A Belize Vacation Story...

Last December we decided that we should do a last vacation just the two of us.  We have gone on a lot of trips together and are excited to take the kid, but one last travel adventure as just the two of us seemed appropriate.  We settled on Belize, because it is a relatively short fight, March is a good time to go somewhere warm, and I love Central America.  France is neat, but Central America is far more relaxing. Its one of those countries that would be really easy to bring kids and we said that quite often during our trip. 

When we planned our trip we decided to include an overnight layover in Miami.  We have never been there except to go through the airport and it ended up being a fun way to get a glimpse of another place.  We stayed on Ocean Drive in South Beach, walked off the main drag into the neighborhood to find a more local type of spot for my birthday dinner, and the next morning strolled along the beach.

After our morning at South Beach, we flew in to Belize City and, as usual Dan & Tara trips, rented a little SUV.  I was prepared this time, I purchased a Garmin eTrex with the map of Belize.  This new Garmin used both GPS and GLONASS satellites, for a far more accurate signal than just the basic GPS.

Our first stop was an Eco-Resort deep in the forest.  Getting there involved driving on a road made up of boulders....for 6 miles....doing between 2 and 20 mph...mostly 5mph.  We thought the little SUV was going to fall apart with all the rattling, but she held together...even getting me in trouble for going too fast and passing a resort van.  Tara never complained so obviously they were going too slow.

The best part of this lodge was the dining....or the location...or the serenity.  The dinners were done communal table style, where they would assign seats and rotate everyone around.  We met people from all over the place and actually talked to them!  That's very un-Dan&Tara-like.  One of my favorite times was Tara and I reading our Kindles (both reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) sitting on the Yoga studio overlooking the water.  Her drinking her Orange Fanta and me drinking Belikin, the local beer.  The lodge was one of our favorite places we have stayed to date.

One of the benefits to having our own SUV was the ability to leave the resort on our own and explore the country on our own terms.  One of our favorites was visiting the ruins.  We were in complete awe of them.  They towered over the landscape and after hiking all the way up we found them truly remarkable that without the construction tools of today they were able to construct something that beautiful that remains even today from these ancient civilization.

After a few days of exploring the area and the lodge we headed back to Belize City.  Unfortunately there wasn't a Hertz drop off location where we needed to go, so we headed back to the airport and jumped on a local puddle jumper plane to take us across the country to a small town.  Our next stop was a private island 9 miles off the coast near the second largest barrier reef in the world.  In order to get there, we had to take a boat which was relaxing, even at 40 miles an hour.

Having your own island resort only shared with the staff and a few other visitors was something we can get used to.  We spent hours each day sitting on the hammock and beach chairs reading our kindles, and taking pictures of the hermit crabs.  The island was filled with them and little Geckos. 

The package we went with included two guided snorkel tours.  These were amazing!  Tara and I jumped in and were all over the reef.  The guide would point out different fish and I would dive down and take lots of pictures with my fancy new waterproof camera.  Of course a pregnant woman snorkeling is a sight on its own. :)  This was the best snorkeling we have done to date- we saw so many different species, including three different kinds of rays.

Our nights were filled with relaxing on our private cabana deck sitting in hammocks.  We parted from the island on the boat and picked up the puddle jumper to the airport then our main flight back to the states.  Another nice thing about Central America....no 8 hour time difference. 

We felt truly at peace the whole time we were in Belize.  It was an amazing experience and we intend to go back to this beautiful country.

A Weekend in New York

At the end of the summer my employer decided that they wanted to send me and a co-worker to a media publishing conference in NYC.  My first thought was awesome my immediate next thought was we have to stay for a long weekend exploring NYC.  For a long time I have been itching to visit the city but when it comes time to plan a vacation it is usually lower on the list simply because for the money I would rather visit something completely different from where we live.  True, Chicago and NYC are not exactly the same but they are both large cities in the northern part of the US and that was enough similarity for us to push it down the list. Anyways, so I promptly emailed Dan and started dreaming about strolling about Manhattan.

As we planned our weekend, I was really curious as to how we would react to NYC.  Dan had always been indifferent to the city and I have always been a little drawn to it.  Usually I have an idea what the outcome will be going into a trip (come on, as if we wouldn't have loved France or Hawaii, etc!) but this time it was a little less clear.   We could either love it or not care for it.

My conference ended Thursday afternoon and I headed to the hotel to drop off my bags and wait for Dan to arrive.  Our hotel was at Battery Park so I walked over to watch the sunset on the Statue of Liberty and then grabbed Shake Shack for dinner.  I tried to stay awake for Dan's arrival but totally passed out after reading.  This was the first time that we met at the destination instead of traveling together... it was kind of weird. 

Friday we were up bright and early with a full day ahead of us.  We headed out for the subway to make our way to the East Village for breakfast.  Then back to the subway for a quick ride to Midtown for a walk up 5th Avenue to Central Park.  We walked through the east side of Central Park all the way up to the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir.  Loved Central Park.  Then we headed into the Upper East side and started meandering down... with a stop at the first Laduree shop in the US for macarons.  We thought about going to Serendipity for a bite but the line and cheesy decor in the waiting area was a turn off so we stopped at a bistro instead... As we were people watching out the window Dan got his request for seeing some "New York Crazy" filled - a man dressed in a negligee and no undies ran across the street... not a head turned but ours.  Next up was Rockefeller Center where Dan made a bee-line for the Lego store.  Then we walked to Bryant Park and finally looped up the Times Square before catching the subway back to our hotel room.  After a quick change back to the subway to head to West Village for dinner.  We decided to brave the wait for a table at the Spotted Pig... awesome dinner.  It was a tiny place and felt like a very New York dining experience.  Then subway back to hotel & collapsed on the super comfy bed.

Day 2 was just as packed.  We took the subway up to Chelsea to have NY bagels for breakfast and then walked over to the High Line park... The High Line was cool but felt almost as touristy as Times Square.  Then we walked across town to Union Square to check out the Greenmarket.  Loved it.  But it definitely had a different vibe from the markets in Chicago... much busier.  A very hot cider warmed us up as the wind was brutal this day.  Then walked down towards the Strand Books... we didn't spend much time here as we were starting to get ready for lunch.  Kept walking to Washington Square Park - loved this park and area.  Stopped in a little cafe in the West Village for lunch... ended up surrounded by college girls that barely paused talking to take a breath... oy.  Then a little bit more walking around West Village before heading down to the Soho shopping area.  Loved everything.  The buildings in Soho were beautiful.  Then we ended up on Broadway... it was the most intense shopping area I have been.  Dan's words - "It is like Michigan Avenue on crack."  Granted, it was Saturday at about 4:30.  The people watching was fantastic.  Dean and Deluca's was insane but worth it.  I tried unsuccessfully to get Dan to try on bright blue skinny pants at Topshop.  Then we took the subway back to hotel and almost took a nap.  But I was determined to get Dan over to Battery Park to watch the sunset again.  Then subway back to West Village.  Predinner drinks at a cool place then dinner at Cafe Cluny.  We had a table right by the window and such a good dinner... it again felt very New York and also quite romantic.  Subway back to hotel and collapsed.

We were admittedly a little tired on day three but loving every minute of our trip so headed out for the walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.  We walked to it through the downtown area and I was disappointed that the area by the NY Stock exchange building was blocked off as I wanted to take photos... but then we saw it was blocked off for filming a riot scene for the new Batman movie- cool.  Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge totally lived up to expectations- it was worth it.  We goofed around in the park on the Brooklyn side.  On my "must do" list was going to the Brooklyn Flea but the subway to that park of Brooklyn was shut down for the weekend for repair-type of work... and so it was cut.    After walking back over to Manhattan we visited Ground Zero.  And then stopped at Shake Shack for lunch which we ate at the Esplanade.  And then it was time to head to the airport. 

We loved New York. Loved it.  There was talk about maybe including NYC in the short list for our next place of residence.  Completely loved New York.

A trip to Duluth

Back in September I was dying for a break from work and in need of a vacation.  We had decided to postpone our 'big' trip for spring but we both needed to get out of the city even if only for a few days.  And then an email came in with an offer to use points for a couple of free nights at a hotel - we jumped at the opportunity!  (thanks Dan!) 

After a bit of deliberation we decided on Duluth.  I have really wanted to get up to the northern part of Minnesota and while Duluth isn't quite the Boundary Waters we would still be able to do lots of hiking and be on Lake Superior. 

We did scenic drives, saw the nuts watching the raptor migration (seriously), walked the lakeside trail, did one of the top hikes yet, had good food, and strolled along the beach... 

(pics are a mix of mine and daniels from both my camera and the point and shoot)

We had so much fun on this getaway.  Lots of adventure packed into only a couple of days.  We spent the entire time talking about how neat it would be to have a vacation cottage up there.  It was a beautiful area and we felt so relaxed and comfortable there. 

The hiking was awesome.  We were able to a (very small) portion of the Superior Trail which is supposedly a top hiking trail in the country... I believe it.  We picked up a brochure thing at the trail club office that lists best sections for day hikes... we just might have to go back to do more of them.   

Travelling with Dan is always entertaining.

"They have all these wicked cool houses and shit."

"C'est combien that wicked cool house?"

"The address is Three Cow Lengths from the Castle."

"I wonder how much it would be to have the dogs shipped over."

"I could totally be French."

The decisive (out of the blue) statement of "I could totally be French" kind of sums up our feelings about the trip.  It was amazing.  In the kind of way where you start to feel at home and want to take lessons to learn the language kind of amazing.  I hope we go back.  There are a lot of other places on the planet to see but I would love to see and experience more of France.

Now to get busy on that vacation album...

si'l vous plait?

Thank goodness for phrase books.  Who knows what kind of interestingness we might have ordered.  Most of the time in the countryside people couldn't speak English so we really did need to be able to communicate in French.  We did pretty decent. 

There were of course the times that I would accidentally mix in some Spanish or have the response to something pop into my mind in Spanish and where Dan would be so timid that he was barely audible.  But did have most of the basics down (we can order coffee and pain au chocolate like nobody's business) and it was fun trying to get better so that we could smoothly fit in.  And no one was rude or too impatient with us; they were quite friendly in trying communicate with our bits of French.

Just don't try to ask us for directions in French... we will look at you like you are crazy.  (True story, we had French people ask us for directions on two separate occasions... and we did look at them like they were crazy.)

Oh Paris...

I always knew that we would get along splendidly.

Bordeaux, I'm smitten.

Completely taken by surprised by how much I am smitten with Bordeaux.  Didn't really have expectations for this little city but the energy and vibe has me wanted to spend more time here.  In love with France.