Tag: travel photography

Left: Arriving to the small town of Marfa in West Texas. Right: The entrance to our tepee at El Cosmico.

The floor of our tepee was covered in cowhides.

We stocked up on gourmet groceries at The Get Go

Left: A lovely and tasty brunch at Cochineal. Right: Ballroom Marfa

Left: I loved the outdoor showers at El Cosmico. Right: Piñatas and wine. Yes please.

The surrounding countryside here is just beautiful.

We watched the El Cosmico crew raise a third tepee!

A pup guarding our abode

See the bit of light at the top of our tepee? We had a downpour one evening and yes, some water fell through.

The wonderful and controversial Prada Marfa.

Patterns and colors of the desert town

Visiting Marfa, a small town in the desert of West Texas, was a highlight of our summer trip. None of my friends had heard of this tiny town, but lucky for me they were game for each and every stop I planned. Marfa is an interesting mix of artists and galleries, gourmet food, cowboys, and mystery lights. We ate grilled cheese on a school bus strung with twinkle lights, talked to local artists, visited the nearby cold springs, and took leisurely bike rides.

I can’t say enough good things about our stay at El Cosmico. To be sure and reserve a tepee, it was one of the few places we booked before embarking on our trip. Staying in the tepees (seriously, check them out) was by no means roughing it- we had a big bed with colorful wool blankets, two seating areas, and bedside lamps! Elsewhere on the property were refurbished airstreams, big canvas tents, and campsites.

Also of note is Prada Marfa, a land art installation about about 40 miles northwest of Marfa. It looks just like a Prada store but with nothing around it as far as you can see. You can’t actually go inside, and it’s meant to fall into disrepair and eventually become part of the natural landscape. The Texas Department of Transportation is currently deciding the fate of the installation now that it has been deemed an illegal outdoor advertisement. Read more about the debate here. Stopping at Prada Marfa was a beautiful and interesting experience for us, and I’d love to stop by in 10 years and see the work of time. Please click here to like the Save Prada Marfa Facebook page and here to take more action.

Left: A PoBoy from Johnny’s. Right: Chargrilled oysters at Acme Oyster House.

Bourbon Street

Rosey on Bourbon Street

Jazz at The Spotted Cat Music Club

Right: Austin’s state capitol

Left: Grilled cheese from the Burro Cheese Kitchen. Right: Barton Springs

The Burro Cheese Kitchen, see above

The goods at Spartan

Barton Springs

Karl and I are officially home from our adventurous summer trip! We departed Naples at the end of July with two of our friends and toured about 20 states and a few Canadian provinces. The trip took seven weeks and we drove an astonishing 10,000 miles plus! I’ll be sharing more in a few posts to come. To start, here are a few of my phone pics from New Orleans and Austin.

I spent months dreaming up ways to surprise Karl on his thirtieth birthday. While his actual birthday was a huge trolley-pub-crawl-party success, we managed to sneak in this getaway to the Rockhouse Hotel in Negril, Jamaica just a couple weeks later. (I gave him a message in a bottle with his birthday breakfast, only including the hotel’s website. The look on his face was priceless. Mission accomplished!) What a spectacular little spot. The Rockhouse is situated at the westernmost point of Jamaica for an ultimate sunset vantage point. While we had plenty of opportunity to relax, rum punches in hand, we really enjoyed the snorkeling and the thrill of cliff jumping into the Caribbean. In case you were wondering, cliff jumping is also an easy way to make friends. Everyone needs the moral support!

Take note engaged couples: The Rockhouse definitely gets the honeymoon seal of approval. And check out the hotel’s eco philosophy and commitment to the community. We heart boutique hotels! A few more highlights: morning seaside yoga, a completely blissful spa experience, delicious local flavors of jerk seasoning and plantains, hanging out in our villa, live music at Pushcart, and of course running around with the cameras. (We brought four types. Most of what you see below was taken with a Nikon D3.) Thank you to everyone who helped me make Karl’s birthday so memorable, including our family, friends, and the lovely staff at the Rockhouse. We both feel so lucky and so blessed.

As an interesting side-note: I first read about Rockhouse in Budget Travel, which I receive as a subscription for some unknown reason. Thank you mystery gift subscriber, whoever you are!

Karl and I had an adventure last year. The sort of adventure that we had dreamed about for years. It began in college when I read a travel article in Domino magazine about Buenos Aires. Everything about the place seemed so appealing that Argentina stayed at the top of my travel list from then on. And then one day Karl gave me a wonderful gift. In disbelief I unwrapped the paper to find a map of the world and a little pushpin. A getaway to anywhere in the world… how exciting! While it took us a few days to toss ideas around, Buenos Aires held the number one spot.

It was last November, and as our wedding season began to wind down we took off for our South American getaway. Along with our friends Natalie, Jordan, and Karl’s sis Stephanie, we traveled between Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls. We started off in BA for a few days then flew to the incomprehensible Iguazu Falls before heading back to BA to explore for the remainder of our stay. Being springtime there it was gorgeous almost every day. Most of our spanish came from a phone app, on which I accidentally played the phrase, “I’ve just been robbed” to a cab driver. (He laughed really hard.)

While this post is to give our friends and family an upadte, it’s also an amazing moment in our lives that we want to share with everyone. We met a few couples there on their honeymoons. If you’re considering a trip to the area we’re happy to relate more of our experience. While we did bring an SLR with us, those photos to come soon, photos from this post were taken with my iPhone using Shake It Photo.

This first photo is our goodbye with Iso at 3am before heading to the Miami airport. Karl gave her a little tummy rub, and we looked at that photo every day until we arrived home. We missed that pup!

We arrived in Buenos Aires in the evening to see our driver Caesar holding a sign that read: welcome home (the name of our hotel.) I had read about Home in the aforementioned Domino article. It was more than we hoped for; a garden oasis in the middle of the city. The window seat in our room was filled with flowers and mint leaves and opened to a courtyard below. We ran around like we owned the place and the staff was so accommodating! Future hotel stays will forever be compared to this one. You should visit their awesome website.

We took two whole days trekking around Iguazu, on the borders of Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. I grew up not too far from Niagara Falls, and while they’re impressive, we all agreed that Iguazu Falls was beyond compare. The area has over 250 falls to hike around, above and below, as well as boat rides and an island for a close-up view. Karl and Steph even did a night time walk to see the moon rise over the falls. The racoon-like animals walking around are called coatis (pronounced koh-ah-tee.) There was even a toucan sighting!! I think the highlight for all of us was a visit to the Devil’s Throat, the scariest part of the falls. And the power boat ride, which we initially weren’t interested in, ended up being so FUN! It was one of those trips where everything was our new favorite. We stayed at a really cool B&B called the Secret Garden Iguazu. We could do no wrong with our lodging choices on this trip… meeting John and staying at his inviting B&B was an absolute pleasure. The dog pictured is Roxy, the resident pet. Iguazu is the kind of place we hope to visit in the future with our family.

These lovely people are our friends Natalie and Jordan. They’re expecting their first baby later this year!! We can’t wait to meet baby Smith. The bottom photo is of Steph (or Stephanita as we call her) and me.

I took a cooking tour and class along with Jordan, Natalie, and a small group of travelers. We took a cab to the outside of the city where Teresita led us around to a market, butcher, bakery, and deli. Then we headed to her home for a lesson in making our own empanadas and a four course meal. Jordan, being a ceramicist, was quite the empanada-forming expert. There is nothing quite so enjoyable as good food, wine, and conversation. I think it was Natalie who found her class via Trip Advisor, and it is a must!

These colorful photos were taken in La Boca, a touristy part of town that we were advised to visit in the day. We bought a couple antiques here from an older woman who hugged and kissed us when we left.

Here we are visiting La Recoletta Cemetery, so beautiful and big it’s like a city in itself. Eva Perón (Evita) is buried here. The mausoleums fascinated us… some were shiny and new and still in use! And then some have fallen into disrepair and you can practically walk right down the cobwebbed staircases and touch a casket. Buenos Aires is called “the Paris of South America,” and walking around the neighborhood of Recoletta was what reminded me of Paris.

The grill below was one of our many experiences at a parilla serving up delicious grilled meats. Jordy and Karl are eating choripan: sausage on bread with chimichurri sauce.

Jordan knows a friend of a friend living just outside of BsAs. Luis and Cristina had us over for an all-day-super-delicious feast! It was particularly nice of them considering none of us speak the same language. Luckily their friend Brenda was there to translate for us all!

I’ll post part two soon for more about Home Hotel, the miles of fantastic antique shops, and some great shopping and food.