HERE WE galapaGOs!!

We recently undertook one of our most ambitious trips to date to celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary and to mark off one of our biggest Bucket List places in the world to visit:   Ecuador and The Galapagos Islands!!! 

Friday, May 15, 2015 - Along with our friends, Wayne, Chris and Tarryn, we flew American Airlines from Nashville to Miami and then connected on a 4-hour flight to Quito, Ecuador, that landed late in the evening for our first time ever being on the continent of South America.

This was also our first time flying directly over Cuba (photo above) thanks to the recent trade embargo and restrictions with them being lifted.  Passing through immigration in Quito and the 45-minute ride from their beautiful, new airport to the NU Boutique Hotel downtown went smooth, and we were happy to crash (after a couple of complimentary drinks in the Q Bar next door) after a long day of travel.

Wayne's view from his room at The NU Hotel was much better than ours, so I stole this picture from him to show what a pretty, mountain-ringed city Quito is and what nice weather we had on Day 1 there.  Thanks, buddy.

Saturday, May 16 -  We had a full day in Quito before our official tour with G Adventures (the same travel company we went with in China) started the next day.  We booked a local four-hour tour to visit the nearby equator.

Our first stop on our tour from Quito was an overlook of the extinct(?) Pululahua Volcano crater.  To know and see that people are living and farming in a former volcano crater is pretty amazing (and ballsy on their account).

We went to the "official" center of the world first (as calculated with GPS) which is about a quarter mile from where they originally thought it was based on previous technology.  The equator line is surrounded by a pretty good museum and learning center with a lot of interesting exhibits regarding Ecuador and the surrounding region. 

You can do some pretty cool tricks at the center of the Earth including being able to balance an egg on the head of a nail.  Now while none of us could achieve it, our guide did it, as did a few other people we watched and can attest that the photo above is legit.  Other experiments such as watching water drain out in different directions within just a few feet and the gravitational pull as you try to walk on the equator with your eyes closed were pretty astonishing.

The originally-thought (and much more grand) center of the Earth indicator is in a beautiful park surrounded by the neighboring mountains  just down the street from the corrected site.

After returning back to town, we walked to an artisanal microbrewery a few blocks from our hotel called Abysmo for dinner and some very good libations.  This would be the last good beer we would see (and drink) for a while!

Sunday, May 17 - We officially started our G Adventures tour today with a morning flight to the Galapagos Islands.  After a quick stop in the big coastal city of Guayaquil, we landed on San Cristobal Island and the province capital city of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno.  

The famous wildlife of The Galapagos was ready and willing right of the gate. There were sea lions all over the port when we arrived just lounging, barking and swimming in the harbor like no one was around.  Thousands of clattering red and black crabs covered the rocks and sand around the bay also.  Sea birds of several different kinds wheeled in the skies as well.

Our first glimpse of the Galapagos Islands from the plane window.  Note the wonderful LACK of development

Greetings from Galapagos Islands.  Our plans for the day...NOTHING!  - sincerely, the sea lions

Our first official "activity" on this trip was snorkeling in a lovely cove near town.  I grabbed this cool rainbow pic right after getting out of the water.  A beautiful start to this trip.

My first dinner on the islands was a whole scorpion fish with salad, potatoes, rice and beans.  It was outstanding.

Monday, May 18 - Our second day on San Cristobal had us taking a very smooth catamaran trip out to the iconic Kicker Rock for one of the most amazing snorkel experiences we have ever had.  The following two pictures are not mine, but thanks again to Wayne, and our new friend from Australia, Ben, for these great underwater shots.

Now THAT is a tricky Par 3 hole!!  That was my best joke as we sped toward the iconic volcano-formed monolith known as  Kicker Rock.  We snorkeled all around it and even between it's fissures.  Truly an amazing experience.

We even saw sea turtles and manta rays on our way to Kicker Rock before we ever got in the water.  See the cool video below while trying to ignore my thumb (doh!).  It's worth the wait to the end:

We got some private beach time after our snorkeling and we had our first close-up encounters with marine iguanas.  The black speck in the middle there on the beach is the first one we spotted from the boat.

When we got back to town we did a fun little impromptu bar crawl around town and the harbor before dinner with Wayne and our new friends from Pennsylvania, Joe and L.A.

Tuesday, May 19 - Happy 14th Anniversary to us!! In all honesty the start of the day with a trip by speedboat over to Floreana Island was rough.  While we didn't get seasick, it was three long hours of monotonous, stifling hot travel on "the Dorito" as we called it.  The Dorita is nothing fancy and only designed to do one thing:  shuttle people back and forth among islands as fast and as cheap as possible.  Above was your view for the whole trip and spotting a few islands on the horizon and a couple of passing schools of dolphins were our only reprieve.

Our attitudes changed greatly upon arrival to tiny Floreana Island as we were greeted by a throng of marine iguanas on the dock as well as few more lounging sea lions.   The tiny town of Puerto Velasco Ibarra, only has about 120 people in it as does the island itself.  We had a delicious lunch at Lelia's upon arrival.  

The "crowded" port at Floreana Island.

It was on Floreana Island that we got first glimpse of the iconic giant tortoises that the Galapagos are known (and named) for at a rather remote breeding center located in the highlands.

Near the breeding grounds was where some of the first European settlers came to this island in the 1930's resulting in a wild story of murder and mystery told to us by our guide.

We took a "Cheeva" ( kiddingly referred to as a "cattle truck" by the locals) out to our tiny cabins for the night situated right on the ocean.    Watch our for the sea lions, driver!!

The a/c and shower didn't work in our beach-side cabin very well, and there were a good amount of bugs out and about, so it was hard to enjoy our ocean view from outside.  We also had to "evict" two lava lizards from inside our room before going to sleep all the while wondering if others were inside that we couldn't see.  Dinner was back at Lelia's and it was surprisingly not as good as lunch was for some reason.  So to say this was our best, most-romantic anniversary evening would be a lie, BUT there were great things like the walk to a beautiful cove for a private sunset snorkel with just our group where we had even more great close encounters with sea lions and sea turtles.  And, when we found this heart-shaped plantain among our dinner serving that night, we knew we were in the place we should be because despite all the small annoyances, we were in the FREAKIN' GALAPAGOS ISLANDS!!

Wednesday, May 20 - Today was another sweltering, albeit shorter, "Dorito-ride" over to the much larger Isabela Island and the port town of Puerto Villamil which happens to the be hometown of our guide, Fabricio.  I bowed out of the afternoon volcano hike due to some tummy troubles (no comment on that), but Ashlee went and said it was a nice, albeit, quite strenuous trek.  I rested a bit and took a nice sunny walk down to the beach in town, so it wasn't a total loss for me either.  My "troubles" cleared up pretty quick as it seemed to be just a 24-hour bug of some sort.

Thursday, May 21 -  I was able to join Ashlee and the rest of the group this morning for a bike ride from the nearby highlands back down toward town with two great stops along the way:

Bike Stop # 1 was a flamingo lagoon.  These beautiful birds are just another star-attraction in this amazing natural zoo.

Bike Stop # 2 was our second tortoise breeding center.  This is the 2- to 8-year-old class out for their morning strolls.

Our afternoon outing was "off the books" a bit as most of us in the group ponied-up an extra $60 to be taken by boat out to Los Tuneles, a series of lava tunnels that you can snorkel through.  The place is other-worldly and we had an amazing time seeing small sharks hiding in caves, more sea turtles, tons of fish, an octopus and the biggest sea-horse any of us had ever seen.

My favorite picture I took on the trip is this one.  After our snorkeling in Los Tuneles we had a little time to wander around on the volcanic rock to check out the blue-footed boobies nearby.  They didn't seem to mind us getting pretty close to them as they were preoccupied with their dancing and mating calls toward each other.  

Before getting in the water at Los Tuneles we cruised by scores of blue-footed boobies sitting on, wheeling above and diving into the water in front of a cliff (video below).

We also spied a few Galapagos penguins from the boat before snorkeling at Los Tuneles,  They are the second smallest penguin in the world and the only one found north of the equator.

The ride back from Los Tuneles was memorable as well.  While the fishing boats we took were smaller and more open than the "Dorito" they were also VERY OPEN and our last 20 minutes into the harbor were in a driving rainstorm.  We were soaked from head to toe.   Let's just say that boating in The Galapagos is always an adventure!!

Friday, May 22 - We took our last long boat ride over to the more-modern Santa Cruz Island in some of the choppiest ocean so far,  We were relieved to arrive (even if it was raining) and to say GOODBYE TO THE "DORITO" FOREVER!!

There was an afternoon activity to a farm to see some giant tortoises in the wild (yeah, but still on a farm) and check out some lava tubes (ho-hum).  We passed.  The rain continued to pour and the location was up in the mountains where even more rain was guaranteed.  We opted to dry off in our room and take a much-needed nap.  Reports back were that only two tortoises were seen and the rain was almost non-stop, so we feel like we didn't miss much.

Saturday, May 23 - The weather improved greatly the next morning and we were ready for the day.  It started with a LONG walk to the ocean from our hotel to Tortuga Bay for some sight-seeing and kayaking in the mangroves nearby.

The trail to Tortuga Bay was long (and surprisingly busy) based on the distance.  We estimated that we walked over 11 miles today with this round trip and another trek to the Darwin Center at the far end of town and back.

The long walk was worth it.  Tortuga Bay is amazingly beautiful and the strong waves are constantly roaring.

While kayaking we got fairly close to this large frigate bird.  He never ballooned out his bright red throat for us as they are famous for during breeding season, but it was really cool to see him up this close.

The man. The legend.

The video above shows a large marine iguana emerging from the ocean after a swim in Tortuga Bay.  We would have loved to have spent more time in this area as it was active with wildlife despite a good number of people around.  The Galapagos have a strict 2-meter rule when it comes to how close you can get to the animals and people seem to abide by it religiously, and the animals, in turn, feel free to move around among us on their daily routines.

After lunch we visited the famous albeit-now, rather-quiet, Darwin Center whose authority and purpose have mostly now been swallowed up by the Ecuador National Park offices in Quito, leaving the large complex almost like a ghost town. Evidently, the government felt this complex was making too much money as a non-profit organization and they wanted their fingers in the pie, clearly forgetting that the name "Darwin" brought most of the notoriety (and tourism dollars) to these islands long before anything or anyone else did.

There was more tortoise breeding going on here as this was the home of the famous Lonesome George until his passing a couple years ago (RIP, big guy).  He was the last of his kind and there is hope a few of the females still here might have some of his "love-juice" within them which they can amazingly store in their bodies for later use for up to five years...wow!! We also got to see a rather rare yellow land iguana, the long-lost cousin of the famous marine iguana.

We spent the rest of the day shopping and relaxing in the rather-modern town of  Puerto Ayora, We closed out the day at the Bongo Bar where I had a cool Cuba Libre (rum and Coke).  We had a final dinner as a group tonight at a local place picked out by our great guide, Fabricio.

This is a closed-off street in Santa Cruz where tables are set up in the road flanked by restaurants on both sides.  It's basically the best "food-court" you will ever go to eat at with tons of fresh seafood waiting to be ordered and cooked.

 Sunday, May 24 -  We got up early today for our transfer to technically our fifth island of this amazing archipelago.   Baltra Island is a very short ferry ride (thankfully) from the north end of San Cruz Island and where a nice, small airport is located for our flight back to Quito.  We had a crazy experience getting on the bus to the airport (too long to tell here), but we all made it on and made our flight back to the mainland.

 That afternoon back in Quito we took a $5 cab ridge (what a deal) and visited the Old Town area that includes the amazing Gold Church (left - no photos allowed inside where all the gold is).

What a beautiful, vibrant city this is!  Although it does seem to have its share of poverty and slums as well.  High atop El Panecillo Hill in downtown is the Virgen de Quito (Quito's Madonna)

The Ecuadorian people seem to be a happy lot who take pleasure in the simple things in life.  A humble street show drew this large crowd in a square in front of the presidential palace and seemed to delight everyone greatly.

Twitter photo by  Martin Díaz Zúñiga 

Monday, May 25 - We flew home VERY early via Miami again and were in our house before dark today.  While en-route back home we got quite a shock when the news started reporting that the Wolf Volcano had erupted on the north end of Isabela Island where we were just a few days ago!!  It hadn't erupted in over 33 years and was not predicted to now.  I guess we have quite an effect on places we visit!  

The entire trip was a great adventure that we will never forget and the bonus of making great new friends including Ben, Darcy and Casey from Australia, Joe and L.A. from Pennsylvania, and Rachel from Toronto, just adds to the value of this amazing experience.

A special salute to Ashlee for enduring this already-tough trip with one of the worst cases of poison ivy that I have ever seen.  She was a trooper throughout.  So much so, I even forgot at times she was suffering through it.  Anyone that says women aren't tough can stick it where the sun don't shine!!

Movies, Music, Hockey...(and Ducks?): Late April into May 2015

Thursday, April 23 - We attended Game 5 of the opening round of the NHL playoffs tonight which was a fantastic 5-2 mud-hole-stomping win over those hated Blackhawks by the Predators!  The game included a franchise-first-ever playoff hat-trick by our awesome, young winger, Filip Forsberg (who should have been in the running for rookie of the year).  Below is a quick video of the aftermath of that fantastic feat:

(Editor's note:  The Preds went down swingin' a couple days later in the next game in Chicago by a score of 4-3, giving the series to the Blackhawks  by a 4-2 margin.  A tough way to end an exciting season.  See ya next season, guys!  2nd Editor's note:  The Blackhawks amazingly went on to win the Stanley Cup this year.  Well, if ya gotta lose..)

Friday, April 24  - We attended the Closing Night of the Nashville Film Festival (NAFF) with a screening of the quirky comedy, Welcome to Me starring Kristen Wiig.  We hung out at the Closing Night Party afterwards and had some free booze and food and heard the announcement that this was the most attended NAFF ever in their history.  Congrats to this great event!

Tuesday, April 28 - We saw Ryan Adams  tonight at The Ryman in the second of his two shows that SOLD OUT very quickly.  Now we know why.  He puts on an excellent show with a great voice and smooth guitar play.

We had a great dinner beforehand at UP, a rooftop lounge down in The Gulch atop the new Marriott hotel.   The temps were a little cool and forced us to sit inside, but the vibe and views are great and this will be an excellent place to hang out this summer and beyond.

Ryan had a very cool, laid-back stage set-up  complete with a vintage Dr. Pepper machine and an arcade game.  He's definitely the real deal.  He had guest appearances by Jason Isbell and his wife, Amanda Shires plus his opener, Natalie Prass (who we weren't overly impressed with).   The coolest moment of the night was when he did a cover of "Summer of '69" by BRYAN Adams, a song he infamously freaked-out about someone jokingly '(and drunkenly, so the story goes) kept requesting from the crowd the last time he played The Ryman.  Below is a snippet of that cover:

Saturday, May 9 -  Today we cashed in a little Christmas stocking-stuffer fun with a Chattanooga Duck (DUKW) ride.   What a hoot!  This is a much more interesting outing than it might look with great views of the city from the water.  We should have done this a long time ago!  Later that evening we watched the Memphis Grizzlies get a playoff win at the fairly new World of Beer bar/restaurant downtown with our friend, Mike.  We closed the evening with a stop by the also-new Casual Pint craft beer bar and market on the North Shore.  Both are great new additions to this continually-growing town.

Ashlee's pic of me riding in the Duck made the Tennessee Aquarium in the background look like a watercolor painting.

A photo of a Duck from a Duck passing each other on the Tennessee River in downtown Chattanooga.

Sunday, May 10 - We had an excellent Mother's Day brunch at Beast and Barrel on Chattanooga's North Shore.  The food and mimosa bar were top-notch!

Monday, May 11 - Tonight we saw Ed Kowalczyk, founder and lead singer of the 90's rock band, Live,  at The City Winery for a SOLD OUT show as he performed the entire classic 1994 Live Throwing Copper album acoustically in an on-going 20th anniversary celebration and national tour. It was an excellent show that ended with several other Live songs as well as a couple new solo tunes. The food and wine we had before and during the show were great and this new Nashville venue continues to impress us.

We even got to meet Ed after the show.  The big surprise of the evening for us was that he had Zak Loy, lead guitarist of one of our favorite bands, Alpha Rev, accompanying him on stage. I think we shocked Zak a bit when we recognized him from his "other job." 

On the trail of cheese and beer...and another birthday

For my 48th Birthday I decided I wanted to take a cheese and beer trip through a good portion of Wisconsin, plus a little dip down into Iowa to check off a bucket-list item.

Saturday, April 18 - We flew to Chicago via a cheap Southwest flight along with our friends, Danny and Brenda, who were gracious enough to tag along for the trip. We drove northwest into Wisconsin from there with a stop for Chicago dog as a late lunch just before we left Illinois.

Our first stop in Wisconsin was at Baumgartner's Cheese Store and Tavern in the lovely town of Monroe.

We had a good cheese plate and some local beers during our stop.  The friendly gal at the counter even let us try some stinky Limburger cheese on the way out.  They are only one of two places in the U.S. that produce it.  Supposedly it's good if you don't smell it while you eat it, but we all agreed it pretty much tasted like the floor of a cow barn nonetheless.  Yuck!!  Thank goodness for the mint chocolate chaser!  However, the horseradish cheddar and pepper-jack we bought were outstanding.

Our first night was spent in the quaint town of Mineral Springs.  And we do mean quaint, the whole freakin' town is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.  We had rooms reserved at the Brewery Creek Inn and Pub, a beautifully restored stone warehouse originally built in 1854.  Dinner in the pub that night and the complimentary breakfast the next morning were extremely good.  Thanks to Ashlee for finding the article about this  wonderful place a good while ago. 

Sunday, April 19 - About an hour away from Mineral Point, we dipped down into Iowa (check another state of the list for me - only 4 left) and visited the movie site of the 1989 classic, Field of Dreams.  Despite a forecast of rainy weather, we arrived with perfect conditions and only a few other people there.  We had the place pretty much to ourselves and made the most of it by sitting in the bleachers soaking up some rays, playing some pitch and catch on the field, and just generally goofing around.  This place has been on my Bucket List for a while and it was definitely worth the visit.

Field of  Dreams time warp:  Yep, that's Danny pitching, Danny on first base, Ashlee playing second, Brenda at shortstop, and Danny, again, at third base??  Ah, the marvel of panoramic pictures on the I-Phone.  Danny looks a little winded there on first base for some reason, doesn't he?  

We stopped for a late lunch on our way back into Wisconsin at the nice brewpub at the historic Potosi Brewery (established in 1852)  in the tiny town of the same name.  The food and beer served were good stuff, and their on-site National Brewing Museum was pretty impressive. 

OK, these ConAgra GMO's are getting out of hand!

Our second night of lodging was in the small town of Shelby right outside LaCrosse, Wisconsin, at the converted 1917 one-room Wilson Schoolhouse which is now an inn.  We had the whole place to ourselves with a large living area and kitchen upstairs and two bedrooms downstairs.  We grabbed some local pizza for dinner and our friends, Laurie and Derek, who live nearby come over with lots of local beer and we had a great evening just hanging out in this very cool little place.

Monday, April 20 - Happy Birthday to Me!!  We swung through La Crosse the next morning to get a look at The World's Largest Six-Pack at City Brewing.  We then spanned the Mississippi River to the west and visited Minnesota, albeit very briefly, before heading back east toward Milwaukee where we would spend our third and last night of the trip.

It seemed like each night our lodging on this trip became more and more interesting.  When we got to Milwaukee we checked in to the amazing Brewhouse Inn and Suites Hotel which is housed in the former Pabst Brewery established back in 1844.  These guys have put a lot of thought into this place including  the check-in desk made of more than 1,500 beer bottles.  This is easily one of the neatest and nicest places we have ever stayed in.

Room 306 is a beautiful two-bedroom suite and was our home for the night. It was amazing.
Yep, those are the "beer doors" to our bedroom

The mezzanine of The Brewhouse Inn and Suites is comprised of the brewery's original huge copper brew kettles and  some amazingly cool furniture.  This is one hotel worth hanging out in.

At one end of the mezzanine is the original huge two-story stained glass rendering of King Grambinus, the patron saint of beer and brewing, that was commissioned by Frederick Pabst himself.

Love the brewery and hotel, but don't care for Pabst products, so we headed to dinner at the nearby Horny Goat Brewing Company.  Their beer was impressive, but their food was outstanding including the biggest pretzel we've ever seen.

After dinner, we headed over to beautiful Miller Park to catch a baseball game between the hometown Brewers and the Cincinnati Reds.  Weather be damned, this beauty has a retractable roof that can close in 10 minutes.

With the roof closed, Miller Park has a nice, cozy feel to it.  We had sweet fourth row seats down the 3rd base line and saw the Reds pull away from the Brew Crew by a score of 6-1 including a 2-run dinger by Joey Votto that sailed right above us.

We had prime seats to witness the famous Racing Sausages (yes, that name is trademarked) in the sixth-inning of all home Brewers games.  We were pulling for the chorizo, but he didn't win, place or show. Also during the game, one of the most hilarious (and kinda weird) coincidences I have ever witnessed or been a part of happened when a "Happy Birthday" announcement was flashed on the jumbo-tron of the stadium for "Rob."  And it just happened to be my birthday as well?  Of course, I have had a hard time explaining to Ashlee who "Maryellen and the kids" are!!  Thanks to Danny for quickly and alertly snapping this great picture.  And thanks to Maryellen and the kids for the sentiment.

Tuesday, April 21 -  We quickly realized that we had not planned near enough time in the lovely lake-front city of Milwaukee.  But, before leaving for our afternoon flight back down in Chicago, we were able to look around a little downtown despite some cold temperatures (it actually sleeted a little while we there).  Our first stop was the Bronze Fonz down on the Milwaukee Riverwalk.  Since he's bronze, his once-blue jeans have oxidized to green, but other than that he's as cool as they get.

We had lunch around the corner at The Safe House (aka International Exports, Ltd.) which is one of the neatest places we've ever been too (thanks Derek and Laurie for the suggestion!).  The whole place is spy-themed including the entrance being rather hard to find down a little alley.  Sometimes you even need a password to even get in the place.  Luckily, it was early and we were spared the need for a password or having to do something silly to get in without one.  The place is huge with tons of little rooms full of cool memorabilia and oddities.  The food was spot-on as well.

On our way out we drove by the amazing Milwaukee Art Museum (aka The Calatrava) on the lakefront.  We have definitely got to come back here with warmer temps and explore more of this wonderful city.

Another Milwaukee drive-by was the beautiful North Point Lighthouse.  Perched high up on a ridge above the city, this beauty was not open for a tour (nor did we have time for one), but is another reason to return to Brew City as soon as we can.

Overall, a really outstanding trip.  We saw and experienced a lot in a short amount of time.  Thanks again to Ashlee for going along with my silly trip ideas, and to Danny and Brenda for coming along and adding to the fun.  We will see you again, Wisconsin.  I am sure of it.