Mexico

Jason and I have traveled quite a bit since we got married but somehow we'd never made it to Mexico, the most traveled to country by Americans, until a couple of weeks ago.  When my brother and his wife started making plans to visit us in San Diego, one of the things they wanted to do was take a trip to Mexico.  They had never left the county before so of course we were on board.  Our place in San Diego is just 35 minutes from the boarder crossing into Tijuana, Mexico.  There are lots of horror stories out there about Tijuana so we did our research, discussed driving vs. taking a bus and our end destination and finally settled on driving to Ensenada, a coastal town on the Baha California Peninsula.

We crossed the border with no issues in the morning and made the 2 hour drive to Ensenada.

Most of the drive was along the water, and even though the day started out grey, it was a very pretty drive.

Luckily, just before we arrived, the clouds parted and it ended up being a perfect day to lay on the beach.

After a few hours on the beach, we went off in search of some lunch.

Which was followed by some shopping.

I really, really wanted one of these NHL ponchos but convinced myself that, in reality, I would never actually wear it.

We stopped for some ice cream and got back on the road.  For only having one day in the country, I think we made the best of it.  We did get in the wrong lane coming home which resulted in a bit of detaining and a little extra searching, but we made it back unharmed.

Australia {Bondi to Bronte}

I'm traveling to Cincinnati this week for my BFF's wedding!  While I'm out of town, I thought I'd share with you one of my favorite vacations that I somehow never blogged about before now.  Enjoy!

There are 2 famous beaches in Sydney, Bondi and Bronte, that are connected by a path along the coast.

We started at Bondi beach on a gloriously beautiful day.  Oh how I'd love to be back there now.

The walk along the cliffs was easy enough with out being boring and the scenery was absolutely fantastic.

Jason even found some critters to play with along the walk.

The view was incredible.  You can see Bronte in the distance.  The small little inlet beach in the middle is Tamarama.

Almost to Bronte.

Once we arrived at Bronte we sat in the sand for a while watching the few swimmers who were brave enough to get in the water.  A small school of dolphins came right up to the beach while we were there.  It was incredible how close they got to the people in the water.  Such a nice treat at the end of our walk.

A look back at the patch we took.

We ended the Bondi to Bronte walk with a snack at a little cafe with a gorgeous view.

This was one of the highlights of the whole trip for me.

Thanks for following along with me this week on my flash back to one of my most favorite vacations.

Australia {Sydney}

I'm traveling to Cincinnati this week for my BFF's wedding!  While I'm out of town, I thought I'd share with you one of my favorite vacations that I somehow never blogged about before now.  Enjoy!

We only spent 3 days in Sydney and for us, that was plenty.  Our accommodations in Sydney were above a brewery in a historic area known as The Rocks.    I highly recommend the Lord Nelson Hotel if you ever make it to Sydney.

We don't usually do tours when we travel but I signed us up for a bicycle tour of Sydney and it was AWESOME!

Bike Buffs was perfect for us.  They were located right around the corner from our hotel and it worked out that only Jason and I that had signed up for a tour that afternoon.  Graeme was our own personal tour guide for the day.  He was fun, enthusiastic and really knowledgeable about the city.  He also served as our personal photographer while we toured around Sydney which was really nice.

Tons of visitors pay a ridiculous amount of money to climb over the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, we rode our bikes over it for free as part of the tour.  So much better than spending more than $200 per person to walk across the top.

We saw parts of the city that we never would have gone to on our own, including Luna Park.

Of course we spent some time admiring the Opera House.  To be honest, it was sort of like the Mona Lisa to me, beautiful, but didn't quite live up to all the hype, IMO.

It sure is beautiful in photos though.  The Opera House at the end of the Harbour Bridge.

Our obligatory "jumping over the Opera House photo".

This photo just makes me laugh.  I asked Jason to take a photo and while he was messing with the settings, this is what we got.

We spent the rest of our time in Sydney relaxing, going to local markets, walking Bondi to Bronte, and watching sunsets.  It was the perfect ending to a great couple of weeks.

Australia {Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary}

I'm traveling to Cincinnati this week for my BFF's wedding!  While I'm out of town, I thought I'd share with you one of my favorite vacations that I somehow never blogged about before now.  Enjoy!

Our second major stop in Australia was Brisbane.  We stayed in the cutest, although poorly run, B&B.  I wanted to transport this room to my house!

Most people associate Brisbane with the Australia Zoo, home of Steve Irwin, but we decided to go a different route and check out the the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.

We paid some exorbitant price to hold, and have our photos taken with, a variety of animals.  It was totally worth it!

Holding this eucalyptus loving creature was a dream come true and a moment I'll never forget!

Australia {Road Signs}

I'm traveling to Cincinnati this week for my BFF's wedding!  While I'm out of town, I thought I'd share with you one of my favorite vacations that I somehow never blogged about before now.  Enjoy!

The thing that stood out to me the most while driving down the East coast of Australia, other than the amount of round-abouts (or rotaries, or traffic circles, or whatever you call them), is the road signs on their highways.  They were so creative and catchy.

There were trivia questions ever so often, then several miles kilometers down the road they would post the answer.  I wish I could remember what they were.

"Don't sleep and drive"

"Break the drive.  Stay alive"

"Pull over mate.  Your eyes are shot"

"Stop. Revive. Survive"

So much more creative than any road signs I've ever seen in America, or any other country for that matter.  They definitely caught, and kept, our attention on our 1600 km drive.  Too bad we saw all the really funny ones at night when I couldn't get a decent photo, and now, 4 years later, I can't remember any of them, but I assure you, they were good.  If you ever find yourself in Australia, take a drive and see for yourself.