Travel | Peaches Prattlings

{January 26, 2021} Goodbye Colorado…Missouri…Um, I’m trying to get there!

I really am trying to get home! As much as I didn’t want to leave Colorado, I almost never do when I visit, I did want to get home to my family. Apparently Mother Nature thought it would be funny to make my 12+ hour drive a 14+ hour drive, not funny.

I actually slept later than I had all week, go figure! Every day that I had wanted to sleep past 7/7:30am, no dice, this morning, I got up at almost 8am! And…this is the day I wanted to leave a little earlier, maybe by 8am so I could take advantage of the daylight for driving. I didn’t set an alarm thinking I kept getting up early, but no dice. So…the plan was to leave between 8:30 and 9am, just like I had when I left St Louis for Denver.

I got on the road, no issue, then…apparently it had snowed, and snowed a lot, outside of Denver, the entire state of Colorado, then Kansas, and if you’ve ever made that drive, you know both states seem to go on fore…ever!!! There was snow on the ground, in the fields, it was white, white, white! There were some places I couldn’t see ahead of me or on either side of me, then it would clear, ahhh.

I filled up my gas tank and it was just slushy, but when I pulled into the first rest stop along the highway, not only did I inch my way up to the house, I actually had to put on my waterproof winter boots with the fur because the snow was at least 6 inches in some places and a foot in others. Pretty to look at, not fun to walk in, with Chucks on!

Some of the roads had snow and some ice on both lanes, other areas it was clear on one side, where the trucks had been driving over the road. I loved when cars or trucks would go by and slosh my car with wet, grey snow, thanks a lot! This was a drive that had to be made carefully for a lot of it. There were a lot of electronic warning signs up along the highway.

There were some areas that were absolutely beautiful and some areas, well…even snow couldn’t make it pretty!

I have to say, I’m glad I didn’t wash my car after skiing on Friday or even Sunday. I knew I would be driving and thought about getting her washed before I headed out this morning, really glad I didn’t. Almost every rest stop and gas station, I was getting the packed snow out of the wheel wells, washing the windshield and wiping as much of the ice from the car doors. Fun! Bottom line, she will be getting a bath this week in St Louis!

Now, you’ll love this…or maybe it’s just me. And that was pure sarcasm…At some point during the week, the driver’s side washer fluid nozzle seemed to stop working…the passenger side is fine, driver side, not so much. So…if I crane my head to the right, I can drive looking out the passenger side! HA HA! I did a lot of window washing, let me tell you! Then…somewhere around Topeka, KS, I turned on the wipers, they swished and the driver’s side wiper FLEW OFF! really?! I promptly found an Auto Zone and $70 later, I am now the proud owner of a pair of Rain-X Quantum Wiper Blades, huh? I don’t remember them being so expensive, but they are! And really expensive for something that only lasts about a year and a half! But…I really like the Rain-X brand, and they are on snug as a bug in a rug, so I am quite happy and when I got home…they are still on! HA HA

I was tired of the food I had been munching on for the week and decided to stop for some grub. There aren’t a lot of options for me, but I know I can get a sandwich at Subway, I have always liked their veggie patty, and then I started to want one. I stopped at no less than FIVE Subways along the road, the first…the toaster was out. I would have asked about the patty, but you have to cook it, so no dice. The next location had just closed, and they just started closing earlier the day before. The next two locations didn’t carry the patty and the last location, the girl behind the counter had no idea what I was talking about. Sigh…vegan ham and cheese it is! At least my stomach stopped grumbling!

Back on the road, munching on my sandwich and listening to a podcast or some comedy on Pandora radio, I didn’t get tired until about 11:30p, I had effectively been on the road about 12+ hours at that point and I had about another 2 hours to go. I was doing alright and didn’t start to get tired until about midnight and at that point, I was so close to home, I wasn’t getting a hotel. I did, however, stop at almost every rest stop and every few gas stations on the way!

Best part…pulling into my driveway, walking into the house, peaking in on the fur babies, who had noticed that I was home [I had to ignore the whining! SO hard!], putting on my pjs and crawling into bed, pulling up the covers and…zzzz…

{January 24, 2021} Hello Breck…What a Day!

Today was my last day of skiing and I decided on Breckenridge and I was not disappointed. To be honest, like Keystone, I have never been disappointed in skiing at Breckenridge.

It was 25 when I left Golden and 23 when I got to Breckenridge, but crisp and clear, so not terrible. You can tell that it snowed over the last few days, you could see snow on some of the mountains as I drove. Breckenridge was looking good! I found a parking lot and started to get set up for my day. The nice thing was that there was no snow in the parking lot where I parked, so I could step on the ground to get my boots on without fear of wet feet! Yeah!

I struggled, not as much as yesterday, but struggled buckling my boots. Funny enough, one of the women in the jeep that pulled in next to me was having the same issues. Oh boy, as much as it sucks, it’s nice to know someone else is experiencing the same thing! We chatted for a minute and then I was off and running, well, not running, there is no running in ski boots, at least not for me!

I took the gondola up to the first level and got off and went to stand in the very long lift line. The line went a little up the hill, so I trudged up with everyone else and inched my way down with everyone else, finally deciding to put my skis on when I got to flat land, I watched a lot of people standing sideways inching towards the flat spots. Up and up and up we went.

The slopes were wide open and smooth, there was some ice in a few places, they haven’t had a lot of snow over the past few months, but it didn’t get in the way. The ice wasn’t like East Coast ice, that was a plus. The music was on shuffle, never knowing what was coming up next. I swished and swished and swished, even a few straightaways. One of the runs I even shouted “I’m so happy!” and I was. It was such a great feeling!

I took a video of me swishing and swooshing down the hill, I completely forgot my GoPro, duh. One of these days I’ll get it set up and remember to take it with me, grrr. Let’s just say…my hand was mighty cold after 2 minutes and 33 seconds!

Eventually, I made it to the bottom, I can’t tell you how many runs I completed, but it was great, it even started snowing at some point, from the top of the mountain, it seemed as if there was low visibility, but it cleared up as you make your way down, still snowing, but easy to navigate. At the bottom, I used the facilities, had some lunch and decided it was time to go.

Part of me wanted to keep going because it’s my last day in Denver, but my body was telling me something else. Heart vs body, hmmm…body wins! I picked up my skis and headed to the gondola and headed back down to the bottom and towards the shuttle back to the parking lot.

It seems that a lot of people had the same idea, the same people I was ‘getting ready’ with at the car were at their cars to get disassembled, so to speak, at the same time, what are the odds? Granted, if you live in Denver and know you can ski many, many, many days during the season, even if you have to drive 2 hours, it’s worth it to go for just a few hours. It was the same for us when we lived in Hawai’i and would go snorkeling or to the beach, just to go to the beach, we’d go for one to two hours and go home, fair point.

Got ready to drive, headed out, got on the highway and then…what was supposed to be an hour and a half drive…red lights, no movement. I was already on the road about 45 minutes, maybe an hour and I looked at GPS, because of an accident on the highway, the delay was 1 hour and 4 minutes, really? It took me two solid hours to get back to the hotel. I was done! On with the pj’s! Figure out food and talk to you.

Tomorrow is my 12 hour drive back to PSM and two fur babies! And I’m already trying to figure out when I can come back to Denver to get some more skiing in before the end of the season. Hmmm… Despite the traffic, a great day, thank you Breck! Overall, three great days of skiing, fabulous visits with friends and a fabulous trip. Thank you Keystone, Breckenridge, Denver, and Colorado, I heart you!

{January 23, 2021} Treat after Treat after Treat after…

What a day today was, it was treat, after treat, after treat! I admit it, I’m spoiled, and I’ll take it!

Since I couldn’t get a reservation to ski for the day, I made other plans. First… last night I pulled down the blackout curtain, hoping it would help me also in a little. Well, any guesses how that turned out? It’s all good, more time for me to do nothing! Ha Ha!

I thought about going to a yoga class or doing a virtual livestream class and then I thought about something PSM said, you’re skiing, you don’t have to do yoga, true, but I thought it might help, who knows. Then my body said, “um…yeah, you’re good, take it easy” and I listened, go figure! I laid in bed, turned on the tv and vegged out, it was fabulous! Then I got up and made myself an egg sandwich, moved to the couch and continued my relaxing journey! Not a bad way to start a Saturday.

I decided to be a little productive, checking emails, updating a friend’s resume, and making plans for the day, all while relaxing, that works for me! My friend texted that she loved that I had no plans and I have to say, it is refreshing to not have plans when you’re visiting somewhere. It all depends where you are and what you’re doing, right? I used to live in Colorado, there is a lot that I did, but there is also a lot I haven’t done and depending on what it is, I want to share it with PSM. This time, I’m only here to ski and see friends, and since I have the pass and I’m not that far from the mountains, take it easy.

I finally got motivated and headed out the door for my first treat of the day. I drove downtown to see LJ, she has a great apartment overlooking Denver and the view of the Flat Iron Mountains is fabulous! She shares the apartment with her boyfriend JS and their kitten, Steve. OM G, what a doll baby! Cutest little orange tabby with a lot of energy and a name tag that might be bigger than him!

We sat down and talked and talked, about everything and nothing, and just like all our conversations it went all over the place, par for the course, of course! All the while Steve took turns biting my toes and fingers, pouncing on me and other things, and settling in next to his mom’s side happy as can be. Oh my am I getting my fix!

After a bit, we looked for a place to go and LJ is one of the friends I have who tries to go vegan with me, a lot of places we called had a wait and we decided on…Edgewater Public Market, I’m in! She’s been there a bunch and her yoga studio is there, same one PSM and I go to, which means…next time we travel to Denver, we can go to our yoga studio! She went off and got pizza and I got a vegan chicken Caesar salad from Meta Burger, another hit! I told her about my dinner from last night and she had to get a side of the vegan mac-n-cheese, she was not disappointed! And we talked some more, we can do this for hours, wait, we are!

Then…another treat! We both saved room and went over to Happy Cone for some vegan gelato for me and full on fabulous ice cream for her! We were both quite pleased. It’s a simple ice cream shop, ‘New Zealand style creamery handmaking ice cream, chocolates and happiness’ is the tag from their website. I believe Hap Cameron, the owner was the one who scooped our treats, I could be wrong, but it sounded like a New Zealand accent when he spoke…through his mask!

Then we sat and talked some more, go figure, then a strange smell wafted by and despite the masks, we could still smell it, it was probably someone’s food as a few people walked by, but it was time for us to get some fresh air, so we went to the outside heated tent and sat at a recently cleaned table and talked some more. I mean, when don’t we talk!? I’ve told you this before, one of my favorite things about my friends is that we can sit and talk about everything and nothing and it’s always as if no time has passed. Eventually, sadly, it was time to leave. I took LJ back home, we said our goodbyes and hugs and headed off in different directions. Looking forward to the next time!

I called AM and we worked on dinner plans, that was the plan after all, hang with friends! He called in an order at City O’ City, I think we’ve talked about it before, but I la la la love this place! I placed my order for ‘chikn’ n waffles. The chikin’ is fried cauliflower, not to worry, the waffles are actual waffles! It’s served with vegan creme fraiche, maple syrup, and carrot bacon. We also had seitan wings for an appetizer, y-u-m! There was a vegan pizza, and for dessert…a ho-ho cupcake and a whoopie pie. Let’s just say, if you come with me to Denver, I’ll take you to City O’ City. I’ll tell you how good it is…the first place LJ asked about getting lunch…City O’ City! Oh yeah!

I picked up the food and headed to AM’s house, it was AM and his daughter…AM! Ha Ha, his wife NM was at their house in the mountains, I was bummed not to get to see her, we kept missing each other this weekend. It was a great time! We talked school, a teeny bit politics, books, movies, podcasts, it was quite the dinner conversation!

When the younger AM went to bed, AM and I retreated to the den, popped in Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan‘s first movie together, Joe Versus the Volcano then spent the next 1.45 hours talking movies, discussing almost every movie on the wall, laughing, disagreeing, agreeing, howling, taking moments to actually watch some of the best parts of the movie. I think I’m going to have to dedicate an entire post to this movie, it is probably one of my all-time favorite, same for AM. What a great night, it really was, I’m still laughing!

What a day for me! Treat, after treat, after treat, after treat. I am spoiled and I’m ok with that! What’s next?!

{January 21, 2021} First run of the season…swish, swish, swish…sigh

I made the 12+ hour drive to Denver yesterday, stopped by AM’s house to pick up my skis and poles and headed up to my hotel, the Hampton Inn in Golden, Co. I’ll tell you about my drive in another post.

Today, I got up, made myself a sandwich, I decided I didn’t want to pay $15+ for a sandwich at the resort! The drive was beautiful, the first thing I saw when I left the hotel was the painted sky, the clouds look like brush strokes, amazing and breathtaking, it was hard to look away! Each of the resorts have put serious restrictions on their properties, to keep people safe, one of them is making reservations for days to ski. I chose Keystone for Thursday and Friday and it’s about an hour drive from the hotel. There wasn’t a lot of snow on the way up, even when I got through the tunnel, not a lot, but it was still beautiful. Can’t beat it!

On the drive, no matter where I am staying, I always stop at the Georgetown Gateway Visitor Center. I actually stop there on the way up and the way back, if there is traffic, it’s a nice opportunity to stretch my legs, there’s a restroom, and now it’s tradition or habit. They had some great signs for social distancing, made me laugh so I had to share!

I got to Keystone, and one of the things I love about skiing there is free parking!!! There is a lot more, but free parking is fabulous and when I park, all I have to do is walk from the car to the lift. Now…the thing I do not love about skiing, at all, is the boots, trying to clip the higher buckles. I covet snow boarder boots! Look at them! Slide your foot in, lace them up! Ski boots…wiggle and shove your foot in and get the buckles snapped, not an easy feat! I should not sweat before I start skiing! OMG! AM did give me a good tip, keep them buckled when I’m not using them and keep them by a heater before you put them on, it helped, but not enough, ugh! I would pay someone to get my boots buckled, seriously! I actually thought it would be a good side business, all you do is buckle and unbuckle a person’s ski boots!

Whew, boots buckled, it’s time to ski! I walked through the resort, it looks like a cute alpine village and an easy walk to the gondola, after a quick bio break. Up the mountain, I had a gondola to myself, and a chance to cool off! Turns out having a mask on with a hat and four layers on top can make you a bit toasty!

Got to the top, put my skis on, took a look at the view, breathtaking, pushed off and away we went! Another thing I love about skiing at Keystone is the slopes, they are wide and open and the powder is fabulous. All level of skiers go down these slopes, you’ll find newbies through experienced on the Easy Green Dots, Medium Blue Squares, as you can imagine. The more experienced or think they are experienced on the Black Diamond or Double Diamond.

None of the slopes are ever crowded, even when they don’t take reservations, you can ski freely, always just checking that there isn’t anyone right above you that you might cut off. There are even some slopes you might be skiing on your own, not another skier in sight, possibly for the entire run, until you get to the bottom.

The resort requires everyone to wear a mask and they have staff members checking and giving out masks if you aren’t wearing one. The only place we didn’t social distance were waiting on the lift lines, but the chairs themselves, they were only letting a certain number of people on at a time, I actually had every gondola and chair lift to myself, not complaining, mind you! Although, one of the things I’ve enjoyed in the past was chatting with folks about their day as we ride up. Oh well…this is what it is right now.

The runs were great, I got on the skis and it was like I hadn’t been off them! I did mostly greens and a few blues. One of the blues was great until I got to a middle section and looked down and psyched myself out! I started edging down the slope slowly, then said to myself, ‘grow a pair!’ and I did and away I went!

I got to the bottom and realized I was hungry, so I took a break, sat on a bench and had a sandwich. It was a nice feeling, sitting in the sun, while it’s cold out, just enjoying the moment. All of sudden, all of us that were sitting there together heard a noise and looked up and saw a row of skis and snowboards that were leaning up against a railing fall down. It was like one of those scenes in a movie when a domino effect happens, then I realized my skis were in there! Not to worry, it’s all good.

After sitting for a few more minutes, I realized I was done for the day, kind of tired and I don’t need to go back up there. The beauty of a ski pass is that you don’t have to spend the entire day skiing, you can ski a few hours and be done, and that was what I decided, I was done. I headed back to the car, took off my boots and ski pants, put on my fabulous furry winter boots and went back to walk around the resort for a bit, you never know what you might find.

Now, it’s time to head back to the hotel, I took a right and went through the Loveland Pass and oh my, is it beautiful! It was also 45 degrees and I decided to put the top down, and away I went! Just hoping it wouldn’t snow while the top was down. The drive was absolutely stunning! It was hard to keep my eyes on the road, only because I really wanted to marvel at my surroundings. The mountains, the snow, the ice, the beauty of it all, the absolute splendor.

The rest of the drive was normal, beautiful, but normal! I stopped at the Georgetown Gateway Visitor Center, of course! Then back to the hotel, a nice, uneventful drive!

Tomorrow…Keystone again! Who knows what will happen!

{April 2, 2018} Day 9…Good morning Guam!

Hafa adai from Guam!

It’s Sunday and we left Chuuk at 250am and we have a, twelve hour layover in Guam, what to do?!

We collected our bags, they wouldn’t check them all the way thru to our next location, rented a car and away we went. Mind you, it was about 5am at this point.

We wanted to find a place to watch the sunrise, love Google! We went to a beach known for great sunrises in Guam. When we got there, it was still quite dark out, so we closed our eyes for a few minutes.

Somewhere between 545 and 6am, we got up and went to sit on the beach with everyone else. There appeared to be a sunrise service about to start as well, we weren’t sure if it was a regular Sunday service or an Easter Sunrise service.

We sat there enjoying the sunrise where ‘America begins its day’, crazy, huh? Eventually, it was grub time!

We wanted to try something new, that goes for when we’re back in Guam, the hotel executive lounge breakfast, not great… We looked on Google maps and Pika’s got great reviews, away we go!

We had a, great breakfast, I got an omelet and PSM for something local with Chomorra sausage and we shared khalua drunken French toast with caramelized bananas, y u m! Oh, they had decaf coffee, so PSM was a very happy camper!

I got to color, we laughed, talked, got silly and had a great time. Then we had to figure out what to do for the day, we had to be back at the airport about 245pm. Not a bad thing, gotta love the United Club!

One of the things we talked about was new water shoes for PSM and fins for both of us. When we had been at the dive shop last week, a woman we talked to told us about Cost-U-Less where we could find fins a lot less expensive, and she was right!

It was like Costco on crack! And the Spam! They have it in fifteen different flavors! The Pacific Islanders do love their spam!

After our purchase we decided we weren’t going to get in the water today, so to the movies we go! We say Ready Player One, really liked it!

There wasn’t much time after that, so we went to the Hilton to relax. PSM sacked out on a chair by the water and I went wading for a bit until it was time to head to the airport.

Not a bad day, huh? There’s more! Talk soon!

{April 2, 2018} Day 9…Goodbye Guam…Say hello to Saipan!

Long time no speak!

Forty five minute fight on a puddle jumper to Saipan, our next location! We got off the plane like we did Palau and Chuuk, outside the terminal. I think we talked about the Latte, the symbol of freedom and the pillars the Chammoran people used as supports for their buildings. It’s part of their flag, license plates, everywhere. I loved the welcoming lattes at the airport!

We picked up our rental car and headed to our hotel. It was a long grueling eight mile drive! The island is only about 12 miles long!

Here’s the thing about the hotel… The hotel listing made it look like it was right on the beach with cozy little rooms or bungalows. The image, it turns out, was of the restaurant! The rooms are exactly as they looked on hotels.com, modern, comfortable and an amazing a/c unit, we were going to stay cool!

After checkng in, we went in search of foods, to said restaurant, just as we caught the sunset, our new favorite activity!

The restaurant was open on to the beach, the bar was an lcd panel that looked like a riverbed with swimming fish, very cool! We enjoyed dinner, the breeze, the sound of the surf and the company.

I can’t wait to tell you all about our next adventure… whatever it may be!

{March 31, 2018} Day 8…Chuuk

Good morning from Chuuk!

Today… We snorkel! Yesterday, we finally got in touch with the Blue Lagoon Dive Shop. They answered the phone!

That’s part of the reason we didn’t stay with them to begin with, we couldn’t get them on the line, maybe they were out diving. We couldn’t ask the dive folks at the Hilton questions, they were out diving!

We took a taxi to the Blue Lagoon, about a twenty minute drive to the other side of the island and wad I mentioned yesterday didn’t change, it was the same type of housing and markets. There is even a guard at the gate of the Blue Lagoon.

Here was the interesting thing! As we are driving, the driver drove very slowly, which was good, the road was not paved that well and lots of pot holes. He was saying hello and nodding hello to people along the way and one time stopped and someone got in the front seat, no words were spoken until almost the gate at the Blue Lagoon, I think they were friends, or related, as most people are on Chuuk!

Then, and this is an actual taxi, the styrofoam board said so in black marker… We got to the Blue Lagoon and he could not make change… the shop didn’t seem to have change either, funny enough, had change when we paid for the snorkeling… so, with the driver we tried to arrange to have him come back at three when we were done. With very little English, what do you think he did with our $20? Yup. We knew what we were doing…

We settled in for an adventure… paid for our snorkel adventure, got our equipment and we’re off! Private boat, just us, our guide Rocky and the driver, I do apologize, I can’t remembr his name.

I believe I mentioned yesterday that Chuuk is known for its WWII wreckage, that’s what we saw! Planes, boats, subs, bombs. I met a diver, before we went out, who showed me pictures of the betty bombs, bombs that spelled out Betty, we couldn’t get down enough to see those, but we saw some spectacular sites!

Luckily my phone got some decent pics! It’s just amazing to me to see these implements and machines of war and destruction with coral and new life growing on them.

After two more stops of amazing, we stopped for lunch at an island in the middle of… nowhere. It was fabulous! There’s a cabin you can reserve for the night, no internet, but there was electricity. There are two boys, well, young men, who stay on the island for two weeks and then two more come out and so on, well take care of the island and the people who rent the cabin, cooking meals, things like that. Oh, they also take care of the two dogs who guard the island, so to speak. Two short legged stumpy dogs who just want to say hello.

We sat there, eating, contemplating, enjoying the view, weather, company, can you blame us!

After a while, we decided to snorkel around the island, especially after seeing the reef sharks! Can you see him? The tips of his tail and fin are black.

When we were ready, one more place to snorkel, this time a plane, upside down, PSM even touched some of the wrecks!

Then it was time to head back in and head back to the hotel. Guess who didn’t show up… it’s all good, someone who works at the dice shop drove us back to the hotel and we got some food, chilled out, packed and got ready to get some rest, we fly out at 145am!

We’ll get the shuttle back to the airport, we have an eight hour layover in Guam and then head to… tell ya soon!

{March 30, 2018} Day 7…Chuuk

Hello from to Chuuk! Chuukese is way too difficult, I’ll stick with English!

So… we get to Chuuk, it’s give name, but… here’s the kicker, you may have heard it called Truk because when the Germans came in they couldn’t pronounce Chuuk [pronounced Ch-OO-k], so it was changed to Truk!

Interesting bit of information about Chuuk…Although Chuuk is an overwhelmingly Christiansociety, traditional beliefs in spirit possession by the dead still exist. Allegedly, these spirits overwhelmingly possess women, and spirit possession is usually brought on by family conflicts. The spirits, speaking through the women, typically admonish family members to treat each other better.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuuk_Lagoon

We left Palau very early, layover in Guam for a few hours and then under two hours to Chuuk. It was an experience from the moment we walked of the plane. Outside exit, no one pointed us towards the correct door, so we went into the gate area, huh?

Redirected to the correct place, we waited for our bags. And waited. And waited. It was an interesting cluster… everyone just stands there in front of where the bags slide out, no conveyor.

While we walked into the baggage area and while we waited, it seemed like everyone knew each other, everyone was very friendly and greeting one another, handshakes, hugs.

Here’s the next interesting thing, they sent out all the plastic tubs and coolers first. And they came out and came out and came out! I asked someone and it turns out they bring fish to Guam and bring meat back from Guam.

Finally…our bags came out, funny part, just after PSM and I swapped places! Then as we walked out of the airport terminal, we ran into the shuttle driver from the hotel, which is literally across the street! You can see the runway from our balcony!

We got to the hotel and go figure, can’t find our reservation, but they had a room for us! This hotel is really for people who are there on business, The Blue Lagoon is where people stay when they are there to scuba. If you notice the picture that says “Welcome to Chuuk. The Best Wreck Dive in the World. The Truk Lagoon.” That says it all.

The room was very nice, large with two incredibly comfortable beds with pillow top mattresses! Water cooler and bottles of water in the fridge, big bathroom, nice a/c unit and a ceiling fan. And big balcony overlooking the airport and ocean.

It was interesting, there are bars outside the hotel and someone opens it at all times. When we went outside to venture we understood.

Now, we got to Chuuk with not much planned, we hope to go snorkeling at least once. It was raining on and off and since we couldn’t go snorkeling today, there is only one tour and it left already, we decided to have a chill day. Relax, rest and maybe go out for a walk later, we have been going non-stop since we started this trip! A lot of early morning flights and not much sleep. Relaxing sounds good to me.

We decided to get some lunch in the cafe downstairs. Not much for me, but I did get vegetable curry. The funny part was the waitress came over a few times to tell us what vegetables they didn’t have! Oh well, it’s an experience!

After lunch, we went out until the street and understood a little better why the hotel is guarded and you get a shuttle driver from/ to the hotel.

The landscape, the mountain areas, are beautiful, the up close, not as much. It’s a poor island, many people seem to live in makeshift homes made with metal sheeting, the streets are not all paved, there aren’t very many shops or markets and the markets there are have bars on the windows and doors. The interesting things about some of the shops is that they are small boxes, so to speak, you walk up, look in the window, which is another small box and you make the transaction through the window. There are shops for just alcohol others just cans of food, some bread and fruits.

As we walked down the street, some people smiled hello or nodded, others just looked at us, kind of sideways, if that makes sense. We found two restaurants for dinner, one didn’t open until 630pm and the other, all meat. Back to the hotel we went.

We ended up relaxing, watching movies, the rain on and off and eventually, downstairs for dinner, there may have even been a nap or two thrown in!

Not much else happened today, I’d say it was a success!

{March 29, 2018} Day 5…Palau

Alii from Palau!

What a day! It started out gloomy and turned into ahhh! This was one of those days that of we were home or in one place for a while, we could have seen staying in and watching movies, but we’re really only here for two days, so we don’t want to miss it.

We’re glad the rain didn’t stop is because we didn’t stop! Museums, aquarium, waterfall, monoliths, oh my!

Let’s start with the Prisoner’s Carver. This is where the jail used to be, it’s since moved and now, you can visit the Prisoner’s Carve, it’s a shop not easy to find. All the carvings are what’s known storyboards.
They select a well-seasoned piece of timber, stroke its grain, and start carving ornate “storyboards” depicting ancient Micronesian legends that have been handed down through the generations on Palau, a group of small islands with a population of 15,000.

Isn’t it amazing! The turtle is the one we are bringing home with us. It’s the story of how the technique for natural birth was developed, all because a spider god fell in love with a girl. Sigh…

After the Prisoner’s Carver, we went to the Etpison Museum. This museum displays history, fabulous storyboards, carvings, the celebration of childbirth, craftsmanship, stone money and so much more!

After the museum, we went to the Palau Aquarium. This was great, not your traditional aquarium, but an immersive experience. Each ‘exhibit’ was as close to their natural habitat that you could get without actively being in the exhibit!

We start with mangrove trees and see grass.

Then we move on to what lies beneath. This included a nautilis, a spotted garden eel who came out to say hello and a stone fish, so cool!

We end with coral. Simply stunning!

What an amazing experience, if you’re ever in Palau, I recommend it!

Next, we stopped at a park you admire yet another stunning view and stopped at a hotel for lunch, which didn’t happen, we drooled over their lagoon, can you blame us?

After lunch we stopped at a visitor’s center and asked about things to do. One of them we decided sounded interesting. Stone monoliths.

On the way to the monoliths, we passed a sign that said “Waterfall” ooh, let’s do it! Joe long is it to the waterfall? Not long, about 20 minutes walk. Ok, sure.

The steps were tough, lucky there was a rope handle most of the way down, it was mostly dirt. We passed the men working to rebuild the steps, rebar, planks, more dirt. It will be great when they’re done!

After the steps, rocks and water, falling, because that’s the way it rolls, downhill, but that wasn’t the waterfall. Keep going…suspension bridge, loved the sign ” Warning: Don’t jump” thanks!

The waterfall was beautiful. Like so many, it was a wonder! We played in the water, more me than PSM, I was wearing a bathing suit, didn’t stop him from getting wet!

After a bit we headed back and unfortunately, what goes down must go back up, dammit! KR, my trainer, would be very proud, he might have thought about it, always trying to kill me!

At the top, a treat! A fresh coconut! Cut it open put in a straw and ahhh… fresh coconut milk! Yum!

Now… where to next? Stone monoliths! Let’s go! Back in the car, hoping the downloaded maps work! Our network doesn’t work here, only WiFi in the hotel lobby. Paper maps it is!

We found the stone monoliths! Just as we got there, it started sprinkling, not a bad thing, they gave us umbrellas. But how will I grow if the rain doesn’t water me?

So, the story behind the monoliths… they were being built by two demi-gods who were friends who only worked at night in secret and one felt it was going to slow, so he played with the sun and created a rooster out of an egg to trick the workers into thinking it was day. The workers didn’t fall for the trick and left and there the stone pieces sit.

We also made a friend, Taki the cat, kind of lives there, greeted us and of course I had to love on her and then guess what happened… she followed us the entire way and each time we stopped, she required payment, a rub up against my leg! If I walked ahead, I would turn to ask if she was coming and her she came.

After the monoliths, it was time to get back into town, return the rental car, shower and get some food.

We’ve been looking for some local food, as we do everywhere we go and someone told us about the restaurant at the hotel behind ours. Apparently, they offer fruit bat soup. PSM was excited and I was intrigued until they said it was the whole bat, fur and all. He was still excited, me, not so much. So sad to say… no shipments of fruit bats came in. Whew!

So it was taro soup for me and local fish soup for PSM. Quite tasty in fact.

And that folks, is all she wrote for today! Tomorrow, our next adventure begins!

{March 29, 2018} Day 6…Palau

Ungil Tutau from Palau!

Our second and fabulous day in Palau. Today, only one excursion and happy hour. But what an excursion!

Today, it was a little more than half a day snorkel trip! We went to the Milky Way, German Channel, Long Beach, Manta and Karp Island.

We departed on a boat with a driver and two guides, one did all the talking, the other smiled a lot. Our favorite question of the day…”You booked a Japanese tour?” Um, what?

Yeah, so, it turns out this is primarily a Japanese Tour Company. Their site is in Japanese and you can translate to English and we were the only English speakers on the boat, well, except for the Englishman who has lived in Japan for twenty years and had a Japanese wife and child, so he understood Japanese…

Oh yeah, when you translate the site, you can book tours for adults and dwarfs! Love that!

It was all good, our guide spoke English, luckily, and would speak to us one- on- one and then the group or vice versa. She always started with ‘thank you for waiting’ even when we went first. She was very nice, as was the entire staff. I can honestly say, the entire day, we didn’t see any other non- Asians.

We started our trip through the Pacific to the Rock Islands. The Rock Islands of Palau, also called Chelbacheb, are a small collection of limestone or coral uprises, ancient relics of coral reefs that violently surfaced to form Islands in Palau’s Southern Lagoon, between Koror and Peleliu, and are now an incorporated part of Koror State. There are between 250 and 300 islands in the group according to different sources, with an aggregate area of 47 square kilometres (18 sq mi) and a height up to 207 metres (679 ft). They are a World Heritage Site since 2012. PSM was excited, we try to find UNESCO sites on our travels.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Islands

It was amazing, felt like we saw all of them, even though I know we didn’t. They come in all shapes and sizes, some looked like small round islands, mushrooms almost, others oblong, sea cucumbers, whales, all different. At one point, it reminded me of Pandora, the floating mountains of Avatar, but in the water, ha ha.

It was absolutely spectacular! Can’t take pictures of them all, felt like you wanted to!

Our first stop was in the Milky Way, this was a lagoon set into the Rock Islands that is so milky blue because of the sediment. It’s this white silky mud that people apply to help the skin, apparently it’s wonderful for the skin, moisturizes, softens and can make you look younger. Reminds me of the mud and sulfer baths in Israel!

We swam, cannon balled of the boat while our guides jumped in and dived down to fill up a bucket with the white mud from the bottom. Then… we all slapped it on our faces and bodies and when it was dry…jeronimo! Jump in and wash it off! Do we look younger?

After a bit, it was on to the next place, cannot remember for the life of me what it was called, but we swam in a shallow reef, I got worried a few times that I might disturb something, but it was all good! Fish, big ones, little ones, really little ones and clams, giant clams! These are the ones I mentioned, wow

Now, favorite exclamation of the day…I happened to put on my snorkel mask first, “Darth Vader!” That was classic and something everyone understood! Geek power!

It was amazing and beautiful and wondrous and so much more. I have to apologize, my phone wasn’t great under water, fingers crossed Go-Pro did better!

Another amazing trip through the Rock Islands to the German made channel, the water was so blue and clear! And then to a reef with a major drop off, so many beautiful things to see including brightly colored fish wanting to shine and others looking to hide. Coral in so many wonderful colors, shapes and sizes.

After that fabulous snorkel, we went back through the channel to Long Beach, this only happens once a month when the tide goes out enough that you can stand, sit, walk, run on the ‘beach’ in the middle of the ocean!

So, we walked, jumped, sat in the middle of the ocean! How fabulous is that?! Our other guide took lots of pictures for everyone!

Back on our boat to our last stop, Karp Island. This is where they cooked or I should say bar-b-qued lunch. I was lucky, they had a vegan box lunch for me, I still got a bowl of miso soup, a piece of corn and tapioca, this is like a stalk and soft and actually made me think of the pudding!

We had time to sit, swim, float, hang out in a hammock while we waited for lunch and after. We chatted with some of the other folks on our boat and on the other boat. The guide from the other boat took a bunch of us, from both boats, on a tour thorough the jungle on the island.

Karp Island is also a resort that you can stay at on one of their cabins, we agreed, we would so do that! Who knows what our future holds!

After about two hours, it was back on the boat, drop everyone but us and another couple at a hotel on the water and us back to Impac, the dive shop where we started and then a drive back to the hotel.

We took showers and headed back out in a taxi to a resort about 20 minutes away for sunset and wow, was it beautiful!

Back to the hotel in search of food. Someone mentioned where we could get some clams but we got to the market just as they were closed so to the Pho we go! Pho You Pho Me was the restaurant we chose. A tasty order of broccoli with garlic for me and crab and lumpia for PSM, both quite good, according to him!

Back to the room, finish packing, set the alarm and lay down for a nap, our flight is at 145am! That’s how they do things on these islands apparently, our flight on Sunday is 250am.

What a day and what an island! We both wish we had more time here in Palau, maybe we’ll come back, love the idea of staying on Karp Island!

Are you ready to go with us on our next adventure?!

Email Subscription

What was I thinking?