Travel Thursday: New Mexico {The Ranch}

Hi lovelies, here are some more photos from my trip to New Mexico a couple of weeks ago. These are from my grandma's ranch in the mountains.

A peek of golden leaves! 

 Before working in the creek

The beaver dam we tore apart & attempted to move to a better location 

After (You should have seen my boots!) 

My grandma's old tenant (She rents out a house near hers.) used to keep his birds in here.

The attic, where I helped replace two windows 

This beautiful house is for sale. Send me an e-mail if you're interested! 

My grandma painted those flowers years ago. It's hard to even imagine her doing something like that now.

Jonty & I are working on putting together some video clips taken in Kenya. Hopefully it will be ready by next Travel Thursday!

<3

Travel Thursday: New Mexico {Balloons & Santa Fe}

As promised, here are a few more photos from the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. We were camped out in a Target parking lot, so we weren't in the best location for shots, but you can still get the gist of how cool it was.

The next day, we ate lunch at La Fonda in downtown Santa Fe. I always love looking at the beautiful Cathedral by the square.

Luckily, during the time we were there, we had some beautiful, sunny days. Fall definitely started to show its colors, too. I've never seen such an abrupt change from green to gold. From the time we arrived to when we left a week later, the leaves went from all green to about half yellow/gold in color. And it was sunny, so they didn't get all wilty and brown or anything and were actually quite bright and cheery. It was so beautiful! I regret not photographing the changes, but I guess you'll just have to take my word for it.

Did you get to watch autumn's arrival this year?

<3

Up Up & Away

Hello friends! After only two days at home, I'm out of town again! This time, I've headed to The Land of Enchantment (New Mexico) to visit my grandma. My mom & I flew into Albuquerque, where my grandma met us, & then we stayed overnight to watch the final mass ascension at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. It was pretty cool to see! Definitely worth the braving the frigid morning air. I have better photos, but you guys will have to wait, as I left my camera cord at home. For now, here's a camera photo.

I'm looking forward to a week at my grandma's ranch: hard work, good company, reading, watching movies, & lots of picturesque scenes. More soon.

<3

Travel Thursday: Kenya {Mombasa}

The view from our hotel lobby!

When we were in Kenya, Jonty & I went on a little weekend adventure to Mombasa, the country's popular beach side town. We took an overnight train, which was an adventure in itself (I'll tell you about it next week). When our taxi dropped us at our hotel, we were in for a bit of a surprise. The hotel receptionist informed us that, since we're not Kenyan residents, our room rate (already not cheap) was higher than we were quoted. (This is because Syano's sister's friend - a Kenyan resident - got the rates for us.) Isn't it bizarre that there are different rates for residents & non-residents? It's just like at Nairobi National Park. Well, at least they're honest about it rather than trying to swindle more money of of people. We waited in the lobby, hot & tired after a long night on the train, not to mention mildly annoyed that we were wasting the little time we had in Mombasa, for an hour while the receptionist talked to the travel agency, then to the manager, and so on. Thankfully, we were given our original rate.

The beach was spectacular. White sands & warm water: it doesn't get much better than that!

And there were camels!!!

However, along with the camels came camel ride salesmen. And boat trip salesmen. And shop salesmen. The beach was lined with people trying to sell us stuff. On our walk down the beach & back, we were approached at least five times. To be fair to these guys, (a) it was off-peak, so they probably weren't making much & (b) most people traveling to Mombasa are actually wealthy enough to spend money like that.

We did actually book a snorkeling outing with one guy for the next morning. After deciding to book, he told us that the price he quoted (2500 Kenyan shillings, about £25/$37) was actually for each person, not for the entire outing. After haggling & practically fighting & eventually just getting up to leave, we got our price. The outing was really nice. We left around 8:00 in the morning, when the air was fresh. The sea was warm & the boat ride to the snorkeling spot was very relaxing. No sea turtles or sharks showed up, but we had fun snorkeling nevertheless. My favorite part was watching the tiny crabs crawling around in the boat while I let one foot trail in the water and breathed in the ocean air.

On the way back to the beach, I chatted with one of the two guys on our boat. He told me that he can drink four (big) bottles of beer, & that the local favorite is coconut wine, made only in the village. The boat we were in was made by his grandfather! He's from one of the eleven coastal tribes. Their tribal dishes mostly consist of freshly caught fish and vegetables. The fishing boat comes in every morning at 11 o'clock. Kenya, according to him, is the most corrupt country in Africa. (I begged to differ, but what do I know?) What struck me the hardest was how bitter he was about the Haves (versus the Have-nots) in Kenya, & in a way I couldn't blame him.

Our hotel room left a lot to be desired, especially considering the price. For example, TV wasn't plugged in, & when we tried to remedy that ourselves, we found that it didn't even have a Kenyan plug! But at least we had a mosquito net. And this oh-so-amazing view:

On our second, & last, day in Mombasa, we mostly hung out by the pool. (We didn't go to the beach because we were tired of being hassled.) It was really hot outside, & mellow (but not cold) in the pool. We read books, listened to music, & drank/ate fresh coconut (omg yum!). It was suuuch a nice day!

The evening before, we took a walk to Nakumat (aka Wal-Mart) & bought some fresh bananas & oranges. I actually will never be able to fully enjoy a banana here ever again. The ones in Kenya were so sweet & flavorful. Mmmm... I'm salivating just thinking about them.

We walked into the town but didn't see much because (silly us) we chose to go in on a Sunday, when everything is closed. I'd love to go back & explore a bit more.

Some general thoughts on Mombasa: Quite touristy. Very dusty. (It was a colonial town.) Big Muslim population. Friendly people, but usually trying to get money from you somehow. Very hot.

Oh yeah, & the mosquitos there are ninjas! I got bit by lots of them (especially at the train station), but by the time I looked the little guy was gone.

 

I can't wait to tell you about our epic train journey.
You. Will. Die.

<3

West Wedding

Wedding party on the left, me & Jonty on the right.

Hi guys! I've been a been lazy about blogging lately, aside from my Kenya posts, so I hope to fill you in about all the lovely things I've been doing lately. Last weekend (as in a bit over a week ago), I went down to Portsmouth for my friend Denise's wedding. It was on a gorgeous, sunny, warm summer day at an amazing location: Stansted Park, outside of the small town of Rowlands Castle in southern England.

The wedding was in a small, ridiculously old, & incredibly beautiful chapel.

Afterward, we headed outside for a couple hours of photos, chat, canapes, & PIMM'S.*

Dinner was served inside the historic Stansted House.

The groom picked these centerpieces out! Impressive, right?

Since we were down near the ocean, we stayed at a B&B near the wedding & took the opportunity to check out some seaside towns & beaches.

Portsmouth:

Emsworth:

We all were lucky to have such a fun-filled weekend planned while the sun was gracing us with her presence!

<3

* For those unfamiliar with PIMM'S, it a British liquor that is popular in the summertime & served with ice, lemonade (aka lemon-lime sode without the lime), & lots of cut up fruit.

Travel Thursday: Kenya {Safari}

Okay, to be honest, I don't know if what we did counts as a safari, but our friend Syano's dad hired a car for us (and I should point out how appreciative we are that he did that for us!) and we drove around Nairobi National Park looking for/at animals for an afternoon.

Nairobi National Park is pretty close to Syano's family's house (where we were staying). Syano and the driver paid in Kenyan shillings, but Jonty and I had to pay in US dollars! Isn't that bizarre?

We got there mid-afternoon after running around town getting dollars and whatever else.

Right upon driving in, a bunch of baboons (a congress of baboons, to be technical) was blocking our way.

They took their sweet time moving out of the road. But we didn't mind because we loved watching this little one.

I was snapping photos right and left.

Our next obstacle was a couple of giraffes having an afternoon meal. We were able to get very close to watch them because they were definitely not scared of us.

Giraffes are such beautiful animals. I loved watching their bodies move as they walked.

We saw loads of giraffes, no doubt more than any other animals. They were everywhere, usually in small groups. Of course, they are the easiest to spot!

The park is only 7 kilometres from the city! Some of our shots had high-rise buildings in the background, and airplanes from the nearby airport flew overhead. (These are waterbucks. They tended to shy away from us.)

A few hippos were out for a swim in this pond. Our driver told us that hippos are quite dangerous, since they're strong and, contrary to appearances, can run very fast (up to 20 miles per hour; they can run at the bottom of a pond too!). We stuck around for a while, hoping they'd do something exciting (and ready to drive away like hell if they tried to involve us in the excitement!). They yelled at us a few times, but didn't do anything else all that interesting. And they were a bit too far away to really take proper photos.

We then saw some male ostriches get into a little squabble over a high maintenance female.

There was a rhino sighted by others in the park, and we could see it in the distance, but we could never find a road that would get close to it. We started a bit too late in the day to see everything we wanted, but we did get to see a few amazing animals and have a little adventure. I did just discover this blog though, which has some more exciting pictures and stories in Nairobi National Park. And the sunset at the end was worth it.

<3