sigh!

This also leaves me very little time to blog. I play memes on a daily basis. That is in addition to the travel blog I have, which is my original blog, this blog, my cat blog, and then my project blog. I don't have enough time to do all that. So I temporarily cut down the memes I play in half and I just incorporate the memes in my travel postings.

Also in my plate is full with research of IVF facilities, so we can proceed with our baby making project. I have heard from one facility that we planned to use. I have to do more research and hit the phones and get some answers to the questions I'm trying to formulate. I'm giving myself a few more days to accomplish this so that I can then go ahead with getting excited in planning our excursions for the cruise we're taking after the Thanksgiving holiday next month.

Half of me wants another vacation so close to the last one in August. The other half is not ready to go away again, because I don't feel like I have fully settled into daily living after one month in Asia in July and August. But the cruise has been reserved since before the Asia travel was planned and taken, so we're going. Time to kick back and relax after the rush of Thanksgiving and before the chaos of Christmas preparations.

And so I ranted and rambled again. Until next post. Hope your autumn is wonderful.