Trip to Vermont and Canada

From May 25th to the 31st we took a little trip to Vermont.  We had such a good time.  Some people ask us "Why Vermont?  Do you have family there?"  Nope, sure don't.  We had just never been to Vermont so we decided to go.  And Vermont is super close to Canada (specifically Montreal) so, we went there one day, too!

Day 1 we were supposed to go kayaking, but Vermont had some massive amounts of flooding the day we arrived so, our guide said we couldn't.  Instead we went and toured the Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory in Waterbury, Vermont.

We toured the factory and then got a free sample of ice cream when it was over.  The sample was called "Better Than Chai".  Good stuff.

After Ben & Jerry's we went and watched a live presentation of glass blowing.  It was so neat to see how they do it!  They sell blown glass art all over the state.  It's very popular there.

 

Day 2 we spent most of the morning walking around Stowe, Vermont.  Stowe was a short 20 minute drive from where we were staying and it was the cutest little town.  I refer to it as the "Park City of Vermont".

They had a recreation path you could take through the city and so we walked it for a bit.  The scenery was very pretty.  After walking around Stowe we headed to Stowe Mountain Lodge for a spa day.  This was the highlight for Howie.

We got massages, swam in their pool, and sat in their hot tubs.  In the bathrooms they had saunas, steam rooms, and a big hot tub.  Howie and I each spent time in those on our own, too.  We had heard of spa days, but never experienced them until now.  Loved it.

Day 3 we drove the two hour drive up to Montreal, Canada to spend the day.  Beautiful city!  We decided to do a hop-on-hop-off city bus tour to see as much as we could in our limited time there.

I couldn't wait to see the beautiful St. Joseph's Oratory.

 

In the gardens they had the stations of the cross.  All twelve of them.  Very cool.

We also did a tour of the Notre Dame Basilica.

It was gorgeous inside.  Very pretty building.

Before we left we had to try poutine.  It's a Canadian dish that consists of fries, gravy, and cheese curds.  Sounds odd, but it's pretty good.

We met up with my in-laws who were also vacationing in Canada and had dinner with them.  (I wish I would've taken photos of them!)

Day 4 was a little bit of a disappointment.  This was the day we decided to explore Burlington, Vermont a little more.  We had flown in to Burlington, but didn't get to see very much since we were staying an hour away.

NEWS FLASH: There is nothing to see in Burlington!

Such a let down.

We walked down their main street, Church Street, and saw their big open mall.  We asked locals what there was to see there and everyone just kept asking us if we'd been to Church Street yet!  Lame.  We tried to just pass time until our boat tour on Lake Champlain.

Then I got a voice mail from the boat company letting me know that they had cancelled our boat tour due to lack of interest. Grr!  Burlington, why do you suck so bad?

 

So, we went down to the pier and looked out at Lake Champlain.  It is lovely, but I wish we could've seen it some more.  There were no other boat companies running since we were there a week or so before their full summer season officially started.

Day 5 was fun.  We took a little road trip south of where we were staying and headed first to Montpelier, the capital city of Vermont.  We toured their state house.

This is where all of the state of Vermont's legislation is made!

After that stop we continued on to Joseph Smith's Birthplace in Sharon, Vermont. 

This hearth stone is from the Smith's original home.  The missionary that was in the visitors center said she believes there is a good chance Joseph was born near it since he was born in the month of December.

This monument was erected in 1905 in Joseph Smith's memory.

Here are some photos of the "notch road" that we had to drive on to get into Stowe, Vermont.  They call it the "notch road" because it was literally driving through the notch of the tallest mountain in Vermont.  It was just a gorgeous drive and I'm glad I took some photos along the way.

We had a blast!

Cruise 2012

Caribbean, here we come!

Well, not yet.  But soon.  I can't tell you how excited I am about it.  This will be my second cruise ever and my first with my husband.  We are so due for a vacation.  R & R is on the agenda for it and we will savor every minute.  We will be visiting Cococay, Bahamas, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten.  The mere thought of it relaxes me.  After the cruise we'll be staying in Orlando for a few nights and going to Universal Studios.

School has been good, but a tad overwhelming lately.  I have final projects due in both of my classes within the next two months and they are stressing me out.  I dream about them all the time. They are constantly on my mind.  Next week is Spring Break and guess what I'll be doing?  You guessed it.  Homework.  I'm even taking three days off of work to work on it.

May cannot get here soon enough.

Oahu - Part 2

Day 3

This was one of our casual days where we decided not to plan anything just incase we found something we wanted to do.  We slept in and then headed to the Honolulu Hard Rock Cafe for lunch.

 I really wanted to see Iolani Palace.  Iolani Palace is the only royal palace on U.S. soil.  The only problem with the palace was their hours.  They only have it open from Tuesday through Saturday and only from 9am to 3pm.  This didn't fit in with our schedule.  So, we dropped by on a Sunday just to walk around a bit.

 To our surprise and amazement the palace just so happened to be open to visitors because of an event they had going on!  So, we got to go inside!  Unfortunately, they don't let you take pictures though.  But, I was so happy we got to see it.

Then we jumped in the car and took a drive up to the north shore!

 The sights to see on the north shore are incredible.  If we ever go back to Oahu again we're definitely staying up there.  It was beautiful.  I couldn't really get a lot of pictures because the road is really narrow and there weren't a lot of places to stop and pull over.  It's a shame really, but these will have to suffice.  We stopped at this funky store for a potty break.  I ended up buying a cute Hawaiian sarong from there.  It was only $4!

Day 4

Today was another highlight of Oahu for me.  We planned a dolphin excursion at Sea Life Park on the east coast of Oahu.

 Howie didn't find swimming with dolphins very exciting so, I did it by myself.  I didn't mind because Howie turned out to be an excellent photographer for me!
Here you can see me waiting for the dolphin fun to start.  I'm in the front of the line.

First I got to do a dolphin foot push.

Those animals are strong!

I was surprised!

Dorsal tow.

We got to pet the dolphins as they swam by us.

I got to hold a dolphin.

Aren't they cute? 

The dolphin instructor said for us to "Give these guys a round of applause!" and as soon as we started clapping one of the dolphins swam by us splashing us with his fin!

It was so funny! 

After my dolphin excursion we checked out the rest of the park.

We saw sea turtles and got to feed them. 

Penguins  

We sat and watched a sea life show.  It was so cool to see the dolphins do tricks! 

They brought out sea lions that did a ton of tricks!

The park was set right on the coast.  Beautiful! 

When we'd had enough of the park we went back to the hotel, showered and went into Honolulu for dinner.  After searching for a place for a while we settled on Senor Frog's.  Ever been to one?  It's so weird.

The staff felt that they needed to constantly entertain everyone dining there.

First they got up and did a line dance to "Cotton Eye Joe".

The rest I didn't get pictures of because I was trying to enjoy my meal.  But, they came out to sing Happy Birthday to a girl at another table and sprayed her with a huge can of condensed air...multiple times.  (I've got to admit it was a funny sight to see.)  They started playing a loud song that had buzzing sounds in it and then all of the sudden a large man wearing a fly suit...and a diaper...came out and walked around to different tables.  And lastly, right before we were about to leave, they started playing a Tequilla song overhead and then a group of workers came out with a bottle and started tilting peoples heads back to give them a taste of whatever they had.  They came to our table and I was afraid to try it thinking it was alcoholic.  Luckily, after they splashed it in my mouth I could tell instantly that it wasn't so, it was all good.  I think it was a blueberry margarita mix without the alcohol.  Anyway, we were pretty happy to leave that restaurant.  We didn't know what was going to happen next!

We walked back to our car and came across this cute little shopping area called King's Village.

It was cute! 



Day 5

On our last full day in Oahu we toured the fabulous Pearl Harbor.

Here is the anchor from the U.S.S. Arizona.

On the boat out to the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial. 

Here are the names of the men that died on Decmeber 7, 1941.

Here are the men that survived the attacks and died later.

There are still 21 survivors alive today.  When they die they will request to be burried back with their crew.  They do this by cremating them and putting the urn down an entry hole on the ship.

Here is the oil that has been leaking from the ship for over 60 years now.  The remaining survivors believe that the oil is a result of the ship crying for it's lost crew members and once they have all passed on and been returned to the ship the oil leak will stop.
I guess we'll see in time if that is correct! 

We got to see the U.S.S. Oklahoma memorial. 

Then we toured the massive U.S.S. Missouri.

This ship is still owned by the military even though it's a museum now.  They could still use it today if they needed to.  Even with it's age, it's still able to keep up with ships they use today.

This dent in the side of the boat marks the spot where a kamikaze plane hit it. 

Inside the U.S.S. Missouri were cramped quarters unless you had a pretty high rank in the military.  I wouldn't have wanted to be an average crew member on board.  No thanks. 

One of the kitchens. 

 Control rooms.



After seeing the Missouri our tour took us to Ford Island to see a plane museum.

We got to see the Ford Island Control Tour, but seeing was it.

The building is full of asbestos so, it's not open to the public.

There are future plans to renovate it though.

Maybe next time! 

The last thing we toured was the U.S.S. Bowfin Submarine. 

Very cramped quarters on here, too. 

We loved this tour.  Very neat!

The next day we flew home. :(

Until next time Hawaii!

We enjoyed our stay.