A Look Back ~ and Forward

Time is always surprising; It seems like just yesterday, not nearly 27 years ago, that I first locked eyes with Jim, in Ken’s living room. Jim, full-bearded and scruffy, just off the boat from Alaska. Myself, fully focused on going to school for international law and moving to Paris. An unlikely pair? Apparently not~ Six days after our first date Jim asked me to marry him, and the rest, as they say, is history. Astonishingly, June 2nd we will be celebrating our 25th anniversary. 25 years… it seems unreal, and presents a very literal example of how fast time moves by.

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The Reason We Went ~

While a big birthday was the impetus for planning the trip, Mexico’s Copper Canyon was the draw. While we were very pleasantly surprised to fall in love with Alamos and El Fuerte on the way, the Canyon was the planned highlight.

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Sniffing for Coffee

I lowered my camera, sniffing the air around me like a dog. Jim and I looked at each other with the same silent question reverberating between us. Where was the smell of roasting coffee coming from? We wandered around corners and down cobblestone alleys, never quite finding what we were searching for, that elusive scent seeming to ebb and flow with each turn. Reluctantly, we returned to our hacienda for dinner, unsure that we hadn’t dreamed the entire olfactory experience. Tired, we called it an early night, sure that our quest for the coffee of Alamos was for naught.

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Phnom Penh beyond the Killing Fields

Cambodia remains one of the countries that ranks highest on our list of those places that most pulled at our heartstrings, and makes us long to return. There is, undeniably, the crown jewel of the ruins of Angkor Wat, the long boat trip to Battambang, and the traumatic and powerful sites of Tuol Sleng and Choueng Ek at Pol Pot’s Killing Fields. There are gorgeous beaches, that we still need to get to ourselves. But, during our time in the country we experienced so much more of this very poor, and yet vibrant country, particularly in the capital city of Phnom Penh.

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Finding Color in El Fuerte

As mentioned in my last post, we are making it a quest on our long drive south to visit all of the Pueblo Magicos, the Magic towns of Mexico. On our recent trip with Trafalgar, we were fortunate enough to not just visit vibrant Alamos, but also colorful El Fuerte.

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A Step back in Time in Alamos ~ Mexico’s Pueblo Magico

We have long dreamed of visiting Alamos, one of the Pueblo Magico towns of Mexico. In fact, one quest on our route south is going to be our attempt to visit ALL of these magic towns, an epic quest if there ever was one, with 64 currently on the list! On our recent Trafalgar trip around Northern Mexico, we were lucky enough to check three of the list. All wonderful, but alas, all scream out to be further explored at a later time!

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A Less Touristy Side to Mexico

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows how totally IN LOVE we are with Mexico. Having just returned from a trip into the less touristed regions of Sonora, northern Sinaloa and Chihuahua states, our love affair has only increased. Stories are racing through my head, all to come out on these pages soon enough, but below please enjoy a short photo essay of our magical time away to whet your appetite.

 

The very definition of a "room with a view"

The very definition of a “room with a view”

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The Joy of a Mini~Adventure

We have, quite simply, been really busy lately. Busy at work, busy at the house, busy with friends. Simply busy. While this keeps us, somewhat, out of trouble, it also means we have been able to indulge less often than we prefer in our favorite activity ~ camping and convening with nature.

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2015 ~ A Year of Transformation

With another year upon us, many people turn to New Years resolutions. Never one to head down that path, I am instead inspired by our friend, Sarah’s decision to assign 2015 an adjective that describes how she is currently seeing her place in the world. While her word was expansion, I find myself most closely connecting to Transformation.

“There are years that ask questions, and those that answer.”~

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A Year in Pictures ~ 2014 Remembered

Rather than write a long narrative on the year that was, I wanted to simply look back on the photos. Reminisce on the thousands of memories, and countless adventures that emerged on this past trip around the sun.

In no particular order, here are some of my favorite moments of 2014.

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