Our First Family Camping Trip!

The last weekend of September, Caleb and I made our way north to Fort Mountain State Park, claimed a site among the campgrounds, and set up our first Lindsay + Caleb camping trip!  We brought food for meals, eno hammocks for sleeping, and tarps and tent poles for shelter.  We also brought the dog, who was hyper-alert the entire weekend and was exhausted by the end of the vacation.

The Window Boxes of Charleston

During our summer vacation in Charleston, I was taken by the many charming window boxes on the houses downtown.  You could tell that they were tended to constantly, and I imagine that their gardeners took great pride in them.  I started taking pictures for future inspiration.  Aren't they beautiful?

Tree Climbing at Panola Mountain State Park

My mother-in-law bought some Amazon Local coupons so that all us kids could do an assisted tree climbing at Panola State Park.  Now I know what you're thinking.  "Assisted tree climbing?  That sounds super lame.  Why can't you just climb the trees like normal?"  I hear ya; I was thinking the exact same thing, but believe me when I say that this was much cooler than you'd expect.

Travel Destination: Atlanta Treehouse

This tree house looks unbelievable!  Seriously, can you believe it's in the center of Atlanta?

A Fox Village in Japan!

Mark this on the list of places I need to visit before I die.

Zao Fox Village in Japan!

via RocketNews24 via Matome

Recommended for February

Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway. - Mother Theresa

Hobbit fan?  Check this out.  Fans + actors reacting to each other.

Jason Brown's energetic Nationals performance that secured him a spot on the USA's figure skating team

Lunar New Year in Atlanta's China Town

At the end of January, I somehow discovered through Facebook that Atlanta has a China Town and that the community was going to throw a Lunar New Year celebration!  Caleb had planned to work on learning a new coding technique that day, so my sister-in-law Hope and I headed out to Doraville for the festivities.

There was a tent at the celebration site.  It cost $5 to go in, and I know there were tasty foods inside and I think some crafts and cultural dances, but Hope and I stayed outside.  We mainly came for the Lion Dance and Dragon Dance, which were being held outside anyway.

Vieques Honeymoon: Wrap up

Really, I just want to show you pictures of these little guys.

Listen to this 20 second clip of coquis singing while you read on.  Here that high pitched chirp that sounds like "coqui?"  That's them!

Vieques Honeymoon: The Beaches and the Jungle

There isn't tons to do on Vieques.  There aren't any clubs or movie theaters or anything like that.  There are plenty of beaches, though, each a little different from the others.  And there is the jungle.  It's not a rainforest, mind you, but there are trees and iguanas and mongooses and vines and huge wasp nests.

I didn't get a chance to dig very deep into the jungle, but we did find some sugar mill ruins among the trees.  If you take the roads to the western side of the radar, park right where the road splits to the radar and goes into the woods.  In the triangle section of the Y, beyond a few trees, you'll find paths that wind around remarkable tree trunks and that weave between vines like hair.  There are ruins there, great concrete structures that look like they were once important.  Caleb and I arrived just at dusk, and we didn't have much time before we could hardly see anything.  The canopy is so thick and the vines are so everywhere that not much light gets through to where we were at the ruins.  If you can make it during the day, you'll have a great adventure.  Don't forget the bug spray!

See all the vines hanging down?  It was so cool!  And about halfway into the picture, you can see some stone pillars from the ruins.

Vieques Honeymoon: The Bioluminescent Bay

There's a bay on Vieques that's different from most in the world.  It is home to bioluminescent creatures called dinoflagellates.  They glow at night when they move.  We took a nighttime kayak tour to the bay and got to see the magic in action.

Caleb tried to take pictures, but they didn't turn out at all.  In lieu of original content, let me show you these pictures of a similar phenomenon in the Maldives.

Photography by Will Ho via Colossal

Vieques Honeymoon: The Ceiba Tree

When looking up things to do on Vieques, I learned of this huge, old, magnificent tree.  There weren't great directions anywhere, so I was worried that we wouldn't find it, but it was actually hard to miss it!  Driving toward the pier from the airport, it's right on your right after a while in a field.  There is a little hut with informational signs nearby, and then there is the tree.  No fence, wild horses nearby, and The Tree.

Vieques Honeymoon: Prequel

Caleb and I got married in September when we had just gotten jobs and just started getting money in our bank accounts.  Given the options of a honeymoon within our state directly after the wedding and a honeymoon in Puerto Rico two months later, we saved for the splurge.  And it was worth it.

So I don't overwhelm one post with all my pictures and information, I'm going to be breaking things up so they'll be easier to digest for the curious.  To give you an overview, I've made a short teaser video and a brief summary of the highlights.

Highlights include: seeing my old home from the airplane, taking a nighttime kayak trip to the bioluminescent bay, meeting a barracuda while snorkeling, being the only ones on the beach for most of our beach trips, laughing with and trying to understand the pool maintenance guy who made fun of my Spanish, a full day of reading at our house, making 4 trips to the street food stand selling garlic BBQ pinchos, and having a mountaintop two-building house with a private pool and a view of the island all to ourselves.

Click below to see my other posts and recommendations for traveling Vieques:

Where we stayed
Where we ate
 The Ceiba Tree
The Bioluminescent Bay
The Beaches and the Jungle
The Coquis

Something I've Always Liked: Moroccan Lanterns

One day I'd like to visit Morocco.  I have this vision of such new colors and smells and an entirely different ambiance from everything I've seen before.  Maybe I watched Alladin too many times growing up, but I imagine Morocco to be such an enchanting and invigorating place.

I think having some of lanterns like these is one way to bring home the magic.

sold by MyCraftWork, LLC

I've Been Away. Here's a quick update!

November ended up being much busier than I anticipated.  For one thing, when you're leaving work for a week, the preparation leading up to your vacation can be intense.  I hardly got to take any time for myself that week, but it was completely worth it when Caleb and I found ourselves on the island of Vieques for a week.

This was our house!

Technically, those are pictures of the back and front yard, but they do the trick.

Caleb and I rented a house called Casa dos Cuervos.  I'll write more about it later, but this is a quick update, so I need to keep moving.  For now, I can tell you it was amazing and you would love it.  I promise.

When we returned, Caleb and I had a week and a half of work before leaving again for his family's Thanksgiving in Florida.  The milder weather was very welcome, the folks were friendly and funny, and the food was just right.  I made my mom's dressing and it got great reviews, mostly because it includes bacon.

Now I've got Christmas on the brain, and I'm very glad to see myself excited about it.  Last year's season was very difficult and frustrating because I wasn't ready to be back in America and I felt like Christmas in general was just an ugly display of consumerism and superficiality.  2013 brings our first Christmas as a married couple, our first small tree, getting to pick which new traditions to start, and for-real branching out as a new family.  I'm excited, and, frankly, I'm glad I have Caleb as my husband this year.

Next on my docket:

Buying Christmas presents

Figuring out what to take for a party appetizer

A wintery date to include picking a tree and possibly a Snuggler

Seeing The Hobbit with my sister

Hosting a Christmas dinner for the young adults in our combined families

Figuring out what to have for Christmas Eve dinner

Christmas!!

What do you have going on these days?  Did you have a great November?

Recommended for the Traveler

When I look at friends' travel pictures, I also hope they have shots of the markets.  I love those pictures.  The open air markets of other countries always seem so alive and dangerous.  They make me think of Agraba in Alladin and all of the places I want to visit.

People have made Pinterest boards for these pictures!!

Markets &Street Food

World Markets

Also, I recommend checking out the Pinterest profile of the new Little Market from Lauren Conrad.

What things do you like to see when you visit new places?  Besides the open air markets and kitsch shops, I definitely hunt down local food and some interactions with strangers.

Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan, Part III

And here we are, the last of the pictures from my short trip to Tokyo.

These are from around the area of Sensō-ji temple, down the nearby side streets.

Leaving the temple area

There were many shops along the street.  The ones on the side I was standing on here were mostly closed.  The opened ones housed traditional papers, inks, and paintbrushes; traditional Japanese dress; restaurants; and old pictures or books.

Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan, Part II

Here is the second of three posts of my picture collection from Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan.  These pictures here are still from the grounds of Sensō-ji temple.

This five-story pagoda was built in 942!

Unfortunately, with no guide and no informational plaques, I had no ideas what I was taking pictures of.

These are ema  絵馬.  Wishes are written on these wooden plaques and left in hopes of fulfillment.  Many of the wishes are usually for good health.  I know in Korea, a lot of the older Buddhists would pray for their children and grandchildren to get good grades in school.
Beneath the ema are omijuki.  They are fortune telling strips.  They can be purchased at the shrine and, at this temple, are tied to a metal rack.  If the fortune tells of coming bad luck, the hope is that the bad luck will wait by the rack instead of coming to the fortune receiver.  And if you tie a good luck fortune to the line, the idea is that by waiting on the line, the good luck will become more potent.

An information booth that was closed for the day

I know this one!  (Thank you, internet.)  This is a torii (鳥居).  They are used to mark an entrance to a sacred place.

 

Holy water from the fountain is used for purification.  Worshipers will wash their mouths out with the water.

Another torii
The rope across the lower beam is called shimenawa.  It uses braided rice straw rope and those zig-zag pieces of paper called shide.  They are used for blessing, purification, and to ward off evil spirits.

The main hall of the temple

Another fountain of purifying water
This one is almost directly in front of the temple's main hall.  The water comes out of dragon statues.  Dragons are cool.

And that is my tour of the Sensō-ji temple.  I learned everything I typed about it just now with help from the internet.
I really want to go back to this place, to any place in Japan really, and go with someone who knows what we're looking at.  I missed out on so many things, and while I loved taking in the beautiful sights, I wish I could have learned along the way.

Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan, Part I

I asked my contact at work to see if it were possible for me to have a long layover through Tokyo on my way back to America.  He managed to give me 30 hours in Japan!  With only a week before arriving and no plan, I asked my friend JiHyeon if she had any ideas about a good schedule for someone wanting to see the city of Tokyo and not just the airport area of Narita.  JiHyeon lived in Tokyo for a few years and was more than happy to give me a travel agent's 2-day guide to Tokyo.

I will post that guide in the following days, JiHyeon really did a great job, but for now I'm going to show you pictures of the only part of that schedule that I checked out.  I was thoroughly exhausted by the time I landed at Narita, Japan, and after dealing with a completely foreign language, subway system, and communication style, I was ready to just relax for a while when I got to my hostel (K's House; recommended) in Asakusa, Tokyo.

I slept like a rock after a night of chilling with a book and playing UNO with a group of traveling Australians.  The next morning, I felt up to walking down the street to visit the street shops and the Buddhist shrine and temple nearby, 浅草寺, Sensō-ji.

This is the view from the street.  Not bad, eh?
This is Kaminarimon, 雷門, the Thunder Gate.  The god of wind and the god of thunder are depicted in the right and left side of the gate, respectively.  On the opposite side of the gate are statues of the god Tenryū and Kinryū.

Gwanghwamun Photography Date

My good friend Steph and I, when we were first starting to be friends, found that we had a mutual interest in getting better at photography.  We both have cool looking DSLRs, but we're not the super best at using them just yet.  Therefore, we decided to try and go out together to practice.  We finally had some time in November to have our photography day, and Steph chose the perfect place.  Samcheong-dong in Seoul, including Bukchon, Insadong, and Gwanghwamun.

A peaceful statement at the entrance of one of the many hanok houses in Bukchon

I would love to have these on the top of my own roof.

Vacation: Boracay, The Philippines

I never told you guys about my trip to Boracay over Chuseok (which fell on the first weekend of October)!  I'll share through pictures.

On the way out to the island of Boracay, we took one of these small banca boats.

Some of my companions weren't entirely pleased about the small, tippable size of the boat, but once the engine had started and we were cruising through the crystal clear water, they were more than happy to smile for a picture.
** Check out Sumuroy Ablen's comments below for excellent information on these boats and why they're actually super safe!  Thanks, Sumuroy!  **

This was my first view of the island.

My friend and I at church!
Going to church was my favorite part of my entire trip.  It's a challenge having to write about what happened, but as I do my best, remember that my experience there was deeper than anything I ever would have expected to come out of a 5-day vacation to paradise.

I was having some serious personal issues going on during this time, in many different areas, too.  I was feeling swamped with pressures all over the place.  Well, who knew that the messages communicated through children's singing (which I usually don't care for), a solo number by a fantastic belter, and the sermon delivered by a visiting missionary pastor from Shang Hai would flip my entire perspective upside down.  I know, I know it sounds so cheesy, but if you'd seen my face as we walked out of the building and into the sunshine, you'd know it was real.  Such a great weight had been lifted and had been replaced by a joy I hadn't know in ages.  Ages.

The church we visited was where a virtual friend of mine went.  See, I was searching the internet for blogs about Boracay and found Gretchen.  I messaged her, and we struck up a conversation which led to me visiting her here and to us becoming real life friends.  (Read the whole story here and see Gretchen's blog here.)  Well, not only was it really cool getting to make Gretchen's actual acquaintance, but it was super neat meeting the other missionary teachers there and the locals.  Gretchen invited us over to their certain area of the island for snorkeling, a boat ride, and beach volleyball.

Of course pick up beach volleyball usually isn't the most organized of affairs, but it was a blast.  Missionary teachers, two of my friends, and local children all having fun together.

Little guys in the sun

This is the boat my friends and I got to ride on!  We sat out on the ends of the balances.  We got so wet, and Sim almost lost his glasses.

Young'ins being cool

This is a side street that takes you to a great open market called D'Talipapa.  There were all kinds of fresh fruits and seafood as well as dried fruits and other snacks.  There were island shops and trinkets to buy along with jewelry and wonderfully priced freshwater pearls.  (I bought a few pairs.)

D'Talipapa
Don't take anything at asking price.  I would bargain down to half of that and later realize I'd been ripped off still.  And, it's tricky bartering down, because The Philippines is a developing nation with so many people living in poverty.  Sometimes I just wanted to help the people make their living.  However... I also don't like being taken advantage of.  It was a strange line to have to walk.

Buko shakes!  Buko shakes!  Buko shakes!
Besides the fresh, melt-in-your-mouth mangoes, these were the most delicious thing I had on the island!  The buko is a fruit similar to the coconut.  It makes a damn good smoothie.  Sweet yet just that perfect amount of salty and a touch of savory.  Rich and thick like the best cream you've ever had.  They were mind blowing good.

This is the view from our beach house balcony.  Right on the beach, beautiful colors, sea smell... It reminded me of a perfect home I had in Puerto Rico.

We stayed at the beach house of the Pito Beach Huts.

I visited the missionary school one morning.  I just watched for the majority of the time, but I did get to have a few small conversations with the kids.  (Their English was so much better than my students' in Korea!)

Some kind of wall ball in the hallway of the school

The strip along White Beach
Hawking vendors galore, massage tables, restaurants, and in the evening, open air buffets on the sand.  The man you see in the foreground was selling ice cream bars.  I bought a homemade variety that was made by his wife.  It was super yummy and cheaper than the name brand stuff.

The lady on the right is the current principal at the missionary school.  Her twin daughters are on the left.  She was the one who introduced me to the ice cream man in the previous picture and who gave us the tip about the homemade ice cream bar.  She was super friendly and very happy to be there.  I'm really glad I got to meet her and her family.

Like how India has its untouchables, these native-native children are part of a castaway people group.  They are part of the race that was in the Philippines before the Spanish settlers.  Many of them are beggars along the beach strip.  As I was walking home from a restaurant a little behind my friends (I'd been trying to take a picture), I saw a young man giving food to these children.  I asked if I could take their picture and caught up with my friends.  I realized that it was my friend Jason who'd given them the food.  It was a sweet moment when I got to show him the picture I snapped.

Here are two other young beggar children eating at a buko.

There I am on the beach with the evening blue sky.

And here I am in my Chacos and super happy to be on a tropical island again.

The entire stay in Boracay was lovely, but it was unfortunate that the clearest surf was saved for the day we left early in the morning.  As our boat pulled into the dock, I had no trouble at all seeing the blue and white starfish, sea urchins, and fishes in the water below.  It was beautiful.

In a van we drove in

There is a small airport we stopped at between Manila and the small island of Boracay.  On our way back, we had a little over an hour before we had to check in.  I convinced my friend Felicia to go exploring with me outside.  Near the airport were some houses and rain forest.  I was taking a picture of this place when the man you can see in the shadows asked if I'd like to buy the house.  

I really like cows.

I really, really like cows.  

On the way back to the airport

Right outside the airport, this young man was selling some drink that I only caught a glimpse of as he dipped some out for a local.  I jumped at the chance to have something legitimately Filipino, and I paid about 50 cents for whatever was in the buckets.

This is what was in the buckets.  Tapioca, tofu, and some syrup.  It was warm.  I really wanted to like it, but I didn't get far before throwing it away.
(Keith Cruise commented below let me know that the drink's name is taho.  Thanks, Keith!)

Almost out of the country, two friends and I arranged to spend a good sized layover in Manila.  We hit up the Mall of Asia and, after wandering around the stores and getting our fill of Western food, collapsed in the Starbucks for hours.  I know that's a strange thing to do in a foreign country, but maybe it would help to know that The Philippines is a very westernized country in the first place, and also we were pretty pooped after our trip and just wanted familiar and low key things to enjoy.

And there you have it!  My favorite part, outside of church and its effects, was getting into the culture.  I hung out with local children, got to spend time with them at school, I got off the beaten path by roaming around the streets that go deeper into the island, and I asked some of the locals for their picture.  (I'd never asked strangers for their picture before.)  It was so great, and I'm so glad that I dug into The Philippines.  I know that I would have had a great time if I'd only stayed on the beach and in the restaurants, but it would have been as rich nor as memorable.  Through my short stay there, through the purpose behind my wanderings and the response I got from the people I met, I've developed an affection and a heart for the country and its people.

God bless Boracay.