Ksue44

Have passport will travel? No, it didn't happen in 2011 and it didn't happen in 2012. It's not because I didn't want to do some globe hopping outside the good ol USA. A staycation wasn't exactly my first choice, but when I was laid off on 3/31/11, had a Subdural Hematoma on 5/28/11, and was laid off again on 3/1/12, it was like the air was let out of my purse strings. Yep, I'm still a little bit grumpy for not being able to travel, after all, there's still 100-150 places that I want to see before I kick the bucket. My friend, Dianne suggested we get the hell out of dodge (Big Dallas), and check out Lavender Ridge Farms. When she mentioned that there'd be some wine tasting, and a guitar player at the farm, ... read more

I had heard about Anthony's Key Resort from a little scuba shop in Richardson "Crazy Scuba". Last year, they had featured a trip to Anthony's, I had planned to go and even put up my deposit money. My water heater decided to die, so it was either replace the water heater and be able to take warm showers or go to Anthony's Key Resort. The score was water heater = 1; Anthony's Key Resort = 0. Fast forward to this year, I was going. I was ready to go to my beloved Caribbean for the second time this year. I flew down there on Sunday. The flight down there is pretty easy, from Houston, it is 2.5 hours. When I got down there, it was nice to be in temps that were 80 degrees and water ... read more

I've been to Colorado Springs twice. The first time I went was over Labor Day in 2004 for a 4 day weekend. This year, it was more to go visit my sister and her family, but I did manage to squeeze in a couple of excursions on the side. The first 2 days of our visit was indoors, it was constantly raining in Colorado Springs. My first visit to Colorado, we went rafting down the Arkansas River. It had been my 2nd experience rafting, the Arkansas River was pretty tame in comparison to the rafting that I had done in Costa Rica. Nonetheless, I had a blast! The water was cold, but refreshing. I was the only woman on the raft - LUCKY ME! It was pretty awesome to be rafting and look up to see ... read more

Day 8 - Our life on the boat would come to an end in the morning. We docked at Santa Cruz. Our morning, and last excursion would take us to the Darwin Station. The Charles Darwin Research Station was established in 1964. It is a great place to visit, to learn about marine conservation as well as terrestrial conservation. We got to watch a short movie, which featured land and marine critters. Also, the station places emphasis on keeping the Galapagos Islands preserved. A real treat was seeing Lonesome George. Lonesome George is the last known Pinta Island Tortoise. There are eleven subspecies of Galapagos Tortoises that are native to the islands. George was seen on Pinta Island back in 1971, and it was decided to relocate him for safety reasons since Pinta Island's vegetation had ... read more

Day 6 - We took a quick stop at Sombrero Chino on our way to Bartolome Islands. Snorkeling in Sombrero Chino was awesome!! The water was clear, temperature was comfortable, and it was sunny. While snorkeling, I encountered a Shark underneath a rock, took a photo, but nothing happened. My camera had ran low on batteries. In the afternoon, we arrived at Bartolome. We saw 2 Penguins on the shore.... read more