5 Year Wedding Anni: Turks + Caicos

It’s hard to believe that five wonderful years of marriage have already gone by.  Where does the time go?  As you know by now, when Ron and I travel, we usually try to squeeze in as much adventure and excitement as time allows.  We can’t help it, we want to see everything!  This time, however, we decided to see what a lazy and relaxing beach vacation was really like.  So, we decided on Turks + Caicos.  If you’ve never been, I highly recommend it.  It’s warm with clear blue water and white sandy beaches.  Things run at a much slower pace and it’s extremely romantic.

I have to warn you, this post is extremely photo-heavy.  Are you ready?!

My mom armed me with plenty of magazines for the flights, so I was thrilled to sit back and relax.  Also, knowing that my dad was watching our fur-babies, made it even easier to let go of any stress as we took off for Miami.

On the way to T+C we had a 5 hour layover in Miami, so I made the most of it by painting my nails pink!  I have to admit, out of all of the airports that we’ve been through, Miami has to be our least favorite.  It’s always so chaotic and we seem to always come across the rudest people.  So once we ate, we found a quiet corner near the gate and kept to ourselves as much as possible.  That seemed to work out perfectly.

The view from our room was breathtaking!  Our balcony overlooked the pool, garden and ocean.

One of my favorite parts of the resort were all of the little lizards running around.  I got way more photos of them then Ron saw necessary.

I just fell in love with these two pups.  They never let each other out of sight as they ran along the beach as the sun was setting.  I wanted to take them home so bad!

One night we went to grab a bite at Jimmy’s Dive Bar in hopes of finding some more local food.  We have to admit that we weren’t too impressed.  It was just that – a dive bar with greasy bar food.  At least we tried.

We found some little crabs on the pier…

… then we saw several schools of baby puffer fish.  Adorable!  They were so quick, too.

The pool water was so warm!  I loved it!

We rented bikes everyday and rode into town for ice cream, food, shopping and sight seeing.  There were two parrots that we would ride by multiple times a day and we said “hello!” each time.  After few times, we would hear each one repeat it back.  How cute is that?!

This is some sort of crab that reminded me of my hermit crabs growing up.  Then shortly after taking this photo, my face and hand was pooped on by some crazy birds!!!  Urgh.

This was a little snorkeling spot that we found.  Ron came really close – too close – to a barracuda and we saw so many fish, sea urchin and coral.  Beautiful!

Now, the quality of this photo is poor, but we chased three dolphins for a good 1-2 miles up the beach and this is the only photo that came out.  We would like to believe that one of the dolphins was the infamous Jo Jo the Dolphin.

We have so many more photos to share, like snorkeling and underwater ones.  We also have some photos from Iguana Island and a boat tour that we went on.  I’ll share those in another post real soon.  We had such a wonderful time and we can’t wait to go back and visit!  Until next time T+C!

back in the swing of things

I just got back from Mexico, so I’m slowly getting back into the swing of things.  Our 6 day vacation consisted of zip-lining, cave snorkeling, cave propelling, 4-wheeling, ruin seeing, and eating as well as swimming with dolphins, wild sea turtles and wild sting ray.  We also saw lots of wild iguana, Coati, bats and catfish!  We stayed in Play Del Carmen, but we traveled around to Akumal Bay, Chichen Itza, Tulum, Xel-Ha and The Jungle Maya.  It was so fun to participate in so many activities which even included a Mayan Ceremony!  Lucky us!  We met so many fantastic people along the way and can’t wait to do it again!  Here are a few photos of what we did and what we saw…

Day One consisted of traveling to Mexico, enjoying a fabulous Mayan dinner and finding this place (above).  I came here three separate times for some chocolate goodies.  The Spicy Maya Chocolate Ice Cream was my favorite!  If anyone knows of a place in the US to get some, please let me know.  Also, does anyone know if I can get Mexican Sweet Coffee in the States?!




Day Two started off with a tour of the Tulum Mayan Ruins just off the Gulf Coast.  There were so many Iguana crawling around and the history was quite fascinating.  We also had a chance to swim at the beach there just before we headed to The Jungle Maya.



We finished off day two at The Jungle Maya where we zip-lined through trees and into caves, snorkeled in caves with bats (the above photos is full of bats, but they’re difficult to see.  The bottom arrow points to the albino bat), propelled into a cave, and 4-wheeled through the jungle.  We also were invited to a Mayan Ceremony and meal.  We purchased photos of this part of the day, so I hope to have those soon to share.





Day Three was spent at the Xel-Ha Natural Water Park (pronounced shel-ha).  There we swam with dolphins, snorkeled, zip-lined, rope walked, hiked, saw manatee, and saw wild Iguana and Coati all over!  Two full days would have been perfect to see and experience everything, but we managed to squeeze in a lot.  Oh, and it was all you can eat all day!!!  Needless to say, I need to hit the salad bar now that I’m back home…  I’ll share the dolphin photos as soon as soon as I get them off of the disc.






Day four we traveled up to Akumal Bay where we swam with wild sea turtles and sting ray.  It was so amazing and magical.  The sea turtles have to be the sweetest creatures.  We got stuck in a couple of small rain storms, but they passed so quickly that by the time you swam to shore, it was over.  It was such a beautiful day.






Day five we were sweating up a storm at the Chichen Itza Mayan Ruins.  It was seriously the hottest day of my entire life!  The humidity is nothing like Colorado, so I had a hard time breathing at times.  The temples were worth it though!  So large and breathtaking.  Oh, side note… the Mayan calendar was misinterpreted, so the world is not ending on December 21st.  Mayans believe in a cycle and with that, reincarnation.  December 21st is just the end of one cycle and the beginning of another.  Yay!  You can sleep easy again.  After visiting the Ruins, we were taken to eat another Mayan meal and then we got to swim in a huge Cenote, called Ik Kil!  It was about 82 feet below ground and another 82 feet deep!  Inside Ron got to cliff jump and we swam with mini catfish!  Such a cool experience!

Then day six we had breakfast, packed and headed home.  We took about 2,000+ photos between our 2 cameras and each of our cell phones.  We would be here all day if I shared them all, so you’re welcome for summing it up, hahahaha!  If you ever plan to travel to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico and its surrounding areas and have questions, feel free to ask!  Thanks for taking a peek at our little adventure, and I can’t wait to share the next one! ♥r

Cave of The Winds | Manitou Springs, CO

Yesterday was my brother, Aaron’s, 16th Birthday and we went to The Cave of the Winds in Manitou Springs, Colorado.  We had such a blast on the Lantern Tour, because we actually had flame-lit lanterns as we walked through the pitch black caves.  It was so dark in fact, that when we blow out all of our lanterns and put all electronic devices away, we couldn’t even see our own hands right in front of our faces!  We saw so many great things together, like the endangered cave spider known as the Lampshade Spider, because it builds its web in the shape of a 3-D lampshade!  We also saw some Stalagmites (from the ground up), Stalactites (from the ceiling down), and of course some Cave Bacon!  Caves aren’t just holes in the Earth, they are living Eco-Systems just like a pond or field.  They are very much alive with flowing water, bats, spiders, and other insects.animals depending on the cave.  When cave-visiting, it’s important to remember to never touch the cave walls with your palms.  The oil on your skin actually stops the cave from growing!  So, if you have to hold on or catch yourself from falling, use your fist or arms instead.  So, if you’re ever in the Manitou Springs area, stop by The Cave of the Winds and enjoy an experience of a lifetime!

1. Cave ceiling with Stalactites
2. My mom, brother, and I in the Cave
3. Lantern Tour Sign right before we entered the Main Cave
4. More Stalactites
   
5. Cave Bacon
6. My brother crouching down as we walked through some tight spaces