“Freakin Tip-Top of Jordan”

This was the response Lindsay gave me when I asked her “where are we?” while exploring Petra, Jordan in the Middle East. The entire area of Petra is absolutely spectacular. The ancient buildings carved into the red rocks of this desert landscape have been inspiring travelers for centuries. The Treasury building is by far the most well known in all of Petra (it was featured in the Indiana Jones movie) but just as impressive is the Temple of Al -Deir a.k.a “The Monastery.” This spectacular structure is very well preserved and stands at the top of a long and step hike through the red rocks of Petra. There are numerous columns, spires and doorways all carved into a huge rock face that is so surreal looking it is difficult to explain. I can’t really remember how Lindsay and I found the trail leading up to The Monastery but I do remember it was step and difficult but very well maintained. You make your way through the rocks and cliffs on a footpath of stone steps. About halfway up we found a very old Temple carved into the mountain and took the opportunity to rest. We explored this briefly and then made our way back up the trial. There were very few people on the trail with us but at one point I remember hearing a lot of footsteps behind us. We both turned around and were shocked to see a group of donkeys, with packs full of bottled water, making their way up the trial with us. Their master had simply let them go at the bottom of the trail and they were so well trained they would walk up the entire way on their own. We stayed quite close to these donkeys as they were great companions for the hike. :) Eventually the trial leads you to a high plateau were you come around a bend and are immediately standing right below the incredible Monastery (explained above). Again, this structure is so spectacular looking it is almost impossible to explain. Imagine an incredible classical looking building with columns, spires, statues, etc…now imagine it carved into a rock wall in the middle of the desert. We spent the next hour exploring this structure and climbing to numerous different viewpoints to take it all in. We were so enthralled by the Monastery that we hadn’t realized that the hike that lead us up there also perched us high upon a mountain overlooking the desert below. We made our way to the highest point we could find and were shocked to see a young man with a tent anxious to chat (this was the destination for the donkeys as he also sold drinks). We chatted with him for a second and then found our way to our own little personal look out point were we could take it all in. There was an old battered flag of Jordan flying high and the view of the red rock desert below us was simply breathtaking. I busted out the camera and asked Lindsay where she was and she replied…”the freaking tip-top of Jordan.”

Pounders Beach – Oahu, Hawaii

During my college days I was shown an incredible beach on the Winward side of the Oahu Island in Hawaii. Although I am sure this beach has an official name I have only known it by the name…”Pounders.” This name came about because the beach has an incredibly powerful shore break and when the waves crash along the beach it makes a loud “pound” that can be heard from hundreds of yards away. During our 2005 Christmas Trip with my family and our 2007 spring break trip with Lindsay's mom Pat we hit up Pounders beach numerous times. My family was blown away by the power of the shore break and my sister-in-law may have been scared for life from the powerful beating she took from one of the waves. :) My family spent hours swimming, body surfing and just hanging out. The day Lindsay, her mom, and I made it out the waves were huge. Needless to say Lindsay and Pat did not want to join in but I spent hours body surfing. To this day I have never found a beach with a better shore break for body surfing or swimming. It is by far our favorite beach in the world to play. The next time you find yourself cruising the Kameamea highway on Oahu don’t forget to stop at Pounders Beach.

A Morning to Remember – Tangier, Morocco

In 2008 Lindsay and I found ourselves in the beautiful North African country of Morocco. We had just visited Casablanca and Marrakesh and were anxious to explore the third city on our list…Tangier. This incredible city has always intrigued us with its white washed homes, old Medina (old town), shoreline, mysterious history, and we just couldn't resist. We took a night train from Marrakesh and woke up just in time to watch the beautiful shoreline of Northern Morocco pass by the train window. We pulled into the new Tangier station which is a few miles from the center of town. After stepping off the train we heard an American women screaming things like…”get away from me”, etc. It turns out she had fallen between the platform and the train and was getting extremely frustrated as the local men were trying to help her out. To this day we have never seen anybody having such a bad travel experience. Anyway, we walked straight out of the train station and passed the numerous taxi drivers begging to take us the few miles into the city. This was one of the few places I did not have a guidebook for and we also didn’t have a map. All we had was a memorized “Google Earth” map in our minds. We have found that one of the best ways to explore a place is to “jump right in” and start walking instead of taking a cab. We thought the few miles between the train station and the city was a great opportunity to do this. As we made our way through the numerous and busy neighborhoods of the city we eventually saw the ocean come into view (a good sign as the city center lies right on the shoreline). Our Google Earth memory served us well as we eventually found ourselves right on the main palm tree lined boulevard that lies between the beautiful beach and the shops/restaurants of Tangier. It was still quite early in the morning so we just went out to the beach and chilled for quite a while. We eventually got hungry and worked our way to the old Medina were we found a cute little place selling crepes. We bought two of them and almost died when we took a bite. They were warm crepes filled with fruit, creme, etc. We took the crepes, along with a weird yogurt drink that I bought, and perched ourselves right on the old city walls of Tangier to enjoy our breakfast. Eventually the city woke up and we found ourselves exploring the busy and exotic markets of the old Medina. The alleyways and streets in this part of Tangier are made up of cobblestones and wind up step hills. There are numerous shops selling everything you can imagine and it is a great place to “get lost.” We found one particular park with benches and a fountain and chilled there for about an hour before hitting the streets again. After more exploring we eventually found ourselves in a beautiful section of the city that was high on a hill with very narrow alleyways and beautiful old white buildings with brightly painted colorful doors. The whole area was spectacular and we found a nice few overlooking the Mediterranean/Atlantic Ocean. We sat there for quite a while looking towards Europe. We had been backpacking through “The Muslim World” for the last 3 weeks and it seemed so strange to be heading back to Europe (we were catching a flight that day to Madrid). After running into the same annoying tout 3-4 times we made our way out of the city and caught a taxi to the airport. The driver thought I said “port” instead of “airport” but after much laughing and negotiation we ended up at the right place. Tangier Morocco is one-of-a-kind and we will never forget the experience we had exploring its many layers.

Jin Mao Tower – Shanghai China

On my 29th birthday we found ourselves in the incredible city of Shanghai. Growing up I have always loved skyscrapers so needless to say I was in heaven being in Shanghai. During the day we went to a beautiful canal town on the outskirts of the city (already blogged about it) but that night we decided to head over to the futuristic Pudong area of the city to check out one of Shanghais tallest buildings…the Jin Mao Tower. This beautiful tower is 88 stories tall and has a beautiful observation deck. The first thing I remember about this experience is stepping out of the subway station in Pudong. This particular part of the city is all quite new and everything is big, clean and shiny. There were numerous high end stores including a Louis Vuitton that looked like it was made entirely of diamonds (it looked exactly like it was). We entered the line for the observation deck at the same time as a tour bus full Asian tourists were so it was pretty chaotic. However, before we we new it we were on the observation deck and were rewarded with an incredible view of Shanghai. The sun was just going down and the lights of Shanghai were just coming on. We found one little corner that was open (very rare as the entire place was so crowded) and just sat there to watch the night fall over “The Bund” area of Shanghai. We then eventually made our way over to the other side of the building were we were rewarded with an incredible view of the Shanghai World Financial Center (one of the only buildings taller than the one we were in). This building is shaped like a bottle opener (yes it has a huge hole in the middle of it) and the top lights up with thousands of strobe lights every 15 minutes. We sat there for about 45 minutes so that we could see the building light up at least 3 times. As we were about to leave I noticed that there was a large round structure with windows right in the middle of the observation deck. I walked over and was blown away to see that I was looking down 40+ floors at an open lobby that was the Hyatt Hotel of Shanghai. It turns out the top 40 floors belong to the hotel and the entire lobby is open (hollow shaped) and the top is covered in glass and was located on the observation deck (which is were I was standing). Needless to say it was an incredibly unique design. The line to get on the elevators to go down was extremely chaotic as we were there with hundreds of other Asian tourists. However we eventually made our way down and when we walked outside the view looking back at the tower we were just in was spectacular. Being such a huge fan of skyscrapers it was the perfect way to end my birthday!

Grand Palace – Bangkok, Thailand

In the heart of Bangkok lies one of the most beautiful complexes in the world…The Grand Palace. This collection of buildings is the historical home to the King of Siam (Thailand) and was built in the 1700’s (with continuing expansions). It is almost impossible to describe the beauty and uniqueness of this amazing area. There are numerous temples (Wats), statues and grand buildings clustered together amongst beautiful gardens and walkways. The architectural style is truly Thai with spires, domes and exaggerated architectural lines. Almost every building is intricately decorated in colors of gold, blue, yellow, red, white, etc, etc. When Lindsay and I first entered this amazing place we were literally flabbergasted…it was like no place we had ever seen. We wandered around the numerous temples and buildings for hours taking as many pictures as we could to try and show the incredibly beauty of the complex. It was May in Bangkok so it was EXTREMELY hot. We took refuge under the canopy of numerous buildings which served as the perfect vantage point to enjoy the palace. May is also the low tourist season in Bangkok so the crowds were very minimal and at times we felt like we had the entire place to ourselves. We eventually explored every square inch of the palace and made our way out to the busy streets and markets of Bangkok. To this day the unique beauty and one-of-a-kind architecture of The Grand Palace in Bangkok is forever burned into our minds.

Old World Charm in St Augustine Florida

For years I had an unfair bias against Florida. I would constantly rant about how I would never want to live there. All I had really ever seen is the area around Disney and Universal Studios and for some reason it just didn’t appeal to me. However, in 2008 Lindsay and I went to visit her brother who lived in St Augustine (“The Nations Oldest City") and my opinion of Florida quickly changed. Marty (her brother) was a fantastic tour guide and immediately took us to old town St Augustine. We were blown away by the beauty and unique feel of this charming little city. One of the main streets in this area is called “Cordova Street” and we spent the entire morning walking it enjoying the shops, old houses and overall old word charm. We then toured the area around Flagler College and we both feel in love with it. There were numerous old buildings designed in the Spanish style with numerous spires, tile roofs, etc. Surrounding each of these buildings were numerous parks, fountains, etc. We finished off our tour by going to the incredible old fort on the edge of the water and of course going through the Ripleys Believe it or Not museum. Not only did our visit to St. Augustine change my opinion of Florida but we both now believe that it is one of the prettiest and most unique looking cities in America.

Canada’s Grand Railway Hotels

When I was young my father took our family on an epic road trip up to Alberta Canada. Even at a young age I was blown away by the natural beauty of the Canadian Rockies as well as the magnificent hotels we kept seeing along the way. When I got married I couldn’t wait to do this trip with Lindsay (even thought about honeymooning there) and in late summer 2007 we got our chance. It was on this trip that I learned that all of these amazing hotels I saw as a boy were known as the Grand Railway Hotels of Canada. Lindsay and I entered Canada through Glacier National Park and the first Hotel we saw is the beautiful Prince of Whales lodge in Waterton National Park. This beautiful old building is red with white window trimmings and a green roof. The architecture is beautiful and it actually looks like an historic old European hotel. It sits right on a bluff overlooking Lake Waterton and the surrounding peaks. It is honestly one of the prettiest hotel settings in the world. We chilled in the lobby for awhile and walked the grounds in front of the hotel to take pictures of the surrounding lake and mountains. We then continued our road trip and within a couple of days found ourselves in the beautiful mountain town of Banff. High up on a hill overlooking the town is the magnificent Banff Springs Hotel. This massive structure also looks like something from Europe with large spires, stone façade, etc. We walked around the lobby and surrounding gardens and also took time to chill on one of the magnificent large decks that overlooked the valley below. By the end of the day we were walking around the spectacular Chateau Lake Louis. This inspiring structure is white with a green roof and it sits on the bank of the Lake Louis which has turquoise blue waters and is fed by a large glacier on the far end of the lake. The scenery around this hotel is world class and to this day I cannot think of a more picturesque location. We spent hours walking along the path next to the lake with Sundance and sitting and enjoying the beautiful area around us. The Grand Railway Hotels of Canada our some of the most beautiful and inspiring structure in the world and should not be missed. We can’t wait until we can go again and actually stay in one. :)