Do a Little Turn...on the Catwalk Canyon

Our cell phone alarms were set to 4:30 am this morning, as there was no clock radio in our wigwam. As early as it seemed, it really didn't make much of a difference from our other mornings because Holbrook, AZ is actually on Pacific time during Daylight Savings. So, basically it was more like 5:30 am since we were on our way back to the Mountain time zone today, ultimately to end up at my parents' house in Las Cruces.

After taking some shots of our wigwam, we loaded up the car, hit up a McDonald's for a mcgriddle and latte, and got on the road by about 7 am (MST). The first 50 or so miles of the drive were fairly boring as we worked our way southward through Arizona. Then, once we hit the Apache National Forest, I got a chance to test my driving skills in curvy, mountainous terrain.

Around 10 am, we approached our first side activity for the day by way of a "ghost town" called Mogollon. The town was about 10 miles from the main highway, accessible only by a one lane road (not to mention that this one lane road was riddled with blind turns and sheer drop-offs the entire way). That was one thing I had not bargained for, but on the way to the town we did not pass one car.

When we got to the town, it was pretty quiet and ghostlike, as none of the little shops or museums were open. You could also tell that there were a few residents in the town, but all was quiet on this Monday morning. Justin took several pictures of the historic buildings such as the theater, general store and museum. I also saw a little gray kitty while I was walking around, but he was a bit to skittish to come out to see me.

Once Justin finished taking pics, we decided to move it a long to our next activity. On the way out, we passed three cars and safely made it back to highway 180 unscathed. Then, we drove about another 10 miles into the town of Glenwood and then out to the Catwalk/Whitewater Canyon area. The road obstacle adventure continued as we had to drive through water wash areas twice, as we made our way to the parking area. Luckily, the current was very light and very shallow...it was more fun than anything.

At the Catwalk Canyon, we decided to do the 1.1 mile trail that weaved it's way up, down and across the canyon multiple times as water rushed below. Even though parts of the trail were labeled as "difficult," it was nothing compared to the Canyon de Chelly trail from the day before. The only major difference is that it was both hot and sunny on this trail, so we were pretty darn sweaty by the end.

When we returned to our vehicle, Justin improvised with his pocket knife and made us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. Then, we were swiftly on the road again to continue our journey to Las Cruces. We made one more little side trip to the town of Pinos Altos around 2 pm, but a literal drive-by was sufficient as the historical elements were a little too kitschy for our tastes.

As the afternoon wore on, we both started to feel the race against the clock to get to Las Cruces by 5:30 pm to return our rental car. There was about a 30 mile stretch of road through the Gila National Forest that was so mountainous and curvy that there were road signs neither of us had ever seen before. Plus, it's kind of tough to make good time when you have to contest with 10 mph turns. But eventually, we crested our last hill in the range and descended towards Interstate 25 and 75 mph speed limits. We breezed through the last 60 miles of our drive and reached Las Cruces by 5:15 pm.

After dropping off our car, my dad picked us up and we made our way to Casa Palmier. The rest of the evening was spent eating delicious food such as homemade, fresh salsa, grilled potato slices with citrus aioli, grilled shrimp and Mexican corn salad PLUS drinking way to much wine and beer. It was also a cloudless evening, so the stars were in full force as we chilled out on the back patio. I counted at least 4 shooting stars before I basically got too inebriated to pay attention anymore. Eventually, I went to bed and somehow managed to brush my teeth and wash my face on autopilot. I guess it goes without saying that I let loose and enjoyed my first evening in Las Cruces - what are vacations for, right?

Sunrise, Canyons and Gas Fumes

Today began with an early start – our sunrise tour of Monument valley started at 5:30 am. Our fingers crossed, we rolled out of bed at 4:30 AM and saw our payers answered. The expansive clouds that covered the entire horizon last night were gone! Our sunrise would be clear and blue skies.

We left Gouldings Lodge and headed to the View Hotel inside the Navajo reservation that sits in Monument Valley. There in the lobby we met up with our guide Orville a local Navajo Indian. Soon we headed out to the parking lot and loaded up into the tour van. I rode shotgun and Lauren rode in the back with our fellow tourees a familiy from the French countryside just north of Paris. After leaving the hotel lot we immediately turned on to an unpaved (and super rough) dirt road that would take us in the heart of Monument Valley.

After driving over dirt moguls for what seemed like an eternity the sunrise was getting very close. Just as we started to question whether or not we were going to make our destination in time we made it to a field overlooking the Totem Pole formation. We jumped out of the van and headed to the brick red field below. I setup my tripod in the soft, rust colored soil and and started shooting. The view was breathtaking. As the morning sun started to rise the colors of the sky went from midnight black, to orange, and crystal blue. The sun rose directly between two formations giving me an incredible shot of the sun peeking through the rocks.

Our group jumped in the van and backtracked through the valley and visited several other monuments including Indian Head, Sleeping Dragon, Three Sisters, Castle Rock, King on Throne, and many others. Along the way we learned about the Navajo culture and Orville’s family. His family is one of 14 that live in the Valley itself. Throughout the day we passed a handful of residences within the Valley. Talk about having a nice backyard view! Eventually we found ourselves at the end of our tour about 2.5 hours later. We talked with Orville for a few more minutes and learned that one of the mesas near the entrance of the park is called Grey Whisker and is name for his great grandfather.

Leaving the reservation we headed back to our hotel to pack up and checkout. We stopped by the local gas station and grabbed some supplies and hit the road. Traveling south we left Monument Valley behind and headed to the town Chinle, AZ the home of Canyon de Chelly a National Monument. The Canyon is the ancient home of several native cultures over the last 5,000 years. Once we arrived we decided to hike a trail called the White House Trail which took us down to the bottom of the Canyon. I packed my camera backpack and Lauren strapped on her Camel Back water system and we hit the trail. The way down was pretty easy going featuring at least a dozen switchbacks as it descended the 600 feet to the canyon floor. The views, and the sheer rock faces on either side of the path, were incredible.

After about 40 minutes we reached the bottom of the canyon to find a few Navajo homes, a scenic river, and some ancient cliff face ruins. We took some pics, a few sips of water, and began the ascent back up the trail. The going on the way up was quite a bit more difficult. Especially given that I over packed my camera bag and had 40 pounds on my back. We finally made it out of the canyon and completed our 1.5 mile trek after a total of 1.5 hours. Grabbing some quick sandwiches we continued to explore the canyon stopping at several scenic overlooks.

We needed to cut our tour short and get on the road to our next destination the Petrified Forrest National Park a short 90 minutes away. Then we hit the wall. The hike in the canyon coupled with our 4:00 AM rise was too much for us to handle. We resorted to driving in shifts so we could each grab a quick 20 minute nap. We arrived at the Park at about 2:30 PM thanks to an odd section of Arizona on Pacific Standard Time. Our first stop was a short, easy hike that followed a ridge giving us panoramic views of the Painted Desert. We then hit Blue Mesa and Newspaper Rock. Newspaper Rock was a fascinating slab of sandstone with black sides that featured hundreds upon hundreds of petroglyphs. Our final noteworthy destination in the park was Crystal Forrest featuring petrified logs with quartz and amethyst crystals growing inside their hollow cores.

At this point we almost had an interesting event. Lauren had been driving for quite some time leading up to the park and was now driving us out of the park. After refusing to stop for gas at the beginning of the park she was now staring at an almost empty tank with no gas station in sight. With only fumes left in the tank we had to continue on to Holbrook, AZ where we would be staying the night. Twenty nervous minutes later we arrived at Holbrook and filled our tank lesson learned.

Our overnight stay was at an, shall we say, interesting hotel. In another fit of childhood wishes come true Lauren had booked us at the Wigwam motel. Our room was all of about 200 square feet and featured a bed, a super small bathroom and shower, and a 20 inch TV. We caught the first half of the Bengals vs. Cowboys preseason game (holy crap Bengals, learn how to get some points plz) and then headed to dinner. A few hours later we are now retiring to bed early for another early morning – we have a 350+ mile trek to Las Cruces, NM ahead of us on our next leg.

-Justin

Utah and the Valley of the Gods

I will be your storyteller for today's post. Lauren gladly gave me the reigns when I volunteered over dinner.

So this morning we checked out of our hotel in Santa Fe and picked up our rental car at the Santa Fe airport. We bid Rick and Darice goodbye and we were off on our way to our ultimate destination Monument Valley some 300 miles away. The weather was nice, at first, and we were making good time. Along the way we attempted to stop at a few "off the beaten path" type of places but had zero luck. Several were unmarked dirt roads that proved difficult to find and the others were behind "No Trespassing" signs and barbed wire fences. We resigned ourselves to stay on the well traveled highways and pushed ahead.

Soon we reached the New Mexico border and crossed over into Arizona...then Utah...then Colorado...and back to New Mexico. No, we weren't driving around in circles we were stopped at the Four Corner's monument where CO, NM, UT, and AZ all come to a single point. I would like to add that this point happens to be within the Navajo lands so of course we had to make a $3.00 contribution per person to have the privileged. For some reason Lauren has a thing for this kind of tourist trap. After paying our dues and parking near some dilapidated buildings we hiked up the gravel path, past the Navajo jewelery booths and made it to the Four Corners - where we promptly stood in line to get a few photos. Lauren's experience as a world champion Twister player came in handy on the Four Corner's and she coexisted in 4 states at once.

Before I completely lost it we were again on our way. We continued North through a small slice of Colorado and were soon back on the road in Utah. Several hours from our destination it began to rain. The clouds poured in and soon the whole sky was a mottled gray. Ultimately we came upon Mexican Hat rock, an odd rock formation resembling a sombrero perched atop an impossibly small cliff. We tried our hand at a little off-roading and got a few decent shots of the hat. Little did we know this was but a warm up for our evening activities...

Turning back on to the main road we stopped for gas in Mexican Hat (the town). We crested a final bluff and there before us lay Monument valley. The road seemed to stretch on forever down into the valley and led right to the feet of the giant pedestals of red stone. We stopped for a few pictures - my favorite being one shot from the center of the road - and drove into Monument Valley. We had originally scheduled a sunset jeep tour of the valley but the clouds were not cooperating. Most of the formations were completely lost in the dense white billows of clouds. The rain just made matters worse.

We rescheduled our tour to the next morning for an ambitious sunrise excursion. And just like that we had our whole evening free. Our original tour was slated to last from 5:30 until 8:30 or so, but now we had nothing to do. And in a town as small as Monument Valley it's easy to get bored. So we opted to hit the road again. After we checked in and changed clothes we jumped back in the car and headed back south to the Valley of the Gods and we finally started to catch some luck. To the south, towards the Valley of the Gods, the clouds had started to break. We might catch some blue skies!

The Valley of the Gods is like a mini Monument Valley. The stone outcroppings are the result of the same weathering but are smaller and packed into a denser concentration. The Valley itself can be accessed by a dirt road that loops through the park. On the very first turn of the road we began to question our choice. The afternoon rain storms had washed out a section of the road that traversed a dried river bed. The water was mostly gone, but deep ruts remained where fellow travelers had clearly struggled. Luckily the rain had stopped for about an hour and in such a dry climate that's all it takes. We splashed through a few small puddles, climbed over the river bed and continued on into the Valley.

Several hours and several hundred photos later we reached the half way point of the 18 mile loop. By this time the sun was starting to descend to the horizon. I wanted to stick around and see the sunset. After a few minutes I managed to convince Lauren. We found a nice ridge with a good view and waited. We were soon rewarded. Behind us a faint rainbow connected the horizon to one of the towering formations. What luck! After a few minutes the rainbow strengthened and a second rainbow formed alongside.

After waiting an eternity we decided to head back. The sun was still dipping down below the cliffs, but we had to get back to Monument Valley by 9:00 pm or else we would miss out on dinner at the lodge! Lauren put the pedal to metal and we plunged through the switchbacks and washouts. Along the way we stopped for a few photos of the dusky sky. The clouds were still present, but we found a few holes here and there. We made it back to the highway and had about 30 minutes to make it back to the lodge. Zooming down the road we had several close calls with feeding bats. They seemed to relish swooping into our path, narrowly missing certain doom every time.

We made it to the lodge restaurant at 8:58 pm and just barely made dinner. After some country fried steak and a delicious T-bone, we were stuffed. With depressing efficiency we set the alarms and wakeup calls for our 5:30 AM sunrise tour! Let's hope the Gods are with us in the morning!

- Justin

Leaving Our Mark in Santa Fe

This morning, we awoke around 6:45 am to embark on our one full day devoted to sites in and around Santa Fe. After grabbing some complimentary breakfast to go, my parents, Justin and I headed up to the Santa Fe Ski Basin.

The really cool thing about the drive to this summit is that within about 5 minutes of leaving town, you are met with the complete package of mountainous terrain, aspen and pine-laden forests and plenty of S curves and hairpin turns along the road. We made a few stops on the way up to the ski area. The first one was a viewpoint looking down on Santa Fe and several other peaks in the distance. There was one particular peak that we vouched was at least 80 miles from where we were standing.

The next spot we stopped was purely to get a closer look at some of the aspen groves that are so prolific in this area. We hiked a random trail until we lost the sound of the main road (probably not quite 1/4 of a mile), and Justin took some early morning pictures of the trees with the bright, clear blue sky in the background.

Once we got to the Ski Basin, we basically just looped around the road and proceeded with our descent back into Santa Fe. We made one more brief stop-off at another vista. However, it didn't prove to be as interesting or scenic as our earlier stops.

When we reached downtown Santa Fe, we parked in a lot and headed to some of the popular tourist spots. First, we went to the Loretto Chapel with the famous floating spiral staircase. The chapel was quite small, but very impactful. It was probably one of the prettiest churches I've been to in quite some time...not that we step into churches very often. I'm very excited to see some of Justin's photos that he took at this location...they should be quite beautiful.

Next, we headed back to the plaza, where we had spent some time the previous evening. Of course during the day, there's a whole lot more hustle and bustle since all of the shops are open, including many street vendors. Across the street from the plaza was the Palace of the Governors where Native Americans had all of their handmade wares laid out on blankets. I saw some really cool copper bracelets, but I just didn't have the energy to wheel and deal on this particular day.

We continued on our way and went into a few shops as we made our way to our lunch spot called La Casa Sena. One of the stores I stopped in was called Todos Santos Chocolates and Confections. I picked up a half dozen truffles of varying flavors such as dark chocolate with cardamom center, white chocolate with rose hips, chocolate infused with black pepper, etc. So far, each one has been quite enjoyable. I'm sure we'll knock off what we didn't finish today by some point tomorrow.

So, by 11:30 am we were seated at our table in the courtyard of La Casa Sena. My mom and I treated ourselves to a glass of white wine with our lunch and we each order a different trout dish - hers was Ruby trout, mine was Rainbow trout. Both were very good, but a bit hefty of a meal for lunch. Justin and dad had varying burgers - dad's was organic beef and Justin's was antelope. I tried Justin's burger and it was actually very good. It wasn't gamy at all and was extremely lean and tender. One other highlight of the meal was the complimentary blue corn muffins, which were quite similar to a corn bread.

After lunch, we walked about a block to the St. Francis Basilica. It was much bigger than the other chapel and had some fantastic stained glass windows that were catching the midday sunlight beautifully. But, I definitely prefer the Loretto chapel over the Basilica any day. The thing about St. Francis that I probably got the biggest kick out of was that Stravinsky conducted about 3 concerts there in the 50's...and they were public, free concerts as well!

From the church, we walked about 5 more blocks to Canyon Rd., the art gallery hub of the city. The next couple of hours were spent trying to beat the afternoon heat, while dodging in and out of mostly unaffordable galleries. The one disappointment that I had was that we didn't really find one gallery that featured blown glass pieces, which I love. We did, however, come across a really cool gallery that featured aluminum, copper and stainless steel canvases that were painted with various scenes. The gallery was called Mark White Fine Art. Most of the pieces were 3-4 thousand dollars, but they of course, can work out interest-free payment plans to obtain the art. When we get home, we are definitely going to research the gallery some more and consider purchasing a piece.

Also, while we were walking along Canyon Rd., we made Justin take pictures of cool doors along the way - doors in turquoise and red and various degrees of distress. It's silly, maybe, but they could turn out to be some really cool pieces that can be combined into a set if we decide to print and frame them.

Finally around 3 pm, we had had enough and decided to head back to the hotel for a nap. I crashed for a good hour or so before it was time to get ready for our dinner reservation at Luminaria. By about 6:10 pm, we arrived at the restaurant and were seated in their outside courtyard. As early as we ate, it actually turned out to be quite beneficial because we didn't have to deal with the dinner rush and crowds. It got crowded by the time we were finishing our meals.

So, what did we eat? First, they brought out a light pastry-wrapped beef wellington appetizer. Then, we each had a bowl of the restaurant's award-winning tortilla soup that they kept bragging about. It was very good, but I just love my good old McAlister's tortilla soup. For dinner, I had herbed pork tenderloin with a goat cheese polenta; Justin had beef tenderloin with a wild mushroom torte; mom had chile rubbed shrimp with pasta; and dad had chicken with mushroom, asparagus and truffle mashed potatoes. I think we all enjoyed our main courses, but the soup was so rich, none of us were able to finish our plates but Justin. Where there's a will, there's a way, right? For dessert (which was included with my parents' meal), they had a champagne soup with sorbet and fresh strawberries.

Following dinner, we went to another restaurant and piano bar a short drive away called Vanessie. The pianist on duty was named Charles, and he weaved his way through familiar broadway tunes, classical music, country and rock. After getting our drinks and getting settled, Justin and I got up and sang All I Ask of You from Phantom. Then, a short time later Justin sang Besame Mucho, and I sang Over the Rainbow. Justin, of course, really hammed it up with the ladies and actually serenaded one of the board members of the Santa Fe Opera.

Anyway, the experience was a lot of fun and was a nice nightcap to our evening as well as a great way to wrap-up our time in Santa Fe before we leave tomorrow. Next time we are in town, we'll probably visit Vanessie again.

We got back to the hotel about 10pm and proceeded to re-pack for our journey tomorrow to a landmark in Utah. More to come then!

Do you know the way to Sante Fe?

It's definitely been a long first day adjusting to the new time zone. This morning we flew out of STL right on time at 10:35 a.m. The flight was generally uneventful except from some initial turbulence due to some stormy weather in Missouri.

Around noon we arrived in Albuquerque and my parents met us at the baggage claim. By the time is was 12:30, we had managed to secure all of our luggage and leave the airport. The way we chose to make our way to Santa Fe on this particular day was via the Turquoise Trail. At first, it was fairly unimpressive as we made our way out away from the interstate. By about the time we got a good 10 miles in, the mountains, rocks and building afternoon storms made the drive quite interesting.

In Madrid, we stopped for lunch at a typical tourist spot called the Mine Shaft Tavern. I ambitiously ordered a burger with green chilies and pepper-jack cheese. I underestimated the heat of this dish and ended up eating very little. But, my Santa Fe Brewery IPA was good!

So, we continued the rest of the way through the scenic byway and eventually reached Santa Fe where we checked into our Fairfield Inn room. After freshening up, we headed out for an evening of drinks and apps.

First, we went to the Ore House right on the plaza for some guac and margaritas. Then, we walked to the Coyote Cantina and had more mixed drinks as well as tempura fried shrimp and duck quesadillas. Our third stop was the Bell Tower Bar at La Fonda hotel. This was the spot where we were able to catch a fantastic sunset after a somewhat stormy afternoon.

Finally, we went to the lounge at the Inn at the Loretto, which was quite relaxing. My mom and I sipped on a glass of Syrah, while Justina and my dad had beer. We also snacked on a tempura fried artichoke and mushroom dish with a fig aioli. Yum!

Finally, we got back to our hotel a bit after 10, and I'm typing this and just about falling asleep at the same time. Hopefully, we'll start to adjust to the time change a bit more by tomorrow night so this isn't as much of a chore! Good night!

Another Year, Another Vaca

Well, here we are on the eve of another vacation. Packing has been a gradual process over the last couple of days, but the excitement has been building over at least the last few months. So, where are we heading this year??

Beautiful New Mexico and Arizona...with a little smattering of Utah thrown in. That's all I can really say for now. I don't want to get into the nitty gritty details because I want the reader to experience the great southwest along with me. The really unfortunate thing that I discovered as I was putting together our itinerary was that a week is just not nearly enough to see everything. However, we will have many more opportunities to go back in the future, as my parents now possess a residence in Las Cruces.

So, anyway, here's the deal so far. Tomorrow, we both have to put in a full day's work. I've got all of my projects pretty much together so that it should be an easy last day. But, every time I go into work with that attitude, the shit hits the fan. So, I'm apprehensive, to say the least.

Once we get off work, we will both reconvene at home, load up the car and drive to St. Louis. St. Louis, you ask? No, we are not driving to New Mexico. But, we are flying out of St. Louis on Thursday morning and will be returning there with my parents the following Friday to attend a friend's wedding (Mel) on Saturday. Genius planning on my part, right?

So, I have to say that I will fail in blogging tomorrow, as there will be absolutely nothing interesting to say between Cincinnati and St. Louis (I guess unless we hit some nasty weather on the way or something), but don't count on it.

I will continue, however, on Thursday as we will arrive in Albuquerque right around lunch time...and we'll see which direction we head from there.

A "Sushi-Grade" Kinda Day

Friday was our last day in Florida, so we wanted to make the most of it. Jerry and Justin got up pretty early to go play golf. Linda and I decided to forego this activity and go shopping at St. Armand’s Circle instead. Then, we would all reconvene around 1pm or so to have lunch together.

Linda and I arrived at St. Armand’s right about 10am when the stores opened. We weaved in and out of several shops including typical chains such as Coldwater Creek and White House Black Market to lots of local specialty shops ranging from jewelry to art to housewares. I was in heaven because I love being able to shop and enjoy the outdoors at the same time. Plus, there were tons of unique things that I wouldn’t normally see in Cincinnati – obviously, there were a lot of beachy and island-themed items. On this particular day, I was on a jewelry kick. I had kind of been searching for a cool turquoise necklace leading up to the trip, and other than online, had been unable to find anything. Well, here in Sarasota, there were multiple choices everywhere I went. I ended up purchasing 3 chokers and a pair of earrings from Coldwater Creek. Who would have thought I’d ever buy anything there? Their clothes are totally not my style, but as I discovered they have really amazing, unique accessories. I also bought another necklace at a local gift shop. Other than that, I tried on a few dresses here and there, but didn’t find anything I absolutely loved.

After working our way around most of the circle, the boys arrived. We decided to go to a modern little Italian place called Venezia. I ordered a glass of wine and for my lunch, I ordered wild mushroom pasta. I was pretty hungry. As usual, however, I didn’t come close to finishing my meal and got a to-go box.

Following lunch, we split up into couples so that we could do a little browsing of our own. Justin and I went to a few more clothing and jewelry stores, but didn’t make any purchases. We also went to a little wine shop because we saw they had free wine tasting. When we got in there, however, we realized that it wasn’t the traditional wine we were used to. They had things like strawberry, blueberry, peach, apple, etc. Some of them tasted like juice, but a few of the “varietals” were surprisingly dry. We finally decided to buy one of the blueberry wines as a novelty, not realizing that it was a $24 bottle! Oh well, we’ll drink it at some point.

It was getting to be late afternoon by this time, and it was definitely getting cloudy as if more storms were brewing. So, we went back to the condo to figure out dinner plans for the evening. On our final evening in Sarasota, we really, really wanted to have dinner with just the two of us, and we also really, really wanted to have sushi. So, we reluctantly asked Jerry and Linda if they were okay with our plans, and we researched a couple of local places based on reviews. We finally settled on a place called Vizen and made a reservation for 7pm since it was a Friday night. We also didn’t want to be out too late since we were planning on leaving first thing the next morning and needed to finish packing.

When we arrived at the restaurant, it definitely left a lot to the imagination from the outside. It was located in this little strip mall a couple of blocks from the beach that had a few bars and grills, some various servicing-type businesses, maybe a drycleaner…but never judge a book by its cover. The inside of the restaurant was decorated in a modern and simple Japanese style with colors of red, black and gray. It was also very small, only seating maybe 25 people. When we were seated, we were maybe 2 of about 8 people in the restaurant. The sushi menu was scrolled on a chalkboard. After ordering our drinks, we began to take in what some of the offerings were and quickly realized that we were not going to be having the typical sushi meal we have up north.

We decided to go with some Tuna sushi; the Madai sushi, which is a Tai Snapper; the Black Jack roll with calamari, avocado and a black squid ink sauce and; a Trico roll featuring lobster and roasted pistachios. The unique ingredients and flavor combinations in each dish were incredible. The artistry that the chef used in the presentation of the rolls was beautiful – supposedly this is called Edo style. One of the rolls was even embellished with a soy sauce foam! It was neato! Our last meal in Sarasota was definitely a high point of the many dining experiences we had during the trip. We will absolutely return to this restaurant when we visit again. We finally returned to the condo by about 9:15pm, finished our packing and hit the sack.

Gardens Galore

There was definitely no rush on anyone’s part to get out of bed this morning. We all took advantage of the opportunity to sleep in. Once everyone was out of bed, we decided on what to do for the day since there were quite a few options. It was also somewhat dependent on the weather holding up. We considered going to The Ringling Brothers Museum, The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, the Sarasota Jungle Gardens or Myakka River State Park. Then, we also had plans to go out for a nice dinner that night. After weighing our options, we settled on the Selby Gardens for the afternoon activity.

By about lunchtime, we were ready to head out and began looking for a good place to eat. Jerry and Linda decided to take us to Marina Jacks, a place right along the bay in downtown Sarasota. We sat under a large covered patio, which was a perfect spot to enjoy the mild breeze but stay out of the sun. I kept my meal simple on this day, and ordered a spinach salad with walnuts, mushrooms, red onion, hardboiled eggs and a creamy bacon dressing. Following lunch, we went across the parking lot to see the “Unconditional Surrender” statue of a WWII sailor kissing a nurse. I think it was originally a famous photograph published in a magazine in the ‘40’s, and many years later was erected in Sarasota as well as San Diego. Justin and I did our best to imitate the pose for a photo of our own.

From here, we drove a short distance to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. I’m often a big fan of garden exhibits because there are so many unique and colorful plants to look at and the landscaping is immaculate. I also knew that I was going to see lots of lizards throughout the gardens, and I was bound and determined to catch one! So, first we started out in a greenhouse that contained several odd tropical plants and several species of orchids. Directly outside the greenhouse was a bonsai tree collection. I had no idea that bonsai trees could have so many different facades. As I found out, the only thing that categorizes a bonsai tree is that it’s a miniaturized version of a normal tree – there’s not just one kind. So, we saw a cedar, an elm, a bald cypress and a grove of junipers, to name a few.

After exiting this area, we passed by a large koi pond, a mangrove forest and a banyan grove. Wow, are those banyan trees amazing, or I guess it’s just one large, continuous tree for that matter. As we continued along the walking path, I attempted to catch several lizards on trees or benches. I was able to graze a couple, but they were just too quick for me to grab onto. About this time, we reached the far edge of the park which was almost like a peninsula with water on three sides. We were about ready to move along after looking across the channel at a few really large houses on the other side, when someone spotted a large snake in the mangroves. It was completely yellow, so I don’t know if it was a corn snake or what. Then, suddenly a rat appeared. At first, I’m thinking that the snake was going to go after the rat, which seemed pretty much oblivious to his approach. But then, the rat sprang into action and started nipping at the snake, eventually chasing it off. This cat and mouse game continued for quite some time. From what we could devise, the rat was either trying to protect its babies or the rat had come upon the snake’s eggs and was trying to protect his/her prize. The snake finally began to move along when a large white heron entered the picture. The bird spent several more minutes trying to figure out if the snake looked like a good meal. But, we didn’t stick around much longer after that to find out. We walked away excited that we got to witness wildlife in action!

We continued walking along the water through the park until we reached a house that displayed local art and housed a little tea shop. I bought some loose leaf, lavender tea as well as a lavender martini mix. We also did a little sampling of some of their featured teas. The house sat behind an outdoor butterfly garden with several colorful varieties fluttering about. There were these wrought-iron archways with climbing plants throughout this small area, and this was where my luck finally decided to strike. After several more tries, I finally caught my lizard in this spot! He was a little guy about the length and width of two side-by-side matchsticks- really tiny. He was so fragile that I was scared to even try to carry him to the front of the park in order to buy a little cage. Plus, it was just unrealistic to try to keep him anyway…I did what I intended to do, which was prove that I still had the prowess and speed to catch a lizard. After I released my prey, we finally made it back to the garden entrance. I spent time scrolling through all of Justin’s digital pictures on the ride back to the condo.

After killing a few more hours relaxing and freshening up, it was time to go to dinner. Jerry and Linda chose another restaurant that they had been to before and really enjoyed called Selva Grill. It was a Peruvian restaurant featuring traditional and fresh ingredients with a fusion-y twist. Justin picked out a bottle of Malbec to drink. For dinner, I semi- went out on a limb and ordered the mirin roasted sea bass served with corn custard flan, sautéed bok choy and a black bean sauce. The flan was an unusual texture, which I was expecting, so overall the flavors of my meal were fantastic. This restaurant also shed light on the more upscale, trendy side of Sarasota, since everywhere we had been up this point had been pretty casual. This is definitely an area of town that Justin and I will return to upon our next visit.

When we got back to the condo, we convinced Jerry and Linda to watch an episode of the Planet Earth series. As expected, Jerry was snoozing within the first 10 minutes, so we all went to bed as soon as it was over.

Around the World In 3 Hours!

Day 2 of the Disney excursion began bright and early. We met up with Jerry and Linda in the little hotel café around 8:15 for a light breakfast of doughnuts and bananas. Then, we caught our shuttle around 8:30 for the ride to Epcot. After a quick stop at Hollywood Studios, we made it to our destination by 8:50, just in time for the park’s 9am opening.

As soon as we got into the park, we did what most tourists do and posed for pictures in front of the giant, silver ball. I have to say that every time I see the structure up close, it’s quite breathtaking. And with that, we decided to go ahead and ride Spaceship Earth inside the ball because there was literally no wait. The thing I love about rides like this are the animatronics. The creators basically make realistic scenes with mechanized puppets that both resemble and act human. In this particular ride, the action being depicted follows the history or invention from the cave man to the present and eventually into the future. However, when they get to the topic of the future, each “car” of guests takes a personalized quiz to determine what kind of future lifestyle they will have. Then, they play back a little movie with your heads superimposed onto these little animated bodies. Once you leave the ride, you can pull up your movie at a portal and email it to yourself. Once again, Disney always finds a way to outdo itself. I love it!

Next, we decided to head over to The Living World to get Fast Passes for Soarin’. From my last visit in March 2008, this was probably the ride with by far the longest wait in all of Epcot. Our ride was scheduled for about 12:30 or so, so we had some time to kill since it was only about 10am. Then, we decided to tackle one of the more popular rides called Test Track. After about an hour and a half of waiting, we were almost ready to go through the boarding turnstile when we were informed it was pouring down rain, thundering and lightning, and they had to shut down the ride until it passed. When you are waiting in a building with no windows and loud music, you have no idea what’s going on out there. Fortunately, the rainstorm was typical of the Florida climate and ended after about 10 minutes. So, we were able to board the ride, and by the time we got to the outdoor speed track portion, the sun had begun to emerge again.

In all, that ride did take some wind out of our sails, so we decided to head back to The Living World because it was getting close to boarding time for Soarin.’ And thank God for those passes; it just would not have made sense to wait that long for a second ride in a row since it could potentially take up another large chunk of our day. The ride took us through several well-known areas of California by way of a simulated hang-glider such as: San Francisco, Redwood forests, Wine Country, orange groves (with scents), and Big Sur. Linda was a little apprehensive because she’s afraid of heights, but I think she really enjoyed it. Afterwards, we decided to check out a short film called Circle of Life that uses the characters of The Lion King to stress the importance of caring and preserving the environment.

By the time we finished all of these activities, it was well after 1pm, and we were ready to move on to the World Showcase. We also figured it would be a good opportunity to get some lunch, as it had been several hours since breakfast. We quickly breezed through Canada and the United Kingdom without finding a satisfactory place to eat that didn’t have more than an hour wait. So, we continued on to France and put our names in at Les Chef de France that appeared like it would have pretty quick service. In the meantime, Justin went to a few other countries further along that might have something of interest. But, he returned fairly quickly since the next country was Morocco. Also, while we were waiting we went into a few of the French shops, and I was able to get my picture taken with Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. She told me she liked my dress, but she probably says that to all the little girls!

After about 30 minutes, we were seated. Our waiter was literally from France near Dijon, I believe. I ordered a glass of Chenin Blanc, a cup of lobster bisque and the Quiche Lorraine (a very traditional French dish with ham and cheese) alongside a salad of mixed greens. While we were waiting for our meals to arrive, a woman came around from table to table with a little serving platter that housed Remy from Ratatouille. He would move his little arms, head and tail as the hostess spoke to him. It was really adorable, and especially fun to watch when he showed up at tables with children. Once our food arrived, I devoured as much as I could. But, I definitely didn’t even come close to finishing my quiche. It was delicious, but also very rich. As usual, I probably could have done without the soup, as the Disney restaurants never seem to hold back on their portion sizes.

After lunch, we wandered through some of the markets of Morocco and went through the massive Mitsukoshi Department Store in Japan. I was very tempted to buy one of the beautiful serving plates or tea sets in Japan, but it was difficult to tell how marked up the prices were and if I might be able to find the same thing elsewhere for less. Next, we skipped right on through the United States, since we’re all pretty familiar with that country. In Italy, we again checked out a few of the shops, I had Justin snap a picture of me in front of the David fountain (a much smaller replica) and we bought some chocolate gelato. Still being quite full from lunch, I wasn’t able to eat very much.

After Italy was of Germany, where everyone momentarily got separated. They have a lot of specialty shops with some really interesting and expensive things to look at such as a crystal shop with different figurines and a Christmas shop with lots of ornaments. We eventually reconnected, however, and moved along to China to take pictures in front of the pagodas. We also walked through an exhibit that depicted artifacts and art from the warriors of ancient China. We breezed through Norway pretty quickly because the ride, Maelstrom, had about a 40 minute wait, and it was nearly 4pm in the afternoon. We were through waiting for the day. In Mexico, there was no wait for the ride called Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros, so we hopped right on. It sort of reminded me of a Mexican version of It’s a Small World with some looped animation thrown in of Donald Duck and the other two Caballeros. When we left the ride, we also got to see a few minutes of the resident mariachi band playing.

After the final country of the World Showcase, we decided to start heading to the park exit. I requested to make one more stop at a gift shop on the way out because I wanted some kind of souvenir from our visit. After looking at every imaginable trinket and clothing item, I settled on a silver Xmas ornament that resembled the Mickey Mouse ears. Very simple and tasteful.

We made it back to the parking lot just in time to catch the 4:50 shuttle. Once we got back to our hotel, we retrieved our vehicle and were on the road by 5:30. I have to admit that I did doze a little bit on the way back to Sarasota. There were also some more patches of rain, and some pretty fierce looking storms out along the coast from Tampa down to Sarasota. We finally made it back to the condo by about 7:30, and figured that it would be a good night to cook dinner, maybe play some Wizard and lay low. We ended up having a delicious salad of Boston lettuce, shrimp, hard-boiled egg, tomatoes, mushrooms and a creamy Dijon, mayonnaise and lemon infused dressing. Besides that, we raided the fridge of some other leftovers and had some wings. We relaxed with our wine and played a game of wizard following dinner. But by about 10:30, I could hardly keep my eyes open any longer after an exhilarating but exhausting two days of constant activity.

Cirque du Pluie (Rain)

Disney, here we come! There were no issues rousing me from sleep on this morning. I just couldn’t wait to get on the road to Orlando, or more correctly Lake Buena Vista. We got up around 7am and were finally out the door by about 8:30 am. The drive itself took about an hour and half and was fairly uneventful. However, you can tell that I-4 between Tampa and Orlando generally always has an extremely high volume of traffic.

We arrived at our hotel called Buena Vista Palace Hotel & Spa and were able to do a pre-check-in since our rooms were not ready that early. We also checked our bags with the bell-man so that when we returned, we could go directly up to the room. Then, we got down to the shuttle area at just a few minutes before 11am. The shuttle typically comes to the hotel every 30 minutes on the hour and half hour to take guests to the theme parks or Downtown Disney. The bus to the Magic Kingdom/Animal Kingdom arrived within about 5 minutes. Unfortunately, it was standing-room only because the buses hit up a couple of other resorts before it got to ours.
We stood for quite some time as well because the bus went to the Magic Kingdom first…not our stop.

Eventually, around 11:30, we made it to the Animal Kingdom. We went to Will Call to pick up the tickets and a few minutes later, we were in the park. Usually the first thing you want to do when you arrive at a Disney park is to go get your Fast Pass for the most popular ride. At Animal Kingdom, that happens to be Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris or Kali River Rapids. We had no plans of getting soaked on Kali River Rapids (as we got plenty wet enough for the day as you read on), so we planned on going for Expedition Everest. Upon our arrival at the Fast Pass station, we found out from a staffer nearby that the typical “one fast pass at a time” rule had been deactivated that day, so we went ahead and got them for both Everest and the Safari. Lucky us!

Following our Fast Pass thievery, we went to DINOSAUR. As we were waiting for the ride, it started to rain, but luckily we were under cover. After about 20 – 25 minutes, we made it to the “prep room” where they describe the back-story to the ride and tell you the safety features. In a nutshell, it was our job to go back in time to the late Cretaceous period to rescue an Iguanodon from extinction because they are closely-related to reptiles of today. The ride was entertaining, as always, tossing us to and fro and creating multiple moments of surprise. Even after having ridden it 3-4 times previously, it’s still always a great time.

It was still spitting rain when we left the ride, and shortly thereafter began to pour. So, we looked for the closest restaurant and ducked inside to eat some lunch. I had a hot dog and fries, my old standard. The interesting thing about lunch was that the prices were close to ½ of what you’d pay at a ball park. That was incredible to me that Disney was so much less, and it kinda makes you pissed that you have to fork out so much money for a losing ball club like the Reds, if and when you actually attend a game.

From lunch, we went to Kilimanjaro Safaris to use our first Fast Pass. It was great because the normal wait was at least an hour, and we walked right on. During the “safari,” we saw many animals including gazelles, antelopes, wildebeest, elephants, rhinos, hippos, giraffes, ostriches and cheetahs. The multitude and variety of animals was way improved from my last visit in March 2008, most likely due to the warmer weather. Did I also mention that we were tracking poachers during the ride? There always has to be an element of danger present.

When we exited the ride, it had started to rain again. So, this time we decided to grab the ponchos that Jerry and Linda had bought the previous week at Disney. It rained fairly steadily as we made our way through the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, where we were able to view more animals – some of which we had seen during the safari. We also got to see some very large gorillas, and Justin took some pretty amazing pictures of them. I was surprised that they turned out so well through the glass of the cage.

From there, we made our way back into Asia to catch the Flights of Wonder show. They brought out large birds of prey, owls, ravens, macaws, etc. and had them perform little acts while the trainer told factual information about their habitat and abilities. When they would fly from one trainer to the other, the birds were literally within inches of the audiences’ heads. It was both funny and entertaining. Plus, it was incredible to see how large and beautiful they were up close. I think I almost started crying when the bald eagle came out.

We still had a little time to kill after the show before our Expedition Everest Fast Pass was good. So, we went to the Maharajah Jungle Trek in Asia. Here we saw vampire bats (the big ones), komodo dragons, tigers and several Eastern species of colorful birds. Again, Justin went to work with his camera and got some fantastic close-ups of a tiger. When you look at them, you think, “that’s just like my little domesticated cat at home!” It’s very deceiving how docile they look.

Finally, once we got through this area, it was time to conquer Expedition Everest. The fast passes got us onto the ride within about 5 minutes. Everest lived up to everything I was hoping for, and it was pretty clear everyone else enjoyed it too. I should see if I can post a You Tube link to a videotaping of the ride. There’s just so much variety going on, it’s difficult to explain. The people in the car right in front of us tried to tape it, but there are definitely some parts in which you probably wouldn’t see anything on the screen because everything goes completely dark. This continues to be my favorite ride of all the Disney theme parks.

After exiting the ride, Jerry and Linda got some ice cream while Justin and I split a root beer float. This was just enough of a push to get us to the last attraction we planned on seeing for the day: It’s Tough To Be A Bug. ITTBAB (much easier to abbreviate) is basically a 3-D movie with other added features to make it unpredictable. Flik appears on-screen and wants to introduce people to all of the unique bug abilities in a stage-show setting. Danger arrives when the villain from the original movie (a grasshopper or locust figure) arrives and decides that the entire audience should be exterminated. They bring out hornets and the audience gets poked in the back by “stingers,” then black widows come down suspended from the ceiling, and finally they spray everyone with bug killer. The spider part was freaking hilarious! I was looking around during the scene and all of the kids in the room were screaming and carrying on. I was cracking up! Finally at the end, I jumped in my seat a little bit while we were waiting for the cockroaches to exit the building so we wouldn’t step on them. Disney did it again…no element left out.

Upon leaving the park, we went to catch our shuttle to take us back to the hotel. As we got closer, it was evident that more rain was moving in. But luckily, we made it back to the hotel just in time, so we didn’t get caught up in it again. It was easily 5:30 by the time we got back to our room, and we only had about 45 minutes to get ready before meeting in the lobby for dinner and La Nouba. The fact that we had a fairly short time to freshen up was a blessing though. It didn’t give us a chance to get tired after spending most of the day in the theme park.

Once we had all convened in the lobby, we hopped in the Lexus and made the 2-3 minute drive to Downtown Disney. It was nice to forego the shuttle on this one and have our own personal space. After we had parked, I picked up our tickets from Will Call. Then, we went to Bongos Cuban Café for dinner. I got some sort of fish, maybe grouper, but it was a little weird. Plus, the plates were so huge, that it was quite intimidating, and I lost my appetite. Who knows, I could have been so excited about La Nouba that I may have not had an appetite either.

So, dinner came and went with little fanfare. Afterwards, we had a few minutes to kill before seating opened, so we went to a store called Magnetron. I ended up getting a dolphin mosaic magnet (I already have a couple of Disney magnets at home). Then, it was finally time to go claim our La Nouba seats for the 9pm showing.

I enjoyed every second of the show, probably as much, if not more than the first time I saw it 10 years ago. The talent of the performers is incredible, the accompanying music is great, the transition of the set is seamless, and the overall presentation is mesmerizing. So far, La Nouba has been my favorite experience on this trip – nothing else compares. I don’t anticipate that changing either.

When we returned to the hotel, we had just enough remaining energy to grab a drink in the bar. I had a glass of red wine, of which I can’t recall. In fact, I was tired enough that I had to finish the glass back in the comforts of our room. Just a short few minutes later, we were both asleep in preparation for Disney Day Two.