#8 of 10 Things I Love in No Particular Order

Traveling!

There was a bit of a delay since my last post. I was side tracked looking at photo's from past vacations. I found it very hard to narrow it down to just a few. With the digital age of photography we no longer have to worry about developing film so we just keep clicking away! I am not sure if this is a bad thing or a good thing. Sometimes its overwhelming having so many pictures! But it is fun to have all the memories of great times.

Anyway.....back to traveling...

Who doesn't love to travel? Of course it is not always easy to get away when there are other priorities, like work, gardening, etc. But I love it when we have the opportunity. I definitely gain inspiration from gardens and architecture in far away places. Well, sort of far. Mexico is about the longest journey and also our favorite place to travel. Here are some highlights.

 

I love this!

I want to do this some day in part of my back yard. 

What a great idea. And it doesn't look terribly difficult. 

Famous last words. 

 

 Look at this one real close. Can you guess what this is on the left? It looks like a fountain right? Nope! It's a urinal in the Men's restroom at a restaurant outside of Puerta Vallarta, Mexico! At least I hope so since my husband has been peeing in it every time we go there. And no, I didn't take this picture. He tried to get me to go in and look at it and when I refused he took a picture so I could see it. What a guy! I won't be stealing this decorating idea but if I did for some reason have to put a urinal in my house I would make it look like a fountain too!  

It is so much better than white porcelain!

 

This is a little village at the end of the bus route going south from Puerta Vallarta. It is rustic but absolutely beautiful. It is called Boca de Tamatlan.

 

 This one is for Grace and her tarp of the month club. 

They even have tarps in the middle of paradise!  

This is the same palapa that you can see in the picture above. 

Of course when you are in the palapa you have no idea there is a tarp on the roof and you don't care!

 

And this is one of the reasons we love to go to this little town. There are dogs roaming the streets that are oh so grateful when you give them a little food. This poor dog name Sorr'e had an infected ear a few months before so we returned to see how she was doing. Luckily a Veterinarian from PV had visited the street dogs and gave her antibiotics so she was fine by the time we returned. She even let me scratch her behind the ears! She was a sweetie.

 This unique hairless dog was named Elephante'.  I can see why!

Look at those feet! Isn't that cute??

We love to try interesting places to eat when we are vacationing. The majority of the time it is not this upscale. But while I am sitting at the table drooling and waiting to eat Keith is snapping pictures of the presentation. 

It looks almost too good to eat! I hope the cook used some kind of utensil to make that "swoosh". It almost looks like a finger. Eewwww! I ate it anyway!

  

Here I am again, sitting there waiting to eat again while Keith is taking a picture of the beautiful presentation! This one really is too pretty to eat!

After we get home I feel inspired and may try to put a little presentation into our meals. Of course it doesn't last long and I usually go back to slopping it on the plate again. Maybe I should just get some colorful decorative plates instead?

 This just cracked me up! It is good they have power since a lot of places in the world don't even have electricity. But I would hate to be the one to have to figure this out if there was a problem! Eeek!

This made me snicker. Someone has a sense of humor! 

 The vegetation in Mexico is absolutely gorgeous!

 

The bougainvillea grows wild like a weed here. I am so jealous! Every spring I give in and buy another bougainvillea and fantasize that it will grow up and over our patio. It is just a fantasy and as soon as the temperature goes below 40 degrees. Ffffffft, another dead plant. You would think I would learn but I can't seem to give up on that fantasy! One year I tried bringing it inside the house to winter over. The shock was too much for it and it never recovered. 

I confess that I will probably buy another one in the spring so I can keep up the fantasy!

 More amazing vegetation colors.

 It is so unusual and beautiful it looks plastic! But it's real!

I love this pony tail palm in a simple pot on top of a log.

 

I love the vibrant colors. They add so much.

 The next time I see an old chiminea at a garage sale I'm going to buy it, paint it a bright color and stick a plant in it! I love this!

Agave! The plant that turns into tequila! We visited a tequila factory for a tour. The word "factory" is a stretch. It conjures up the image of a big manufacturing plant with nasty smoke coming out the top. But this was definitely a different image. It was a quaint brick building out in the middle of the countryside. And this perky tour guide showed us how tequila was made from agave. I admit, I thought the whole process of sticking the agave plant in the ground and waiting for it to ferment was a bit, well, icky! But I guess if you drink enough tequila you really don't care! I am not a tequila drinker but I did try a sip of the chocolate tequila and it was yummy!

 

The ambiance in the restaurants are just wonderful. If you want to get away and forget everything this is the place to be!

I love the festive colors.

OK, the waiter was cute but it was his guacamole that I was eyeballing!

I really wasn't on this vacation alone. 

Keith is just the one who is always taking the pictures.

If anyone knows what this cute little animal is let me know. 

It ventured inside the restaurant and we gave it table scraps. 

Hey, kind of like home except it is usually a dog.

Here is a picture of Keith so I can prove I wasn't alone!

And what is one of the greatest things about vacationing? 

Enjoying the amazing sunsets! 

Here are a few.

 

 

  

 

 

The very last sunset of our trip.

This is from the window of our airplane on the way home.

Keith took this shot while I was napping. 

I'm glad he woke me up to see it. 

What a perfect end to a great vacation.