Roatan Adventures

Mahogany Bay is where the boat docked

After 2.5 days on the boat, we finally got to our first port: Roatan, Honduras!  We wanted to avoid the super busy beaches, so we consulted TripAdvisor, and learned about Camp Bay Beach, which was about an hour away from the cruise pier.  After a bit of drama with our taxi driver, we were happy to arrive at the beach!  

We had a pretty great day at the beach - reading, playing in the ocean, throwing the frisbee, etc.  It was really nice, because there were only a few other people around, so it wasn't crowded at all!   We got back to the pier with about an hour to spare, so we walked over to the Mahogany Bay area, and there was a little "Nature Trail" that we decided to walk through.   We saw some iguanas and birds, and a strange squirrel/rabbit hybrid, which I'm pretty sure was a gibnut.

And here's my dinner outfit for that day.  You can tell that I was bad at applying sunscreen on my arms!

Dress: Old Navy
Necklace: Charming Charlie
Belt: Limited
Sandals: Carlos Santana

At the Ranch

Are you ready for a bunch of pictures of nature?   These are all from the day we went up to the family ranch in Northern New Mexico.  I had never been out there, and it was really beautiful.  I'm not a particularly outdoorsy girl, but we had a great time walking around the property.

 

We played croquet on a kind of flat spot, but there was a hill right on the edge of our course.  It was possible to end up waaaaaaay down the hill. It was like extreme croquet - totally awesome!  

Rio Grande Gorge

One of our touristy stops in New Mexico was the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.  It was pretty amazing.  There isn't really anything around it, so we just parked on one side and walked across.  It is one of those places that is so magnificent to look at that you can just stand there staring for quite awhile.  You can also get pretty dizzy if you look down and realize how far away the ground is!

As we were leaving, I saw this Ice Cream Bus and got all excited, but then I realized it was totally abandoned and there was no ice cream at all.  So disappointing!

El Chapulín

One of the top priorities whenever we are in New Mexico is to eat at John's favorite restaurants.  He loves the spicy chile, and I pretty much order a cheese quesadilla at every restaurant!  One of the most important places is Rancho de Chimayo.

My favorite thing is the sopaipillas!  In the midwest, sopaipillas are a dessert - basically flour tortilla chips covered in cinnamon sugar (which are also delicious).  In New Mexico, it's a fried pastry served with honey - SO YUMMY!

Another important thing to do at Rancho de Chimayo is to take pictures by the grasshopper statue. 

Gap Cardigan, Old Navy tank and shorts, Carlos Santana sandals

Waaaaay back in October of 2006, when John and I were just dating, we took a trip out to New Mexico.  Here's our grasshopper picture from that trip:  

I suspect we will take many more pictures by the grasshopper as the years go on.   

Independence Day Wrap-Up

Well, if you read this post yesterday,  you might be wondering how the shirts turned out.  You don't need to wonder any longer, because here's the final product: 

We're almost TOO patriotic, if that's even possible

I also have to show you the inside of the cake I made, because I was pretty excited about the red white and blue interior!   It was also pretty delicious, if I may say so myself. 

After hanging out with friends on Tuesday evening, we had a fun-filled day planned with John's family.  We ate entirely too much food, went to see "Brave", and shot off fireworks.  It was a pretty successful 4th of July.  We also got a pretty epic fireworks show from the people who live across the street from them.  I don't even want to know how much money they spent on their fireworks!   

Sparkler time!

Our stash of fireworks

Money CAN buy happiness - for 50cents each! 

The moon was so pretty!

Magenta Frost was our grand finale

We also were in suspense all day because some of our best friends were at the hospital trying to welcome their first baby into the world.  I was checking my phone every few minutes to see if there were any updates on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Email.  We were fairly sure it would be a 4th of July baby, but this little girl had other plans and apparently didn't want to share her birthday with America, so she made her appearance early on the 5th.  I'm so, so, SO EXCITED for our friends, who are going to be totally awesome parents!   

Did you have a happy 4th?  Do anything exciting?

Grand Canyon!

 On Saturday, Anne and I woke up bright and early and drove to the Grand Canyon.  There really aren't words to describe how amazing it was, so this post will mostly be pictures.

Roadtrippin'

First view of the Grand Canyon

Sunset on the drive back to Tempe

Technically, this was my 2nd time at the Grand Canyon, but I don't really remember the first time.  There is some photo evidence, though, which I have to share. 

My dad and me - late 80s fashion was so cool!