It's Gator Time!!

We’d been living in Florida for long enough that not having seen an alligator was beginning to be a badge of shame. We live right next to the Everglades, and apparently they fish these bad boys out of people's pools all the time... So it was Gator Boat Tour time!

Juliano, our friend Dani and I headed out to the Everglades to see what the swamp was all about. I was expecting some hillbilly excitement, and friends - I was not disappointed.

Please excuse the random girl doing a 'sexy pose' next to that truck. I'm just jealous because I can't sexy pose very well.

We went with Everglades Safari Park because they were on the main road, had a decent website and seemed fun. 

You get to ride an airboat (so fun!) around the glades and spot lots of great wildlife including turtles, alligators and all sorts of birds.

Best part of it all?? You get to HOLD A BABY GATOR at the end. I don’t know if my crazy face adequately describes the amazingness of that. I kept trying to cuddle him like a puppy - and the guy was all... “don’t put him so close to your face - he’ll bite you” and “stop trying to kiss him, he’s a wild animal”. What a buzzkill.

The tour is a little over an hour and costs US$23.00, but if you buy your ticket online - you cans save $3.00. Back at the lodge you can walk a path around the property and see lots more older, larger alligators and crocodiles. Did you know the Florida Everglades are the only place that the two exist in the same place? It’s because of the mix of salt and fresh water.

On the way back home, we stopped off at Calle Ocho in the Cuban section of Miami (yeah, it’s a real place - Pitbull didn’t invent it...) in Miami for some authentic Cuban sandwiches... YUM.

What’s the craziest animal you’ve ever tried to kiss??

Also - the quality of the photos here didn't just magically increase overnight. Dani took these with her awesome camera and mad photography skills. Thanks Dani!

(Side note: This isn’t a sponsored post or anything - I just went because it seemed awesome, and it was) 

I'm not retired, but I live in West Palm Beach

I thought West Palm Beach was just where rich, retired people go to play golf. I was wrong - that’s Boca Raton. Ha ha ahh... that’s a Florida joke.

WPB is a pretty nice place to live actually. I see why people pack up their pleated chinos , throw their golf clubs in the porsche and migrate here for the chilly months of winter. 

Clematis Street is sort of the ‘main drag’ (to steal an expression from my dad) and ends up at City Place. Both are full of fun pubs/bars/restaurants/theaters, etc. Sometimes there are parades there. I like parades - everything is so EXTRA.

If your crew is into diving as well - the diving around West Palm is surprisingly awesome! The water is warm, the vis is good and there are lots of operators that will take you out for a reasonable price. My first mate Matt, his brother and I showed up to one of these on an improptu day off.

Best surprise of all - we got to see a baby and mama manatee! Manatees live in the intercoastal waters and are a protected species. They’re slow and hard to spot - so they get hit by boats often. ** Note, running fresh water near them isn’t really allowed... sorry to be such a rule breaker**

If you’re willing to drive inland a bit - equestrian sports are big around here. Dressage, Jumping, Polo - the whole bit. Get out your bow ties, people! Just kidding. But because of this there are lots of stables that will let you come and ride for a few hours if you want.

Sorry I don’t have much for specifics here! To find fun stuff in a new place I usually just sign up for Groupon or LivingSocial to see what kind of deals I come across. It also helps expose me to small business and local things to do :) 

Have you ever been to West Palm Beach? What was your favourite thing?

Pilgrimage to Ironman Florida

Okay - this adventure is not ALL about how to become a yachtie. That part just took over the beginning of Florida for us. But luckily, we had family force us into an impromptu road trip because....

My brother-in-law Ryan is a pro Ironman triathlete. 

What?! Yeah, I know. He’s crazy. And until now, we’ve never had the opportunity to see him race in person. So when we found out that he was competing in Ironman Florida - a mere 12 hour drive around the gulf.... what were we to do?

We haven’t been on a road trip since our little jaunt around the Pacific North West when we sold our house. We were due for another.

And - in a scene straight out of Friday Night Lights (Clear Eyes, Full Hearts!) we came across a High School Football game. Guys, there were lights. There were cheerleaders. There was a f*cking MARCHING BAND!!! I was clearly overexcited about the prospect of sitting down for the remainder of the game and soaking in the Cross City Super Bowl.

But with an early race start looming and many hours left to drive, Juliano’s logic won out over my pee-my-pants-intense excitement. Damn him.

Ironman spectating should be a sport in itself. Seriously, it’s hectic. My sister-in-law Lauren is the race-watching guru. Ryan raced for 8hrs 45mins, and we saw him 6 times. Running into the water, out of the water, transitioning, running past, transitioning, biking past, finishing. 

You can read Ryan’s account of the race here; he talks jibberish about electrolytes and bike wattage. He came in 15th overall which is pretty badass of him.

As a person who’s neither athletic, nor competitive - I find competition at this level hard to relate to. This dedication to pushing and training to shave minutes off your time and beat just one more person through the gates is admirable. But for those of us that think walking across a parking lot is a hardship - doing anything for nine hours is insanity. 

Ironman has a cutoff time of 17hours. SEVENTEEN HOURS! You can deliver a baby in less time than that. It’s probably more pleasant. Knowing it was our first Ironman experience, Ryan and Lauren brought us back to the race for the end of the line finishers. The people who complete the race in the last hour have no business running an Ironman. They are not elite athletes, they don’t have top of the line gear or sponsors. But holy shit do they have some spirit. 

If you pass the finish line the announcers shout out ‘YourName, you are an Ironman!’. It’s a cool moment and a very clear goal for many of these end finishers. It was heart warming to watch people brutalize their bodies and overcome their physical boundaries to achieve these immense goals. I’m in awe of what people can do when they put their minds to it. 

Congrats Ryan on a great race - and thank you for letting us into your world!

Side note: Ryan is cooler than I give him credit for. If you want to check him out here’s his Blog, Facebook and Twitter. 

We're on our way!

Early morning flight, stop over in Dallas and we're in our way... So excited to finally be going!

Yep. That is ALL OF OUR LUGGAGE {we're both wearing small backpacks in this pic}. We're travelling carry on only - and I'm stressed already that I've brought waay too much stuff! It's going to be an adventure.


Ps. We're having a debate on the value of upgrading to first/business class. I vote it's worth about $100/hour of flight time. {So a 2hr flight is worth it of its a $200 upgrade.} Buuuut... I haven't quite shifted my mindset to someone with no job! What do you think??

Road Trip: Portland

Hey Friends! We're back with more of our Pacific NW Road trip.... and it's Portland Time! We added Portland to the trip because we heard (a) The Beer is Good and (b) It's like Seattle, but weirder. I'm here to tell you... both are true!

Where we stayed: 

AirBnB! This was our first experience staying with an airbnb host... and it was great. It was cheap ($50/night) and close to Hawthorne (trendy area filled with food and shops). The house was weird, but I figured we were just getting in the spirit. Also, our awesome hosts gave us some great food recommendations...

What we ate:

What didn't we eat? Ha... I'm going to YOLO my way to obesity while travelling. Anyways, we mostly just ate to justify all of the beer we were drinking.

Full Sail Brewery ~ We sold our house here!! This was the first of many brewery tours, and gave us a great reason for celebration.... Juliano votes LTD5, Dana loves the Amber. Yum.

Hair of the Dog Brewery ~ Another awesome microbrewery, with 5 extra points for the name. Juliano's favourite by far. Also... two the plates of JUST MEAT that we ate for lunch were beyond delicious...



Awesome Oddities
I know that everyone says the Portland is weird, and Portlandia rings true... well my friends: They are right. Portland is a crazy, awesome, hilarious place to be. Somewhere in amongst the face tattoos and the organic street food - we fell in love. 

Here's some awesome moments courtesy of Juliano's camera addiction!

Road Trip: The Drive

Hey Bloggy Friends,

{I hope all my Canadian Blog Friends had a great long weekend!}

Remember that time I said we were going on a road trip? And then I told you we sold our house while on a road trip? Except I never really told you anything ABOUT the road trip? Yup, it's because I'm a crappy blogger. As it turns out, keeping a travel blog about preparing to travel comes a lot easier to me than a blogging about actually traveling. Strange.

Anyways...We did it. We went on a road trip! The first leg of our journey was from Calgary down to Sandpoint, ID for one night. It was a gorgeous drive through the foothills and into Rocky Mountains. Turns out I might not hate road trips as much as I was expecting to... {so cynical, Dana}. Here are some fun facts about our trip:

3350 Km driven

6 Face tattoos spotted

5 Nights in AirBnB homes

3 Nights with friends

2 Professional sports games attended

1 Sorta hitchhiker

Waaay too much beer sampled...

On the way there...

USA border security confiscated a bag of oranges we had in the car. Sad, because I was hungry later. The cheap motel we rolled into late that night was 50s themed. It was hilariously amazing.

On the way home...

TMI: I'm a horrible road trip partner because I probably have to stop for a pee every 2 hours or so. On the way home, while enjoying the gorgeous drive down the Coquihalla Highway, I forced Juliano to pull over at a rest stop for a 'break'. While slowing down to pull over - we passed a speed trap {moral of that story: my tiny bladder saved us a massive ticket!}. At the rest stop, a teenaged guy approached us and this happened:

Guy: Umm... excuse me? Are you guys by any chance driving to Calgary?

Me: Yep. Why? Is that your car over there getting towed?

Guy: Yeah, well... technically it's my mom's car getting towed. I was driving my girlfriend home to Kelowna.

Me: Ah ha ha.... that sucks. Hey - did you know that today is Mother's day?

Guy: Really? Shit. I don't have any cell reception here.

Me: You should call her.

Guy: Yeah, I know. Can I please get a ride with you? I can pay for gas or whatever.

Me: ha ha ha...I don't need your gas money. But I feel like this will be hilarious, so hop on in!

And that is how we picked up a sorta-hitch-hiker in BC and brought him all the way home. Turns out getting your mom's car towed on Mother's day is not really appreciated by your family - his dad was pissed. It was hilarious. Also he was quite polite and friendly {Canadians...} and complimented my taste in music {which made me feel young and trendy} - overall success on our part.

Some random notes about road tripping...

- I know the words to A LOT of songs. What a waste of brain space, I should be fluent in Portuguese by now.

- Trains are cool, bridges are awesome. Train bridges = super awesome

- Road side {and river-side!} picnics are the best

- I don't know anything about geography. Seriously, I'm lost about 90% of the time.

- Farmers Markets are cool in every city. And the food is always the best there.

- There is no chance in hell that I'll ever be able to translate USD-per-Gallon to Canadian-Cents-per-Liter for gas comparisons. You literally need to be a rocket scientist to figure that out. I give up. But still:

Most expensive gas: 1.47/Liter in Vancouver, BC

Cheapest gas: 3.71/Gallon in Sandpoint, ID

- Cheap motels always have free breakfast and wifi. Fancy hotels make you pay for both. Why?


I know this post was a bit scattered, but I'll be back with more about Portland, Seattle, Vancouver and Kelowna soon!

Cheers!

Imma Back!

Hello Bloggy Friends!

It's been a while since I've made an appearance around here - and while I'm not going to grovel and apologize (it's my blog! I'll neglect it if I want to!) I will say this: All you other bloggers who keep up regular content while traveling, you get a a huge digital HIGH FIVE! from me. Seriously.

I hear you saying 'this is a job' and 'blogging takes lot of time and effort'... what I actually heard was 'sunshine! traveling! writing about stuff! beer!'. Soo.... excuse my rude awakening while I tip my hat to your awesomeness.

Anyways, I've been up to LOTS of fun stuff, that I'm super-excited to tell you about so hold onto your hats. Here's a recap of what I've been up to and what's coming up soon:

• I went to Houston, Texas - that place is f*cking hilarious and awesome, it was all crawfish and two-steppin' for me
• Traveling solo + carry on only makes me feel like a badass super traveler
• I went on a Pacific NW road trip. Road Trips are CRAZY - you see so much stuff! 
• Portland is weird, lots of beer
• Seattle is cool, lots of coffee
• Vancouver is fancy
•  I ate/drank my face off - and my work pants juuuuustbarelyfit this morning. Problematic.
• We have some exciting house news brewing on the horizon - will keep you posted.
• I definitely want to travel forever and ever

Have a great day - I'll be blog stalking all my friends and catching up with you too!

Cheers!

Who Travels with you??

There’s so many ways and combination of groups that people travel in – how do you travel??

Where we went: Work travel only! I’ve never extended a work trip, or really tried to enjoy the city I’m working in. Work travel is rare for both of us{yearly?}I'm not the expert, but I'd like to explore my independent solo-traveling side a bit more!

Just the two of us! This is my favorite way to travel! Juliano is a great travel partner, he never gets lost and picks great places to eat. I find the best stuff to do, and am way better at bartering.

Where we went: Cuba, Rio de Janeiro, Los Angeles, Seattle, Montreal, lots more!

Pros: Sharing a bed saves money, less compromise on what to do, being together

Cons: Not meeting many new people, being with your spouse 24hrs a day can make you crazy, hard to get pictures together.

 Couples travel! This is really fun if you go with a couple who has similar interests as you and you get along. Bonus points for being able to split up into guys/gals… hello shopping and spas!

Where we went: Las Vegas, Baby!

Pros: Sharing bottles of wine means you get to taste more, shopping and spas (as above), great ideas/suggestions from another perspective

Cons: What if the other couple is horrible?? Or wants to eat MacDonald’s EVERY day? Are they swingers? You should know this.

Ahh… the most ‘local’ way to travel – and you get to visit your family! Staying with family is (a) almost free and (b) fun in the short term. Depending on your family – this arrangement has a serious expiry date, stay within it and all is fresh… even a day over and you’ve got sour milk.

Where we went: Ottawa, Brazil

Pros: Free food, free lodging, free showers, free local guide, free car to use, seeing your family!, living like a ‘local’

Cons: Do NOT overstay your welcome, family can be crazy, sometime you never get to leave the house because it’s like herding cats {I mean that in a very loving way}

This differs for Family Travel, because everyone is traveling! This was our first year traveling with family – and we went the ‘holiday’ route.  Highly recommended. Most families have a variety of people that like different things…. And that shouldn’t stop you from doing what you want most days. Picking dinner plans should not be a HUGE fiasco.

Where we went: Cozumel, Mexico

Pros: family bonding time, vacation, mom probably pays for stuff

Cons: these photos will be on your mom’s wall forever – don’t get a bad haircut, family can be crazy

Pretty much vacation + friends + wedding = super-fun-drunky times. You get to meet people on the fringes of your social circle, and go on a holiday with a bunch of other people that you like! And a wedding – it’s a party within a party!

Where we went:  Puerta Vallarta, Mexico, Seattle/Oak Harbor, WA

Pros: lots of drinking buddies, vacation, wedding events, usually nice locations

Cons: no choice of time/location for your holiday, maybe you have a black heart and don’t like weddings, family will be there – family can be crazy {other people's families included}

Pretty much destination wedding times a zillion, minus the tuxedos and grandparents. This is the spring-break style travel with lots of pictures and slightly less memories. It’s all about group dynamics… so good luck with that. I recommend lots of extra food, extra booze, easy bathroom access and no couples with drama.

Where we went: Houseboating on the Shushwap Lakes, BC

Pros: so much party, lots of fun people to meet/hang out with, probably very little responsibility

Cons: holy crap – can all these people co-exist? Who had to organize this??

Soo..That's how we've traveled in the past! Our future travel includes road trip travel, staying with strangers, living on a boat... and who knows what! How about work-stay or study travel?  Let me know what your favorite travel group/style is!

Roadtrip! Pacific Northwest

Happy Holidays Friends! I hope the bunny sends you some tasty candy eggs :)

Anyways - after our oh-so enlightening 'live on your own terms' revelation this week, we decided we STILL want to travel, and if we can't do it BIG... we'll do it small{ish}.

 So, we're going on a Road Trip!! Juliano has been pestering me to do a road trip forever. He thinks they're awesome... I'm skeptical to say the least. Being stuck in a car for hours and hours just doesn't sound like fun. But, in the spirit of:

- trying new things

- traveling on the cheap

- visiting friends all over

- flexible schedules...

I've given in. We're doing the PACIFIC NORTHWEST LOOP {It's not a real thing, I just named it that} and it looks like this:




Calgary - Home

Kelowna - Friends Just had a baby {hi Felix!}

Vancouver - Juliano's never been!! He's been to the Maritimes and back, but never West.

Oak Harbor - More visiting Friends {aka. free place to sleep, what up Burkeys!}

Seattle - LOVE LOVE LOVE this city. Pike Place, coffee everywhere, gelato, chocolate, etc. Anything here that you think we just CAN'T MISS?

Portland! - I'm so excited! This is our first time visiting Portland and I've heard so many great things. We've got a couple of brewery tours on our 'to-do' list, voodoo donut eating, but we need more! Also, we'll be spending our 4th Anniversary here so one swanky dinner is on the list. Help us ~ any suggestions??

Vancouver-Kelowna/Kamploops-Home - We'll see how long we stay in Portland vs. our drive home {2 days or 3??}. I'll need to get some books on tape or something...


We'll keep you posted of all of our springtime {aka rainy} adventures on the road - probably going to be going the second week of May. Also, in the spirit of adjusting ourselves to a more 'communal' living situation {good thing about our suburbs life.. SO. MUCH. Privacy.} we'll be staying with friends, or AirBNB homes.

What would you do on a Pacific NW road trip for a week??