2nd Anniversary Trip to Mexico

For our second wedding anniversary we went to Mexico for a week. Before our trip I was working really long hours and beyond stressed, so this trip came at the perfect time. I'm not sure if it was the timing of the trip, or the location, but I think Mexico may have been one of our favorite places so far!

As they say, marriage is all about compromise, and this trip was no different. For the first part of the week, we stayed in Puerto Morelos, a sleepy little fishing town about 30 minutes south of Cancun. For the second part of the week, we stayed at an all-inclusive resort in Akumal. I'll let you guess who picked which location...

Puerto Morelos was great for relaxing! We stayed at Rancho Sak-ol. It's not overly fancy, but it's a great locally-owned place for an affordable price with a great staff in a fantastic location. We had an ocean view from our room, hammocks on our porch, and had breakfast waiting for us in the palapa area each morning. It was also just a short walk to the "downtown" area. We had a rental car for this portion of the trip to get us from the airport to the hotel and to a couple of sites we wanted to see, but we rarely used the car to get to the downtown area because it was such an easy walk.

The water is absolutely beautiful in Mexico so we stayed close by the majority of the trip. Upon our arrive in Puerto Morelos we booked a snorkeling trip which I highly recommend. It was a fun trip out on the boat and we were able to see a lot of cool things while snorkeling. Just a warning -- the sun is extremely intense in Mexico. We put on a ton of sunscreen but still got more sun than we wanted.

Puerto Morelos has a cute "downtown" area right on the ocean. We spent a lot of time in this area because our hotel wasn't really conducive for laying out or swimming. It was kind of rocky and not as beautiful as the downtown spot. There are also a lot of great restaurants in this area. We had a ton of amazing guacamole with every meal and great local beer!

One day while we were downtown we got handed a flyer for a local "Mayan jungle market" taking place the next day, so we decided to check it out. It was a compound-type area in an out-of-the-way place where a group of Mayan women lived. They had local food, jewelry, artwork and even an interpretive-type performance. It was a great opportunity to be among the locals. While we were there, we learned the local Mayan women offer massages, so we booked one on our anniversary; it was probably the best massage we've had to-date.

While we were in Puerto Morelos we took a day trip to Tulum to see the mayan ruins. The Tulum Ruins are the only ones located on the coast and it was an amazing site to see. We even took a swim in the ocean with the ruins towering over us; it was an incredible experience.

When we left the ruins we ate at El Paraiso Beach Club. It was located literally right at the ocean -- our toes were in the white sand and we had an awesome view. We also had some of the best ceviche we've ever had. After a great meal and a cocktail, we headed to the Hidden World Cenotes. Cenotes are deep water-filled sinkholes in limestone. We took a "jungle buggy" through the jungle to get to the cenotes, and then got to snorkel in the sinkholes. It too was a very cool experience.

The next day was our anniversary so we checked out of Rancho Sak-Ol and headed to the Mayan compound for our massage. We then dropped off our rental car in Playa Del Carmen and explored the area a bit. I'd definitely consider this town more touristy than Puerto Morelos, but it was a neat area to check out. We were then driven to Akumal where we checked into our all-inclusive resort Grand Oasis Riviera Maya. We booked through http://www.allinclusiveoutlet.com/, the same place we booked our Jamaica trip and were not disappointed. It was a fantastic resort -- when we stepped out of our room we were in the white sand and had a fantastic view of the ocean. There were several great restaurants and a beautiful infinity pool. They also had really comfortable lounge-type beds for laying out.

The staff was great also. When we made our reservations for dinner, Brian mentioned it was our anniversary. When we arrived, they greeted me with a rose, had flowers on our table, and brought us a huge cake that said "Feliz Aniversario"! They certainly went out of their way to make us feel special.

For the next few days we just did a lot of relaxing, eating, and drinking, all typical activities of an all-inclusive resort!

It was a fantastic vacation with a nice mix of a quiet, laid back, rustic experience and an all-inclusive, pampering experience. We both enjoyed each part of the week and left (reluctantly) feeling refreshed! 

1st Anniversary Trip to Costa Rica

When we were planning our honeymoon we considered Costa Rica as a possible destination. Ultimately we decided on Jamaica since we were mostly interested in laying on a beach for a week and recovering from the wedding madness. So, for our first anniversary trip, we decided to go with a more "adventurous" option and planned a trip around Costa Rica.

We booked through www.CostaRicantrails.com and chose an "adventure" package. It looks like the package has changed slightly since we went in April 2008, but most of it looks to be the same.

We flew into San Jose and stayed there one night before we were picked up for our whitewater rafting adventure. The hotel in San Jose (Fleur de Lys Hotel) was pretty nice, but I wouldn't recommend spending more than one night in San Jose. In my opinion there isn't a whole lot to see and other parts of the country are a lot more desirable.

The next day we were picked up and taken whitewater rafting on the Pacuare River. The great part about this package is you get transferred from place to place, so you don't have to worry about figuring out transportation. I guess depending on how many people book the same package as you determines how many people are with you on each of the transfers. Fortunately for us, not many people were doing the same tour on the same dates, so we basically had a private chauffeur for each part of the trip. Our guide Alfredo was fantastic. He was early each day and was extremely friendly.

On the way to our whitewater rafting adventure we had breakfast at a restaurant with beautiful views.


We were then dropped off for our whitewater rafting trip. Apparently the Pacuare River has been declared a "Wild and Scenic River" and offers some of the finest white water in Latin America. It winds inside one of Costa's "most impressive primordial rain forests". The trip was a lot of fun with beautiful views, wildlife, and pretty intense rapids. During the trip we stopped for lunch along the river. One part of the lunch was guava paste on crackers with cream cheese on top -- something we still buy and eat today. It's delicious!




When we did this package, we stayed at a random hotel on the way to Arenal after the whitewater rafting trip; however, it looks like now they take you straight to the area around Arenal, which is even better.

The Arenal Volcano is one of the most active in the world and it was beautiful to see. Our hotel and hotel room had great views of the volcano. We really enjoyed the Arenal area. We went on a hike around the volcano and then went to the volcanic thermal mineral pools at Tabacon Hot Springs. As the name suggests, these are springs heated by the volcano. They run through a hotel property and are different temperatures at different areas. After our dip in the hot springs we had a great dinner at the hotel. It was a fantastic evening.




After our time at Arenal, we were transported to Arenal Lake where we took a boat to the other side of the lake where a 4x4 vehicle took us on a long gravel road to Monteverde, the cloud forest area. I think this may have been our favorite spot. It was an incredibly beautiful area. Our hotel had great views and was just a short walk from a very cool co-op where local ladies sold homemade arts and crafts, great local restaurants including Stellas Bakery, one of Monteverde's longest running establishments, and the Monteverde Cheese Factory. One night for dinner we had wine and fruit from a local market and cheese from the factory on our balcony; it was great!







One of my favorite things we did was ziplining. They have zip lines that attach one platform to another and allow you to slide (quickly) with the use of special equipment. Since we were in the cloud forest, we were already really high up, and then took a tram even higher to get to the platforms. Once we arrived at the platforms, we climbed more stairs to get to the actual zipline. So as you can tell, we were really high up; probably a football field above the treetops! It was extra cloudy the day we went, so we couldn't see more than ten feet in front of us. It was definitely scary for the first couple because we were up really high and you go pretty fast on the actual zipline, but it was so much fun! Brian and I even got to go together on a couple of them.



After our time in Monteverde, we were transported to the Jaco Beach area. It looks like this part of the package has changed slightly since we went. Unfortunately, the hotel we stayed at (Hotel Villa Lapas) wasn't on the ocean. It was actually about a 20 minute drive from the beach. Our first afternoon there we had the hotel call a cab for us so we could check out the beach. After waiting awhile, a friend of the hotel staff member showed up in his personal car. It was very random, but he got us down to the beach! The actual beach area was cool and I think we would have enjoyed the experience more if our hotel was closer to the beach. One thing Brian did like about the hotel was it backed up to the Carara Biological Reserve so we were able to go on a couple of canopy nature walks.



One day we went to Agujitas Beach and went on an ocean kayak tour. I had never been sea kayaking before so I really enjoyed that. We paddled to a nice beach with pretty white sand. We tried to do some snorkeling but it was pretty rough out so we weren't very successful. It was a fun day on the ocean though!




After two nights in the Jaco area we packed up and headed back to the San Jose airport. On the way our guide stopped by the Tárcoles River, a popular spot to check out the many crocodiles who live there.



It was definitely more adventurous than our honeymoon, but that was what we were looking for with this one. All-in-all we had a great trip!

Next on the blog agenda -- second anniversary trip to Mexico!

Summer 2010 Recap

Well, I've certainly been neglecting my blog, but all for good reason. We have had a whirlwind summer with lots of guests and quite a bit of travel. We started the summer off with a fantastic Memorial Day weekend. I was honored to be a part of the wedding of one of my best friends from high school, Bridget D'Isernia. It was a beautiful wedding in Panama City Beach with a weekend filled with wedding festivities. We had a fantastic time and it was a great way to kick off the summer!
After our fantastic long weekend in Panama City Beach, we embarked on our first summer living in Jax Beach. We had a revolving door of visitors and had a fantastic time showing everyone our new stomping grounds, biking around the town, taking in festivals on the beach, trying new restaurants, and spending a lot of time at the beach.

Thank you to everyone who came to visit --our neighbors from Tallahassee, mine and Brian's family members, friends from Texas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. We're now taking reservations for next summer! :)

After hosting guests for the majority of the summer, we did squeeze in a bit of travel ourselves. We met our friends Dustin and Katie in Savannah one weekend. Neither Brian nor I had ever spent much time in Savannah, so we really enjoyed exploring the city. We started the weekend with a haunted pub crawl which was a blast. The next day we took a trolley tour of the city so we were able to see and learn a lot in a short amount of time.

We, of course, ate and drank our way through the city. We made a stop at Vinnie Van Go-Go's in Downtown Savannah's City Market where we had some fantastic pizza. We also made time for dinner at Paula Dean's restaurant Lady & Sons. It's actually quite an ordeal to get reservations -- you have to get in line by 9am to get on the list for that evening. It's definitely authentic southern style food. I suppose it's somewhere everyone should try while in Savannah, but I don't need to go back.

There isn't a shortage of salt water taffy or pecan pralines in the city. A lot of the candy shops offer free samples so it isn't hard to fill up on them either.

We also spent some time at a local brewery, Moon River Brewing Company where they have a good selection of craft brews. It's a cool spot that I would certainly recommend. For our last meal in Savannah we ate at Papillote, a fantastic french restaurant; it was a great meal to end the trip. It only took us 2 hours or so to get there from Jacksonville, so we definitely plan to make it back that way sometime.

We also took a trip to New Orleans. Bridget and her new husband, Karl, were moving to Germany, so we made a quick trip to their home in New Orleans to see them before they left. We had a fantastic time and definitely fit everything we possibly could into 48 hours. Soon after they picked us up from the airport, we had a fantastic first meal in downtown with authentic New Orleans-style food. We then stopped by W.I.N.O. which is a really cool concept that I have never heard of. Basically, you put as much money on a debit card as you want, and then you can try different wines that cost different amounts depending on the cost of the bottle. It was a very cool place!

We then got to see a 9-piece brass band called Rebirth. They are fantastic and we had such a great time. The next day we did a whirlwind tour of the city -- we went to the French Quarter where we ran into the Superbowl trophy and a coach with the Superbowl ring, had awesome beignets at Cafe du Monde, we ran into the LSU band (a father of a groom surprised the wedding couple with the band after the wedding!), stopped by Napoleon House Bar & Cafe for a snack and a drink, took a stroll down Bourbon Street and tried a hand grenade, hung out at Cat's Meow Karaoke bar where we ran into American Idol contestants so it was actually really good music, and then stopped in Pat O'Brien's for dueling pianos and hurricanes. Those are just the highlights! We definitely experienced New Orleans the best we could in 48 hours and hope to make it back there one day.

We also made another trip to Panama City Beach to see my Aunt Jean while she was in town visiting from California. We stayed with her and the family at a condo on Panama City Beach; nothing tops the sunsets there.

While we were in town I took a mini-roadtrip with some girlfriends to meet baby Kathryn, the new addition to the Donatelli family. It was a great weekend with family and friends, but like all of our visits there, it just wasn't long enough.

So as you can see, I have a great excuse for neglecting the blog -- it has been one busy summer! We have had such a great time during our first summer in Jax Beach. We're now looking forward to the fall season and are starting to plan our next international adventures. More on that to come!