Day 6 (Wednesday, September 2, 2009) We headed out of Mont. St. Michel early this morning in order to get a head start on our day. I was hoping to possibly see blue skies, but, unfortunately, that was not the case so my mostly cloudy and gray photos of the Mont from the day prior would have to suffice. Our first stop of the day was in the seaside town of Cancale. This small town of about 6,000 residents is famous for its many oyster beds, but we came to simply stroll the quiet backstreets and to enjoy the gorgeous water views. We also stopped in at a bakery to purchase our daily ration of croissants and Mike picked out a flan tart, which was very good. From Cancale, we drove over to a gorgeous ... read more

Day 3 (Sunday, August 30, 2009) After waking up just slightly later than we had planned, we headed down to the breakfast room at La Cour Sainte Catherine around 8:45. Just as the morning before, we were the first ones to arrive for breakfast. We went through the same drill as the day prior, the only difference being that Mike ordered tea instead of chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) to drink. Immediately after breakfast, we collected our bags from the room, and then walked back to the office to pay our bill. After saying our good-byes, we began the hour-long drive to Bayeux. Although we were looking forward to the next part of our trip, we were very sad to leave gorgeous Honfleur and our charming bed and breakfast. Once in Bayeux, we immediately checked into ... read more

Although both Mike and I had lived within 30 minutes of Whidbey Island for the majority of our lives, neither of us had ever taken the time to visit the island. Over the years, I had heard numerous great things about the island, including the quaint towns of Langley and Coupeville and the popular Deception Pass State Park. While we were on a trip with our family the year prior at Lake Crescent, we discussed the idea of initiating an annual family trip to locales around Puget Sound. My Aunt Staci recommended that we stay on Whidbey Island for the next trip as one of her best friends had a family home near Freeland that we would probably be able to use for free. It sounded like a great idea to me, especially because we would ... read more

Although we had discussed going to Northern California's wine country for several years, it wasn't until an unbelievable airfare deal was advertised on Southwest Airlines that we finally decided plan a trip. Somehow, we were lucky enough to snag two $80 round trip tickets into Oakland. Yes, you read that correctly; this outrageously inexpensive ticket included all associated fees and taxes, so it would have been foolish not to have taken advantage of it. After deciding to spend four days in the area, we then had the difficult task of choosing which area/city to stay in. Between Napa Valley and Sonoma County, there were literally hundreds of options, most of which were quite expensive and more than we wanted to spend. In the end, we settled on a Best Western in Rohnert Park since we got ... read more

Day 13 (Sunday, April 5th, 2009) Initially, our plan for the day was to leave Toledo and head north towards Segovia, first stopping at La Granja Palace. However, the night before we decided to also add in a visit to the Valley of the Fallen, as it was within close driving distance to both Segovia and La Granja. Our first stop of the three was the Valley of the Fallen (Valle de los Caídos), which is a monument located in the city of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. The immense monument was built per the direction of dictator Francisco Franco as a memorial for the victims of Spain's Civil War, which occurred from 1936-1939. The building is comprised of a basilica (largest in the world), an underground crypt (houses the remains of 40,000 victims) and ... read more