Retirement! Here We Come. (Well, Don is back to work)
by Vicky Showalter

Saturday, October 13, 2012

KAUAI

Has this been 3 different trips or 3 destinations in one trip?  From Spain we flew to Colorado Springs where Don was in charge of the USA U16 National Team's training camp.  Those three days (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) gave me a chance to do some laundry, sleep in, relax, and watch the players at training camp.  Sunday night we drove to Denver for the 6 am Monday morning flight to Kauai!  Kauai is one of our favorite places in the world - sun, sand, beautiful beaches, refreshing pools, snorkeling, relaxing, reading, no schedule, evening meals out, aahhhh........

Monday - Thursday:  Poipu Beach on the southern coast.  Marriott's Waiohai Beach Club







Friday - Friday @The Cliffs
Thursday evening after lobster at Duke's I dropped Don off at the airport and I headed to the north shore.  Don spent Friday and Saturday in Chicago speaking at a Nike clinic.  I checked in at The Cliffs in Princeville.  Sunday Don returned to Kauai!

A morning visitor on our patio - a nene goose

The view from our patio

Sitting at the pool enjoying the view

Down over the cliffs


Tunnels Beach

Tunnels
Ke'e Beach
The last beach at the end of the road.

Snorkeling is great here.  

Cooling off in the beautiful, clear, blue water

The volcanic mountains that begin the Napali coast.
Our little red car on the road from Ke'e Beach to Hanalei.

Ocean views all along the drive

Our favorite - shave ice at the Wishing Well
Macadamia nut ice cream on the bottom!

Looking down into the Hanalei valley

And over at the mountains from Princeville.
Cooling off in the pool at The Cliffs

Relaxing in one of the hot tubs.
TV and computer time
Another day - another beach
The walk through the forest to the Hanalei Bay Beach


A glimpse at the Bay



Saturday - Wednesday:  Back to Marriott's Waiohai Beach Club


Our view from the 4th floor 






Tuesday, October 2, 2012

SPAIN!

Monday - Off to Madrid
The teams took off for the USA on Monday with a 8:30 am bus pickup.  Don and I checked out around noon and took a taxi to Madrid.  We are staying at the Marriott until Thursday.

Santa Mauro Marriott in Madrid
We have an outside entrance to our beautiful courtyard room.


We walked to Plaza Colon to sign up for a
"hop on, hop off" bus tour.
In the roundabout is a statue of Columbus.

Lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe - BIG burgers, fries and a shake!

The bus tour involves 21 stops.  We bought a two day ticket so today we hopped off at a few places and ended up riding the trip two times!  

Highlights from today-----
The Almudena Cathedral

The Almudena Cathedral
considered Madrid's cathedral

Inside looking toward the altar
A side altar


A beautiful frescoed chapel within the church
Plaza de la Villa
Plaza del la Villa
The oldest building here is early 15th century
Mercado de San Miguel
This marketplace has stalls of food, drinks, flowers, etc

meat shop within the marketplace

fruits

Sangria anyone?

Plaza Mayor




Late night dinner at Casa Lucio


We started with a salad, then fried mushrooms & green beans,
then to the main entree - Don had steak and I had chicken.

It was a traditional Spanish restaurant recommended by the hotel.