Archive for the ‘Travels’ Category

Flashback Friday: Palau February 2007

Posted in Flashback Fridays, Micronesia, Palau, Travels, tagged , , , , on Friday, 13 February, 2009| 1 Comment »

Two years ago, we were spending the President’s Day weekend in Palau. From Guam, Palau is only a two hour flight and had we stayed longer than one year in Guam, I would have gone back to Palau as often as possible. For a beachbum, it IS paradise.

On our way to the Rock Islands:

Favorite Girl at the “Milky Way”:

Touring the Rock Islands:

All last week, I searched Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz for a cheap getaway to Puerto Rico, St Thomas, Orlando and Charleston but all flights/hotels were too much for just a couple days. So instead, we’re embracing the winter and heading further north. We’ll be stimulating the Canadian economy this weekend…

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Flashback Friday: Kayaking off Cocos Island, Guam

Posted in Favorite Girl, Flashback Fridays, Travels on Friday, 6 February, 2009| 4 Comments »


All my Flashback Fridays are going to be “beach” flashbacks until I feel warm again 😉 Favorite Girl and I really enjoyed kayaking off of Cocos Island in Guam and I’ve often thought a kayak trip to Baja Mexico would be a fun family trip. But then again, a return visit to Guam would be even better.

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Flashback Friday ~ Lowtide at Tarague

Posted in Travels on Friday, 30 January, 2009| 2 Comments »


With all this snow and cold, I’ve been flashing back to those wonderful days at the beach when we lived in Guam. I was tan, in-shape, warm and happy! The long weekend is coming up and Favorite Man wants to go to Canada to ski. All I can think of is flying somewhere warm ~ too bad there isn’t a non-stop from Syracuse to Puerto Rico!

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Could Someone Hit The Pause Button…

Posted in Travels on Sunday, 25 January, 2009| 6 Comments »

I wish there was a pause button for life (wasn’t that a recent movie?)! Time is whipping by and I’m not keeping up. My Favorite Girl turned 11 and she’s speeding toward the teen years. Her birthday celebration included a sleep-over with 4 of her bestest friends.  Pizza and cake at night with Dunkin Donuts for breakfast.  Seems like the theme was “no  nutrition” 

Tubing was scheduled for the next morning but the sub-zero temps canceled that plan. I couldn’t help but think about FG’s 9th birthday which we celebrated in Guam at the Tarza Waterpark ~ way too much fun!

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Chatting with the Ladies in Montreal

Posted in Favorite Girl, Travels on Monday, 10 November, 2008| Leave a Comment »


On our way home from Maine, we stopped overnight in Montreal. We came upon this statue which put a smile on our faces and Favorite Girl decided to join in on their chat fest.

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White Water Rafting on the Black River

Posted in Travels on Sunday, 31 August, 2008| 2 Comments »


Last week, I had the opportunity to go white water rafting with a group of volunteers. It was a team building/thank you for those who give of their time to the army families who live here.

There were many “nervous” women before the trip started. I had been rafting on the Snake River in Wyoming so I knew what to expect. It all depends on how good a river guide you have and thankfully, our raft had a big, burly, competent guide. By the end of the trip, all those women were ready to go again!!

Not only was it a gorgeous summer day with temperatures in the low 80s but the river was “high” due to the recent rains. It was a fast, fun ride. According to the weather, we’ve got another week of warm temperatures so I’m hoping to get Favorite Man out on the water before the season ends.

There are two other rivers to raft, the Moose River  and the Salmon River ~ rrafting is one more “fun” thing to do while we’re living here.

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New Favorite Wine

Posted in Travels, tagged on Sunday, 17 August, 2008| 8 Comments »

I go through stages with wines. Were money not an object, I know exactly what I would prefer to drink, namely, Chauteauneuf-du-Pape (Clos des Papes), Cakebread or Grgich Hills. When I worked at a hotel in the Grand Tetons, our very informed Food and Beverage Manager, Dan, had a wine tasting for us much less enlightened wine drinkers. I learned so much at that tasting but don’t know if that was a good thing or not because it raised my level of what I wanted to drink but, not necessarily what I can afford to buy.  😉

Being price conscious, I continue to search for those wines which are an excellent value for my occasional evening glass of wine. For a few years, I went through a Chardonnay stage, then one favorite (Chateauneuf-du-Pape) was affordable because we lived in Germany and a bottle was BELOW $10.00. Talk about spoiled! Then, for a while, after a wonderful trip to Italy, I was into Chianti wines. It’s taken me a year here to find a new wine and I’ve tried a lot of different kinds. Here’s my new favorite:

It’s an excellent value ($12.00) and tastes yummy. Are you a wine lover? What is your favorite “value” wine?

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Vacation Wrap-Up

Posted in Beach, Travels, tagged , , , , , on Saturday, 9 August, 2008| 1 Comment »

Our last two days on St. John were spent at the resort ~ we felt no need to wander the island anymore. Favorite Girl could have spent the whole day at the beach just outside of our room but we took her on a mini-boonie stomp ~ it was only a half mile hike but, if you ask FG, she’ll tell you it felt like a grueling 5 mile climb. She was not pleased with having to hike around looking at lizards and crabs when she could have been floating in the water looking at fish.

We kept to our goal of two new beaches a day and, on Saturday we visited two more beaches at Caneel, Paradise Beach:

and Turtle Bay:

After the hike, FG and FM went for a little sail around Caneel Bay:

There were a lot of seasoned sailors who were anxious to help FM with his sailing ~ he got a lot of comments of what he should and shouldn’t be doing 😉 No doubt there are a lot of over-achievers who stay at the hotel and it was nice they wanted to share their expetise. Of course, FM didn’t listen to them, he doesn’t like to be told how to do things. Not by me or anyone else. Personally, I thought he did well for not having sailed a boat since his Boy Scout days. I preferred not to go out on the sunfish ~ it’s too crowded in the bay and I always think the ferry boat is going to run me over.

We enjoyed a sunset dinner at The Equator Restaurant which is located in the old Sugar Mill:

It’s a beautiful setting and the food was fabulous ~ in fact, it was the best dinner we had during our stay. 

On Sunday, we walked to Little Caneel Bay and Honeymoon Bay. We reached our goal of two beaches a day and saw all seven of the beaches at Caneel. We spent most of the day snorkeling right outside of our room. Made it easy to rinse off, read a little and then head back to the water. I was so relaxed I didn’t even want to go up to the hotel for lunch so FM was nice enough to bring me a bite to eat.

Our flight out of St. Thomas was at 8 am which meant we had to catch a 5:30 am water taxi. At least it was too early in the morning for me to feel too sad about leaving, I was relieved we actually made the boat on time! But, really, I was sad ~ so many fond memories are wrapped up in that place.

Here’s FG on the boat leaving the island:

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St John, USVI: Cinnamon Bay

Posted in Beach, Islands, Travels, US, tagged , , , , , on Wednesday, 6 August, 2008| 2 Comments »

Cinnamon Bay should be called Sugar Bay because the sand is so white and soft. Like Trunk Bay, Cinnamon is located within the National Park. The beach has a small rental shop for items such as snorkel gear, boogie boards, etc. It’s a long winding beach with more waves than the other beaches on the island so it’s more popular with the “surfers” ~ a little more eye candy at this beach 😉

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No TV Makes For More Creativity…

Posted in Travels, tagged , , on Wednesday, 6 August, 2008| Leave a Comment »

None of the rooms at Caneel Bay have TVs and, although I don’t feel like we’re addicted to TV, it’s on way too much in our home ~ usually for background noise. I wasn’t sure how Favorite Girl (FG) would do with a week of NO TV but it turned out to be wonderful. Of course, we were outside most of the day so it didn’t matter but it was so nice at night when the only sound was the small waves crashing to shore.

During our week of no TV, Favorite Man (FM) got through his entire backlog of reading material (all those magazines and articles he doesn’t have time for when working), I finished reading “Love Walked In” and “Barefoot” which I’ll review soon and FG finished two books and also started a book reviewing blog. She’ll be in 5th grade but reads on a 7th grade level, so her blog Book Bug will be geared towards intermediate and middle school kids. She’s just started so more reviews will follow soon. She reads at least one book a week and has started a book exchange with her other book-loving friends.

I’m thrilled she’s so enthralled with reading but I’m especially happy that she’s giving writing a try as well.

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