Favorite travel quotes

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow mindedness ~ Mark Twain

No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow. ~ Lin Yutang

A traveler without observation is a bird without wings. ~ Moslih Eddin Saadi

Tourists don't know where they've been, travelers don't know where they're going. ~ Paul Theroux

If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.  ~ James Michener

I have found that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to
 travel with them. ~ Mark Twain

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new years. ~ Marcel Proust

The journey not the arrival matters. ~ T.S. Eliot

Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.  ~ Benjamin Disraeli

Downtown Charlotte Amalie - St Thomas

Interesting stuff seen in our travels Part 2

This lovely and personable bird kept us company at Gwen's in Anguilla

There's a bit of irony to this photo 

taken in downtown Curacao

We found Needle and Thread Alley in Bermuda

This was the top of the wackky toilet 

we had in our apartment in Dominica

Ironically, the day after running into 

this interesting sign in Anguilla,

there was an earthquake.  

(Fortunately) no tsunami resulted.

Still not sure what the Truth is, 

but this sign in Sandy Ground, Anguilla 

was truthfully intriguing nonetheless

We found this cute sign in a restaurant in Dominica

BTW in the Caribbean the word 

"vex" = "pissed off" LOL

This gorgeous baby headstone gave us pause in Anguilla

Quick Day Trips from DC - Sight & Sound Theater

Lancaster, Pennsylvania

If you've never heard of the Sight & Sound Theater, then you're in good company.  The theater is one of the best kept secrets of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  The theater offers a variety of shows during the year -- all with religious overtones.  The performances are wonderful and very professional.  We saw the story of "Joseph" when we visited.  If you go, definitely get some outlet shopping done and stop  by one of the fabulous Amish restaurants in the Lancaster area.  For details you can visit the Site and Sound Website.  

Dominican Republic - you either love it or hate it

There are very few places that we have been to four times or more.  Trinidad is one, because it's home to one of us, Charleston, SC is another because it is the home of the other of us.  The Dominican Republic is in a select 4-peat group.  And it's in a league of its own because it is one of those places that you either love a lot or hate.

I am always amazed at how rabid people are about the Dominican Republic and Punta Cana in particular on forums like TripAdvisor.  In fact, it always blows my mind how many people head to Punta Cana two or three times in the same year to the same resort!  Don't get me wrong, I like the Dominican Republic because there are no surprises and it always delivers in spades.  If you want food 24 hours a day, a nice beach (sometimes wavy), comfortable, shaded palapas, nightly entertainment, all the liquor you can drink, then Punta Cana is the place for you.  If however, you don't like resort after resort dotting the shoreline on Bavaro Beach, then Punta Cana might not be for you.

Some pros about Dominican Republic:

• You can find a resort (particularly in Puerto Plata) at any price point. You have relatively budget properties intermingled with high-end resorts on the same stretch of beach.
• At any resort you can get as much or as little pampering as you choose -- 24 hour food, private pools, private jacuzzis, daily massages, spa treatments, want a covered bed on the beach?  It's there for the asking.
• It's a great place for a budget-friendly honeymoon.
• It's easy and fairly quick to get to either Punta Cana or Puerto Plata.

The first time we went to Punta Cana we stayed at an Allegro resort that no longer exists.  Our two most recent trips we stayed at Vik Cayena Beach Resort -- a small resort with less than 40 studios mere steps from the beach.  We love it there!  It's a small, casual, laid back place that suits us perfectly.

The Dominican Republic will always be special to me because I achieved two items on my bucket list when we visited Puerto Plata -- I swam with sharks and got into the water with stingrays.  Something to keep in mind is that there are lots of activities to do in Puerto Plata outside the all-inclusive resorts like visiting Ocean World, visiting the Brugal liquor factory, visiting the downtown area and its many lovely churches and so on.  This aspect of Puerto Plata makes it head and shoulders above Punta Cana IMHO.  Go to Punta Cana if you want to relax on the beach.  Head to Puerto Plata if you want to enjoy the beach and lots of activities outside the resort as well.

Scenes from Puerto Plata

The stingrays at Ocean World

That's me waiting (in abject terror) in line to swim with the sharks!

Inside the infamous Brugal rum factory

Downtown Puerto Plata

Yup, we took an aerial tram ride up into the mountains on that thing!

This is a replica of the Christ of the Deep statue in Brazil

Scenes from Punta Cana

The rainbows are spectacular in Punta Cana

Nope, that's not us paragliding!

Our home-away-from-home VIK Cayena Beach Resort

Quick Day Trips from DC - Hershey Park, Pennsylvania

Although we don't do scary rides, DH and I still love to explore the areas near to DC and even downtown DC itself.  And so, early one Saturday morning we found ourselves on a tour bus with 30 other people heading to Hershey Park.  And yes, even if you skip the rides and don't like to get wet, there is still lots to do and see at Hershey. For instance, you can visit Zoo America, visit Hershey's Chocolate World, or do the tram ride around the Hershey area which are led by very knowledgeable tour guides.  Or you could sit and watch the world go by as you people watch - I could do that for hours!

The pink sands of Bermuda

One of my goals in life is to see all the colors of sand.  One of the colors of sand that was at the top of my list was pink, and one of the closest places to see said pink sand is Bermuda.  We headed there for our 15th wedding anniversary. BTW, the red sands of Hawaii are still on my bucket list.  Red sands of Hana, here we come!

First off, technically Bermuda is not in the caribbean and its weather is not very tropical either.  We went near the end of May and the water was still too cool to swim much.  That said, the pink sand was fabulous to finally see.  A cute souvenir that's found in many shops is bottles of pink sand that say Bermuda on them.

We stayed in a cute little apartment complex called  Clairfont Apartments on Warwickshire Road.  Quick tip -- Bermuda is expensive, so take my two pennies of advice (if you do not have untold buckets of dollars to spend there) and find a property that has a full kitchen so you can do some of your own cooking or heating up.  Downtown Hamilton has a great grocery store called The Market Place on Church Street.  It was a great place to stock up on daily hot specials from the deli.  BTW, nearby was a cool Internet cafe where we could surf in airconditioned comfort.  Taxis were readily available to take us home after our grocery stop.

A couple times we were downtown and stayed late enough that we could see the daily exodus of office workers on their scooters.  It was the coolest sight as almost everyone owns a scooter and you'd see women in their business suits riding scooters to and from work.

What I remember of Bermuda:

• Scooters everywhere!
• White roof tops everywhere!
• Bermuda Moongates (keep reading to find out what they are)
• Gorgeous, cool, pink sand
• Not being able to rent a car (alas, tourists can only rent scooters)

Our home away from home on Warwickshire Road

Isn't the name of this alley cute?

See the circular gate and the white roofs? 

The circular gate is called a Bermuda Moongate 

and it's a free-standing gate that is a feature of many houses.

We visited the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo

Scooters, scooters, everywhere!

Yeah, pink sand!  It's more fabulous 

(and vibrant) in real life!