Travel
I feel so thankful to have had the privilege to travel to many places in my life. Growing up, my Dad felt it was extremely educational to travel as a family and visit many different countries, which included Europe, Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Hawaii, and England/Ireland/Scotland. Now, though, I love short trips here & there.
Some of my favorite vacation destinations and adventures as an adult have been: San Diego, Jamaica, Florida, Alaska, Singapore, Puerto Rico, Rochester, Seattle, South Carolina, North Carolina, New York City, Paris, Amish Country and Valley Forge in Pennsylvania, Disneyland & Disney World, Mexico, Chicago, Shasta Lake, Coeur d’Alene, Estes Park, British Columbia, Ocean Isle Beach.
I plan to continue to add many travel adventures to my experiences.
Butchart Gardens, British Columbia
The Butchart Gardens is a 120-year-old world famous 55-acre display garden located in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia. Created by Jennie Butchart, and still privately owned and operated by the family, The Gardens was designated a National Historic Site of Canada, in 2004 for its one hundredth birthday. Doug and I first visited for our first anniversary in 1976. We returned one more time 30 years later and it was still as amazing & beautiful as our first visit. The ferry ride over to the island is swift and invigorating standing on the deck at the railing. There is an old-world magic to the city that takes you back to a simpler time.
Paris, an anniversary trip with Doug, 2009
Doug had done such stellar planning with a travel agent before we left that our trip was scheduled but did not feel overly-busy or exhausting. He had tried to completely surprise me but there was no way to go on a trip like this with only vague packing instructions, so he did end up telling me. We had a lovely, cozy hotel on a cobblestone side street with windows that opened up to the hustle of life and people in Paris, day & night. We were immersed in the culture; we walked to eateries, a lovely bakery each morning for fresh food & drink. We took one amazing excursion day in a small van to the Palace of Versailles and to Notre Dame; it was memorable & beautiful. We walked along the Seine daily, walked to the Louvre and savored room after room, enjoyed lovely gardens, street vendors, and tiny sidewalk cafes with rich, delicious, creamy coffee with designs in the foam and sat on benches to people watch. We walked so much our feet & hips hurt to the bone each night as we plopped into bed with a sigh and satisfaction. We wanted to eek everything out of our few days there. It is a very memorable & special anniversary trip I will long remember.
Las Vegas
Best parts of our trip here was getting to see two Cirque du Soleil shows and walk past the lively fountain at the Bellagio. Amazing, athletic, graceful & strong dancing, artistic talent on full display during the entire long shows, jaw-dropping and worth every second.
Jamaica Vacation, details to come
Singapore Trip 2013, details to come
Disneyworld, My last vacation with Doug, 2022, details to come
Pennsylvania Trip, 2022, details to come
Diary of Puerto Rico trip, 2023
Highlights: coconut bread, the feel of family as we observe people, Love is a big part of their culture, “plates” made out of half bamboo for putting tacos in on paper, you can walk around w/alcohol and drive with open containers……
2/7/23 Tues-Long day traveling, 3 flights, 4 hours from Houston(too long) landed at 9pm with 79 degrees and a lovely island breeze; Venezuelan refugee uber driver, so sweet & interesting hearing her life story of a brave escape & building a new life for herself; everyone has been so nice; plump Lupita stewardess so so genuine and nice; held someone’s crying baby on the flight. Lots of poverty, no street signs, laid back feel, construction things are not completed or done with excellence. Singing frogs very very loud that sound like chirping birds sang all night long. Large large leaves and lots of lush greenery everywhere; abandoned houses and bizzes, Valentine pop up booths everywhere. SW decorated well in the airport with big candy heart poster board letters. Free enterprise is everywhere; pop up tent biz for selling bananas, side of the freeway pulled over van selling juice, people pulling wagons of wares to sell, people seem very hard working and resourceful and industrious. But not like the people at an intersection who are begging to wash your windshield.
2/8/23 Wed- got our rental car in San Juan via Uber and drove to the old Fort; wild horses grazing all over on grass; cobblestone streets very narrow, no parking available, left busy San Juan, neon yellow and pink large blossoms, espresso colored sand at one beach, green/blue water that looks like Yellowstone hot chemical pools, ate at our first patio restaurant and enjoyed the sea view, sea breeze, and sea vibe; trailer park coast community made me dream of having an airbnb there; took chairs to the Fajardo beach and enjoyed the evening shade and high winds and basically no people; border and customs guys there checking out something; fishing boat came in; airbnb in a very loud area; lots of stray cats and during the night we thought it was cats yowling but it was a child; thank God for earplugs.
2/9/23 Thur- Woke up at 9am after a long howling night, wind blew and it rained a lot in the night. We are at a 4 unit bldg w/neighbor tourists; AC works great; lots of nearby Walgreens, Burger Kings, American businesses. Pace of life feels very laidback, drivers are terrible, no street signs, almost never any speed limit signs. Maps phone feature kind of works but since there are no street signs or house numbers in many cases, you still do not know where you are going. Kinda funny. Our place has a nice porch and there’s a rooftop patio I could not go all the way up the Giant spiral staircase; I froze. Hope we have no crying wailing baby again tonite.
Saw a group of 10 wild horses. Got stopped behind a funeral procession where a large family WALKED behind the funeral vehicle and there was a GIANT sound system that took up and entire bed of a pick up. Sat at the beach all day in the amphitheater and on the sea wall. The sea air blew on us all day. Watched families and people enjoy it like we did. Ate at an outside delicious place made out of cargo containers stacked on top of each other. Found a Walmart for aloe and coffee. Watched 4 large group of kayakers that disappeared into an ocean tributary and they followed it up to an ocean lake for bioluminescence of a night trip. Dead squashed large iguana with orange innards. “Construction” is done very haphazardly and incompletely here(I’m so used to Doug’s excellence in building & construction quality). Wild dog and cats wandering. Lots of chickens and roosters with a dozen babies, so cute!!! Dive bombing birds; fish that blend in and dart away faster than a wink of an eye. Amazing wind and surf. Crashing and splashing of surf way out by the islands and outer colors of blue/green/dark blue essences of hues. Great people watching. We sat and walked and stood in the ocean for 11 hours today and it only seemed like a couple hours. So relaxing. So uninterrupted. So refreshing to our souls. No need to know what time it is. The people seem to have a handle on pace of life and work/life balance and they radiate a chiller vibe than in the states which brings me down to a calmer level. See this, this is my “I don’t care” face….
2/10/23 – Friday, travelled 2 hrs to Ponce, roadkill are iguana; up thru the mts quite a climb; no lanes, no speed signs, people drive wherever they want; beautiful high mts, it’s hotter in Ponce area; wild horses and cows grains and drier grasses. Found a Firehouse Subs and had a great lunch; checked in at Paul’s outside of Ponce at 4pm; lovely compound at the end of the road w/villas; beautiful and spacious and newly remodeled. Looks like they bought a wrecked piece of property and put a lot into it and now it’s this gorgeous villa. Lizards skitter about; the beach we found here had about 50 mph winds all day; we found it at the end of the road next to a police station with an outdoor flea market feel kind of set up; lots of food trucks and trailers, great little coffee place on one side; pelicans walking all over; dive bombing for fish; Paul’s condo is lovely and spacious and newer feeling; he has a binder of wonderful helpful hints about beaches and eateries; we walked 2 blks to an outdoor one man cook-eatery and Pablo behind the building drinking an open can of Coors washing dishes, furnished w/old office chairs, dump looking throw away items but his cooking/outdoor fire burning oven pizza and tacos were to die for; he started in Argentina, moved to LA and cooked at his “Santini’s” for 30 yrs, came here on vacay and stayed in Paul’s villa and then moved here. Yum. Easy vibe and very very slow pace of life feeding our souls.
2/11/23- Sat— I have lost track of time and what day it is. Sitting at the shore being battered by the high winds feels like when you were a kid and you’d ride in the summer with the car window down and the air would pummel you, only better here cuz you are surrounded by ocean and breeze and salt smell and the continual sound of the ocean. It feels like it’s blowing the dust out of my soul and heart completely to the core. Don’t care about my phone. Will try to do better taking pictures today, I know that’s super important to Kellie. People here make do with what they have and seem grateful to their core. Sense of community here on a big city level. Politeness very very prevalent, except for the crazy driving; People drive at night with no lights on. They tailgate and weave on the roads in a naive kind of way, without the road rage of America feeling.
A little crab across our feet at the beach; beautiful ocean; tons of carp and pelicans; an entire population of people open carrying and behaving themselves; Walmart that had 14 check strands open and we waited in line 30 min to check out on a busy Saturday and people were ALL patient and amazing; one dad even offered to let us go ahead of their family and we said thank you but no with out 4 items. Gas station with a fancy, silver-gold, 10 foot high coffee/espresso maker; amazing coffee for breakfast from non English ladies who were so joyful and kind. Fresh slushies/pina coladas so big and hearty with fresh fruit cut into it and decorated.
2 for $4 …..GIANT avacados literally the size of a kid’s basketball!! Walmarts here sell washer/dryers/paint and tons of amazing produce. Lots of family units; lots of couples holding hands and families spending time together. You can feel & see the Freedom and Capitalism at work. Guy on the beach pulling a wagon making mojitos for you on the spot. People can just start a biz any time, anywhere, it appears. It’s palpable the joy and appreciation of life in the culture here. Watched the Bernie Madoff documentary.
2/12/23 – Sunday – large groups of workers use weed wackers and walk along side the highway for miles and miles. They use baby strollers for their supplies. Everyone layers up so as not to burn we learned the hard way with John getting pretty fried in 10 minutes.
Culture of love and family units. Drove to the ultimate Playa Jungle beach and paid $4 to get in; spent the morning in a beautiful paradise cove w/lots of colorful umbrellas and families just chillin on Sunday; by 1130 we were gone cuz of heat of the day and crowds; took a short hike to find the second cove shore which didn’t exist but there were huge cactus and lots of motor cycle riders in full full gear and mt bike riders enjoying the day. Lots of kayak and loud music action and family time. You can feel the respect as people. There is total open carry which isn’t guns, it’s alcohol; they sell ready mix alcohol drinks everywhere.
Saw a boys 5th bday party at a red picnic table w/fam and surprises w/a bouquet of huge balloons tied to his new electric bike w/training wheels in the 60 mph winds they finally blew away. Speed bumps everywhere. Even out in the sticks and back alleys. Ate at Santini’s again and had the most delicious “mistake” pizza; I had ordered another pepperoni pizza like the first night and got a combo instead and it was fantastic! Sergio and his little waiter guy weren’t busy so we asked them a bunch of questions when we paid for dinner and they were so helpful with info and suggestions and said we can easily find homes for sale for $30-50K and fix up a little bit with no problem; hmmmmm, gets me to thinking…. get a generator and do an airbnb and have passive income. They were so cheery and free with advice! “We will help you, we can help you………”
2/13/23 Monday. Woke up and went for amazing coffee at our place 2 min away. Didn’t feel like beaching it. Talked a lot w/John about investing in property and what I could do for an airbnb and connected place to live myself and have passive income. Giant cement drainage entry and exit to gas stations and you have to go in sideways so you don’t scrape. Our car is getting excellent highway mileage; we’ve driven far and long and back and forth for $20. The only roadkill is lizards!!! John found some PR garden seeds for Randy.
2/14/23 – Tuesday. Leaving Ponce today for Cabo Rojo. Valentine’s Day. Workers in bright red t-shirts and cute hair ties. Exploring the unknown.
Lovely drive to Cabo. Found the Walmart for groceries and there was a DJ right inside the doors dancing and singing and with his uniform on blasting Peter Saterra “you’re the inspiration”! (One of Doug’s & my favorite songs). Ate at an outdoor bar/eatery for dinner; our airbnb is adorable, very homey with live anthurium mini plant on the table right on the beach and up 3 stories; our view is amazing.
2/15/23. Slept well in our new little “Sandy Villa” right on the ocean. On our way to the beach we found a tiny lot w/a lady selling delish coffee…..they know how to make it here. People here love to park backward and forward on the same street; there’s no rules; speed bumps are the norm; roads with no center line, right on the edges of the road! Fast turns and speeders
2/16/23 – Drove up the coast to Rincon where PR boasts of amazing beaches and surfing sites; found the island’s 150 yr old family bakery with cases and cases and cases full of colorful delicious pastries, cakes and donuts; appears to be a favorite w/ex-pats of lots of English speakers in this area; lovely coastal cities and tons of parking and gazebos, Light House, many many eateries, shopped at Walmart before we left; loud surf sitting for hours in our chairs watching amateur surfers take lessons and then try it out; plenty of shade from palm trees; wind and clouds came up so we scurried off the beach just in time to miss being drenched by a heavy storm of rain; discovered an orange and silver giant lizard and watched it eat leaves and drink water off the leaves too; John keeps getting sunburned without even being in the sun; miles and miles of coastline beaches and playgrounds for kiddos; they are very family friendly here; we like the vibe a lot in Rincon; it all keeps getting better as we travel the island and get more west and north. Air bnb is adequate and homey, I am on the hide abed; great A/C; nice porch, nice lighted stairway and doorway hose pad to wash off our feet before coming in; great assigned parking space; no shampoo offered but we picked up a travel bottle. Saw lots of wild horses and cows today. You leave the city busy with cars and traffic and in 5 min you are rural and driving along in a canopy of lush green leaves and bent over trees like an Anne of Green Gables ride; much less hurricane devastation on this side of the island; lots of modern buildings and the road now has lines and a guard rail. Most back roads are only wide enough for 1 1/2 cars and it freaks me out when we come upon a Mack truck or full size vehicles; big Toyota presence here. One would really need a very small car to navigate the tiny passable roads.
2/17/23 – Friday. Drove to Surfer Beach after stopping at Rincomini Bakery of awesomeness with freshly-made breakfast burritos & handmade pastries. Found a wonderful shaded spot, parked our chairs and enjoyed 5 hours of watching 100 people surf. Great people watching. Loads of parking, didn’t have to walk far to get to our hot car. Fed my final bread scraps to 2 lizards skittering on the beach. Beautiful winds and water colors. Lots of families and cute kids learning to boogie board. Stopped back by our fave bakery for iced coffees when we left cuz it was almost 90 degrees. Headed back to our airbnb and watched a movie and some Seinfeld and relaxed and planned our last day in Cabo Rojo tomorrow; then we will head north to the tip of the island, check on some land, and then head to San Juan for our last 2 days.
2/19/23- Left to head to San Juan and had a long long drive. I hate the too-skinny roads that lead to all the beaches!! They are too narrow, the Toyotas and full size trucks are all too wide and we are often in the small ditches or it feels as if we will definitely crash. And then you have the cars that park in the road randomly going both directions; they stop to eat, to drink or to visit. I hate it. Maybe I’m tired today, I don’t know, but crabby is what I am. Long day driving. Found the huge 350-foot-tall, beautiful, bronze Columbus statue that 6 states refused to accept so the town of Aricepo said yes to it and it’s erected way out in the middle on nowhere with a gate around it and you can’t get in!! Found a delicious BBQ place in the middle of nowhere and had a delish lunch. Right on the water; no windows, just open shutters and the sea breeze and birds coming in. Drove off the beaten path to an amazing tidal pool. Huge spraying waves and surf; deep blue colors again.
2/20/23- Walmart outside ice cream stand….mini donuts/amaretto ice cream: John’s Fave. Vanilla with a bag of donuts: My fave. Walked around the beautiful 500 yr old San Juan Fort on the edge of the island; amazing architecture and grounds; families with kites, bicyclists, lots of tourists.
2/21/23- Flying home but feel like I could move here tomorrow & live simply and happily. Grateful to score exit row seats randomly/miraculously for the 4 hr flight from PR to Houston which rocked!! I loved having my laptop for movies to pass the hours. Arrived home in MT to 6 in of fluffy snow and zero degrees in my flip flops. Amazing sights & memories to savor for a lifetime. Just what the doctor ordered for me with complete down time, unplugging, experiencing so many new adventures, and being refreshed to my very core.
