India, the name alone captures the imagination. Fascinating, frustrating, and complex, it’s the most intriguing place we’ve ever been and we can’t wait to return. Here is the ceiling detail of one of the havali’s we stayed in on our tour of Rajastan.
Undoubetedly our favorite evening on our recent family trip to Mexico was the night we took a cooking class at Robert & Dolores Brittingham’s house.
Formerly from Seattle, Robert & Dolores have called Puerto Vallarta home since 2002, starting Essence of Cuisine, Dolores’ cooking school, in 2006. We girls in the family had taken several cooking classes in the past and knew it was something we wanted to take advantage of on this trip to Mexico. After months of searching online, I was growing frustrated. Of the many different types of classes offered around town, none of them seemed to suit our group. A couple were perfect for me, 6-7 hours of total immersion, beginning with shopping for ingredients at the market, but deemed much too intense for mom and Wendy. A few well-known classes had great reviews, but were extremely expensive and mostly featured simply watching the chef cook.
Our lives have become busier and more hilarious since we added Aspen to the pack and became a two dog family. Although Porter and Aspen immediately got along, we didn’t see the bonding we were hoping would come. Having never had two dogs at the same time before we weren’t sure how long this might take and if it was even a certainty. However, after our recent trip to Mexico, when they shared a kennel at Critter Nanny, it has become apparent that they are now two peas in a pod. Porter is still our too-smart thinker who often appears worried and Aspen the typical happy-go-lucky lab, but you can see from the pictures of our weekend of camping the kids have pretty much become inseparable!
Waiting outside the bathroom
Spain- a land of arid plains, flamenco, tapas and bullfights. Home to one of our favorite cities, Barcelona, as well as smaller gems like Seville and Granada. What do you envision when you dream of the Iberian Region? For me it’s the astonishing flash of color in a flamenco dancers dress, hillsides covered with white Andalusian villages set amongst the grey-green olive orchards, and lazy afternoons enjoying tapas and sangria at a street side cafe.
Puerto Vallarta is a magical place for us and over the last twenty years we’ve eaten our way all over the city, from food carts and street stands to five star restaurants like Cafe des Amis. Having just returned from yet another vacation in paradise I thought I’d give a rundown of the good, the bad, and the ugly.
10 days on the beach in Mexico…. oh yea!
Banteay Srei, my favorite temple among the huge complex of Angkor Wat. Built in the 10th century and made primarily of red sandstone, the carvings are of a smaller and more elaborate detail than any of the other temples, lending to a belief that it might have been mainly carved by women. Dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva, it is absolutely engrossing and we could have spent many more hours exploring the site.
We love markets, regardless of the country, and one of my favorite countries for strolling the local vendors was Vietnam. Whether it be a vegetable market or a store featuring colorful lanterns, we just couldn’t get enough.
As we worked our way from the East coast of South Island New Zealand to the West coast, our thoughts were on one thing. Getting to Franz Josef to do some heli-hiking on the Glacier. Check one off the bucket list.
New Zealand is one of our favorite countries, a place we would love to live one day. While there we were fascinated by penguins. At one viewing spot, near Omaru, we were told to be very quiet, turn off cell phones, don’t make any quick movements because they were shy birds. What a laugh we all had when, after 45minutes of fruitless scanning the brush for a sighting, someone pointed out that the penguin was hanging out right next to the viewing platform…NOT hiding in the bush!
