DC - Day 2: US History & Monuments

I like traveling Eastwards for getting sleep -- we always seem to go to bed earlier than we normally would and then sleep in to normal times (or even later).  Case in point for today: there was so much sleeping in that we did not actually make it down to breakfast until about 11:30. 

This was the gingerbread house made by the Pastry team. I was very impressed. I've never seen such a large gingerbread house made with REAL gingerbread and candy and frosting!

Really helps bring the old fairy tale to life. I've always been like, yeah right, who really would just start eating a house in the middle of the forest? But...let's just say I had quite an internal struggle on whether they would REALLY miss a jelly belly...

Breakfast was included in the hotel reservation so we all got to indulge a bit:

Yes, that's right, avocado toast and pancakes...with a side of two LARGE chocolate croissants per child. 

After such a filling brunch, we needed to work off those calories! Well...turns out pancake energy does not last very long. It was only a 20 min walk to our first museum (all downhill, I would add), but we still stopped at least twice for "moments to enjoy the scenery."

Today is National Museum of American History day -- mostly known to me (and anticipated by twins) as First Ladies' Gowns museum.  It was actually more impressive as an adult I thought, maybe because some of the older examples had come back around to being stylish again. Alas, we were so busy critiquing and complimenting that we took zero photos. 

The museum also has the contemporary pop culture portion, where we found Dorothy's shoes: 

And Constance Wu's dress from Crazy Rich Asians!

We spent a long time at the interactive exhibit on protests and voting. Some of the twins' position really surprised me.

Star-Spangled Banner exhibit was also very cool -- no photos allowed of the real flag that flew over Baltimore inspiring the anthem so we took a snapshot with the cool metal one outside the exhibit: 

This was also our monument day, so we started off at Jefferson Memorial's Tidal Basin view of the Washington Monument. Learning moment: why is the Washington Monument not called the Washington Memorial? Google claims it's because Memorials are started after a person dies and the Washington Monument was actually first approved while Washington was still alive. I am not sure this is actually accurate (following the sources from the Google answer was not super reassuring), but I didn't see any better suggestions so we will go with that for now!

I think the Jefferson Memorial doesn't get as many visitors because it's a little more out of the way, but it's a pretty impressive structure. 

Twins are pretty good photographers!

After the Jefferson, we hopped on the Circulator to visit one of the newest monuments -- MLK Memorial. I had never been myself, so this was pretty cool.

And then of course the quintessential DC monument: Lincoln Memorial. 

It was a really nice day, and the weekend before Thanksgiving, so...here's a shot that shows the level of crowds:

That was the end of our monuments tour. The twins were ready for some hotel resting, so I dropped them off before heading to one more Smithsonian stop with Baba: National Portrait Gallery. 

We looked at all the presidential portraits of course, and of the remainders, this was my favorite:

So ends our second day.  A quick detour here to gush about our newly minted favorite travel accessory: the travel hotpot/steamer! I almost forgot to pack this and we threw it in last minute -- but boy was it appreciated. Two nights in, we had already polished off all five of our ramen bags. As a child, I always used to pooh-pooh my parents for cooking instant noodles in the coffee pots every night, but now I totally get it!! So comforting to have a bowl of warm soup at the end of a long travel day!

DC - Day 1: White House & Museums

Since Thanksgiving is scheduled for West Virginia this year, we decided to take the opportunity to bring the twins to DC for some Smithsonian-powered learning and national monument viewing. 

Trying to maximize credit card/travel reward benefits this year so booked us for 3 nights at the Conrad (two Conrad stays in 2 months! Too bad we aren't big Hilton people). Unfortunately our flight from San Francisco was delayed by about 2 hours so we didn't arrive at the hotel until after midnight. On the bright side, we were very much still on Pacific time, so we were still pretty awake. The twins were amazingly energetic, running up escalators. I suspect the abundance of brownies and chips on the flight helped fuel some of that energy. (Sidenote: no Alaska upgrade this time, though we did have a full row with empty middle seats between us so did not feel cramped at all. Also, twins give HIGH marks to the new Alaska Airlines panang curry inflight meal, that's their new favorite replacing the Jetsetter Jam). I remembered to pack the portable hotpot and five bags of ramen so even though the kitchen was closed, we enjoyed some very tasty ramen before heading to bed! 

I'd booked a White House tour for the first morning so we unfortunately couldn't sleep in very long. I went down to the breakfast to order the family some croissants and coffee to go which they then enjoyed on the COLD 10 min walk to the White House. (Everyone was very grateful for my reminders to pack gloves and hats!) 

Some back notes on WH tour booking -- it's a very long process! You have to request them from your U.S. House representative months in advance and then submit a very specific date and time for the tour. We were only notified about a week or two before the trip that we'd gotten a spot. And then you can't bring anything on the tour -- no bags, no water, no food, nothing. Twins were aghast -- you know how they feel about always having water with them...

The tour itself was entirely self-guided. There was a recommended audio tour from their app that you were supposed to download and then listen to as you went. Even though the staff in the White House kept reminding people that there was no line and it was self guided, everyone seemed to want to just stand in a single file line and move slowly through all of the rooms and hallways looking at each portrait or artifact on display. Yes, we probably were "that family" -- but I was NOT standing in a line to be able to see every single dinner plate if the rules were clear that this wasn't necessary! We gave each twin one of our earbuds and proceeded on the steps of the audio tour, skipping over large lines of people along the way.  I was not expecting so many artifacts to be displayed in each of the rooms, definitely made it more museum-like. Granted I last visited the White House about 30 years ago, but I thought previously it was more "hey, here's an office" and now it's like, here's an office...but look at all these random things displayed in cases on the walls. 

Okay, time to do some history learning:

Here's the Diplomatic Reception Room, where FDR did all of his fireside chats during the Great Depression and WWII. 

And the East Room -- largest room in the White House, site of parties, weddings, and where they have even held some presidential funerals!

Twins posing with the portrait of George Washington. I considered using Magic Eraser to take out the person in the background but got a little lazy. 😆 

We didn't take any photos of the Red Room, Green Room, or Blue Room -- but they lived up to their names. 

Here is my favorite portrait:

L remarked that you could tell how old the people were in portraits because the newer ones were much better artists 😆. 

And with the final requisite photo with the presidential seal (which actually opens to the Blue Room on the other side)...our tour is complete!

I was going to take a photo of us with the White House itself, but it had started raining by the time we were done so there was zero patience/interest from the other family members. 

Back to the hotel to rest a bit before lunch and museum afternoon! 

----

I had planned this as a work day for me, which worked out well given the time zone change -- we headed over to the office together for lunch (quite impressive! Chili jumbo shrimp, bulgolgi steak and lava cake) and then I went off to work meetings while Ian took the twins to their first Smithsonian museum of the trip: Natural History. 

Highlights (in pictorial format mainly) follow:

I'm told that one was for YeYe, might be the closest they're getting to a mountain lion. 

This was apparently one of the only things Baba remembered from his own childhood visit (the big whale).

Egyptian section was a big hit since the twins just finished Ancient Egypt at school. Actual mummies were seen! (Pictures excluded here because they were pretty gross...)

And the gems! (A section I remembered as a personal favorite from my own youth visits).

The Hope Diamond was apparently one of the most memorable parts for the twins. 

By the time I finished with all my meetings, Ian was pooped out. So I tagged in for our visit to the second museum of the trip: National Archives, or as it was known to us, fresh off of our watchings of National Treasure and its sequel....the home of the Declaration of Independence!

First we visited the Magna Carta (which I have to admit I couldn't actually remember the purpose of -- admit it, you're not sure either, go Google it!)

And then a beeline for the star artifact!

Then we had to also learn a bit about the Constitution ("We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union..." Who else had to memorize that as part of school? The twins were not so impressed.)

They've totally cashed in on the movie -- so many different variations for sale in the gift shop, including one that comes with a secret treasure message on the back only visible with a special UV light. 😆 

By the time we left, it was already dark, and we happened to pass the DC Holiday Market in the way home. Well, had to stop at a Christmas market! Especially one making Oreo and Reeses s'mores with a blowtorch. 

Great close to the day (I may be skipping over much of the complaining about wet shoes and tired feet, but hey, blogging is all about remembering the happy memories, no? 😊)

Punta Mita - Day 4: Departure

And the vacation comes to an end...main realization? We don't take enough photos unless we are blogging in real time! Case in point -- here's the only photo we have of our lounging area from the entire 4 days. 

I realize the view looks not so amazing, but the short wall there is actually the overflow/edge wall outside the infinity pool...made it more secluded that we couldn't actually "see" people in the pool, though maybe that's why these spots were always free - probably parents would want to keep an eye on their younger kids more.  Meanwhile if I start drowning I'm definitely shooting for the twins to come save me.

So thoughts on the vacation:

- Four days was a nice length of time. Kids not feeling super anxious about homework piling up. Adults not feeling like it will take days to overcome emails that were missed. Could we have taken another day? Sure, but I'm not sure it would have added that much unless we went all the way up to a week. 

- We did not explore Punta de Mita enough to really do the area justice. The resort was very secluded feeling for sure. The beach was not crowded, the sand was really beautiful, apparently there was a nature preserve all around us...but we really didn't enjoy much of that. Though maybe being able to stare at the ocean and hear the waves crashing at all hours is an unspoken and subconscious plus that I'm overlooking. 

- I don't think the resort is worth $1000/night (which apparently it retails for at times). But there were some small touches that made it clear they did care more about service than the average high end chain. For example -- they folded up all of our clothes at turn-down, they put little fruit/umbrellas garnishes on the made-to-order smoothies, and they brought you bottled water at the pool in buckets of ice. I would return at the rates that we paid for sure. 

- We should plan just one major excursion for these short trips, otherwise we end up feeling rushed and we don't get to enjoy the resort's own offerings. Like we totally missed the sunset traditional cleansing ceremony which sounded a bit hokey but also potentially quite cool...and I only learned on the last day that the guided bike ride with photo stops was on a shaded path! R has been asking to do more biking so that was a definite miss. 

- The twins' Spanish abilities are impressive...they just so rarely choose to use them. Next time we return to Mexico, we will have to figure out more incentives for Spanish conversation starting...

- Oddly whenever we had a chance to use pesos instead of dollars, the pesos price was better. Sometimes just marginally but sometimes quite significantly. Maybe a sign of high exchange rate fluctuation? 

- We will have to try Mexico again in the "winter" when the days are less hot to see if the water is still as warm. Figure out when that perfect time is when the water is still retaining the heat of the summer but the air has lost some of that incessant humidity.  Or...if such a perfect balance cannot be met, look for hotels that heat their pools more. 😊 

- I very much preferred the a la carte food experience to our previous all inclusive mexico experiences. Quality over quantity! (Yes, this is also just me admitting that I have no self-control/willpower when the food and drinks are free). 

- We should get the twins enrolled with Global Entry. Would have done their interviews up on arrival but the crew of people waiting was pretty long and we were anxious to get home. Maybe one day we will make a trip to SFO just to do the interviews...

I could keep going, but it's getting late and alas, it's back to a world of not-enough-sleep and too many work emails again. Final shot of the trip (yes, we took so few photos I felt compelled to snap one of Baba waiting outside the baggage claim).

Until next time!

Punta Mita - Day 3: Horses by the Beach

It's our last full day today -- the sadness of a short vacation! Once again, enjoyed that 8-hour long sleep and leisurely breakfast. We've pretty much staked out our "spot" at the pool now, an area of 8 loungers with shade -- we start the day in the right group of 4 and then move to the left 4 as the sun shifts.  I'm reading "Outlive" on this vacation -- not sure when I'll actually get around to finishing it once we go back to California, but at least for now, doing a lot of learning about all the ways we are slowly and fastly dying.  If nothing else, it is a fairly effective way to avoid getting too lazy and overeating on vacation! I am making my 10,000+ steps each day at least!

We technically had booked a snorkel/boating adventure for the day but I cancelled it a few days before we left for the vacation.  With only 4 days/3 nights, it seemed like a bit too much. I can say now that was a great call.  With age, I am really embracing "slower" travel. 

So today's big highlight was the trip out to Vista Paraiso for a sunset horseback ride. Punta Mita has had a few really lovely sunsets.

Pretty nice family shot!

Some solo action shots for the crew:

The twins were particularly happy with this excursion because of how exciting the ride was allowed to be (ie, they let everyone get up to a trot whenever we felt like it...which meant the twins were trotting a LOT) and they even took us on controlled cantors at the end!

(I may have put the video on time lapse mode by mistake...but doesn't she look like she's speeding?!? I know we only did it for a few seconds, but have to say that cantor-ing hurts a lot less than trotting...)

Punta Mita - Day 2: Games & Turtles!

The one thing I really appreciate about vacations these days -- the sleep. I somehow never manage to crack even 7 hours of sleep at home, but on vacation, I routinely make it to 8 hours. I can't tell if that's because there's less distractions, or just the psychology of being on vacation, but it's so refreshing.  

Today the only item on our agenda wasn't until 6:30PM, so after a very late breakfast (buffet gets decent marks, not as amazing as some of the other places we've stayed in Mexico, but had a fresh fruit smoothie bar, a quesadilla station, and very soft breads and pastries), we explored the hotel game room. Surprisingly well-laid out -- Baba and I played a couple games of shuffleboard and pool while the twins explored the video game corner - there was some racing game and some fashion runway game that appeared to be very enthralling. 

And then it was back to the pool! Today we decided to give the water slide in the kids pool a whirl. Not exactly water park level, but impressive for a hotel pool. Baba and I both went down it several more times than we expected to. The twins also declared this pool the fanciest one we've been to because of the family infinity pool. I guess normally those are reserved for the adult pools? Or (more likely), we normally pack our vacations with so many activities that we don't actually hang out at the pool much.

One thing we noticed today, the resort seems to have a few resident hawks that it deploys every morning to keep the seagulls away from the property. It was pretty neat watching them get so close to us while they were doing their rounds up in the sky. This is the second time I've heard of a resort having hawks around to keep other scavenger-type birds away from guests...seems like a trend...hopefully an eco-friendly one? 

Baba would like to give the Conrad high marks for their pool margherita pizza -- it appeared to be done in a real stone oven and had fresh basil and juicy tomatoes. Okay, so it's not exactly authentic Mexican cuisine...but the twins concurred that it hit the spot after exerting all those calories lying around on lounge chairs. 

The real highlight of the day though was our evening private turtle release! I could list a bunch of facts here about how the turtles all return to the place where they are released to lay eggs, or about how the survival rate of turtles is so small so conservation efforts are critical to this endangered species' survival, but honestly Google would probably do a better job of that than I would. Instead, I'll just note that it was really cool. The turtles were so tiny! And there is something really...fulfilling? peaceful? magical?...about watching these day-old turtles slowly figure out where the ocean was and make their way towards it. And watching the waves come and swallow them up and take them out into the sea. 

Stay alive turtles! 

Punta Mita - Day 1: Arrival

We are off for another long weekend trip - this time to Punta Mita (or, as I would come to learn, not actually Punta Mita, which is where the ultra-exclusive luxury hotels are -- we would be staying at the Conrad, located on Punta de Mita, so not so exclusive. I saw a deal in my inbox from Travelzoo, which claimed that the normally $$$$ hotel room would now only be $$1/2-ish, I was looking for an excuse to use our Alaska Airlines Companion ticket...so impulse travel trip planned! (impulse for me = less than 3 months in advance). 

When I booked the flight and hotel, I was thinking that mid-October in California would be getting kind of cold, maybe starting to pull out the sweaters even for afternoons/evenings, and that an escape to Mexico would be a welcome respite.  Little did I realize that we'd have literally WEEKS of 90+ plus weather in Northern California -- making the 80-90 weather forecast for Puerto Vallarta basically "feeling like home." 

As soon as we landed, I was reminded that the climate in Puerto Vallarta was not like the Bay Area, temperature similarities aside, for a very important feature...SO MUCH HUMIDITY. As Liya put it, it makes your hair sticky!

We'd organized a car to pick us up - the process was fairly easy, the only downside is that we had to walk in the 100-degree feeling weather over an overpass pedestrian bridge so we were a bit sweaty when we got to the car.  But I think it was still worth it, I really dislike the throngs of people trying to pick up folks at airports - you never know who is telling the truth and who is trying to take advantage of you. 

Our take on the room? Biggest complaint -- very humid, the A/C is certainly strong enough, but everything ends up feeling a bit damp.  Other complaints: beds a bit small -- there was some fighting over blankets, the TV didn't seem to have a "sync up with your own Netflex/YouTube" options.  Upsides - nice shower, they provided wine glasses in the fridges, and the porch looked very comfortable (the weather was just always too humid for it to be enticing).

Figured we had no activities booked for the day, so we'd just acquaint ourselves with the pool.  The water temperature was pretty ideal and there were lots of empty loungers with shade -- nice way to ease into the vacation.  (The twins thought the following picture was necessary because the water looked so cool.)

Belize: Final Thoughts

Final adventure: getting to the San Pedro flight -- another two passenger charter flight.

Can you see the twinkle of "scared we will die but yay isn't this exciting" in my eyes? Okay, maybe this is also me STILL not knowing where the camera is on the pixel phones. I am always staring off the side like an unhinged person.

Luckily, the plane trip was smooth and uneventful. We were at the airport, through check-in, customs/immigration, and to the gate within 15 minutes. 

Concluding thoughts/tips from this trip:

A/C in Belize is CRITICAL.  And Mosquitos are SERIOUS.

The jungle portion, while nice and unique and I'm glad we did it, is not something I would return to I think. Matachica, or San Pedro island generally I suppose, would be a place I'd consider returning to...though...I feel like there must be other places in Central America or the Caribbean that has better beaches and water/reefs that are just as clear for snorkeling.  Though I did like how Belize was not as "American-ized" as some of the Caribbean places we've visited on cruises. 

Thoughts on Matachica itself: I hear it's the only adults only resort in the island, which was a nice vibe for quiet pool time.  Things I would call out: the water from the sink and showers smells really really bad. Ian was convinced brushing his teeth gave him an upset stomach. I definitely had a little nauseated when brushing once or twice because of the awful stench. The shower also couldn't be anything but hot or very hot. Which is better than only being cold or very cold, but sometimes a refreshing not so hot shower would have been nice. On the plus side, Wi-Fi was decent, beds were comfortable, AC was powerful, pastries were really good, snorkeling and kayaks were very good. Guides and bartending staff were very good. I specify them because...the front desk gals and housekeeping service was a bit more mixed. Sheets and pillowcases were noticeably stained (to begin with, and because of that, I also noticed they were never changed in our 4 night stay), and the front desk gals didn't offer me Belizean chocolate bars when we departed, even though I saw they gave them to the other guests when they left. Did we not book enough excursions? Asked for the complimentary shuttles too much? Unclear, but I didn't like the disparate treatment! 

San Pedro: it is still a fairly poor/undeveloped country at large. The entire island is tourism driven -- even if you aren't in tourism yourself, you are indirectly supporting tourism. I can see why covid hit the island so hard.  It reminded me, with the litter, dusty-ness, construction everywhere, of China from when I was younger, so there was a slight feeling of nostalgia for me personally.  Belize is clearly working on modernizing as well -- bringing electricity and paved roads to more of the undeveloped rural regions, for example. If we came back, I'd probably check out the southern areas or maybe even Caye Caulker. Time it with the whale sharks and the manatees. 

I way overpacked for the jungle because of the fact that I ended up wearing the most light and yet still ankle-wrist-neck covered outfit I had every single day. I did make good use of almost all of my resort wear in Matachica though, as well as all four of the swimsuits. 

The July/August time frame was a good time to visit I thought, not that much rain really, but still in the "rainy" season so not very many people. Prices were also lower as a result. 

It was noticeable to me that in Costa Rica, we ran into a lot of families who came back year after year

..whereas almost everyone we ran into here said it was also their first time in Belize. Which I think is insightful -- again, it was a great trip and very enjoyable, but while I'm already planning our return to Costa Rica, I don't think I have the same urge for Belize. I guess more of a "once in a lifetime" place! 😉 

And with that, over and out -- until our next travel adventure!