the turquoise trail

Hawaii; the big island I like to think of the big island of Hawaii as the rural island; it's raw, far less developed & has lots of wide open space (relative, of course.. you can still drive across the island in less than 2 hours..).  This is the island to come to if you like getting off the beaten track and nature is more your thing!  Some of my favourite things from a week on Hawaii.. {hiking} Kaumana Caves Park I did very little hiking during my stay on the big island.. the hiking I did do was mainly short sight-seeing type hikes.  Unfortunately, the Waipio Valley was closed due to a dengue fever outbreak, but I hear it has great hiking!  Kaumana Caves Park is just outside of Hilo and has a lava tube that you can follow for at least 1km!  It's really neat to see.. I'd recommend taking a light & coming back through the lava tube - the surface trail isn't well maintained or marked.  Green Sand beach is on the southern part of the island and...

Oahu; the gathering place Aptly named, as everyone from everywhere was gathered on Waikiki Beach, taking selfies.  Oahu is a gorgeous island, but it's very touristy and extremely busy in Honolulu & Waikiki.. to truly experience this island, get yourself out of town & off the beaten track - you won't be disappointed!  Some highlights from nine days on the gorgeous island of Oahu.. {hiking} Diamond Head Crater The island of Oahu offers plenty of opportunities for working on that beach bod (better late than never..), hiking being one of my favorites - specifically, the views which are often the reward of a good hike.   Mauawilli Falls First up was the Diamond Head Crater; it is a decent hike up, but it won't kill you.  Unless you go in the middle of the day with no water.  Then, it might.  But with a little planning (it's mostly shaded in the afternoons), it can be a pleasant stair climbing excursion, with a stunning overlook of Waikiki...

Week 8: My favourite part... I thoroughly enjoyed the town of Trois  Rivière Miles... 1063  Day 47: Quispamsis, NB to Fredericton, NB 79 miles  Not feeling too great this morning so I got off to a slow start, but I still made it up the stairs to church. After church a few stayed for a delicious lunch, although I was really wishing I felt better. I capped off the afternoon with a sunny nap on the patio hammock, then packed up and headed to Fredericton. I got into my friend C's around 6 for dinner and the evening with her... Hammock naps.. Day 48: Fredericton, NB to Trois Rivière, QC 465 miles  Today got off to an early start with a trip to see what downtown Fredericton has to offer.  From there I hit the road and headed homeward, making quite a few stops to rest and  stretch the bum. I stopped for lunch in Grand Falls and by mid-afternoon I found a little beach, the sun was shining, and it was hot... all at the same time! Ten...

{Monday October 13th} We got up around 8a this morning to finish packing things up and get ready to go. We checked out of our hotel and headed to the car rental return shortly after 9a. We returned our car with no trouble and then got the shuttle to the airport. We checked in around 10a and made our way through security.  Once we were in the airport, we wandered around for a little while and found something to eat. I got a scone from Starbucks, which came with it's own mini jar of strawberry jam! So delicious. We boarded our plane shortly before 12p without any trouble. We are flying with Air Canada, on quite a large plane so thankfully we will have a little bit more space than we did on the way over.  There aren't any tvs on the seats, and I finished my book just before takeoff, but air canada has an app you can use to watch tv shows or movies on your iPhone or you can rent an iPad, which is pretty cool!  (not going to lie.. I was really starting to quest...

{Friday October 3rd}  Following a short work day, I headed home to get ready to leave! Mom, dad and my brother Paul came to pick me up, and we left around 4:30p. After enjoying some typical Toronto traffic, we got to the airport shortly before 6p.  We checked in and received our boarding passes, and proceeded through customs and security. We went through entirely separately, as I have nexus and Paul does not. The lines were fairly reasonable so we met up again around 6:30p.  We picked up an autumn turkey sandwich - quite delicious, with the exception of one toxic blob of mustard in the middle of mine. While waiting for our plane to begin boarding, Paul discovered that he actually had my boarding pass. Upon further inspection, turns out that I also had his, and we had gone through customs and security with the entirely incorrect boarding passes. Hmm.  Our plane was late arriving and then the baggage guys took a while to get things loaded (so they cla...

Full of quaint homes, stone walls & history.. I recently had the opportunity to spend a long weekend in Quebec City with a good friend of mine and her family.  It's a gorgeous city to explore, a perfect size to walk around with lots of great views to take in along the way.  It was a pretty laid-back getaway weekend, so i'll just show you a couple of my highlights.. {Montmorency Falls} {Old Quebec City} {Chateau Frontenac} I hope this inspires you to enjoy a trip to Old Quebec City! J.  Design Life. Create Originality. Inspire Wonder. 

Turquoise trail represents the path taken; stars represent the attractions mentioned in my previous post. {budget} This trip is a bit difficult to give a total value to, as my parent's were already in Arizona, with an RV, and a fully-stocked fridge.  However, I'll do my best.  The flight from Buffalo to Phoenix was roughly $340, round trip.  Dining is pretty typical of any North American pricing, more expensive in the cities, but it depends on where you are wanting to eat.  We mostly bought groceries and cooked our own meals, which is very cost-effective.  As for attractions, it depends on your interests, but I would plan on spending approx. $150; more if you plan to attend a professional sporting event.   All in all, this trip cost me approx. $600 for the 9 days, but I didn't do a lot of shopping or other extras.  {nutrition} Probably not much different than other North American places.  If you have dietary restrictions then ...

Ask me what I thought of Arizona a month ago, and I would have said ‘Grand Canyon & Desert'... I recently spent a week RVing around Arizona and I was amazed by the variety of landscape and natural attractions worth checking out!  Some of the information might be irrelevant if you don’t have an RV, but the route and attractions could remain the same if you have about a week to spend. I saw the Grand Canyon a couple years ago, so we didn’t make time to go there again, and there was no shortage of other things to see. If you haven’t seen the Grand Canyon, I would suggest juggling things around to make sure you get to see it. I flew in and out of Phoenix, which was convenient and fairly central for what I was hoping to see. The attractions I’ve listed below were the highlights for me. There is plenty to see and do in between, but if you take it at a leisurely pace and enjoy the scenery along the way, you can plan to spend about a week going from point to point. {South M...

Turquoise trail represents the path taken; stars represent towns where we stayed.  {budget} I purchased this trip as a bus tour on teambuy.ca for $2298.  This included the flight, all breakfasts, all dinners, and all of the mentioned attractions with the exception of the turkish bath.  It also included the tour bus and all our hotels.  In my opinion it was an extremely fair price for what we received and I don't believe that I could have done it for less myself.  The tour company recommended tipping our guide a couple dollars more /day than google seemed to suggest was standard; so I would suggest doing your own research to find what you are comfortable with; plan at least $7/day total.  If you are interested in a hot air balloon ride, you can plan to spend approximately $200.  If you are hoping to find a rug while in turkey, you should budget accordingly.  There is a huge range in prices depending on where you buy it, size of rug, quality, ...

{Sunday November 3} We got up at 5:30 this morning so that we would have time for breakfast before we leave at 6:30. The guy at the restaurant told me I can't take anything out of the restaurant when I tried to fill my water bottle with tea, but then he said that he just has to say that because there are cameras and he let me take it.  We left the hotel at on time at 6:30. Some of the others put their luggage on the bus too so that they wouldn't have to carry it on their flight. We have 830km to go today; Dr. T says it's 12 hours but I don't think it will take that long, especially since half of it is on a main highway.  Landscape en route to Istanbul We stopped around 8 for a quick bathroom break, and then stopped again shortly after 10 for a snack and a little longer break.  We stopped at a bakery where they were making all kinds of fresh breads, and got a plate of assorted bagels and buns. And of course.. cucumber, tomato and olives. Our driver needs...