Hogar, dulce hogar, translates to Home, sweet home.
If you are a faithful reader of our blogs you know that Jeff and I are very frugal travelers – or maybe we are travelers because we are very frugal? Anyway, we often get our accomodations through sites like VRBO (vacation rentals by owner) or occassionally Airbnb. We are returning to Costa Rica this week and several weeks ago, on a lark, I wrote to our friends Annie and Norman in San Ramon, CR telling them we were planning to come down and we were going to stay in Atenas because we want to check out that area. I asked her if she knew anyone around who might have a place to rent and that we did not want to spend more than $150-175/night. (This is high season in Costa Rica)
Well, holy crow! Yes, she did! Annie’s neighbors are going on vacation and have very flexible dates. Okay then – we love San Ramon and it is within easy driving distance to Atenas. A couple of emails back and forth and Jeff and I will be staying at “Kyle and Diane’s” house for 7 days for only $500! AND, we’re renting their car for $150 instead of getting one from Budget for $350+. Yippee!
So, we have had this trip planned for several months and bought our airline tickets in January. Can you imagine my surprise when I printed our boarding passes to discover that we didn’t have seat assignments. Hmmm…obviously that’s not right. I started digging around on Delta’s flight info and discovered that not only did we not have seats, we were numbers 5 & 6 on the standby list. What?? Time for a little person-to-person. After a call to Delta and an extra $100 we have seat assignments. Supposedly there were only middle seats, one behind the other, left, but if I wanted to pay for 2 seats together they could put us in an exit row. Generally I would not even consider doing that, I mean, we already bought our tickets, but since both flights are 3 or more hours long and we do want to sit together, I spent the money.
So, LESSON TO BE LEARNED: if you buy airline tickets through Expedia or a similar site, call the airline right away for your seat assignment!
NOTE: Delta has the best customer service I’ve ever experienced.
As we drove to work this morning, Jeff said that he could feel stress melting away and that he felt like he “is going home to Costa Rica.” Hence, the blog title.
We left work early today because before we leave tomorrow I need to mow the lawn, we need to finish painting the kitchen (long story there) and PACK! It is also Jeff’s mom’s birthday so we need to work her into the mix…
Success! Everything has been accomplished, including an unexpected meeting with the “granite guy” (part of the long story) when he swung by the house.
Morning!
We are up before 9 so we can trot across the street to sign up for the tour. We will start with a city bus tour, have a couple hours in the middle of the day along a bay front for lunch and end with a 90 minute boat tour along “Millionaires Row” where we’ll see mansions of the rich and famous.
We grab a couple of things from the breakfast table in the hotel, and bring our luggage down to reception. Checkout isn’t until noon, but we’re getting on the tour at 9:45 and won’t be back until 3pm. The hotel doesn’t have a true ‘held luggage’ room, so we stack our bags along with Eve and Leroy’s in the hallway.
The tour is really fun. We start by driving through the Art Deco district and learn that there are over 900 Art Deco buildings within 1.5 kilometers. This is the largest concentration of this type of architecture in the world!
Our tour continues as we cross one of the seven bridges from Miami Beach to mainland Miami. Most of the jobs in this area are from the Port of Miami and Miami International Airport. Miami has the largest cruise ship terminal in the world, able to handle up to seven ships at one time! Figure roughly 3,000+ travelers per ship times 7 equals 21,000 tourists, so all together, 42,000 people with one half embarking and one half disembarking the ships all on the same day. Whew.
Miami Skyline
Miami, second in size only to Jacksonville, is the only city in the US that is bordered on two sides by national parks: the Everglades and Key Biscayne.
Our driver points out Rio de Miami (Miami River) where the indigenous people originally settled. Then we arrive at Calle Ocho (8th Street) -> home of Little Havana.
Little Havana today; real Havana tomorrow!
First stop is Cuban Tobacco Cigar Store where cigars are handrolled and packaged by just four employees. The owner is 86 years old and usually sits outside his cigar shop daily as his son now runs the business. The owner had a very successful tobacco operation in Cuba, but after the revolution in 1959, lost it all and went to prison. When he was released, he joined his family who had fled to Miami. Here he continues the family tradition and has passed that tradition to his children. It was very interesting and I’m looking forward to see how this small shop compares to what we will see in Cuba.
We walk next door to a souvenir shop for a free “cup” of Cuban coffee. It was only about a thimble sized amount but very tasty. Jeff and I walked around Little Havana briefly and came upon Domino Park where, big surprise, there were several tables of elderly men playing dominos.
Domino Park is aptly named
It was great to see the social interaction of these elderly men.
Back to the bus we head for Coral Gables which is one of the most expensive and exclusive neighborhoods in the state. Coral Gables was designed by George Merrick as a two-part city: one side to be purely financial, the other residential; Merrick even designed in a swath of land to be left undeveloped between the two sections to further define the division giving a separation between work and family
In Coral Gables no two houses are alike and every house is built of coral rock. Amazing and beautiful houses!
The bus tour continued as we stop briefly at the Biltmore Hotel. You know the Biltmores? Loads of money, huge mansions? This was no different,
Biltmore “Hospital”
but during WWII the Biltmore Hotel was repurposed as a hospital for injured soldiers (queue Downton Abbey music here). In 1999 it was designated as a National Historical site.
Around lunchtime we arrive at the beachfront where there are waterside restaurants, including that all American favorite Bubba Gumps, a food court, shops, waterside charters for Millionaire’s Row and other sites and there is a promenade. We have 2-1/2 hours before our boat tour. Eve and Leroy opt for lunch at one of the waterside venues. Neither Jeff nor I are hungry so we decide to take a walk. It was gorgeous!
We walked for 90 minutes before turning back and saw people looking into the water ahead of us. There was a small buoy making its way along – buoys aren’t supposed to move. Then…up surfaced a large manatee!
A very nice walk and manatees
Then a smaller one and another large one! I’ve never see a manatee before!!! And, naturally, there was no time to get my camera fired up. It was really exciting! The buoy, of course, is to warn boaters of the manatee’s presence.
Back in the shopping area, Jeff and I sit down at a table with an older woman from Cincinnati and talked with her for a little bit. Clearly, this trip to Florida to visit her sister for a week is her trip of a lifetime. We convince her to take one of the charter cruises – I hope she did. We leave her and go upstairs in the outdoor mall to find the restrooms and visit the food court. Hmmm…the food court offerings were not very good – I end up with a hot pretzel and Jeff got french fries which we share.
All aboard the boat! It is crowded as there is more than one group and my hopes of sitting topside are fading fast. When we do finally get up up to the top, there are Eve and Leroy with their arms spread saving the four front row chairs. Thank you, Thank you!
Eve enjoying the city boat tour.
Everyone who wasn’t lucky enough to get a chair sat downstairs, which in one way would have been okay because it was a little chilly and more than a little windy where we were.
The boat tour went by too quickly, looking at the houses of the rich and famous: Sylvester Stallone, Will Smith, Brad Pitt with their yacht(s) moored in front was Naturally we took lots of photos and now don’t remember whose was whose, though Brad Pitt’s house had little kid’s toys in the backyard and a little boy was playing with a soccer ball at Jackie Chan’s.
Millionaire’s Row
After the tour, our driver took us back our hotel where we picked up our left luggage, retrieved Pokey and Gumby, and called for a cab.
This is the last known location (and photo) of Pokey and Gumby our our Cuba trip!
It is time to join our SmarTours group at the Marriott by the Miami airport. The cab ride to the Marriott is a flat fare, thank god, because the 40 or so minute drive took just over two hours! Lots of traffic. We arrived shortly before our mandatory orientation meeting.
At the meeting we met our fellow traveling companions for the first time; and we filled out our official Cuban visa information. OMG. I was overtaken by giggles at one point after our instructions were “X” out that box, to which someone asked “Can I just draw a line through it?” The answer was, “No, put an ‘X’ in it!” This could be a long couple of weeks… And, on top of that, if you make a mistake on your visa, you cannot correct it – no crossing out or writing over – if you make a mistake, you have to buy another, new visa for $150 and start over!
Okay, paperwork completed.
Our SmarTours guide is Stevyn Polk who announces that he has arranged for our wake up calls in the morning. Jeff and I head for our room, do a little suitcase/backpack rearranging to make sure we’ll be okay with the 44 pound weight limit and go to bed.
Yes, it is Super Bowl Sunday and the six of us (Trish’s daughter arrived last night, so now we are six) are having our own little fiesta tonight. But first we’ll enjoy the day.
Without plan we all end up at the small continental breakfast area at the same time, early like 9:15. Toast, yogurt, juice, fruit and coffee are set up on two small tables in a narrow hallway. Lots of “pardon me’s” and “Sorries” as we and the other guests maneuver about. I don’t think we are the demographic for this hotel as all of the folks I see are young Europeans.
We carry our breakfasts outside to the veranda where it is a little chilly but not bad. It is certainly much warmer than at home. As we eat and people watch we see folks walking by bundled up and even wearing gloves – I’m wearing shorts and a short sleeved shirt!
The Odyssey, our hotel, 1 block from beach Eve and Leroy’s windows on the left; Trish and Angela’s windows on the right
After breakfast Jeff and I walk a block over to the Beach Walk.
Our hotel, the Odyssey
We walk for just over five miles dodging bicyclists, runners, skateboarders and people like us who are simply strolling. Pokey and Gumby enjoyed the outing as well.
The walk is clearly marked.
StrollingBeach Walk marker
Pokey and Gumby enjoying Florida
We’ve been to South Beach before and enjoy looking at the classic buildings and refamiliarizing ourselves with the Art Deco style. Art Deco buildings usually have porthole style windows and other features that appear in “3s” such as window panes or decorative designs. They often will resemble ships.
The Beach Patrol Building looks like a ship!Example of Art Deco architecture. See the port holes and the windows divided by 3?
If you need to be rescued, be sure it from a stylish lifeguard station like this one!
Eventually we make our way back to the Odyssey and I’m writing this as we relax on the comfy wicker sofa. Trish and Angela have gone to find some lunch; Eve and Leroy are heading off to the Museum of Erotic Art. Hope they bring back photos! LOL
Jeff and I retire to our room where he takes a short nap and I review my Spanish. (I am taking a Spanish class this semester and am going to try to keep up with my schoolwork.)
When done relaxing and reviewing we set out to explore the “Art Deco District.” What a nice walk. When we walk back we return down a residential street and wonder what it would be like to snowbird here.
Back at the hotel I jump in the shower for a quick clean-up – we need to get ready for the game! Jeff and I stop at Leroy and Eve’s room (aka ‘party central’) and we all go out to get Subway sandwiches. Trish and Angela are just going to snack.
Jeff holding the Bronco’s sign, Eve and Leroy lounging on the bed, and Angela standing behind her mum, TrishGame time!! 2 six packs of beer, wine, champagne, chips, popcorn, vegie sticks…Eve and Leroy have gotten beach chairs from reception; Jeff carries the chair from our room down to theirs. We are set and the BRONCOS WIN THE SUPER BOWL!!!!! So exciting!!!
After the game, we tidy up the room and head our separate ways. Jeff and I are going to try and get on a city tour that Eve and Leroy have signed up for tomorrow. It is an all-day affair and sounds fun. Frankly, pretty much anything with those two is fun. But it is about midnight here and we need to get over to the tour place when they open at 9am to see if they have seats available.
Trish and Angela are going to skip the tour and head over to the Marriott by Miami International Airport where tomorrow night we will meet the rest of our Cuba companeros.
Since we are very limited on space/weight, the prizes for my contests will be quite small – just little tokens. So, will you be the first to respond to this question??
The movie The Birdcage was filmed in South Beach – who starred opposite Robin Williams as his partner? No fair googling the answer!
My suitcase is zippered shut, my passport is in my back pocket…ready to go!
After spending the night at the Denver Marriott Airport hotel, Jeff and I met our wonderful traveling companions, Eve and Leroy Measner in the hotel lobby at 5:55 a.m. for our shuttle to the airport. We stayed in Denver overnight because we have an early flight and in Colorado you just never know what the weather is going to be. So, rather than risk a snowy or icy drive, we decided to spend the night in Denver. Happily I had enough points for a free hotel room and since our personal chauffeur (hahaha!) Tom Delaney delivered us to our hotel, we don’t even have to pay parking. Thanks, Tom!
Denver International Airport is all decked out in blue and orange in honor of the Denver Broncos being in Super Bowl 50 tomorrow. All the gate staff are clad in Bronco attire and even the departures board is festive.
At our gate we meet up with Eve’s sister, Trish. In all our party will number seven as two more friends are meeting us in Miami.
Our flight today is to Miami, FL. We are going to spend today, tomorrow and part of Monday in South Beach. Tuesday we start our nine day adventure in Cuba.
The flight is completely uneventful, we land, retrieve our luggage and head for our reserved Super Shuttle. Since there are 5 of us I’ve arranged for a non-stop private shuttle.
The drive to the hotel doesn’t take very long and we all enjoy the warm weather and seeing the palm trees. We’ve left about a foot of snow back in Colorado! I can’t wait to put on my shorts and short sleeved blouse.
We’re staying at the Odyssey South Beach Hotel. A small boutique hotel one block from the ocean. Turns out our reservations include free breakfast, a free happy hour drink (red wine, white wine or champagne) and snacks, and beach chairs and umbrellas to carry over to the beach. Very nice.
After checking in, dumping our luggage and changing into tropical attire the five of us convene in the hotel lobby. We had agreed that if any of us were to lay down we’d fall asleep and that would be that – so we go for a walk and to find a bite to eat.
First things first – the beach! Off come our sandals or sneakers and socks and into the cool, wonderful sand go our toes. Aaahhh…
Eve, Leroy and I can’t resist wading into the water a little.
Eve and Leroy wading
Eve gets a wee bit further in and pays for it by getting wet pant’s cuffs. Brrr! Well, as Jeff points out, it IS February here, too!
Our shuttle driver had told us that good food for reasonable prices was on a street a block behind our hotel, and since we’re getting hungry, we dry and desand our feet and head to Washington Street. From Washington we arrive at Espanola Way, a pedestrian friendly historic Spanish village, now home to art galleries, boutique shops and restaurants. We are delighted to learn that lunch menus are good until 5pm, and choose to eat at Hosteria Roma, a local Italian place. YUM! Great food!! A relaxing dinner, wonderful company – vacation!
Back at the hotel we get our complimentary drinks and snacks (as though we need more food) and go outside to sit on the veranda. Jeff and Leroy rearrange the wicker sofas and chairs so they form a semi circle where we sit, people watch and chat. Finally the long day catches up to us and we all head for our rooms. It IS 8pm after all!
Today is our one of our down days – a day to sleep in (we did) and relax – which we did big time! Seriously, I don’t have much to write about. Let’s see, I went to the Activity Center to get a book from their yellow shelf library because I want something to read while laying by the pool.
Jeff went to the workout room while I swam a bit. I went to the pool in the early afternoon because I knew it would be less crowded with families still at the theme parks. It was so relaxing!
Relaxing!
We went over to Walmart to pick up wine and more salmon and postcards. If I’m in the U.S. there is no excuse not to be able to figure out the postage. LOL
After dinner we read for a while and then turned in. We didn’t have a lot planned for today, but that was because we thought we’d have other down days and we may not… Stay tuned!
We set our alarm clock for 7:15 this morning, and got up, after several snooze button slaps, at 8am. So much for our early start.
A quick breakfast, several minutes fussing with the car’s Bluetooth connection and we were off to Universal.
We have 3-day 2-park passes for Universal Studios and Universal’s Island of Adventure. After a 20 minute drive we park in “Spider-Man 453.” Last night we both downloaded the free Universal app to our phones. This app tells us the wait times for the rides we choose, we can set an alert to tell us stuff like “the wait time for the Simpson ride is 20 minutes” instead of 30 minutes. It also has a “Guide Me” feature to help you find the ride or area you are looking for; shows you where the bathrooms are and provides a screen to record your parking space. It is also a huge battery drain! But useful…
The park entrance was a 20 minute walk from the parking garage which is no big deal unless when you get to the gate you realize that your wallet and hence your photo ID are back in the car (Jeff!). But, being Jeff, he has a photo of his photo ID (driver’s license AND passport) on his phone; but would they be accepted? Yes! In fact, neither of us was asked for an ID. It’s a darn good thing we didn’t walk all the way back to the car.
Before leaving Colorado Jeff had been monitoring the weather forecasts for Orlando. Rain every day – like 60-80% chance every afternoon; we made sure to pack ponchos and umbrellas. Today we have the ponchos in our pack, and, ever the optimist, I also threw in the sunscreen. Darn good thing. The weather was gorgeous! Sunny, hot (and humid, of course). No rain at all! Around 3, some cloud cover appeared and there was a nice breeze. Perfect!
I won’t tell you about all the rides and walking we did or the WONDERFUL Diagon Alley area, the Night bus, seeing Celestina Warbeck perform,
Celestina Warbeck
the displays by the Durmstrang and Beaubaton students, the Leaky Cauldron, Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes and the Hogshead.
Owl postMandrakesPlatform 9 3/4Jane and the Hogwart’s Express
We rode the Hogwart’s Express from Platform 9-3/4 and saw the countryside whiz by the train windows.
I won’t describe the dark and sinister shops down Knockturn Alley, seeing the hand of glory or cursed necklace. You’ll just have to imagine the taste of cold butterbeer and the feel of a Pygmy puff in your hand…
One of the fun things we saw involved interactive wands. You can buy a wand at Olivander’s (you can also buy a Gregorovich wand – but who would?!).
Olivander’s wand shop
The interactive wands come with a map of places where you can “do” magic. For example, on the sidewalk in front of a water fountain there is a small round metal disc showing the wand movement needed for the spell. Children (teens and adults as well!) wave their wands in that motion, and in the case of the water fountain, water comes out of the toads’ mouths. We asked a little girl to do some magic for us so we could fill up our water bottles. She was very proud of her abilities, though I did have to remind her to say the spell, “aquamente.”
The Sorting Hat
Our hummus wraps, apples and carrots were an excellent cooling lunch. We saved the Clif bars for a late afternoon pick-me-up.
Oh, it was the new “Escape from Gringotts” ride that had me screaming. It had great effects and was definitely worth the 45 minute wait to experience. That 45 minutes was the longest wait we had. Jeff had checked for information about park crowds and wait times online and discovered that today is a historically “moderate” day crowd-wise and the rest of the week is “slow.” As there weren’t big crowds today we think we may not see any long lines on our remaining two days.
We got to the park about 9:30 this morning and left at 6pm…tired but happy with our experiences.
Back at the condo we’ve finished some very good rotini with steamed carrots, leftover steamed broccoli and onions in the canned spaghetti sauce. Time to wash off the sunscreen and relax.
Oh good heavens! Is it really time to get up?? We don’t want to miss our free breakfast so we drag ourselves out of bed and go down to the lobby. For me, it is totally worth it because there are packages of instant grits. Yum!! (In case you are wondering, or are horrified, my family is from the South and I love grits (and ‘fatback’ but we won’t go there)).
After breakfast we go back to our room, and I call reception to ask for a late checkout – 1pm? Perfect. We go back to sleep. Seriously. Next thing we know it’s 12:30 and we’re getting ready to head out.
We have a timeshare in Kissimmee for the week. Oh, was that a gasp I heard? Are you wondering how two super frugal people got sucked into a timeshare? We didn’t; we purchased a foreclosed upon timeshare many years ago for probably less than you spend on groceries in a month.
We’ve only stayed in our unit (on Daytona Beach) once and use the timeshare for trading – to take advantage of getting a condo while on vacation. We’ve traded for a great place in San Diego, a castle in England, a ginormous lodge in Big Sky, Montana and most recently two weeks in Hawaii. Having these apartments is nicer, and less impact on the wallet, than hotel accommodations. With the timeshare we’ll have a full kitchen, washer/dryer, basically a good sized condo. We’ll cook 90% of our meals and will pack simple lunches for the days’ adventures. Because we pack so lightly having the washer/dryer will be more convenient than our usual routine of hand washing our socks and such in the sink.
Having (almost) figured out how to sync the car’s Bluetooth to my phone, we drive the 30 minutes to Kissimmee. First stop? WalMart. Flowers for the condo, salmon to grill, fresh broccoli, cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce, cauliflower, carrots and 2 potatoes. Bagels, tortillas and hummus -> we’re going to make yummy wraps for our portable lunches. Vegan baloney and soy yogurt (for me); ‘normal’ yogurt, Swiss cheese and sliced turkey for Jeff, almond milk, granola, beer, wine and finally, a little box of Milk Duds for Jeff and a small bag of 72% cacao chocolates for me.
The condo complex is nice and we’re pleased with our unit. It doesn’t take long to unpack. We sit, have a cup of coffee and chat, planning our week.
Here’s a tip for you timeshare novices, do what we do and you’ll have a nice relaxing stay. The minute you get to your condo, unplug the phones!! Otherwise you’ll be getting calls from the timeshare people inviting you to a free breakfast or lunch to learn all about the joys of timeshare ownership.
Eventually we take a nice long walk – it’s humid here! The complex has pots of plants around – herbs! We surreptitiously pick several rosemary sprigs and a chive onion, pop some fresh parsley in our mouths and head back home.
We dice the rosemary and chives, mix them with a little olive oil spread and rub that mixture onto the salmon.
Our grilled salmon, with its fancy and fresh herb butter, along with steamed broccoli and brown rice made for a delicious dinner.
After dinner we diced a little tomato and cucumber, washed some lettuce, bagged up a bunch of carrots, spooned hummus into a ziplock bag (messy!), basically got all of our lunch ready for tomorrow.
Looking forward to seeing the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!
But now it’s late and time for bed…
Our flight to Chicago was a little bumpy but otherwise uneventful. The man who sat next to Jeff was fun and interesting to talk with – and we bonded by helping him with his Fitbit and Fitbit app. Hahaha!
We have less than an hour to change plans in O’Hare and are hoping to be able to grab a bite to eat. Of course we pack snacks, but the carrot sticks are almost gone and we’ve put a dent into our bag of peanuts.
When we deplaned we found an arrivals/departure board and discovered that the plane we had just gotten off was the same plane we would take to Orlando – and we have the same seats! How weird is that?
Well, there was no time for food, just a quick bathroom stop and off we went. We definitely needed something to eat so each of us got a hummus and crackers snack on the plane and finished off our carrots with the hummus. Dessert was apples that we brought from home. This flight was a little longer than the first one, but soon we were touching down in Orlando.
Got our rental car and drove about 5 minutes to the Holiday Inn Express at the airport. Actually, it was a little more dramatic than that because we were relying solely on my phone’s GPS for directions and had no connectivity until out of the parking garage and actually driving who knows where. This led to a wee bit of snarling as we struggled to figure out how to sync the stupid phone to the car’s Bluetooth as we drove wherever the road was going. All eventually worked and we were soon on track. We knew the flight was scheduled to arrive late in the evening so made reservations close to the airport. I’m so glad we did because we are tired.
If you’ve read any of my other blogs you’ll remember that we almost always stay at Holiday Inn Express properties. Free breakfast, free wi-fi, and I am a “platinum” member so sometimes the rooms are free! In all of our stays, we’ve never had a room like this one. There was the normal king sized bed and little couch/sitting area –
but, around the corner was a small but full kitchen! Of course, I had to take a photo…
We haven’t bother to unpack because we’re staying just one night and it is 1am. Time for bed!
It is 36 degrees and snowing – hard. Raise your hand if you care.
Jeff and I don’t care! We are driving to DIA (Denver International Airport) to go first to Chicago and then on to Orlando, FL for a week.
For those of you who don’t know, I am a huge, huge Harry Potter fan. Ummmm…it actually borders on obsession to be honest.
My birthday is next week and what an awesome birthday present from my wonderful husband – 3 day tickets to the “Wizarding Worlds of Harry Potter” theme parks at Universal Studios. We have been to one of the parks, but a new one opened earlier this year; and the Hogwart’s Express connects the two.
Grab your broomstick and come along!
If you prefer not to come on this adventure with us, please let me know by sending me an email to: [email protected] and I’ll not send you a link with each new post. (My feelings won’t be hurt.)
They are really big on Farmer’s Markets here on Kauai. When we checked in yesterday we were given a list of them – one for every day of the week. Holy mackerel.
After a quick breakfast of cereal and coffee, we set out. This farmer’s market is in the parking lot of Kauai Community Colleges, and not only are there a lot of people selling, there are a lot of people buying. Happily I remembered to bring a reusable bag with us from Colorado and have it today.
There are fruits, flowers, veggies, local coffee, food trucks and a humane society tent. There are handmade jewelry tents, a woman weaving palm fronds into gorgeous baskets, local honey and eggs. Organic, non GMO and “picked this morning”
Many mini-pineapplesJackfruitEggplants
Do you know what the fruit below is?
Do you know what this fruit is??
If you are the first person to comment with the correct answer, I will bring you some Kauai Kookies (the cookies are very good – I’ve already eaten two bags of them!).
Need more of a clue? Here is a photo of this fruit, sliced open.
We spent a lot of time at the farmer’s market.Here is a photo of our flowers ($2!) and some of the fruit we bought.
After loading all our goodies back into the car we drove around the island for a couple of hours. The scenery is beautiful…. Oh, and we found a WalMart – I’m excited as they usually have postcards and souvenirs less expensively than the tourist shops. We’ll stop there another time. Eventually we made our way back home, unpacked our treasures and headed out for a walk on the beach.
The water is so rough on this side, but it makes for spectacular scenery. We walk quite a long way and back again.
We make a nice salad with lots of fresh ingredients and eat out on the lanai listening to the surf and the birds.
Heading to bed early because we have a big day planned for tomorrow and have to get an early start. Until then…
