Feb 8, 2013

Rice and Beans here we come to Mexico!

I planned a trip to the Yucatan area of Mexico in the fall of 2007. With our increasing love for spicy mexican food, I had to go visit the motherland of burritos and salsa! The trip consisted of visiting one of the wonders of the world "Chichen Itza" then Tulum, (which was then still a lesser known travel secret) via Cenote Dzitnup and Valladolid enroute.

We landed in Cancun and picked up our rental car and drove through Cancun which seemed pretty much like a street in Miami. Stopped at the mexican McDonalds for late lunch, after ordering and paying, the mcguy came back to us in some time giving back our money & pointing to a spanish sign that said if its more than 15 mins its free!! What a start to our trip :)

Drove to Chichen via Valladolid after which it seemed a bit dangerous drive, but reached Chichen in 2 hours. Our Hotel Mayaland was such a gorgeous lush green property with peacocks roaming, palapa restaurants, bird trails, horse rides and many pools to swim. We were spoilt with the delish mexican grand buffet breakfast every morning!
Hotel Mayaland grounds
El Castillo












Chichen Itza was right behind our resort & shared the property I believe. It was an awesome sight to see El Castillo for the first time, the huge stadiums, thousands of pillars, the ball court, beautiful carvings, the skull carvings, everything was magnificent! We could have stayed for some more time, but had to move on.


Chichen Itza
We drove to Cenote Dzitnup, took a dip in the dark green magical underground pool. The experience was out of the world to see the cave with stalactities & stalagmites and then jump into the pool with hanging stalactites above. After the dip we drove into Valladolid, visited the San Gervasio church on the day of the dead. It was decorated everywhere like a big festival to celebrate the day of the dead.

Soft white sand prints




Next stop was Tulum where we based ourselves for a few final days. Our hotel was "Zulum" which was an ecologically conscious hotel like many in Tulum. It had balconies with hammock, bedrooms with hanging beds, and everyday was fresh made to order breakfast with huevos, fruits and anything you wanted! It was so much fun and relaxing on the beach, with palapas arranged on the beach and bonfire every night. 















We woke up to such beautiful sunrises everyday on the Tulum beach. The white sands kept our baby happy all of our time on the beach and warm waters were inviting for us to alternate sand and water, lunch, sand, water, sand, dinner :) Just could not get enough turquoise blue waters and white soft sands!

Warm clear waters with white sandy beaches, perfect for morning walks!
We took multiple trips for yummy lunches & dinners in town of Tulum, snorkel trip to Playa del Carmen to see colorful sea life of fishes, turtles and corals. 

One of our trips was to the Tulum ruins, white limestone structures built as the grand Mayan city perched up on a cliff overlooking the blue sea and lined with beautiful sandy beaches. You could also climb down for a quick dip into this scenic small beach at the ruins if you are not interested in the touristy shopping stalls outside the ruins.

Mayan Tulum Ruins
Cannot say enough about the beautiful white sand beaches, the warm people and hospitality, the yummilicious food (the reason we came to explore) we ate everywhere (did not even remember by the end of our trip the killer stomach cramps one night which seemed worse than labor pains to me!) and beautiful cultural structures and heritage. 

So long Mexico, I will see you and your spicy peppers, tasty guacamoles and delicious huevos rancheros sometime soon!!

Oct 31, 2012

Up in heaven at Rangeley, Maine

We regularly make trips to the White Mountains in New Hampshire especially during the Fall season, but this year I said to my husband, "do you want to drive?" as he loves driving and I love planning travel. Such a great combination right :) 
Coos Canyon, Maine

I knew his answer was Yes so I suggested "Rangeley, Maine" which was my dream Fall destination since a couple years. So we planned for the long drive with 2 kids with books, music and tons of snacks. 
We had lunch at a fabulous Italian restaurant, "Sams Italian" we stumbled upon in Rumford, ME which we also stopped on our way back for late lunch again 2 days later. 

Route 17 is very scenic as promised by the fall websites of Maine as we drove to Rangeley from Rumsford. Stopped a few times to take photos of mountains with fall colors ablaze. Coos canyon was a surprising find and so beautiful!


Finally we reached the breathtaking first stop of the Rangeley Lakes National Scenic Byway "Height of Land". 
It was a fabulous heaven like experience with the mountain ranges around screaming Fall with beautiful colored mounds till the horizon and the multiple lakes interspersed in between. 
Height of Land overlook
Height of Land could not be captured by camera alone, we wanted to burn it into our memories forever!







We looked and clicked and looked and oohed and clicked and aahed and clicked as many photos as we could. Then we went on to the next few overlooks which were as beautiful as the previous ones. 
Mountain ranges and lakes all around

It was all I had dreamed of my dream fall destination! 





We looked for moose during dusk by driving around bogs, but did not find even one moose while my daughter went asking questions on moose as her car  research project! 

We observed sunset on Rangeley lake while kids played on the public playground on the lake,  ate dinner at the scrumptious "Red Onion" restaurant in the downtown and called it a night at the local Rangeley Saddleback Inn with great views of the Rangeley Lake. 

Next day we hiked the "Cascade Stream Gorge" half way up to the middle gorge falls as it was closed further to avoid disturbing an active beehive, then the scenic hike to "Smalls Falls". 


Smalls Falls picnic area



"Smalls falls" was kid-friendly as well as challenging as you climb up the rocks to reach the top of the 3 layered falls. 
Heiaght of Land overlook

We were fall satisfied but really wanted to see a moose. The opportunity came to us while driving back the same route as husband wanted to savor "Height of Land" one more time. We came to the town Oquossoc where we came to a moose station which collected data on all the moose hunted that day, gory sight for me and the kids to see poor moose lying with their guts opened up. My daughter felt it was unfair on the hunters part to kill the vegetarian moose....



 Looked down on the Height of Land, and drove back home fall happy!













Aug 10, 2012

Cape cod, MA, USA

Capecod (usually called as the Cape) is the summer playground for Massachusetts people. We make atleast one beach trip to Cape cod every summer. My absolute favorite beach is the Nobska Lighthouse beach.



It has a beautiful stretch of sandy beach with the Nobska lighthouse as the background. The water is warm at best, but so refreshing to swim on a hot summer day. You can stay hours on this beach swimming, building sandcastles, walking, playing, snacking and lazying reading books. The kids loved to build sandcastles, get into the water, come out throw some rocks into water, gaze at sailboats and again get into the water and so on.
TIP: If you go later in the afternoon you might be able to park at this "residents only" beach..its so worth it! Or else stay in Falmouth or park closeby to walk down to this beach
Falmouth downtown is very close by for lunch/dinner options. You can also visit the Islands, Martha's Vineyard or Nantucket by a ferry starting from Woodshole area.

Dec 2, 2011

Starting to blog

I have been thinking of blogging since ages to unravel my world of travel to you all. Travelling is my passion and helps me shake and break the routine life. Travel unleashes the adventurer in me. I come back home after travels only to plan for my next travels.
I hope you enjoy my travels and go for a ride with me.
Enjoy & Happy Travels!