Bahama -ramama (pt 2)

Our second day was spent in Nassau where we did a dolphin excursion on Balmoral Island. Nassau itself wasn't really of interest to me. We walked through the famous straw market which is full of (sometimes) pushy vendors... the city itself didn't have that much to offer, but we walked around for a bit.

We then traveled to Balmoral Island where you could get up close with the stingrays or dolphins and, of course, we chose dolphins.  I have wanted to touch a dolphin for as long as I can remember, but have always been wary because I've heard some places are inhumane and don't treat their dolphins well. 

I asked over and over about it and it sounded like the dolphins were rescued from a bad situation in Honduras. Since the dolphins were already brought up in captivity they weren't able to be released back into the wild. The trainers said multiple times that of all the places they've worked at, this one has been the best by far. (as far as treatment of animals goes)

I never want to see any animals mistreated, abused, neglected, forced to do things they don't want to do... 
but these dolphins seemed happy and all I can do is trust the people I talked to that they made the best of a bad situation.  

We met two dolphins- Dixon and Pigeon.  Dixon almost peed on me (thankfully his aim was off) and we witnessed Pigeon do a #2.  They know lots of tricks like nodding their heads, splashing, dancing, doing flips, clapping fins, and swimming fast! Both dolphins are 15 years old. The trainer said dolphins can live 35 years out in the wild and 60 years if cared for by humans. 

 

They are sweet, sweet creatures and they felt amazing. So smooth and beautiful! I loved my time with them... Again, just hoping and trusting that their humans are telling the truth and that they're being well cared for. 

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Our third day was spent on Grand Bahama Island. We did an ATV adventure through Grand Bahama Nature tours and it was so fun! I fell in love with ATV riding when Mike and I went at Ace Adventure Park.  This one was far less muddy and far less scary. :)

After our ATV ride we went to the Garden of the Groves  which was absolutely beautiful! We definitely could have spent more time walking around there, but we were hungry and thirsty so we needed a little break. ;)

Overall, I enjoyed the Bahamas. I'm not much of a "lay at the beach" person, but I enjoy doing activities surrounding the beach so this trip worked well!  I love being in the water, I love animals, I love adventure activities... so all the activities we did matched up with my travel taste. :)

Thanks for being my travel buddy, C*le ! 

Bahama-ramama (pt 1)

Earlier this year Mike and I were supposed to go to Europe, but due to his heart surgery we had to cancel that trip. I have been DESPERATE to get out of the country and thankfully one of my best friends agreed to travel with me! We decided on.... the Bahamas! I had never been to the Caribbean before so I was quite excited. 

We did a Norwegian Cruise which is only my second cruise ever. (My family and I did a Celebrity Cruise in Alaska back when I was in high school.)
I've been on two other "cruises," but don't really count them. I have been a Yangtze River cruise in China and an icebreaker ship we took to Antarctica.  Those are not your typical cruises/cruise lines! 

Overall, Norwegian was fine. I'm not sure what to compare it to since my parents planned, booked, and paid for the celebrity cruise way back when... The Norwegian Sky was nice though. We liked our room, we liked the ship, the food, etc. I felt like they weren't totally upfront about all the costs, but I have a feeling other cruise lines might do that too. (False advertising is everywhere, isn't it?) I would book a Norwegian Cruise again, but I would perhaps be more cautious in booking and try to find better deals. 

Here are a couple of pictures- one is of our room and one is us getting ready to depart from Miami.

Our first stop was Great Stirrup Cay where we had a swimming with the pigs excursion. I have seen plenty of posts from other travel bloggers about these famous swimming pigs and I was so excited to finally meet them and take a swim with them. We got some great pictures and I enjoyed my time there. 

As I'm writing this blog post I was researching more about these cuties when I came across this blog. Definitely worth a read. This is a different island, but I imagine it could be a similar situation which would be very sad. 

Great Stirrup Cay was a nice private island with plenty of water activities- swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, jet skiing, and my new personal favorite- stand up paddle boarding. Yes, I tried SUP for the first time and I actually really enjoyed it! The water there was so clear - I could see straight down beneath me and saw some underwater sculptures, real live turtles, fish, and even a stingray ! 

More later...

P.S.

Did you know that the Bahamas just gained their independence in 1973?! They're only 49 years old! 
There are also around 700 islands, but only 30 are inhabited.  

Breaking Bad in ABQ!

One of my friends posted a few months ago about her summer being wide open for travel. Since Mike and I weren't able to go to Europe this year like we had originally planned, I jumped at the chance to plan a trip to Albuquerque with her!  I've been wanting to go to ABQ for a number of reasons... one of the main reasons was because Breaking Bad was filmed there.  (And checking off another state is always a bonus!) The more I looked up things to do in New Mexico the more excited I became. Soon there were 3 of us headed out west to the land of enchantment. 

Thursday: We arrived a little after lunch and started things out with Electric Playhouse. This was something I found as I was googling things to do. A friend also recommended this to me.  It's essentially a projection-based digital gameplay arena. It's interactive so there's a lot of running around. It was fun, BUT... none of the games had instructions. I think it would be nice for them to have a little plaque that said how to play the games. Also, I guess some of the walls were just digital art and not actually a game... I kind of felt like it wasn't worth the money paid, but oh well. Still a unique experience.

After running around at the playhouse we went to Historic Old Town. It is SO stinkin' cute!  I love the buildings, the architecture, and overall vibe of the town. We also stopped and ate at Old Town Pizza Parlor. IT WAS SO YUMMY! The pizza was fantastic and we loved the dessert as well. (Warm chocolate chip cookie with ice cream!) 

Friday: We started our day at Petroglyph National monument. This wasn't originally on our itinerary, but thankfully we found out about it and added it in! Petroglyph National Monument protects one of the largest petroglyph sites in North America. It features designs and symbols carved onto volcanic rocks by Native American and Spanish settlers 400-700 years ago.

We then went up to Santa Fe for the afternoon and walked around the plaza, stopped and ate chocolates at Kakawa chocolate (YUM!), and visited Meow Wolf. 

I really have no idea what to say about Meow Wolf... I still don't even know what it is. 😂 Online it's described as a "company that creates large-scale interactive and immersive art installations."  It was like a cross between the City Museum in St. Louis, an escape room, and an art exhibit. I don't really know.

After all that fun and excitement we drove part of Route 66 and stopped at a diner for dinner. 

Route 66 itself was a little underwhelming... we kept envisioning scenes from Cars and it wasn't quite like we thought. ;) Still, very iconic! And the diner was so cute!

Saturday: The day we had all been waiting for... Breaking Bad RV tour ! We loved seeing filming locations from the show and checking out the Breaking Bad Store where there were props from the show and lots of photo ops! 

If you're a fan of Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul, I definitely recommend a tour, checking out the shop, and visiting the Candy Lady. Not only did she produce the crystal blue for the show, she also makes yummy chocolates! :)

After we broke bad we went to Elena Gallegos Open Space.  Really lovely place to walk around and take photos!  It was getting late and there was a storm coming in so we didn't get the best photos, but still worth it! 

 Sunday: Our final day in New Mexico! We took the Sandia Tram and enjoyed some beautiful views before heading back home. 

ATLANTA

 I had been DYING to go to Atlanta for many many many years since my favorite show on television, THE WALKING DEAD was filmed there. I FINALLY convinced Mike to go with me in November of 2021. BEST TIME EVER!!!! I'll try to keep the TWD portion short and sweet since I know most people don't care about this. (even though they should!)

One of the first things we did was head to Senoia (aka Woodbury) and had lunch at Nic and Norman's . This is the restaurant of Greg Nicotero and Norman Reedus (Daryl). 

Nic and Norman's

We also did three (yes, three) different TWD tours. 

The first was Walking Dead Haralson Tours

This tour was SO AWESOME!! We were the only two on it and our guide made sure we got tons of fun shots! We also got to carry props and had so much fun learning about these filming locations!

We also did WaterTowerTours and our guide, Collin, was so great! He was actually an extra on the show multiple times!

Alexandria

Senoia aka Woodbury

I absolutely loved visiting the Woodbury Shoppe and museum. One of my favorite memories is posing for this sweet picture!! Still cracks me up!

This guy looks dead on like Abraham!

We took a drive through Atlanta on our own to view more filming locations.

TWD Season 1 Cover!

The CDC

This trip wasn't all Walking Dead though... we went to the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta and then also went up to Rock City and Ruby Falls in Lookout Mtn., GA. 

I was a little disappointed in the World of Coca-Cola... I didn't find that much enjoyment in it, but I did enjoy taste testing different coke products :)

World of Coca-Cola

We both really enjoyed Ruby Falls and Rock City. Definitely worth a visit!

Ruby Falls

Ruby Falls

Rock City

I thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Georgia... mainly for Walking Dead purposes, but I also enjoyed Rock City and Ruby Falls as well. Got another state checked off my list and it was well worth it!