Celebrating Our Anniversary!

To celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary we booked a place in Big Bend, actually a cabin in Terlingua built using two shipping containers...Fossil Knob Ridge!

Arriving we were surprised to find a very cute cottage, with great views of the Chisos Mountains.

For our anniversary we booked a tour with Far Flung Adventures called the Camino Del Rio Tour.  We left with our guide, Chris for a full day of off roading on the back dirt roads of Big Bend.  We had a great time and learned lots about the history of Big Bend.
On our tour my sweet husband found a heart shaped rock and gave it to me for our anniversary...the guide said since it was a special day we could take the rock!

The next day we headed out to spend the day in Big Bend.  First on our list was a hike on the Lower Burro Mesa...a easy trail with a pour off at the end.

The Next we headed to Santa Elena Canyon for a hike on the trail, which was beautiful!  Lunch was a picnic at the Cottonwood Campground with a stop at the new Castalon Store for a ice cream.

A drive up into the Basin and a hike on the Basin Loop Trail, with some photo stops of The Window ended our park adventure.

Our last day we headed down River Road and a hike at Closed Canyon Trail...a narrow slot canyon.  River Road had lots of Big Bend Bluebonnets in bloom along the roadside, so I was taking lots of photos.

Next stop was the Hoodoos and a short hike to get a look up close.  River Road between Terlingua and Presidio is a spectacular drive with breathtaking scenery.

Pulling back into Terlingua we decided to enjoy dinner at the Starlight Theater and Restaurant.  We ended our day with a fire in our fire pit under a beautiful star lit sky!

Up early, we loaded up for the trip home!  Big Bend was awesome and we had a great time!

Red Rocks of Sedona

 

Off to Sedona for a quick trip to burn some airline credit.  We flew into Phoenix and picked up our rent car for a drive to Sedona and our B&B the Cozy Cactus.  We checked in early and unloaded our stuff before heading out for lunch at Hudson’s.

Our B&B was fantastic and we had a great view of the Red Rocks, with trails out the back door! The back porch had two fire pits and we took advantage of them at sunset.  The scenery was breathtaking and we enjoyed some easy hikes.







Breakfast was wonderful and we enjoyed meeting guest from all over the US.  The Chapel of the Holy Cross was a striking architectural structure surrounded by Red Rocks.  Of course no trip would be complete without a stop at the airport which sits on top of a mesa!  The nights were pretty chilly, but the days were pleasant, with not a cloud in the sky...perfect weather!

The highlight of our trip was our Pink Jeep Tour, our tour was the last one of the day called Broken Arrow!  It was a riot!  Our guide, Mike was fantastic....skilled at driving and full of information!  He also was a great photographer...getting us some great shots!

Our last day we hiked The Bell Rock trail, went to the Crescent Moon Ranch, stopped at the Red Rock State Park, and enjoyed a late lunch at Mariposa. Back at our B&B we enjoyed sunset sitting around the fire ring.

           

 Our trip came to a end with a easy drive back into Phoenix and our flight home!

Costa Rican Christmas

Christmas in Costa Rica again....Pura Vida!  This year we booked the Small Beach House at Coconut Grove in Dominical.  We arrived a few days before Christmas and settled in..great to see Richard and Diane, the owners.  We were sad to hear our favorite dog, Flaco had passed away since our last stay!
Christmas Eve we went to the annual Christmas Party and enjoyed seeing some of the locals.

We spent our days at the beach....Playa Hermosa or Playa Linda......both beautiful!  We ate at some local places and went to the market. Joined Richard and Diane one evening for dinner at Tortilla Flats..they have the best Basil Margarita.  New Year’s Eve we went over to have drinks with the owners and later watched the fireworks.

As usual Dale was the Boogie Board champ, riding the board all the way in.  We both found out that Boogie Boarding was a real workout!

We walked the beach of Dominicalito and managed to enjoy almost every breathtaking sunset!

The rest of the time we enjoyed the pool and the Rancho...meeting and talking with other guest!

Dale forget my Christmas card and my birthday card at
home, so he made me  perfect cards in the sand on the beach!  Very creative!
Loved both of them!
I may never get a store bought card again!

















                     

We had a great two weeks....very relaxing!  Our drive back to San Jose was easy and we flew out the next morning early!

 

Christmas 2019

 

Christmas was at Brian and Hollie’s home at
Mission Valley.

 Grandma and the Great Grandkids








Grandma and Grandkids....
Lanell, Brian, Chuck

         A group shot of all the ladies!

        Chelsea and Hayden

                                      Lexi and Ethan












Randi, Chuck, and Lennon

                                     

               Brian’s family!

Going South on the Silhouette

Cruising the Southern Caribbean on the Celebrity Silhouette for Thanksgiving was the plan, stopping at our favorite ABC Islands! We had cabin 1088 which was one of the largest inside cabins we have ever had on a cruise.

First up was Aruba where we spent the day at a beach club and enjoyed dinner onshore at Pinchos since we stayed in port until midnight!

                    Pinchos for dinner!

Next port was Curacao......relaxing at the
Renaissance Resort and the beautiful infinity pool near the port, having lunch and drinks!
We stayed late and had a very relaxing day.

In Bonaire we got off the ship and just walked around, enjoyed a drink at a bar over the Walter.
Then it was back to ship to enjoy the pool!

In Grand Cayman we stayed onboard since we have been there many times and we had a short stay in port.

                On the way home we killed time at Margaritaville in the Fort Lauderdale airport!

                                                        Thanksgiving Formal night!