Places I want to go before we leave Michigan

like how I said that?
WHEN we leave Michigan.
as if I'm not planning on being here for residency.
because I'm not.
Dear Lord Jesus please send us south. please!


So there are the obvious places that we haven't been yet -
Detroit Zoo
Detroit Institute of Arts
Tiger's Game
Lion's Game - if possible
and a Red Wings game too if we can swing it!

Mexican Town- especially the Honeybee's market I'm interested in!

I NEED to see the Fairy doors in Ann Arbor!  How cool is this!!!

Avalon Bread - downtown Detroit.  I hear they have a sea salt, dark chocolate cookie that I've got to try! 

Doc's Sweets' Candy Shop - the largest candy store in Michigan?! what?!

Historic Fort Wayne - and the Tuskegee Airmen Museum is also there.  I won't be too sad if we never go here, but it might be cool!


I do need to explore the western coast of Michigan a bit, who knows, I could love it and don't even know yet!
Here's a list of the best beaches on Michigan's west coast nicknamed the sunset coast. I like the sound of that.
Sand dunes! 

and if we get REALLY adventurous and find ourselves with time off I want to see Mackinac Island and while we're at it we should head further north to the U.P. as the locals call it, the upper peninsula of Michigan where there are MOOSE roaming free and this insanely gorgeous place called Pictured Rocks and they have   2 hour cruises that take you along the shore.  I HAVE TO DO THIS!!!!!

You never know, I may just start to love Michigan.... at least 3 months out of the year.

chasing waterfalls

I'm suddenly so sad that Lisa Lefteye Lopez died.
It was in the Caribbean wasn't it??
anyway. enough sadness around here.

I went with Amber and Stephanie to Annandale Falls last week.  Amber had never been! crazy!
It is so beautiful.  I wish I had taken my mom there now... (ugh regrets)
This was the day we hated played with the monkey too.

We were hanging out swimming in the water when one of the guys starts throwing some food in and we see like 100 fairly large fish popping up eating it. gross.  I did NOT know there were fish in that water. haha.
But I still continued to swim.
It was a beautiful day and I'm so happy I got to spend with my two beautiful bestest Grenada friends.

I like this picture because it was freezing and Stephanie is so short!!! haha.  This picture exaggerated it I'm sure... but why are ALL my friends so short?  

Frederick, Matthew, and Alice

Friday the SOs went on an around the island tour and our first stop was Fort Frederick.  You may remember Lee and I visiting there this summer.  It was worth a 2nd trip, the view from the top is so incredible!

The group of SOs on the trip!
SO much fun ;)

I got sick to my stomach when I learned that in 1983 the US bombed Fort Matthew thinking Grenadian soldiers were there when really it was a center for mental patients.
why they felt the need to bomb anything in Grenada is beyond me....

The bar they've made in the fort now! 

I need one of these chairs!! 

Our tour guide for Fort Frederick was Alice.  She called herself Alice in Wonderland and I promised I'd blog about her and  tell all my friends all over the world to come to Grenada and visit her at the fort.
She said that 80% (or something) of the island depended on tourism for income.  
Come visit us and buy some spices!!!!

Here is Alice talking about her experience during Hurricane Ivan in 2004.  A hurricane that devastated 85% of the island.
It's a little hard to hear because of all the wind, but turn up the volume, it's a cool story!

Royal Mt. Carmel Falls

I made what may be my last trip (in the near future) to Mt. Carmel falls last Friday.
I went out on a high note, sliding down the falls without injury!

Read more a more detailed post about my first visit to Mt. Carmel here.

Jump! on the on the front back!

Last week the SOs were busy traipsing around Grenada.  We went to a few of my favorite places, with a few of my favorite people, it was a good week.

La Sagesse Beach never disappoints. It is one of the most beautiful and peaceful places I've ever been.  I need to squeeze in about 10 more trips there before we leave.
We spent the morning lounging around, scouring the beach for shells and other things (cricket bat anyone?) and ended the afternoon with some impromptu jumping and silliness.

A few of the lovely SOs there that day.
I am so thankful for the SO organization and all these great women here in Grenada!!

ps. 69 days left.
AND if you don't already know... you can read all about Lee and I's love story over at Newlyweds Bliss today! :) 

Want a free tour of Grenada?

ok here is how...

Go downtown to renew your Visa (so you can stay in the country) then walk out of the immigration office nonchalantly down the street and when a bus driver honks his horn at you, just hop in that bus.  Assume that it's a #1 bus and will take you to Grand Anse.

About 1 minute into the trip you will realize that, no this in fact is not a #1 bus heading for home, it is a #2 bus heading for St. David's.

Calmly inform the bus conductor that you are an idiot and are on the wrong bus.
He will look at you and ask you a question that you don't understand and you will say "I meant to go to Grand Anse"
Driver and conductor will exchange glances and mumble something.  Assume they understand that you do not want to go to St. David's.

Whiz around the Grenadian country side, get slightly car sick, and enjoy the gorgeous landscape.
See Hog Island, Woburn, a school yard full of colorfully dressed little children, and the Jus Now Bar.

If the driver stops in the middle of absolutely no where and tells you to get out and wait for another bus make sure he understands that you DO NOT want to go to St. David's.
Once it is clear that you are in fact on the WRONG bus and meant to get on a #1 everyone will have a good laugh on your behalf. 
Ask the driver if he will be returning to St. George's at the end of his route and then just get back on the bus and go along for the rest of the ride.

About 45 minutes later the driver will drop you off back in St. George's exactly where he picked you up.
If he feels sorry enough for you he will say "no charge, no worries, find the right bus"

Bam! Free tour!

Carriacou Day 3!

On our 3rd and final day on the lovely island of Carriacou we had plans of spending it on Paradise Beach, but our friend Stan was able to haggle an awesome deal for a guy with a boat to take us to Sandy Island, a little spit of sand close to the shore of Paradise beach. 
We had been hearing about the great snorkeling there and I think we had all caught the snorkeling bug by this point and were wanting to see more more more.
It was SO worth the money to go.  It is the most beautiful little island and the snorkeling was great!  We even saw another sea turtle! seriously the highlight of the trip for me because I wasn't expecting to see another one.

amazing snorkeling!

After snorkeling we ate dinner at a local place and we all had chicken platter specials and it was great!  2 pieces of chicken, macaroni pie, salad, and rice for $15ec!
Then we headed back to the Green Roof Inn to clean up and prepare for the 3:30 ferry to take us back to Grenada.
This time we took a much larger ferry and it was such a smooth enjoyable ride.  I could travel like this all the time.

arriving back in the carenage of home sweet Grenada.

I'm also going to do a post of how much stuff cost, who to contact and such, so it'll be a little easier for any of you who are planning your own trip to Carriacou or the Tobago Cays!
seriously. go. tomorrow.

Carriacou & Tobago Cays Day 2

This day was interesting to say the LEAST.
The Tobago Cays is by far the most beautiful place I have ever seen with my own eyes.
read about the first time I went here. 

I wanted to go back with Lee so badly so he could see it and we could experience swimming with sea turtles together! 

Well... the trip to the Cays was definitely an experience.  We thought we were doing the right thing and went to the ministry of tourism in Carriacou and asked about a boat to the Cays and they acted like it was a great operation. drinks, lunch, a nice boat...
no.
Clarence arrived to pick us up, an hour late, in a tiny work boat.  Which was ok.... we wanted to go so badly and it wasn't far.
Once we got into open water it was a different story!! The motor got wet and wasn't working properly and we were going so sloooooow over pretty big waves and getting splashed the entire time.   I couldn't open my eyes because the salt was burning them so badly.  esh. it was nuts.

We finally arrived near Union Island and stopped at the Happy Island BBQ so Clarence could mess with the motor. 
I was so HAPPY to be out of that boat!

Onward towards the island with the turtles!! My only wish of the day!

It was beyond incredible.  We were only in the water for about 5 minutes before we saw a turtle and then we kept seeing them!! We saw about 5 at once!  They are so graceful and pretty moving through the water.

We stayed on this island for a while and then went to Jamesby Island where we had our own private beach and saw some more iguanas.  And the most gorgeous view probably in the entire Caribbean.

Lee and I with the boat we  took across the ocean!

We then went to Palm Island, an island with what seemed to me to be only a resort.  Our driver said it was $700 a night to stay there. craziness. but beautiful!

The next stop was supposed to be back to Happy Island BBQ for dinner, but when we stopped they said they didn't have any food! seriously! haha

So to Union we went in search of some food and found hamburgers and fries for $12EC! an amazing deal.
We headed back to Carriacou in the sunset for another incredibly scary journey across the sea.
This time Clarence not only stopped the boat in the middle of open ocean (which Lee said was bad bad bad) to take the motor APART he also asked me to drive the boat while he filled the tank with gas. 
ugh. have you ever driven a boat? its not that easy. the motor is HEAVY.
I wasn't happy.

I told Lee I was going to kiss the ground when we got back to Carriacou! haha.

All in all..... it was worth it because the Cays are that amazing, but I would never get into this boat ever again.
Luckily because it was such a crappy boat we paid less! yes!

Carriacou Day 1!

On Tuesday (almost a week ago already?!) Lee and I along with our friends Stan and Natasha headed to Carriacou for a little mid-week adventure on the Osprey Ferry.

The ferry leaves out of the Carenage in St. George's at 9am and was supposed to take about an hour and half to get to Carriacou... it took a little longer. and wasn't the smoothest ride. haha.  We rode the smaller of the 2 ferries and we wanted to sit up top to get a good view of all the islands along the way (SO beautiful!) and we got SOAKED!  Even on the top of the boat the waves were splashing us & we were holding onto the rails with a death grip, well I was anyway.  But it was a beautiful ride & we arrived at the gorgeous island of Carriacou safely.

We started the search for an appropriate hotel room by heading to Paradise Beach, a place I had read about online & said there were cheap rooms.
they weren't kidding about cheap.
We went to Hope's Inn and I'm not kidding when I say there was a communal shower & the only toilet in the place was downstairs off of the restaurant! haha! and the rooms were JUST bed. no fan no AC.  It was about $38US a night.

So we said forget it and went back to the main town of Hillsborough via Reggae Bus, just like in Grenada, and asked the driver about the Green Roof Inn where he dropped us and then asked for extra money because he drove us out of his way (even though we didn't ask to be. ugh)We made our way down the beautiful Paradise Beach to another hotel and it was about $60US a night (much nicer) but they would NOT bargain with us at all.  We offered $50 and they wouldn't even consider it. a hotel on the tiny island of Carriacou in the off season with NO guests. and probably no possibility of guests since we were the only tourists on the ferry.
Anyway, the Green Roof Inn was great!! A secluded, quaint little cottage type place with an incredible view and great beachy decor :)  you can read about it on my other blog here. and they came down in price for us!

Once we were settled in we headed back to the main beach near town, to snorkel, and I'm so glad we did!  There wasn't much to see, but we were quite successful!
Lee spied this HUGE starfish! It was amazing to see under the water b/c everything is magnified and it was just crazy.  We soon found out it was dead and I begged Lee to bring it back to shore so I could take pictures of it (and secretly convince him I should take it home)

I also found several sand dollars and Stan drug up a half of a lobster! haha Gross!!

We went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and sunset on the beach and relaxed for a bit in the awesome hammocks. I LOVED these hammocks, so comfortable I literally fell asleep in one Wednesday night.

Our hotel was located about a 5-10 minute walk outside of downtown, or what town there was to speak of.  We went in search of a good place to eat dinner and quickly found out that there was only one option. haha. everyone we asked pointed us back to Laurena's or the Jerk Center.
It was ok, but they only had 1 dinner option.  Chicken, Rice, and salad.  At  least it was cheap!

after dinner we were going to go get ice cream and some drinks to take back to the hotel and soon found that Lauren's was the ONLY place open after dark to get anything. haha. so back we went for some water.

That night we played an intense game of Monopoly, which I hadn't played in seriously 10 years, and enjoyed the company of our friends. 

Carriacou is such a peaceful, relaxing place.  and like everyone said, the people there are so nice! nicer than in Grenada, much nicer. 

The next day we were off to the Tobago Cays!  and THAT was an experience...