Well if Sedona was the spiritual awakening, the Grand Canyon is heaven. It is just amazing. I, personally had been here before when i was a little girl. It was when my mom and step dad took my brother and i on a road trip and one of the stops was the grand canyon. I was eight on that trip and the place had an impact on me than and stayed with me my entire life. Being here at 37 was just as moving. Being able to be here with my family was precious. We settled on a campsite about a 15-20 minutes outside the Grand Canyon, and this truely was camping as us B.Cers knew. It was chilly and campfires were something you had to work for. Rryla and Mark set out to find wood for the fire as the rest of us settled in. We set to finding the perfect hot dog stick and than to widdle it away to a point. We gathered our chairs around the flame that would become the means to our dinner and the means to our warmth for the evening. We discussed our day, relaxed and watched the stars tell their story in the night sky. We planned for the following day and watched the embers of the fire lull into the darkness of the night. We calapsed heavily apon feathered pillows to dream far into the night. Apon waking, we set out to discover the secrets of the vast Grand Canyon. The trails were abundant. We walked to several view sights, took photos, imprinted images on our souls and continued. It was inspiring, it was captivating and down right unbelievable. To stare out at this montrous crevass, that was miles deep, miles long and that held stories and fates of many travellers was not only a privallege, but an honour. Would my children remember its folds and its layers as i had as a child?. I wondered at i stared at its history.
We found a guide and learned of a program that the kids could do to earn a badge and a crest. We needed to hike a trail into the belly of the canyon and attend a seminar. We chose a trail and a seminar. The Trail was a switchback that meandered down until it reached a river. We did not go all the way down, however the distance that we covered was enough to appreciate the offerings that this canyon had. It was enough to make one feel small and vulnerable. Our children did an amazing job navigating the trail and enjoying the natural beauty that they were lucky enough to be apart of. After our hike we attended a seminar on the California Condor. We learned of it's threat of extinction, of it's importance and of the efforts to regain it's numbers. Our children learned alot that day, so did we. They got their badges and their crests, we got tattoos on our souls of this miraculous place. Will our children grow up to take their children on such a journey? We hope so.
The moon is magic and history repeats itself . We aim to teach and be taught. Lifes journey is a discovery of amazing things.
Another day unfolds
And we sleep.
xoUs
Sunday, June 13, 2010
The Road Home is a Long and Winding Road
On our way to Sedona AZ we ran into a road block, or a windstorm, to be more correct. It wasn't like the windstorms we're used to in Squamish, more like the tornado type that perhaps they are used to in dessert areas in the U.S. So their we were, barreling down the highway and being tossed around like a paper bag caught in the wind. Personally, i felt in danger, which didn't normally register, at first, to others in my family because im known to be hyper sensitive to pretty much everything, but i had abit of help from the powers that-be in the form of a sign high up over head that read " highway closed 50miles ahead due to extreme wind storm." I had to breathe a sigh of relief because in my mind i believed that this would mean surely we would stop and wait it out....It didn't! I was able, however to get Mark to stop at a visitors centre to ask about the degree of the storm and the estimated time of interference the storm would cause. The gentlemen at the front desk was very helpful, and definatley on my side in terms of not continuing our journey down the highway. He let us know that these "windstorms" can turn into 100mile high "dirt devils", which really is a down play on a tornado as far as i could tell. He said that high profile vehicles like our motorhome were known to "tumble" in storms such as this and that winds were up to 60miles an hour which was the worst yet out of the previous days. Apparently the winds had even blew out some windows in the building that he occupied the previous day ! As much anxiety as i was feeling at the time, i felt reassured that after all this information we were staying put until things calmed down outside with the winds. We walked out, and as we were getting tossled around by the wind on the way to the motorhome, i had a smile on my face and was just about to breathe a little easier when Mark piped up and said "I think we can make it the next 50miles til where the road closes.'' My heart rate instantly spiked, "come on Mark, are you serious?" I said, "Ya, it will be fine Bran, you'll see, it's only 50miles away, it's still early in the day, we'll be fine". So off we went, reluctantly on my behalf, down the windy road. We did make it. we went until we couldn't make it any more, and their we were with about 150 other big rigs waiting until the storm passed and we could push on to our destination....Sedona. We walked Keesha, talked to some rig drivers that added little comfort to us, informing us that, they too, felt very vulnerable on the road in times like this. We had some lunch and decided on our options. At this point the highway was not scheduled to open until later on that night, or possibly early the next morning. Their was an alternate route that would ad about 2 hours on our trip, or we could wait to hit the highway with the other 150 other big rigs to fight out the battle to Sedona, without any headlights on our motorhome, we decided to take the alternate route. Originally this was not a great option only because nobody else was taking it and we were wondering why? Was their something about this route that we didn't know about? In our typical adventurous Willmot fashion, we decided to take the alternate route. Things were abit better considering the first hour of our journey we were in a head wind, which didn't make us feel like we were inside a washing machine. This was good. We eventually wound our way into a mountain and began to descend off the high dessert plateau. We didn't encounter any precarious roadblocks on our way, we saw a coyote and some deer and that was about it. We entered Sedona in the evening before the night fell, it was a sureal event. If you have never been to Sedona i encourage you to go. It is hard to describe, only because the beauty of it captivates you, stuns you almost, but does not let you take it with you. The color of the rock is like a sunset in Mexico, or of a bleeding heart that never heals, it stays with you, envelopes your soul, captivates your spirit. I know now why they call this place "spiritual". We took many pictures that evening as the sun cast it's glow on the rock just before it went to sleep. I think we all felt a little closer to god in those final moments of the day. As night was falling we knew we had to find a place to park for the night. It was a race against the moments before the moon lit the sky because our headlights were pretty close to nil. We settled on a parking lot next to a dairy queen. This proved to be a gem spot. Not only did we get wifi, but we also got cable and i was able to catch the season finale of Greys Anatomy.
The next day we set out to find a good hiking trail. We wanted to envelope ourselves in the crevases of the rock that surrounded this natural wonder of a community. First we grabbed a coffee and hit the whole foods store for lunch supplies. In whole foods we met an amazing women that awackened me, that made me ache for my girlfriends and want to ad her to my facebook list just the same. She told us of a favorite hicking spot and that is the one we chose. We packed some snacks and headed out. Keesha was in her glory, and so were we. The hike started out with us having to hop scotch across river beds and streams until we came to a path that wound through lush woods and rock faces. It was beautiful, the air was fresh and the path was alive with beauty and other hikers. The land whispered its past to us as we meandered along in awe. We hiked for about an hour and a half in and than turned around to head back, feeling the hunger in our bellies for lunch. We ate, and than wondered what the evening had in store for us. We had previously booked a camp site out of town. A place to park really. At a cost of 20$ we had a nice place to park for the night without hookup or any other amentety, but it was a sure thing for the night. We decided to check out a few other things in town for the tourist mind. One was an amazing museum, full of creativity and divine passion of a collection of artists. It made one think outside the box and wish that we possesed the amount of talent that was captivated in that one space. It filled your mind with ideas and of creation, i was so blessed to of just walked through that moment in time. The other site we felt we needed to experience in this spiritual land was a church that was perched high on a hill with the layers of red rock as a back drop. We parked at the bottom of a winding road that led to the entrance of the church. We walked the distance enjoying the surroundings. We saw lush flowers and cactus, we saw carvings in the rock and felt the power of the spirit all around us. Apon entering the little church their were many people around. Some lighting candles, others sitting in the pews thinking of lost loved ones and taking in the serenity of the views that were cast in front of them. Others shopped downstairs in the giftshop, still others took pictures trying to captivate the feelings that this place instilled in your soul. We walked foreward as a whole, Teaghen, Rryla, Brooklyn and Myself, to light some candles for the ones that left footsteps on our souls, namely Lindsay, K'yoosh, Angela, Sadie and Chris. We knew in our hearts that this place, with its beauty and its spirituality would be that much closer to god. A place that we knew those loved ones would love to stare out the window and feel free. With some tears being shed, we left our mark and headed to the comfort of our home on wheels. It was getting close to nightfall so we decided to head to the parking lot of Dairy Queen, check our emails and head to our campsite for the night. Apon arriving at the parking lot Mark was confronted by a man who talked him into spending the night in luxery, the catch was that it was an intorduction to a timeshare so we'd have to endure a 90 minute speel by a rep to encourage us to buy a timeshare. Their was, however, no obligation to buy, also their was free laundry an exercise room, pool, hot tub, adult whirlpool, free wifi, 2 nights comped and a 75$ diesel coupon for fuel. Personally, this was a no brainer! We had nothing to lose, other than a 20$ spot in a campsite out of town. We headed for luxery and thats what we got. We spent the night in style, first tackling all our laundry, which by the way was alot!!, having an adult hottub and watching tv. In the morning we headed for our 90minute speel. With our lines of exited wife/ reasonable husband, freshly rehersed we were ready to tackle the most money hungery rep they could throw at us. She was lovely, and experienced. Our rep had us wrapped around her finger, we wanted to instantly be her friend, get her address, her email and keep in touch. We were being led along on a money train that we were intended to give up at the end. However we hit a snag, we started spilling the beans, we forgot our lines and told of our incredible journey, our desires to re-invent ourselves, our quest to find our true purpose, to be a close family unit and to reconnect. This proved to be our demise, for we were kicked out of the time share world, apparently you need to be currently employed and to be making at least 40grand per year, we failed to mention that our jobs were waiting for us apon our return, but our quest was real. It was like a deck of cards that fell all around us, we had to do the walk of shame to leave and not collect our gas money, the second night would not be comped. So we did our last 2 loads of free laundry, the kids had their last swim in the pool, we exercised in the weight room and hit the road. Next destination........The Grand Canyon!!!!!!!
The next day we set out to find a good hiking trail. We wanted to envelope ourselves in the crevases of the rock that surrounded this natural wonder of a community. First we grabbed a coffee and hit the whole foods store for lunch supplies. In whole foods we met an amazing women that awackened me, that made me ache for my girlfriends and want to ad her to my facebook list just the same. She told us of a favorite hicking spot and that is the one we chose. We packed some snacks and headed out. Keesha was in her glory, and so were we. The hike started out with us having to hop scotch across river beds and streams until we came to a path that wound through lush woods and rock faces. It was beautiful, the air was fresh and the path was alive with beauty and other hikers. The land whispered its past to us as we meandered along in awe. We hiked for about an hour and a half in and than turned around to head back, feeling the hunger in our bellies for lunch. We ate, and than wondered what the evening had in store for us. We had previously booked a camp site out of town. A place to park really. At a cost of 20$ we had a nice place to park for the night without hookup or any other amentety, but it was a sure thing for the night. We decided to check out a few other things in town for the tourist mind. One was an amazing museum, full of creativity and divine passion of a collection of artists. It made one think outside the box and wish that we possesed the amount of talent that was captivated in that one space. It filled your mind with ideas and of creation, i was so blessed to of just walked through that moment in time. The other site we felt we needed to experience in this spiritual land was a church that was perched high on a hill with the layers of red rock as a back drop. We parked at the bottom of a winding road that led to the entrance of the church. We walked the distance enjoying the surroundings. We saw lush flowers and cactus, we saw carvings in the rock and felt the power of the spirit all around us. Apon entering the little church their were many people around. Some lighting candles, others sitting in the pews thinking of lost loved ones and taking in the serenity of the views that were cast in front of them. Others shopped downstairs in the giftshop, still others took pictures trying to captivate the feelings that this place instilled in your soul. We walked foreward as a whole, Teaghen, Rryla, Brooklyn and Myself, to light some candles for the ones that left footsteps on our souls, namely Lindsay, K'yoosh, Angela, Sadie and Chris. We knew in our hearts that this place, with its beauty and its spirituality would be that much closer to god. A place that we knew those loved ones would love to stare out the window and feel free. With some tears being shed, we left our mark and headed to the comfort of our home on wheels. It was getting close to nightfall so we decided to head to the parking lot of Dairy Queen, check our emails and head to our campsite for the night. Apon arriving at the parking lot Mark was confronted by a man who talked him into spending the night in luxery, the catch was that it was an intorduction to a timeshare so we'd have to endure a 90 minute speel by a rep to encourage us to buy a timeshare. Their was, however, no obligation to buy, also their was free laundry an exercise room, pool, hot tub, adult whirlpool, free wifi, 2 nights comped and a 75$ diesel coupon for fuel. Personally, this was a no brainer! We had nothing to lose, other than a 20$ spot in a campsite out of town. We headed for luxery and thats what we got. We spent the night in style, first tackling all our laundry, which by the way was alot!!, having an adult hottub and watching tv. In the morning we headed for our 90minute speel. With our lines of exited wife/ reasonable husband, freshly rehersed we were ready to tackle the most money hungery rep they could throw at us. She was lovely, and experienced. Our rep had us wrapped around her finger, we wanted to instantly be her friend, get her address, her email and keep in touch. We were being led along on a money train that we were intended to give up at the end. However we hit a snag, we started spilling the beans, we forgot our lines and told of our incredible journey, our desires to re-invent ourselves, our quest to find our true purpose, to be a close family unit and to reconnect. This proved to be our demise, for we were kicked out of the time share world, apparently you need to be currently employed and to be making at least 40grand per year, we failed to mention that our jobs were waiting for us apon our return, but our quest was real. It was like a deck of cards that fell all around us, we had to do the walk of shame to leave and not collect our gas money, the second night would not be comped. So we did our last 2 loads of free laundry, the kids had their last swim in the pool, we exercised in the weight room and hit the road. Next destination........The Grand Canyon!!!!!!!
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Barbara and Scotts house was great. It is right in the downtown core of Austin so it's central to everything. It is a 2 bedroom apartment on the 7th floor. The building they live in is great because it's built up around a courtyard, in the middle is this great swimming pool. Their is also bbq's set up around the courtyard, so it's a great place to meet people. We had a great time with them. We parked the rv in a parking lot across the street and took full advantage of the space in the apartment, which to us, felt like a mansion. Im not sure Barbara and Scott thought that we would actually stay in their home with them the whole time, but we proved them wrong.!!! I mean, they had laundry and a bedroom with a very comfortable bed, even if we had to share it with the two youngest kids. They had internet and cable, water that you could drink right out of the tap, a bathtub/shower with hot water and great pressure, we felt like we had won the lottery. Barbara proved to be a fabulous cook, im sure we all gained 2lbs in just one week. They were both such wonderful hosts we didn't want to leave. We saw many sights while we were there. We checked out the parliament buildings, Barton Springs, and this great river that was teared like Aqua Azul. We did some shopping for Vegas, and had a couple nights out on the town where we were lucky enough to catch some of Austins local talent. .We also tried to get Teaghens nose peirced. (an early birthday present) but that voyage was unsuccessful because you cannot pierce a child under the age of 16.( I cannot say i was that disapointed about it) The city itself was beautiful. We are so greatful for Barbara's and Scott's gracious hopitality and their patience. It was a great thing that both of them are so wonderful with kids!! Thanks again you guys.
After Austin we headed to Carlsbad New Mexico. We drove straight through and stayed the night at a Walmart. The next day we checked out Carlsbad Caverns. WOW, this place is crazy. You need to google it because i just can't do it justice. The decent into the caverns is 750 feet. There are 2 ways of getting in, you can walk down a switchback paved path all the way down, or you can take an elevator. We decided to split up, Mark and the older girls went down the switchback path and than came up the elevator, me and the little ones and we headed back down the elevator. Now, those of you who know me are probably wondering if i freaked right out, well let me tell you, i was freaking out inside, especially when that elevator door opened. I had to take a moment and decide whether i could really do it.....but i did. It was unbelievable down in the caves, there were stalagtites, and stalagmites everywhere. It was all limestone and it was awe inspiring. I had to part ways with everyone when we came to the shortcut back though, i mean i couldn't escape that voice in my head that kept telling me we were 750ft below the earths surface.!! After the caverns we went to the living forest. This is like a zoo, but all the animals are outside in a natural environment. We headed out on a mile loop to look at all the animals. We saw cougars, elk, prairie dogs and snakes. We saw links and porccupines, badgers and hawks. Lots of different animals, it was great. The day was a hot one so we headed to Bentley Lake(?). It was a state park just back from a lake, we took a swim and had a bite to eat. There were rabbits everywhere, it was pretty cool. In the morning Mark and i went for a 6km run in the desert while Rryla and Teaghen put together a great breakfast of scrambled eggs, beans and toast, thanks girls!! We then took a high summit road that reached heights of 9000ft, on our way to White Sands. What a spectacular sight this was. It was white sand dunes. Amazing, we hiked around abit and took some fabulous pictures. From there we went to camp at Three Rivers, we wanted to investigate the petroglyphs. They were very interesting, unfortunately we lost our pictures from this site. After camping in Three Rivers and listening to the coyotes howl as we fell asleep under a sliver of a moon, we drove to Santa Fe. What a beautiful artsy city it is. Everywhere you look you see art, from the downtown architecture to the many shops we browsed through. We also had a great dinner out at this rooftop pizza place, so nice to not have to cook! Tomorrow we head to Sedona AZ and than onto the Grand Canyon. I am personally counting down the days until i see my girlfriends in Vegas on the 28th, the only one i'll be missing is shortcake.!
This trip has been full of good times, it has been full of adversary too. We have learned alot from the places and the people we have met as well as each other. We have discovered that life has some unforseen things that happen, that you cannot control or predict. In saying that i would like to share with you that our beloved dog K'yoosh died recently. He suddenly got sick and after taking him to a vet he was unable to recover. We have had him cremated and Barbara will bring him home to us in July. We were heartbroken and shocked. We all look at things alittle differently now. It's funny how a situation like that changes you inside forever. Its like the lenses that you've stared at the world through have been tinted ever so slightly. Time will heal us all i know, but i miss that dog, we all do.
I am sending you all K'yoosh kisses on the wind tonight. He loved to give kisses. May you sleep soundly under the clear sky, may the moon shine brightly apon you all.
With love always.
US
After Austin we headed to Carlsbad New Mexico. We drove straight through and stayed the night at a Walmart. The next day we checked out Carlsbad Caverns. WOW, this place is crazy. You need to google it because i just can't do it justice. The decent into the caverns is 750 feet. There are 2 ways of getting in, you can walk down a switchback paved path all the way down, or you can take an elevator. We decided to split up, Mark and the older girls went down the switchback path and than came up the elevator, me and the little ones and we headed back down the elevator. Now, those of you who know me are probably wondering if i freaked right out, well let me tell you, i was freaking out inside, especially when that elevator door opened. I had to take a moment and decide whether i could really do it.....but i did. It was unbelievable down in the caves, there were stalagtites, and stalagmites everywhere. It was all limestone and it was awe inspiring. I had to part ways with everyone when we came to the shortcut back though, i mean i couldn't escape that voice in my head that kept telling me we were 750ft below the earths surface.!! After the caverns we went to the living forest. This is like a zoo, but all the animals are outside in a natural environment. We headed out on a mile loop to look at all the animals. We saw cougars, elk, prairie dogs and snakes. We saw links and porccupines, badgers and hawks. Lots of different animals, it was great. The day was a hot one so we headed to Bentley Lake(?). It was a state park just back from a lake, we took a swim and had a bite to eat. There were rabbits everywhere, it was pretty cool. In the morning Mark and i went for a 6km run in the desert while Rryla and Teaghen put together a great breakfast of scrambled eggs, beans and toast, thanks girls!! We then took a high summit road that reached heights of 9000ft, on our way to White Sands. What a spectacular sight this was. It was white sand dunes. Amazing, we hiked around abit and took some fabulous pictures. From there we went to camp at Three Rivers, we wanted to investigate the petroglyphs. They were very interesting, unfortunately we lost our pictures from this site. After camping in Three Rivers and listening to the coyotes howl as we fell asleep under a sliver of a moon, we drove to Santa Fe. What a beautiful artsy city it is. Everywhere you look you see art, from the downtown architecture to the many shops we browsed through. We also had a great dinner out at this rooftop pizza place, so nice to not have to cook! Tomorrow we head to Sedona AZ and than onto the Grand Canyon. I am personally counting down the days until i see my girlfriends in Vegas on the 28th, the only one i'll be missing is shortcake.!
This trip has been full of good times, it has been full of adversary too. We have learned alot from the places and the people we have met as well as each other. We have discovered that life has some unforseen things that happen, that you cannot control or predict. In saying that i would like to share with you that our beloved dog K'yoosh died recently. He suddenly got sick and after taking him to a vet he was unable to recover. We have had him cremated and Barbara will bring him home to us in July. We were heartbroken and shocked. We all look at things alittle differently now. It's funny how a situation like that changes you inside forever. Its like the lenses that you've stared at the world through have been tinted ever so slightly. Time will heal us all i know, but i miss that dog, we all do.
I am sending you all K'yoosh kisses on the wind tonight. He loved to give kisses. May you sleep soundly under the clear sky, may the moon shine brightly apon you all.
With love always.
US
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Hi everyone, lets play catchup shall we......ok,so after we left Pilanque we headed for the Emerald Coast where the beaches have black sand. We picked an rv site from our book and hooked up. It had a pool and water slides for the kids. It was right on the beach, a great location. It was not near as nice as the yucatan though, and we were once again wishing we would of stayed longer in Paa muul. It being what it was though we enjoyed ourselves. Unfortuntately we didnt have internet service there. The weather was hot, and the pool was warm and it was very buisy because it was cinco demaio (sp) (the fifth of may). We had several young boys lingering around our rv lurking after our older girls, it was a little concerning.!! They kept asking to borrow our soccer ball and showing off for our girls. Mark and i rode our bikes into town a few times to grab a coffee and check things out but for the most part the little town we were staying 4 miles out of was very small and quite uneventful. We stayed here for 3 days and carried onto Cuidad Victoria. This was a bussling city, just about 3 hours from the border. We stayed 2 nights here and did some shopping and a shit load of walking, holly cow. Again walking anywhere with our older girls was a challenge. Mexican boys and men, don't have any dignity, they just stare and gauk and shout, its disturbing and crazy all at the same time~!~ Mark enjoyed half a day shopping out with us than he graciously took the little ones off my hands so the older girls and i could finish the day off. While we were gone he McGivored up a sprinkler for the little ones out of a two ltr pop bottle. It was ingenious!! We all had a little run through it when we got home. We left bright and early the next day, at around 6am and headed for the border. We crossed at Pharr on the US side. It was a breeze coming through the border actually which was a relief, we had to get out of the motorhome while it got searched but it was only for about 10 minutes. (We could of smuggled that little kitten in after all!!) The first thing we noticed after crossing was a sting operation going down at a motel, after that we saw another one going down at a gas station. WOW, scary!! The next thing we noticed as we stopped for "Peter Piper Pizza" was how heavy people were, which made me feel a whole lot better because when you are sitting in an rv travelling around from place to place like we are you don't get a whole lot of exercise and i am sure that if i havn't gained weight, my mussels have disapeared at the very least. Anyways we got our pizza and headed towards Austin, to where we could hang out and relax with our good friends I think a little out of place is an understatement, but oh well. There was a grad photo session going on while we were soaking in the hot tub. We took turns picking our favorite gowns, it was great, it was like we had front row seats at a fashion show.
After we rehydrated in the pool and hot tub we went back to the rv and fed our kids. We than had them hang out in the hotel, which they were so happy to do. To have the space to lounge and have a shower and watch tv. Us adults went out for dinner to the restaurant, which was Scotts treat. It was great. Not only to visit and get some adult time in, but to eat a meal that was cooked by someone else! Thank you so much Scott, it was so greatly appreciated. We slept in the parking lot that night and than hooked up the next morning with Scott and Barbara to go out onto a Pontoon boat which they had rented. It was so cool. We had a blast, even the dogs enjoyed it.! Scott brought out the fishing rods and had the little ones fishing with him. They caught so many fish which they released, even the big girls caught some. We saw pretty much the whole lake, it was beautiful.....again thank you so much Barbara and Scott, it was a mothers day that will stay with me, thanks. After parking the boat we headed up towards the motorhome. i was carrying Aidan and he pointed out this huge creepy crawly, it turned out to be a giant centipede! It was about 7 inches long and it was black, yellow and red. We discovered that it was a giant desert centipede. It has sharp, poisonous claws and venomous fangs, it is scary fast too. It can reach speeds up to two feet per seconds!! Yikes! Im so glad that when it hid in the rocks it didn't come back out when we tried to poke it with a stick!
We were now on our way to Barbara and Scotts.
After we rehydrated in the pool and hot tub we went back to the rv and fed our kids. We than had them hang out in the hotel, which they were so happy to do. To have the space to lounge and have a shower and watch tv. Us adults went out for dinner to the restaurant, which was Scotts treat. It was great. Not only to visit and get some adult time in, but to eat a meal that was cooked by someone else! Thank you so much Scott, it was so greatly appreciated. We slept in the parking lot that night and than hooked up the next morning with Scott and Barbara to go out onto a Pontoon boat which they had rented. It was so cool. We had a blast, even the dogs enjoyed it.! Scott brought out the fishing rods and had the little ones fishing with him. They caught so many fish which they released, even the big girls caught some. We saw pretty much the whole lake, it was beautiful.....again thank you so much Barbara and Scott, it was a mothers day that will stay with me, thanks. After parking the boat we headed up towards the motorhome. i was carrying Aidan and he pointed out this huge creepy crawly, it turned out to be a giant centipede! It was about 7 inches long and it was black, yellow and red. We discovered that it was a giant desert centipede. It has sharp, poisonous claws and venomous fangs, it is scary fast too. It can reach speeds up to two feet per seconds!! Yikes! Im so glad that when it hid in the rocks it didn't come back out when we tried to poke it with a stick!
We were now on our way to Barbara and Scotts.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Forgotten post
- OMG i forgot chicken pizza......i mean Chichen-itza! We actually went there after Cancun. See what happens when you get behind, you forget. I can't believe i forgot this actually because this part of the trip was pretty beautiful. We headed first to check out a cenote. Holly cow, it was amazing. It's hard to describe it actually. When we first arrived we payed a small fee than walked about 100meters to where some stairs went down down down into the earth. Finally you came to an opening and it was a massive open round cave, with stallagtites and stallagmites everywhere. Their was an opening in the roof no bigger than a well and the sunlight streamed in to where the water was. It was at least as big as a bball court in there. Mark and Rryla went for a swim, while the rest of us just waided in. The water was cold and murkey. Birds flew all around the ceiling and you could hear them calling to each other as it echoed about the cavern. After seeing that cenote, we looked at another one, that was a bit smaller and had a much wider opening and not much water, but still spectacular. From their we continued on to Chicken-itza. We parked at a motel that housed a hundred cats. It had a pretty good pool and again seemed abandoned, which was fine with us. It was close enought to the ruins that we could bike there. We had heard of a light show that was going on at the ruins in the nighttime. We thought we'd check it out. It turned out to be very boring, especially for the little ones, Aidan actually fell asleep, and im sure it gave Brooklyn nightmares. They really shouldn't even call it a light show because it was more of an information night and they shawn different colored lights on a pyramid while they talked (in spanish) . We did have head phones that converted it to english, but still it wasn't very great. The next day Mark and i went the the ruins together and left the kids to play in the pool. They were pretty good, although you couln't climb up any pyramids which was too bad.
- It was after this that we made our way to Campeche.
- Love to you all.
Campeche and Pilanque
We arrived in Campeche and stayed in a dynamite rv site. It was right on the ocean and it had a huge pool. It was called the Nautico club, and it was practically deserted! We took full advantage of the emeneties such as the pool, the washrooms, showers and sauna. Their was a tv room and a games room, an outdoor soccer space, which Rry and Mark used to kick some balls around. Their was a great playground area for the little ones as well. It was great. We decided right away that we would stay 2 nights. The second day Mark, myself and the little ones went to go check out the town. Rryla and Teaghen opted to stay and play. The town was really interesting. It was an old colonial style town with a spanish flare. Four Hundred years ago their was a stone wall buit up around the city to protect it from Pirates that kept attacking it and raping and pillaging.We checked out a museum as well as a couple of amazing churches. The town square was lovely. We did abit of a walk around, hung out on the seawall and took some pictures. We than hit a super market, got caught in a rainstorm and went home to the girls. Apon our arrival we learned of a young cat and her kitten that had hidden themselves in a rock crevase close by our motorhome. We went and had a peak at them, but the momma cat was growley. We left her and went back to the motorhome as a big storm was coming in. The lightening and thunder was unreal. By far the most amazing lightening and the loundest thunder i had ever seen and heard. The dogs were freaken out, especially Keesha. Teaghen and Rryla ran out to check on the cat and her baby. They discovered that the baby was left by itself and ran back to tell us. We had decided that the mother would come back for her baby and that we shouldn' t take it. (I know you are breathing a sigh of relief right now Marie!). The next morning Teag and i went to check and both were gone. We later found out that the momma cat actually had 3 kittens, it sounds like she may of scattered them around the place. We searched and searched for her and the little ones but to no avail. I kept telling myself that it was for the best, but i don't think Teaghen or myself thought of anything else for the better part of that day on our drive to Pilanque. I only hope that the baby wasn't taken by a predator that night of the storm. I will say a little prayer for it tonight for it saddens me greatly to think of the homeless animals in this country. Their are so many homeless dogs and cats everywhere you look, it's hard to bare. I read a great little blerb in this pamphlet in Isla Mujaries about this couple who went on a trip to Isla Mujaries and wound up staying and rescueing all the homeless and injured dogs on that island. What a great story.
So i have finally caught us up here. We are now in Pilanque, this is our second night here. We spent the day driving to Aqua Azul. I had origianally opted to stay. You know to chill by the pool with the little ones, get some time away, but Mark was insistant that we all go. Really, i was imagining being stressed out on the narrow, winding road, stressed about the little ones in the water etc... etc..., but i gave in and went. Now im not sure why i don't have a six pack yet because my stomach muscles pretty much stay tensed the whole way on drives like today, and believe me we have had no shortage of them here on our trip. We first went to a 100ft waterfall, which was pretty spectacular, than drove up the road another 40km to Aqua Azul. It was beautiful, thank god, because this is the whole reason we came to Pilanque. We forewent the ruins because Mark and i have seen them and our kids are "ruined" out. Anyways the pools of water are a light blue color and they flow over these lava type formations all the way down the side of a mountain. It's so pretty. A very popular place as well. It was packed.
Tomorrow we are heading for ? Destination unknown. We will look at the map and figure it out. I just hope the roads are better than they were today.
Sorry about the lack of blogging lately folks, it's been buisy. Oh i forgot to mention that the rv site we are staying at has its own resident howler monkey. It's a male and its alone which we learned that when that happens its because the male has gotten too old and was kicked out of its family and therefore spends the rest of its days alone. Anyways he is loud, very loud, i don't think he likes the dogs very much . We had a massive cockroche in here last night, but Mark got him out. We now have a son who is totally addicted to gameboy, and it is so hot that we are all melting. Today it was about 42 degrees. OUCH! Our older girls look too old and more beautiful than when we left and our little ones are swimming and diving into pools. We are so lucky and so blessed for this family, for this experience and for this life.
Sleep well friends and family, for we love and miss you all.
xoxo
US>
So i have finally caught us up here. We are now in Pilanque, this is our second night here. We spent the day driving to Aqua Azul. I had origianally opted to stay. You know to chill by the pool with the little ones, get some time away, but Mark was insistant that we all go. Really, i was imagining being stressed out on the narrow, winding road, stressed about the little ones in the water etc... etc..., but i gave in and went. Now im not sure why i don't have a six pack yet because my stomach muscles pretty much stay tensed the whole way on drives like today, and believe me we have had no shortage of them here on our trip. We first went to a 100ft waterfall, which was pretty spectacular, than drove up the road another 40km to Aqua Azul. It was beautiful, thank god, because this is the whole reason we came to Pilanque. We forewent the ruins because Mark and i have seen them and our kids are "ruined" out. Anyways the pools of water are a light blue color and they flow over these lava type formations all the way down the side of a mountain. It's so pretty. A very popular place as well. It was packed.
Tomorrow we are heading for ? Destination unknown. We will look at the map and figure it out. I just hope the roads are better than they were today.
Sorry about the lack of blogging lately folks, it's been buisy. Oh i forgot to mention that the rv site we are staying at has its own resident howler monkey. It's a male and its alone which we learned that when that happens its because the male has gotten too old and was kicked out of its family and therefore spends the rest of its days alone. Anyways he is loud, very loud, i don't think he likes the dogs very much . We had a massive cockroche in here last night, but Mark got him out. We now have a son who is totally addicted to gameboy, and it is so hot that we are all melting. Today it was about 42 degrees. OUCH! Our older girls look too old and more beautiful than when we left and our little ones are swimming and diving into pools. We are so lucky and so blessed for this family, for this experience and for this life.
Sleep well friends and family, for we love and miss you all.
xoxo
US>
Back in Mexico
The border crossing was a sinch, well except for the fact that they made Mark, the kids, and the dogs get out of the rv and walk across. I had to drive the rv through by myself because it is in my name. I had some difficulty with the red light green light thing, but i won't get into it right now.....it's kind of embarassing. So we were off to Paa Mul and wow, it was beautiful. We also ran into our European travellers there. They were leaving the next day though so it was a quick hi and bye, they were heading for the interior of Mexico. The kids loved the pool. We even got in on some volleyball games that were being played by some of the lifers and some of the staff. The beach was great and we found some more amazing shells. We stayed for 4 nights, but in retrospect we should of stayed longer because it was a truley beautiful place. We toured Tulum one day and got in some more ruins to add to our list. The beach there was to die for, it was pretty packed though and the waves were quite strong. We enjoyed a kareoki night at Paa Mul, we didn;t actually sing anything but it was entertaining!! We danced and had a great time. Teaghen and Rryla met some of the locals and really enjoyed themselves. We did some bike riding up the coast and got attacked by gigantic mosquitoes. I even got a run in, it was so nice. The water in this area is so amazing the sand is white and the water is just crystal blue. It was brilliant, we really miss it.!
After reluctantly saying goodbye to Paa Mul we made our way to Cancun. The rv site we had picked out for this area was just on the outskirts, we didn't have many choices actually. Our goal was not to check out the massive city of Cancun anyways, but to take a ferry across to Isla Mujaries. We checked into our site, than tucked in for the night so we could get up for a big day. The ferry ride across was abit rocky. It took about half an hour to get across. Our ferry was not the nice looking one that they showed in the brochure, but we made it safe and sound at any rate. Once there we rented a golf cart to check out the island in. So imagine this......there was a small bench seat in the front and one that faced out the back. We had myself (driving), Aidan and Mark in the front and Teag, Rry and Brooklyn in the back, oh and the 2 dogs up front with us. We must of looked like a sight because everyone was staring at us!!! We also took this opportunity to teach Rry and Teag how to drive, they loved it and did really well actually. Teaghen was abit of a lead footer though, and about as graceful at the wheel as she is on land. Rryla was much more cautious and we all felt much safer with her at the wheel. Anyways we checked out some sights and than hit the beautiful white sandy beaches of the island. Mark even got some snorkeling in and, of course, we found some more seashells!! The day was great, we headed back towards dinner time, but this time we took the big ol car ferry back. It was cheaper and closer to our rv site. We had planned to walk the distance. Mark had been assuring us that it wasn't far......well let me just say that it was HELL! it ended up being about 5 km and we started getting eaten alive by mosquitos.! I should of realized that something was up when Mark insisted on taking Aidan from me. I think he started realizing alot sooner than the rest of us that it was going to be a bit of a slog. Oh well, honestly since we were sitting in a golf cart for most of the day, we all needed abit of excercise. Perhaps it might help us sleep through the heat as well!
After reluctantly saying goodbye to Paa Mul we made our way to Cancun. The rv site we had picked out for this area was just on the outskirts, we didn't have many choices actually. Our goal was not to check out the massive city of Cancun anyways, but to take a ferry across to Isla Mujaries. We checked into our site, than tucked in for the night so we could get up for a big day. The ferry ride across was abit rocky. It took about half an hour to get across. Our ferry was not the nice looking one that they showed in the brochure, but we made it safe and sound at any rate. Once there we rented a golf cart to check out the island in. So imagine this......there was a small bench seat in the front and one that faced out the back. We had myself (driving), Aidan and Mark in the front and Teag, Rry and Brooklyn in the back, oh and the 2 dogs up front with us. We must of looked like a sight because everyone was staring at us!!! We also took this opportunity to teach Rry and Teag how to drive, they loved it and did really well actually. Teaghen was abit of a lead footer though, and about as graceful at the wheel as she is on land. Rryla was much more cautious and we all felt much safer with her at the wheel. Anyways we checked out some sights and than hit the beautiful white sandy beaches of the island. Mark even got some snorkeling in and, of course, we found some more seashells!! The day was great, we headed back towards dinner time, but this time we took the big ol car ferry back. It was cheaper and closer to our rv site. We had planned to walk the distance. Mark had been assuring us that it wasn't far......well let me just say that it was HELL! it ended up being about 5 km and we started getting eaten alive by mosquitos.! I should of realized that something was up when Mark insisted on taking Aidan from me. I think he started realizing alot sooner than the rest of us that it was going to be a bit of a slog. Oh well, honestly since we were sitting in a golf cart for most of the day, we all needed abit of excercise. Perhaps it might help us sleep through the heat as well!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)