A Week in Paradise: Vieques, Puerto Rico - Day 4

Knowing that there would be less opportunity to see things on Sunday, we woke with the intention of taking the day a little slower. We'd gotten a fair amount of sun and were ready for an easier, less exposed day too. After breakfast (lighter today, we had brunch plans), I didn't walk the beach like I had been doing. Instead, we went looking for a local beach (in Isabel II) called Sea Glass Beach. I'd picked up some pieces on my walks on Bravo Beach, but was really looking forward to what this beach would offer. 

Based on our handy map, we knew roughly where it should be, but struggled to find access, as it seemed there was a sheer cliff at the end of many of the streets in the area. We parked and began to walk a bit, as a woman approached, also looking for the beach. A local man pointed us in the right direction and we left on foot to find it, together with the woman. We had been just a block away, but the road we needed to take looked more like a driveway to us, so we hadn't thought to check it out.

When we arrived, we found a small, unassuming beach with lots of teeny tiny bits of glass, and seemingly very few sizable pieces to pick up. I was up for the challenge and any associated adventure though. A sweet little tabby cat greeted us with rubs and purrs, as I imagine he greets all visitors.

A Week in Paradise: Vieques, Puerto Rico - Day 3

Becoming part of our routine was the same selection of breakfast choices, followed by me walking on the beach and Shane having a little morning lie down. The excessive sun had produced morning headaches for him, so this seemed to help. He'd take some ibuprofen and rest with his eyes closed for  a few minutes before we started our day. While I felt for his pain, it did provide me a chance to scour the beach for treasures before we even left. :)

We hit the road toward Playas la Plata and Platita, but this particular jungle area made Shane nervous, thanks to some reading he'd done about creepy crawly creatures that may inhabit the island, so we decided against stopping for a visit.  

Our first stop was at Playa Escondida. It was probably our longest beach stop of the entire week, was super private and just felt like our beach "home."  We'd picked up beach chairs at the hotel that morning to use, and use them we did. Well, Shane did, I had to walk and explore first. There was little to pick up here, but the scenery was magnificent.

A Week in Paradise: Vieques, Puerto Rico - Day 2

After our breakfast and my morning walk on our little beach, I walked up to the hotel office to inquire about getting ourselves to Culebra for a day sometime during our visit.  Culebra is the third island that makes up Puerto Rico. It is smaller yet than Vieques and we thought it might be fun to island hop to check it out. They gave me some information about the available flights and prices and I took that back to Shane to discuss.  It appeared we would have to spend a whole day on the island, taking a 9am flight and returning at 5pm, so we would want to be sure of our plan. While the woman spoke with someone at the airline (you have to take an air taxi to get there from Vieques or spend 3 hours on ferries each way - no thanks!), I noticed this great old sign with the original beach names and the new ones assigned by the NAVY during their presence.

Our first goal as we set out for the day was to check out the grocery store for a few things. We were looking for snacks, sunglasses for Shane (he forgot his) and sunscreen. We had made a couple quick stops the day before without much luck at local markets. Today, we found a much nicer, well stocked super market that actually had loose veggies (instead of having to buy two saran wrapped onto styrofoam - eww) and a nice selection of other things. The only snack we picked up were strawberries, but we got the sunscreen we were looking for. An employee suggested we try BlackBeard Sports for sunglasses, so we made our purchases and headed to downtown Isabel II.

A Week in Paradise: Vieques, Puerto Rico - Day 1

While waking up without an alarm was magical, we did end up rising considerably earlier than we expected, largely because of the time change.  Vieques is on Atlantic Time and does not observe daylight savings time.  During our visit, that meant the time was an hour ahead of home.  The timing was good since we knew we needed showers and breakfast before we called for our rental car, which was to be ready for us at 9. As we stepped out onto our patio, the view was breathtaking. A little sliver of rainbow danced on the horizon, adding some joy to the beginning of our trip.  

A Week in Paradise: Vieques, Puerto Rico - Traveling there

The evening before we left, we dropped our dogs off to my mother so she could make sure they were looked after while we were away.  Our dogs love having visits with her and her animals, so it works out well.

Up before the sun, our friends, John and Chris, met us at our home to take Lexi to school and us to the airport.  They had offered a few weeks before to avoid us having to pay to park a car at the airport for a week and we could not be more grateful for their help.

We arrived with plenty of time to get some breakfast and make it to our gate to wait for our flight.  Traveling for work, flying has become much less exciting to me than it used to be.  However, on this day, I got to sit next to my favorite person in the world, which made the trip spectacular!

Mother nature did a fabulous job of reminding us whey we chose to take our honeymoon in the winter... snowing while we waited to take off, and causing the need for two rounds of deicing before we could do so safely.

A quick check of the weather app on my phone confirmed the disparity in weather that we would soon be enjoying.  A nice 55 degree gap in temperature would be a welcome change from the winter doldrums in Michigan.

Arizona - Pleasure - A Trip to Biosphere 2

August 17, 2012

I let myself sleep in a bit, had a filling breakfast and decided to head to Biosphere 2 to do a little learning and exploration. It was monsoon season in Arizona, so the day was hazy and a little rainy, but it was still a great drive. I just never tire of the scenery there.

As I made my way to the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains to see the Biosphere, I stopped for a few shots of one of my favorite memories of Arizona, grazing open range cattle.

Arizona - Business and Pleasure

August 16, 2012

The drive from Phoenix to Tucson isn't terribly long, but it is scenic. I stopped at a rest area to get my camera out.   While there, I noted the way they had constructed concrete walk paths in the area of the rest stop that highlighted local vegetation for visitors. I was tempted to wander and walk a bit, but worried a bit about doing so while traveling alone, and was rather anxious to get checked into my hotel in Tucson.

I thought there might be some places I would want to get pictures of along the way.  This was true, but there was rarely a good place to stop. I made it a point to just really enjoy the drive instead. I noted groves of trees, but struggled to identify them.  A sign gave me a clue at the edge of one grove "Pecan Wood for Sale."  Aha! How cool! I didn't even know pecans grew in Arizona. There were irrigated fields of lush green growth that looked a lot like potatoes, but that didn't make sense to me. As it turns out, Arizona does produce a fair amount of potatoes, but these fields were more likely cotton. Once again, I did not know that this was one of their crops. As a matter of fact, it's one of their top three crops (1. Lettuce 2. Cotton 3. Hay)?! I guess I always thought Arizona to be too arid for agriculture. Boy was I wrong!
I was concerned about getting checked into my hotel because there had been quite an issue with getting it booked. I used Priceline, as I have many times before. I was thrilled to land a Sheraton for such a reasonable price and counted myself lucky.  Then I started reading reviews (at the prompting of my Dad).  Then I spoke with someone who had actually stayed there. All accounts were saying this was a very bad choice for me to be travelling alone and that I would not be pleased with the condition of the hotel.  I was faced with an expensive decision.  I could either wait and see how bad it really was, or book another hotel and eat the cost of the first.  Since I named my own price, neither Priceline nor Sheraton was willing to work with me about the condition of the hotel, claiming it had earned its star rating and it was my loss.  I chose to err on the side of safety and comfort, booking a room at the Doubletree Reid Park.  I am SO glad.  It was absolutely outstanding.  The accommodations were great, the place was beautiful and the staff was over the top great.  Even though the ordeal cost me a small fortune, I think I chose wisely.  More importantly, I learned a very valuable lesson.  Just book something decent and pay the price.  As long as I book with the hotel directly, I have some recourse if it does not meet my expectations (not the case with Priceline).

I arrived, checked in, settled my things into my room and gave my Dad a call.  We had talked about potentially having dinner together, and I had arrived in town a little sooner than I had originally expected.  He indicated that he had just started preparing dinner and I should just come on over then.  I was taken back a little and a touch nervous.  It had been 12 years or more since we last saw one another, so I don't think that was out of line. I was still dressed from the day in the office, but I just headed out to begin our visit.

When I arrived, he was waiting for me outside the gate of his apartment complex with another fellow. The other man held a camera and captured our first moments seeing one another (that was pretty cool). I learned that the man with the camera was my Dad's nutty neighbor Rebel.

We went inside and I finally got the chance to meet the lady in my Dad's life, Miss Barbara.  She was so excited to see me, she hugged me right away.  It was like we'd known each other for years. I sat next to her on the couch and after a few minutes of conversation it hit me, she's blind!  She stood and walked so well to greet me that it didn't dawn on me until she was sharing with me about learning to cook again and about all the ways my Dad has been helping her. Boy did I feel silly!  She's a marvelous lady, with a lot of love in her heart for my Dad (and me, even though we'd never met before that evening).

I had sent a package ahead of my visit so that they could sample some of the canned goodies that I have been putting up. I asked if it had arrived yet. We walked to his post box and there it was. It was fun to open it and go through the contents with Dad and Barbara. We had a great meal together and visited for several hours. I finally decided to call it a day sometime after 10. It had been a very long day, beginning with time in the office, a long drive and then culminating in a big visit.

I had plans for some relaxation and sightseeing for my time in Tucson, beginning the next day, so a good night's rest was important!

Road Trip to Virginia Days 3 and 4 - Barbeque and Luray Caverns

August 3 and 4, 2012

Having arrived late at night, we decided on a low key morning at home. I had some sewing to do for a gift basket order that needed to be sent, so my sewing machine made the trip with us and I spent a relaxed morning working with it.

Some of our favorite clients (not that we should have favorites, but hey!) offered to have a little gathering for us so we could finally meet some more of them in person. We brought sweetcorn and cantaloupe from Michigan and a big gift basket of canned goods for our hosts.  They provided an awesome spread of food, grilling chicken along with our corn and other treats.  We had an absolutely wonderful time visiting with everyone and getting to know them.  We ate and then as the evening cooled a bit, we retired to sit poolside to chat some more.  As we sat, we heard a pack of coyotes yip and howl which generated a bit of excitement.  Their home is set in a "subdivision" of sorts, backing up to some rather wild landscape just into West Virginia from Virginia.  If it hadn't been for the lengthy drive back to Virginia to Shane's mom's, we would have continued to stay and chat deeper into the night.  We sure hated to leave when we were having such a good time, but so it goes. It was some time after midnight when we arrived "home" and fell into bed.

The next morning (Day 4), I finished the basket and readied it for shipment (special thanks to my spectacular Mom-In-Law-to-be who took care of the final baking I needed, the night before while we partied the night away). We had settled on spending the day with family, but weren't sure what we were going to do until the notion struck us to visit Luray Caverns. It was a pricey stop, but OH SO worth it!  Gracious, was that an awesome experience. Mom-In-Law-to-be was not feeling well from the ride, so she stayed above ground while we explored below.  Our good camera took sub-par pictures, but my silly little iPhone shined in the strange and difficult lighting of the cave.

Road Trip to Virginia Day 2 - Skyline Drive (Big Meadows - It's really about the deer!)

We had been on the road most of the day, but there was at least one stop we wanted to make on Skyline Drive and we heard it was worth the effort to get there.  After leaving the Blue Ridge Parkway, we jetted west to another highway and made our way north with more speed than we could attain on the byways.  We made the jog back in to the mountains about a third of the way into the path and headed north to our scenic stop of choice and recommendation - Big Meadows.  Our dear friends, the Ackers, shared with us what a cool place it was, telling us that there were tons and tons of deer in the field all the time and what a great stop it would be to take the family.  We had to check it out!

Just after paying our park entry fee and getting on with our drive, we encountered our second bear for the day.  It was lumbering slowly across the road when a motorcyclist got impatient, passed a car on the shoulder and startled the bear.

A Scenic Drive From the Perspective of an Inquisitive Six Year Old

We gave Lexi a digital camera of her own to record our journey for the day.  We thought it would be great to see what she saw and might also keep her entertained on a painfully long drive for a six year old girl with an active mind.  It was outstanding!  She loved it!

We set a few expectations before letting her go with the camera though:
1.  Don't turn it on and off a lot, nor leave it on all the time, as there was no spare battery.  It has to plug in to charge, so when the battery went dead, that would be the end of her photo journey.
2.  Keep the wrist strap tight on her wrist for safety.
3.  Have fun and take pictures that would make her happy and help her remember her trip.

Here is a sampling of her photographs from the day (I have asked her to caption the ones she has something to say about.  The photos are hers, so shall the captions be. There were quite a few blurry shots and totally pointless shots of sky and haze, etc., and what fun would there be in posting those, so I have edited them out (mostly).

Road Trip to Virginia Day 2 - The Blue Ridge Parkway

August 2, 2012

We let ourselves sleep in just a bit, since we were on vacation, but got ourselves moving at a reasonable hour so as not to miss out on any of the sights we were planning on seeing.  We packed up most of our things, grabbed some complimentary breakfast and went back to our room to finish up and load the car.  (Let's face it, we all needed to go potty before a long car ride anyway!) As we "gathered our things" (ahem) we discovered that we had no running water.  A call to the front desk found that they were doing some repairs and the water would be off for a couple of hours.  I asked where my 6 year old was supposed to go potty and the desk clerk said, "I guess you'll have to find a restroom somewhere else."  Nice.  We meandered around the area and finally found a spot for us all to take care of business, but not without a lot of grumbling and whining. :-)

Road trip to Virginia, Day 1

August 1, 2012

Shane was fortunate to have Monday and Tuesday off so he could pack for himself and Lexi, but I had to work and was unable to get much done until Tuesday after work and some errands...So he headed to bed early and I stayed up to finish readying myself and the animals for our departure.  He intended to drive and I would just sleep the first leg through Ohio anyway.  Our plan was to leave at 4:00am, but we overslept a smidge and left the house about 5:00 instead.  We stopped for breakfast around 8:30 in Groveport, Ohio and got back on the road.  Our first scheduled destination was in Charleston, WV for lunch with a client of Shane's.  We arrived at his office a little earlier than he had planned for us, at 11:30 instead of 12:00.  He was in the middle of a client meeting, so we relaxed and hung out until he was ready to grab a bite to eat.  Mr. E and his awesome staffer Miss J took us to a great spot to show us some of the local color the city had to offer, a restaurant called Tricky Fish.  It had a really eclectic mix of menu items and was delicious!