Adventures in the Pecos

Hello Friends! Happy Monday. I hope you all found your weekend to be enjoyable.
This weekend for us was pretty jam packed, but left us with some pretty great memories. We've been getting our fill of the outdoors lately, that's for sure. Being outdoors is one of my many "things" though, so I don't mind it one bit.

Our schedule can get pretty busy, really quickly, so we tend to have to schedule things a few month's out. Earlier this summer we planned a hiking trip with my brother-in-law and we made it happen over the weekend.



I was recently made aware of this place in the Pecos Wilderness near Santa Fe. Apparently it's actually quite popular. It made me feel like I've been living under a rock or something as I hadn't even heard of it before. I'm so glad I happened to stumble upon it though! I almost hate to say this, but I think it may be the prettiest place I have been to in New Mexico. There are a lot of really great and varying views in this good ole' "land of enchantment," but this one was absolutely...breathtaking. We couldn't help but remark on how beautiful this world is, yet so much of it often goes unnoticed simply because we don't get out to see it.



The hubs, my brother-in-law and I went out for what was expected to be a ten hour hike. Luckily it was only 8 hours. It was long and tiring but when you saw views like this along the way it made it so worth it!





Our goal was Lake Katherine. We took the Windsor Trail picking up at the base of Santa Fe Ski, for locals. We arrived pretty early not knowing how long the hike would actually be and we didn't want to run into any issues with daylight. As far as conditions go, I don't think we could have asked for better hiking weather. We moved at a comfortable pace to us and took breaks when we needed. The trail itself wasn't as intense as I was imagining either, which was a pleasant surprise especially given how long it was. It starts out rough! Once you get past the first 15 minutes or so, the ease of difficulty was much appreciated.



Side story: on the way up we heard a noise that we were convinced was a moose! A close moose at that. Scared us enough to be on guard through that patch of the hike. Later, on the way down we heard it again, though more frequently and couldn't believe it was a) still there and b) how talkative the thing was...about the, oh I don't know, 15th time we heard it, it actually sounded more like a cow. The hubs thought it would be fun to imitate the animal as we got closer, I was not as enthusiastic about his jokes. Luckily, our suspicions were confirmed about 20 minutes later when four giant black cows came out of the woods to cross the path to the other side. I don't know what you're supposed to do when you see cows in the woods, but we decided to stop for a break until the coast was clear. Though they seemed friendly enough, I have seen first hand how quickly cows can move if they want to, and they aren't always nice, that's for sure!



Anyway, Windsor Trail will take you all the way up to Santa Fe Baldy, which was tempting. I can only imagine what the views look like up there, but I'm sure they are nothing short of stunning. We decided for the sake of time we'd forego Baldy this time and jet off the other trail (251) to Lake Katherine. We knew we were getting fairly close at that point, but didn't know how close. About an hour or so later we found ourselves finally walking through the trees to open up to a gorgeous Lake Katherine. The water was pristine and the views well worth our 4 hour trek to get there. We stopped to have lunch, chat a while and enjoy our scenery, then geared back up for the 4 hour trek back to car.

 
(photo cred to the hubs on this one)




(photo cred to the hubs again...)

It was the longest I'd ever hiked before, so not only was it pretty on the eyes it was also a nice little accomplishment to add to the books! We were dead tired when we arrived back home. I think we are all walking with a bit of a gimp, but I still find myself reminiscing on the sights that we saw.


(...and again)

Lake Katherine needs to be on any outdoor enthusiasts list. You can hike it, backpack it or somewhere in between, but it's absolutely worth it. We definitely plan to return and check out some of the other lakes in the area as well as conquer Santa Fe Baldy, though next time I think we'll camp!

Hope you have a wonderful week friends, we'll see you on Friday!  

#FBF Re-cap: France & Germany Part I

Hello, hello! Happy Friday to you! We have one VERY busy weekend upon us but one I'm so looking forward to. I hope you all have a great weekend planned ahead. Let's jump in to #FBF shall we:

Last year I found myself incredibly blessed and thankful for having the opportunity to go on two international trips. The first to Uganda (you can read about here), and the second to Western Europe!



I had been trying to get the hubby to go on a trip with me to France and Germany while we were still dating. Things didn't quite work out so we made it our goal to plan a European trip as a postponed extended honeymoon, which we made happen last year!



This trip was pretty jam-packed so I'll not only try to make it brief and as always loaded with pictures, but it will also be split into a couple of different posts. We started our trip in France, explored Germany in the middle and then ended back in France, so that's kind of the approach I took with these posts.

First up: France (phase I).

If you've been following along on my journey you may recall I mentioned trying to get to France once before. Actually, I've tried to get there just about every year since I went to Ukraine. The same friend from high school now lives in France with her husband and I've been eager to see her again and meet her man. (Hi Lena & Alan!)



Let me just say, all of those preconceived notions that you may have formed or heard about Parisians and France, let them go! France was absolutely lovely. The people were great to us, the food was delicious-their reputation for this is well earned, the country is clean and beautiful. Yes, we had our own personal tour guides to show us around, share with us their culture and get from their point-of-view why things are the way they are. Maybe our experience was skewed, but if you find yourself traveling to France in the near future, embrace the possibilities!


Inside Notre Dame. Absolutely stunning!



Inside the Louvre museum. For those who don't know, this used to be where the president resided before they moved it to Versailles. The Louvre is also completely stunning and massive. We only had time to explore a tiny bit. It would probably take days to walk the entire museum and be able to appreciate the art it holds. The museum is 14km if you walked the whole thing. That's A LOT of art people! As a caution: be prepared for long lines! We found out too late that you can actually buy tickets online and that gets you access to a shorter line. Had we known ahead of time, we definitely would've taken advantage of that!



We mostly stuck to the sculpture area. Everyone must experience for themselves the enormity of this museum. As we entered into each area of the sculptures, it literally took my breath away. I was in pure amazement Impressive is an understatement! The only other thing I'll add here is that yes we did make a point to see the Mona Lisa. My opinion? Let me put it this way, I didn't deem it important enough to take a picture of it. That sounds awful, so let me explain: the artwork in the room that it is in is absolutely amazing, stunning even, and houses some of the largest art pieces and canvases I have ever seen in my life. The Mona Lisa is dwarfed by said art and really shines a dull light on the piece after walking around. Plus it's very difficult to even get near it because of it's popularity. Still see it so you can say you did, however, we moved on pretty quickly.


Mussee d'Orsay




Arc de triomphe


The sculpture on the bridge was a gift from Russia. We learned France has received many gifts over the years.


Rumor has it Napoleon is buried here.




This is not the famous lock bridge, but tourists seem to use any bridge as an excuse to put a lock on it in France. It actually compromises the structure of the bridge. So much so that the famous bridge no longer has the locks on it anymore. They had to cut the railings off and replace them.




Another look at Notre Dame de Paris



Did you know that the Eiffel Tower was never supposed to be permanent? It became so much of an icon, however, they were basically forced to keep it.

That pretty much sums up our first part of touring France. We'll be back in a couple of weeks! In the meantime you can look forward to fast cars, Disney movies, quaint cities and Spanish in a German restaurant. Yes, you read that right!

Have a great weekend, friends!

#FBF: Uganda

Happy Friday Everyone! Hope you've had a wonderful week and have some fun adventures planned this weekend! I have waited all summer to get a camping trip in and this weekend we'll finally be making that happen and I can't wait!

As has become tradition, let's jump into #FBF, this time we're off to Uganda!



Uganda was special for me for far too many reasons to explain. The year after Peru was a bit of a crazy blur for me and didn't allow for any international traveling, or really any traveling for that matter! Uganda was my re-introduction to travel, which also marked the first time I was able to see my sister in about a year-and- a-half. She was working there through the Peace Corps and I was missing her fiercely!



Uganda for me opened my eyes to new ways of life, to simplicity, time slowing down, being grateful for the life we live-it is truly precious and so much more. The only person who will ever truly understand not only my time but also my feelings that accompanied this trip would be my dear sissie- pants. Though short, my time spent in Uganda and getting reacquainted with my sister will forever be one of my all-time most valued trips.


Monkeys just hang out on roofs of hotels!

Because this trip involved more time spent just living, most of the pictures I took were on our safari. Prepare to re-live all of your Lion King dreams! To say it was amazing is a massive understatement. I adore zoo's, but will never fully look at them the same.



Baboons. Sneaky, and aggressive little things.










The darker the giraffe, the older it is. Who knew?




Though herbivore's, hippos are actually some of the deadliest animals. They are quite protective and aggressive.


Ugandan national bird.









Other than just spending time with my sister, I think my other favorite memory was receiving a chicken! I SO wish I had had the sense to grab my camera when Director (my sister's boss) walked in with a live chicken to gift me. Unfortunately, I was too preoccupied that I was being given a live chicken and wasn't sure if I was supposed to pet it, take it from him or who knows what, that I don't have any pictures of that gem of an experience. Once I got over the shock of it all, I settled with a pet on the head (in case you were wondering). I don't know if that was what I was supposed to do, but it's all I could think of. Come to find out, receiving livestock is really an honor as that's their source of food. I was privileged to say the least...it also became dinner... I'm glad I didn't name it.



Sissie-pants- thank you for bringing me into your world and sharing with me your passion and love for this country you love so much! Though simple and unexpected, the ride in the back of the truck will always remain close to my heart.



Uganda is known as the Pearl of Africa-I'd say that sums it up quite nicely!

Have a wonderful weekend friends.

Cancun Part III

Good Morning, friends. I hope your week has been grand so far!

In an attempt not to drag Cancun out, I thought I would finish up the last post today.

Our extra curricular activities at the resort were actually pretty limited. When I said I didn't do anything but relax and enjoy time with the hubby, I really meant it- and it was wonderful. 

I should probably clarify this at least a little with the fact that Hurricane Earl was on it's way to Beliz and would make landfall in Mexico south of where we were -while we were there, so our weather prohibited us from doing some of the things we would have done otherwise. Looking back though, I think it really worked in our favor.

The resort offers a ton of beach activities and non-motorized water sports are included in your stay so we were pretty excited to try some wind surfing, go kayaking, sail boating, etc. Unfortunately, the one day we chose to relax on the beach ended up being the only day they were offering those sports since the weather worsened over our stay. We did however get lucky on Saturday morning before we returned home to get a quick sail-boating ride in, which was perfect. I didn't bring my camera, but here's a picture of a boat we liked :)

We were able to sneak in a bike ride that included parrot holding and some crazy storm clouds, but we both forgot our phones (i.e. camera's). Whomp Whomp! When we went back the next day for some tennis, good ol' Earl had managed to cancel all of the resort activities for the day as well as the water sports so we decided to play some scrabble and book an excursion to Chichen Itza since our hopes of snorkeling had pretty much been extinguished at that point. 

In the sports or competitions that hubby and I play together, I can never seem to win, which seriously bothers my competitive nature. To my surprise, for a man who's vocabulary is incredible, we're talking one of the best I know, I was shocked when he struggled with Scrabble. With that said, I have no shame in posting these pictures! I don't remember what his final score was, but he called it when I reached 196. Let's just say, he was still trailing. Yes, I am indeed taking this moment to bask in all of my Scrabble glory ;).

The final full day we were there we took a day excursion to Chichen Itza, a Mayan ruin, and then also to a swimming hole and stopped in a small town on the way back to Cancun. I'm certainly glad we went so I can say I did, otherwise I would have always regretted it, but having been to an Incan ruin, and said ruin being Macchu Picchu (if you missed my last #FBF post, you can read about Macchu Picchu here.)...Chichen Itza doesn't even compare. However, the swimming hole was such a cool experience!

 

Well that about wraps it up, friends! With no additional [real] vacations on our docket just yet I'll have to get to planning!

Hope you all have a great rest of your week and I'll see you Friday!