Willy Nilly Friday 5 No. 90

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1)

See the hiding alligator? Playa Linda . Ixtapa

Linking this with Weekend Reflections

2)

Lots more gators, same place as #1 just up a little further...lots of white birds in the trees too...Herons? Egrets? I don't know!

3)

The beach from our resort . Las Brisas . Ixtapa

Linking this with SkyWatch Friday

4)

This is a police vehicle. I know you can't tell from the picture but the officer standing in the back is carrying an assault rifle. In front of this police vehicle is a military vehicle with a bunch of military personnel also carrying assault rifles. This was a familiar scene. We'd see them just driving around or stopped on the side of the road, standing next to their vehicle holding assault rifles. Now mind you, this is Ixtapa, a major tourist area. One day while at the beach, the one I showed you with the hammocks?...anyways, on that day a police vehicle pulled up to the next restaurant down and about 4 or 5 officers jumped out carrying their rifles...it was a bit intimidating...they stood talking to some people for a while then got back in and drove away...I honestly didn't know if there was going to be a shoot out or what! Can you imagine if our police were that armed? It is very unsettling...I wanted to get a better picture of the police/military but I also didn't want to get shot so this is the only one I got...

5)

What in God's creation is this thing? I found this on a ledge at our hotel. Is it from the sea? Did a bird drop it? Is it a ginormous bug? So happy this was the only one I saw and it was dead! I think I'd freak out if I saw this thing moving!

There's my 5 this week! I hope you will play along! Post 5 randoms and link back up! Visit others! Have a great weekend :)



I'm also linking up with Amy's 5 On Friday this week!

Let's Go To The Pool

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Get your bathing suit on and grab a towel, we're heading to the pool!

The view from our balcony to the right...

The view to the left...that's the way to the pool...

Heading towards the elevator...just another pretty view to ogle!

This way...I hope you wore your flip flops, the ground is hot!

Ok, now up all these stairs...just kidding, we don't have to climb the stairs :)

Like a jungle!

The shady part of the walk...we are almost there!

Trippy sideways growing trees...

Look up!

We made it...take a dip and cool off...I will have the pool boy bring us a margarita!

Those views though!

Las Brisas Ixtapa . Mexico

Willy Nilly Friday 5 No. 89

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1)

We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves. Dalai Lama

2)

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. Mother Teresa

3)

Mankind must remember that peace is not God's gift to his creatures; peace is our gift to each other. Elie Wiesel

4)

Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one. John Lennon

5)

A Day In Barra de Potosi Or Was It Playa Blanca?

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I'm not really sure which beach this was. Nick kept calling it Barra de Potosi but then when I just googled it to get the spelling it also listed Playa Blanca. We drove down a long dirt road to get there so I'm thinking Playa Blanca...not that you really care lol

Restaurants in the US should have hammocks!

I'm about to attack that grub...I think I ordered shrimp here...

Tortilla magic is happening in that little building!

Ok, now heading back out, down the dirt road:

Goat crossing!

dos cabra ;)

mas cabra! ;)

A hot and dusty way to travel! Interesting the way so many people there ride in the back of trucks like this...

Linking up with Tex's Good Fences

Willy Nilly Friday 5 No. 88

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Sunset at Las Brisas Resort, Ixtapa, Mexico

Here we go!

1) If you didn't know, I'm back! For a brief update, Nick and I went to Ixtapa Mexico for a week. For a longer update, check Tuesday's post!

2) On the plane ride home I watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2...Oh my gosh, it was hilarious. I had my ear buds in and I kept literally lol'ing. Nick kept looking over at me like I was cuckoo!

3) On Wednesday I went grocery shopping. I have had a sore throat since coming back home from Mexico but by the time I was finished shopping I was feeling really bad. Run down and my muscles were aching. I took a few Airborne tablets Wed/Thursday and am now starting to feel much better...still have a bit of a headache but hopefully that will be gone when I wake up in the morning.

4) Since I wasn't feeling well I made a pot of this Detox Soup ...it's really good...full of yummy veggies: carrots, celery, turnips, kale, tomatoes, cilantro, zucchini...it's one of my favorite soups!

5) On Tuesday I took the kids to see Finding Dory...it was so cute! We really liked it. Nick had rented Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot so we watched that later that night. That was also really good. It was based off a true story about a reporter, Kim Barker, who is bored with her life/career and decides to take an assignment in Afghanistan. Such courage!

Well that's my 5 this week, short and sweet! I've got to run off to bed and get some more rest so hopefully I can wake up and feel 100% again!

I hope you will play along too! Post 5 randoms, link back and visit others! Have a great weekend!

Tuesday's Treasures - Owen's Place, Zihuatanejo

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Look who's back! So last week we went on a little jaunt to Ixtapa/Zihuatenejo, Mexico. This is Nick's favorite Mexican vacation. He worked down there briefly when he was fresh out of the Marine Corps, selling time shares. This was my 2nd trip there. The biggie was that this was our first actual vacation without kids since having Braden and Dalton, over 14 years ago! My oh my! So, we left the younger 2, with the older 2, a list of rules and phone numbers and boarded the plane...My first set of photos I am going to show you is from Las Gatas Beach, Owen's Place:

Last Tuesday, our first visit (on this trip) to Las Gatas...you take a water taxi to get there and then just park yourself under a palapala at one of the beach restaurants that line the beach...these aren't your typical touristy restaurants, these are more like someone's house with a big kitchen and lots of lounge chairs to relax in...we hung out at Otilia's both times because we liked it and our waiter Franco was the bomb-diggity:

Hola Franco!

Hola Blackie! Another reason we liked Otilia's...Blackie! You know how much I love dogs and I was really, really missing Ozzy...he missed me too!

So anyways, while kicking it at Otilia's, sipping on a cold cerveza, I noticed a place out on the point that looked interesting....Nick told me it was Owen's..This guy Owen Lee was a diver with Jacques Cousteau and opened up this resort but unlike other resorts, this one isn't fancy schmancy, just little bungalows, kind of rural...our waiter Franco said it was deserted since Owen had a stroke and passed away a few years ago (Owen didn't pass away though, more on that in a bit) so imagine my excitement at the thought of an abandoned resort! So...we just chilled at Otilia's and then went back to our own resort in Ixtapa after a few hours but I couldn't get Owen's out of my head so a few days later we returned to Otilia's and asked Franco if we were allowed to walk over there.... "yeah, yeah" he said so off we went!

Welcome to the Hotel California.....

While walking around this empty place we saw 2 ladies, one seemed to be talking a lot about Owen's as if she knew stuff, lots of stuff so we asked her some questions...turns out the one lady was originally from Zihuatenejo, now living in Norway, yes, Norway! Her friend was also from Norway but didn't speak a lot of English, or Spanish...but the Mexican lady knew Norwegian! The Mexican/Norwegian lady was telling us that she knew Owen Lee when she was growing up, he was like an uncle to her. She explained that it was not easy on him back then opening this place up as an outsider. The following photos are from Owen's house (she told us):

She explained that Owen did have a stroke, but is now living in San Francisco...he has some expat friends that are taking care of this place for him. His expat friends run a sunset cruise on The Picante that Nick and I took 20+ years ago, and again on this trip!

The lady also noticed that he left his books behind...she became a little emotional at that and said she was going to contact him to see if he wanted her to send them to him...

Well that does it for my photos of Owen's bungalow but I have a few more from around his resort that I will be posting tomorrow so come back!

Linking up with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures
and I've found a few blog posts on Owen's HERE and HERE and Otilia's has a Facebook page HERE

Had fun but there's no place like home!

(I don't know why my pictures uploaded so teeny tiny...thanks blogger for welcoming me back with a blog bug!)