To Coeur d'Alene

For Autumn's birthday this year we headed out to Coeur d'Alene for a mid-week stay at the Coeur d'Alene Resort. It was a welcome retreat from country living complete with massages and dining out!

We took our time and stopped for coffee at Miss B's Haven in Kettle Falls, and again at Paul's Coffee in Chewelah, and had a side excursion to the Spokane Valley Mall.

We checked into the hotel, had dinner and settled in for a quiet night.

Photo booth fun!

 Welcome to Idaho!

Kylie's first state outside of Washington.

 View from the hotel.

 Say cheese!

Sunset from the floating boardwalk.

Huatulco Day 2

Day 2 in Huatulco was sort of like day 1.  It was stunningly beautiful, but also pretty awful.  The food was terrible, there was more terrible service from the hotel staff (Camino Real Zaashila, in case you were wondering) and more bizareness with the hotel restaurants being closed.  This time we in fact were allowed to make a reservation at a restaurant that turned out to be closed when we went down for dinner!  WTF??  Huatulco was beautiful, and the hotel was spectacular...but the service industry really needs some more training or something...

Here are the highlights of the better parts of our day!

 This tangle of flowers and nature feels wild and beautiful.

Good morning scrubby hillside!

Ahhhh....

The hotel really was a very nice facility.

Beach walking time!

Cheers!

The ocean was such a pretty color, but it was crazy deep right when you waded in.  No swimming for us, just enjoying the view.

 Beaching around in my swimming contraption.

The dry and scrubby landscape was very pretty.

Beach rocks.

WhizzBang!  Kersplash!!

Are those barefoot prints on the beach??

NO!!  They are toe shoe prints!!  Fooled you!

Beach shelf.  Looks like a couple shell layers in this sand formation..

Palms in the sun.

I love how the white building almost washes out completely against the perfectly clear sky.

Finally, the lunch of my dreams.  Flour tortilla quesadillas made with Oaxaca cheese, guacamole and lime.  

All in all, Huatulco wasn't bad...but I think you get more for your money elsewhere.  We probably won't be back, but I am glad that we went.

Huatulco Day 1

So, remember last November when we totally missed our flight to Tuxtla Gutierrez?  Well, we traded those tickets in for tickets to Huatulco, a beach area on the coast in the state of Oaxaca.  We were looking forward to a relaxing weekend with our own private pool overlooking the ocean on the beach...and it was that...but it was also some other things too...

Our first sign of trouble should have been when we arrived at the resort at 10:00 am, only to learn that we could not check in until 3:00.  Okay...so we went and found a palapa on the beach and lounged until our room was ready...at 3:30.  Boo.

The hotel pool.  It was a beautiful facility...service was fairly awful though.

Here I am, thrilled to be in the ocean a little.

Finally, we make it to our room!  Only to discover that this pool is cold.  REALLY cold.  With no heater.  Sad!!

The view from our room's second deck.  Gorgeous!

Un amigo!

So cute!  I don't know how he can stand all of that cold water though!

Queso!

 

Moonrise over the ridge.

 

We ended up having dinner at this really delicious Austrian restaurant.  We tried to eat at our hotel but the only restaurant open (out of 6) was totally booked up.  Then we got locked out of our room for awhile....so we arrived here all mad.  However, that faded fast as we dined on delicious homemade delights.  Oh, Huatulco, how odd you are...

Goodbye Casa Canciones

With much sadness, we had to leave Casa Canciones this morning.  We had some quality hammock time before parting ways.

Hammock master Eric saying his goodbyes.

Hammock master Autumn demonstrating the very advanced Hammock Burrito technique.

The road to Casa Canciones was exceptionally ridiculous.  There were approximately 10,000 potholes between the highway and the house.  Here are a few of them.

Good bye Mayan Riviera!  We already miss you!!

Snorkeliando Time!

We took two snorkel trips out into Soliman Bay today, and they were both amazing!  It is so cool to just walk out your front door and swim onto a reef.

Here we are bright and early, kayaking out to the far end of the reef.

The sun on the water...so pretty!

We took turns snorkeling in the morning.  Here I am manning the kayak.  Hi!!

The magic of our awesome underwater camera begins...the fish were very active this morning.

Fish and reef...it was so clear!

Top secret fish meeting exposed!

Sea things in the morning...

Eric got very brave (and close) to the coral.  I have had a coral scrape before, so I know to keep a good distance...

Then it was my turn!!

At first I didn't take the camera, so Eric took the opportunity to take some self portraits.  So cute!

Then I discovered fish island, so I had to go get the camera to document this.

Blue fishes...

There were all kinds of cool things growing in the coral...

and anemones with eye ball looking tentacles...

and brains....

and more fish...

and pretty corals!

Hola senor yellow fish!

I didn't get a picture, but I even saw a seahorse swimming around!  Also, our neighbors saw a turtle...so cool!

Eric, snorkel expert.

Autumn, hammock expert.

Goodnight fishes! Thanks for a great day!!