south of the border

We tried a bit of a different vacation this year.  Headed out of the gloomy skies of Spokane to Puerto Vallarta Mexico for a week in the sun and warmth.  The difference is we made no plans other than where we were staying.  No planned trips no extensive research on what to do.  Nothing   Yeah that is so unlike me.  But I had a rough year last year very stressful so we decided to just go and have fun.

We flew out on a cold day, praying the whole way to the airport that we wouldn't get stuck here and not get in an accident on the foggy and slick roads.  First time I had to fly out on a plane that needed deicing too.



Once airborne I felt much better.  A brief stop in Seattle then a stop in LA and we arrived

This was the view from our room at Los Arcos an all inclusive resort right on the beach and extremely affordable especially since we were booked in with a group.



i have to say the bathroom was so dang cute.  I have to share the sink.


we had such a relaxing time it was just what the doctor ordered.  thought about para sailing but never got around to it  looked like fun though, next time.



I read 5 books while gone that's how relaxing it was.  Didn't get sun burned (neither did Dave thankfully) we had umbrellas at the beach but ended up with a nice glow. A view of our beach area and hotel.


just a short walk from our hotel was a beautiful pier that was built a year ago



the night we arrived they had a firework celebration.  Nice of them to do that for our arrival I thought. well it was actually the anniversary for the pier



the vendors that came through the beach area were not pushy though they did come around many times.  My favorite was the nut man. yummy



we had one cloudy and a bit rainy day but it still beat Spokane.  It just meant I read more in my book



the food was good and they even put on a little bit of a show.  At the side cafe several in the group ordered Mexican coffee.  It has ice cream in it and liquor that is lit on fire



this is them preparing to the alcohol (actually was for my banana foster but same procedure)


and ends with a cherry on top



and at night the sunsets were always great


will share a few more pictures in upcoming posts.

sunset to say goodbye

every Friday at the Hawaiian Hilton they have a great firework show.  And we fortunately were staying right next door.   the beaches in Hawaii are open to everyone no private beach property for anyone.



but the sunsets are awesome







well that is the end of the hawaii photos hope you enjoyed them.

skys a blaze

here we are on the road again.  this is from a couple of weekends ago when we hit the road for an 800 mile roadtrip to see the family in reno/sparks nevada area.  I love how the sky was setting on these.  not to bad for a picture taken inside a fast car with rain and windshield wipers going. we hit rain, sun, hail and at one point a heck of a dust devil that hit us really hard.  good thing both hands were on the wheel.



two shots today because I love these types of shots here we are leaving the sun behind us




PS  I am working on a cleaner blog to much stuff going on it.  so you will see some changes.  thanks to Geri at my heart art for sharing her tutorial  check her out here   she always has something fun to learn and some really great art.

sunset

in my scrapbooks I always like to end a trip with a scrapbook so here is my end to my vegas trip.  hope you enjoyed them and it has inspired you to travel, see red rock canyons or just want to go somewhere.  there is so much out there we can't see it all but we can try right???

by teh way the framing tip is up in my tip page with a link to a great tutorial from anotehr blogger.

peaceful

recently in wenatche it was so quiet and peaceful  on my walk. 

courage

caught the tail end of a gorgeous sunset from my back door.  It made me feel peaceful at the end of a long monday workday.  I went in search of a quote to this quote popped up on a google search and it really struck me.  A little more searching I found the author Mary anne radmacher.  she even has a book by the name and is from the pacific northwest.  so I think it was the best fit for the picture.

New Park and its awesome

sorry combo of point and shoot, fires in the area creating a haze and the sun was going down.

Hubby and walked to the new Dwight Merkel Sports Complex  which I will always refer to as Joe Albi stadium because growing up here that is what we called it.  

the park is really cool a great place for familes.  I will have to take the big girl camera down and shoot some real shots soon.  

They have baseball diamonds, soccer fields, football fields, a huge skate park, the above is a bmx track (Way cool) splash pads, basketball court and it is even pet friendly.

 

the bmx track has an electronic gate so they can hold races here too.  fun fun

sunset

the picture isn't as good as the sunset but by the time I flipped a u'y in the road and found a spot to stop on a bridget to take this with my point and shoot it was fading fast.

sunset goodbyes

well time to leave Florida it was a great two week vacation and even longer blog posts. thanks for sharing in my fun

In almost every scrapbook I have made of my travels the last page is always a sunset so I thought it fitting that my last Florida post be a sunset.

taken while we were on board the carnival legend somewhere in the water.

Homeward bound

Well to our temporary home at least

After a long day the boat ride to the island there were some of us like my mother who slept. Hit lots of waves on the way home but it didn't phase her one bit.

As our yellow boat docked the ships horn was blowing it was time for them to leave but with about 100 of us just getting off the mainland transport they were waiting on us. thankfully we booked our tour through the ship so we were guaranteed to have them wait for us. As we got closer to the boat we heard clapping the people on board knew they were waiting for our tour and were cheering us back on board.



Goodbye Cozumel. Sailing into the sunset.

tampa sunrise

Did you miss me?? we were gone to Florida for a couple of weeks and I am just back yesterday. Amazing how you work so hard the few days before you leave to go on vacation and then when you get back you work twice as hard again to catch up.

Hope to catchup on some of my posts and reading some of my blogs but promise not to dump a ton of blog posts on you all.

This shot was taken from our hotel room through the glass of the sunrise the morning after we got to Tampa. the pelican on the pillar I thought was really a nice silhouette with the mornings sun rays coming over the water I liked the warm feeling it gave.

159/365 June 8

Sunset was gorgeous at least one night while there. It mostly rained the whole week we were in Logan. The second shot I found while walking the campus and wished I would have found it earlier when the sun was setting like above. I wanted to go back another night but alas the weather did not allow for that. Logan sits in a valley called Cache valley. Named after fur traders who use to hide there stash or cache there.

143/365 may 23

We had a beautiful weekend for our scrap booking retreat. This was the first night and the sunset was gorgeous.




took a short walk, short because of the bugs, but got a few shots at twilight I really liked. The house we stayed and and a small pond not far from it.

99/365 April 9

we had some major road construction start this week and because of it I have to go about 4 miles out of my way to get to where I am going. hmmm this will last many many months. But because of that I traveled a road I don't go on much and caught this great sunset today. it would have been better about 3 min before but couldn't get to a good spot to pull over.


well this is blurry crud hate that little camera. Not only never really happy with the pictures or is it I am just spoiled by the other camera. Anyhow not only never really happy with the pictures but can never see if they are blurry. but look back to the land of the living. YEAHH no headache.