Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

Manuel Antonio is a beach that I went to in Costa Rica when I was very young. However, I remember it vividly as if I had just gone. One of the main things that I remember from visiting this beach was one of the tours that we went on. This tour took us through the jungle in a big jeep sort of vehicle, and we saw all sorts of monkeys and other animals. The monkeys are very friendly in Costa Rica. They seem to love people, it is very funny. The tour also provided us with time to snorkel down a stream type water thing. It was very interesting. I have always been afraid of snorkeling though for some reason, it feels too vulnerable. But I remember that the water was very very warm and I saw things that I had never seen before. Still to this day I have not seen anything comparing to how interesting this stream snorkeling was. It was like above the water it just looked like a stream in the jungle, and below the water it seemed like an alien world with bright colors and all sorts of weirdly shaped fish creatures. Another thing that we did on the tour was kayak. I don't think that I kayaked but I know that the rest of my family did. I have not ever been big on kayaking. But the water in the ocean was beautiful I do remember that. And it was a beautiful day to lay on the beach so that is what I must have done instead. I would love to visit Manuel Antonio again if I ever got the chance.

La Jolla, California

Last week I had mentioned that I was going on a road trip to California for the weekend and I was not sure where I was going to end up. One of the places that we ended up was in La Jolla San Diego. La Jolla is a phenomenal place in my opinion and I would love to live there. We just drove along the coast in a neighborhood with beautiful houses. It was definitely a very high end neighborhood that I hope to be able to land in eventually. While we were in this neighborhood we asked a man where a good beach was in La Jolla. Luckily he pointed us right down the street in the same neighborhood, a beach called Winds and Sand Beach. He said this was one of the best places for surfing in La Jolla. It was perfect weather; the sun was shining and the water was cold but enjoyable. My friends and I went swimming and just watched the surfers and all of the local people. As much as I usually dislike California's beaches because of the cold water, this was a great beach experience. And I swam quite a bit! There were huge waves and one of them actually swept me off my feet and I rolled around under the water and got sand in my hair, swim suit, mouth, everywhere.

California Beaches

I chose to write about California's beaches today because I am taking a road trip to Cali. on Thursday. We don't even know where we're going, we're just going! I love California's beaches. I do not like how cold the water is, but the sun is bright and the people are beautiful. My favorite beach in California is Newport Beach. I hate that there is never anywhere to park, but it is a great beach. I was just there a few months ago and it was perfect outside. There is always so much going on there too; so many people walking around, dogs, bikes, skateboards, etc. My next favorite beach, or well place to go to the beach, is Carlsbad, California. I grew up going to a beach in Carlsbad, where my family friends used to live. I don't remember what it was called but it was very pretty. Besides the cold water. I also went there for the fourth of July this past year and watched fireworks, it was so pretty. I want to move to Carlsbad. Hopefully this weekend we go to many different beaches. We're planning on sleeping on the beach but my mom said that isn't legal anymore. We'll see!

Rocky Point, Mexico

I'm not sure how I have made it this far without mentioning my favorite beach of all; Rocky Point, Mexico. Rocky Point is almost my second home, I have been going there my entire life. First we used to stay in a trailer type of thing there, and then we bought a house. Our house was one of the first ones built in a neighborhood called Las Conchas, which is now a very popular spot for tourists to purchase vacation homes. My parents bought it when I was 3, and ever since then we have been going to that house many many times a year. My parents go almost every weekend now that I am out of the house. I have experienced so much in this house and practically grown up in it. It is right on the beach so I am a bit spoiled and it has really made me have a liking for the ocean. I have so many stories from there that I wouldn't even know where to begin. It is such an amazing place and I am so lucky to have grown up with this as a part of my life. I practically have family down in Rocky Point because of people that my dad has met and become close to over the years. It is also amazing because I take my friends down all the time and we get to have a nice get-away from all of the things at home and escape somewhere where our cell phones don't work and Facebook doesn't exist! We also like to party there. I am happy because my parents are going to pass it on to my sister and I for us to raise our babies in too.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Dubrovnik, Croatia was one of the destinations that my family and I visited while on the cruise we went on a few summers ago. It has to be one of the most amazing places I have ever seen. The weather there at the time that we went was so beautiful. It was perfectly warm outside, the water was a crystal blue/green color and it was so perfectly still. The people in Dubrovnik were beautiful too! They had such perfectly tanned skin and beautiful eyes. I had never even heard of Croatia before I went there. But, I highly recommend it as a vacation destination. I couldn't even count the amount of yachts that I saw while I was there. While we were there we ate at a restaurant and ordered a native wine drink that they have there. It was a very interesting drink, it was good though. I'm not sure what it was called, but, Croatia is known for their wines. Also while we were there we took a cab around the city to try and see the local aspect of the city rather than the touristy area. The cab took us to an area where the local people like to swim. It was amazing, the water was such a pretty color and people were just jumping in everywhere. I would love to go back to Dubrovnik, Croatia again.

Santorini, Greece

A few summers ago I went on a cruise to several different destinations; Santorini, Greece being one of them. Santorini is unlike any place I have ever visited. My family and I went to a black sand beach while we were there. It was very interesting and very beautiful. It was very hot outside when we were there, this may have been partly because the sand was black. It was almost too hot to walk on; so, built on the sand there were walkways leading to each umbrella area. It was very tourist oriented at the beach we went to, but it was still nice. Even while just lying on the beach, someone would come and take your order for food or drinks. It was an interesting experience for a beach. It was also quite a party destination, there was a restaurant/bar near the beach that was very busy. The architecture in Santorini, and Greece in general is so different from anything I have seen. In Santorini all of the buildings were some sort of white stone. It is beautiful. Santorini was also an interesting experience because I met some kids my age that were in Santorini to go to school abroad from the United States. I considered doing that because it is a beautiful place. I guess I still could!

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

I went to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in 2004. It was a place like nothing I had ever seen. My first experience off of the 18 hour flight to Rio, was the coffee. The coffee that they have in Brazil is amazing. It has such a unique and rich flavor. They also make a coffee called "cafe con leche". This is simply coffee with milk in it, but it tasted much more flavorful than just coffee with milk. But, the coffee is not nearly the only amazing thing about Rio. The people in Rio De Janeiro are so absolutely beautiful. Pretty much all of them are too, not even just a select few. They have amazing bodies. This is probably partly caused by the sport that they play that is similar to volleyball except they use all parts of their bodies. It was a crazy thing to watch and very cool. They played it all along the beach of Rio. The beach of Rio was beautiful. Everyone wore practically nothing! Which was kind of weird coming from the U.S., because we cover up pretty well compared to foreign places. My parents actually let me buy one of the "brazillian" cut swim suits from Rio. Not that they would ever let me wear it. Rio De Janeiro is a big city alongside a beach, with many buildings and high-rises right next to the ocean. It is an amazing place to visit and there is so much to tell, I could go on for hours about it. But I will spare you.

Iguazu Falls, Argentina

Okay, so I know that Iguazu Falls is not a beach. But, they are absolutely exquisite and I think that they deserve some recognition. I traveled to Argentina in 2004 when I was 14. I was kind of too young in my opinion to be able to appreciate something of such beauty, but they were so amazing that I could take most of it in. Iguazu Falls are taller than Niagara Falls. They are so enormous it is almost unfathomable. Even standing yards away from the falls you can feel the mist from them. There were pathways leading through the jungle around the falls and you would walk on the paths, through the jungle, getting misted by the beautiful falls.

 

When my family and I visited Iguazu Falls, we not only walked a good ways around the top of the falls; we also took a small boat around the bottom of the falls and looked at them from that point of view. It was breathtaking. I have been to Niagara Falls before but those didn't even come close to Iguazu. Getting the chance to see something of this extravagance is an experience I will take with me to the grave. I will never forget seeing these mammoth falls.

Kusadasi, Turkey

Two summers ago I took a cruise of the Mediterranean. It was amazing; we got to visit many different countries and see many different things. One of my favorite places that we visited was Kusadasi, Turkey. I had never even thought about visiting Turkey before my cruise. When I thought of Turkey I thought of the desert or some sort of run down poor village. But, it was not that at all. We visited a beach called green beach in Kusadasi. It was absolutely stunning. The water was very wavy which isn't my favorite way for the water to be, but it was so warm and salty and green colored, those attributes made up for the waves. It was so warm outside and we just laid in the sun until we got too hot and then we went into the water to get refreshed, it was a continuous cycle. I also loved this beach because it was like a huge party. Everyone was drinking beers and they were playing techno music. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. And to think I thought Turkey was a run down desert!

We also had wonderful food in Kusadasi. I remember walking through the town getting tastes of Baklava and other types of Turkish food. Another very interesting thing about Kusadasi was that they had this liquor that, when mixed with water, turned into a milky sort of substance. It was a very strong alcohol and it was very interesting that it did this.

Cairns/Sydney, Australia

Every year my family and I take a two week vacation to an exotic location. The year of 2007 we went to Australia. Our vacation began in Cairns. which was a beautiful place to begin. The beaches were wonderful, not as hot as I would have liked though. Something interesting about Cairns is that the clouds would roll in and out so quickly, one minute it would be raining and the next the sun would be shining. But it was rather refreshing if it did get warm, you knew that a shower was soon to come. One of the major things that we did in Cairns was snorkel/scuba dive The Great Barrier Reef.

This was such a great experience to have and I am lucky to have done it. After Cairns we traveled to Sydney, Australia. Sydney is an exquisite place. A lot of Australia is similar to The United States, with subtle differences. For example; the fact that they drive on the wrong side of the road. My dad rented a car and tried to drive, it was not easy to stay on the left. But that's another story. Something that stood out to me about Sydney is that it had beautiful high rises while still having a very pretty harbor. We stayed at Darling Harbour in Sydney.

Phuket, Thailand

I think that I am going to dedicate my blog to all of the travel destinations that I have been to. In this blog post I am going to talk about Phuket, Thailand. Phuket was one of my favorite places. Mostly because of how different it was from anywhere else I have seen. It was so incredibly rich in culture and beauty. When I visited Phuket one of their neighboring cities had just suffered from a Tsunami, it had devastating effects. I remember seeing a boat capsized miles away from the coastline, it had been swept out of the ocean and shipwrecked. Like I mentioned in my previous blog post, I am a beach person; Thailand had amazing beaches. The water was so warm and the sand was so soft; people literally flocked to the beaches there because of their beauty and ideal characteristics. Another one of the many beautiful things about Phuket, Thailand was the people there. The people were so kind and giving. Everyone we ran into seemed to be filled with joy and a huge smile on their face. Also a great benefit for Americans traveling to this part of the world is that our dollar is worth much more than the money that they use. We got wonderful massages every day for only $10 an hour. Below is a picture of one of the exquisite beaches in Phuket.

The Beach

I don't know about you guys, but I like the beach. I have been to many beaches around the world, at least 50 different locations. I like my beaches to be warm and sunny, with a very warm body of water, wherever they are. Luckily, that is how most of the beaches that I have been to are. I really like tropical beaches. One of my favorite beach locations is Aitutaki, Cook Islands. I was there this past summer for a week or so. It is more of a lagoon rather than simply a beach. It is an amazing location.

 

This is an aerial view of the Aitutaki Lagoon. It was a beautiful place to be able to visit. It is very remote there and definitely falls in one of my top 10 favorite beaches. The Aitutaki Lagoon is in the middle of the pacific ocean. Kind of a scary thing to be aware of when you are out there, on a remote island in the middle of the ocean. Putting all fears aside, it was an awesome place to get to visit.

First Blog!

Hi blog world and Ms. Filbeck. I'm not exactly sure what to write about for my first blog. I'll just write about life... In terms of school, it is stressful. It is somewhat overwhelming with all of the work thrown at students in the beginning. Also, moving into a new place away from home adds to the stress. My three roommates and I are having problems with our fourth roommate. She has been threatening to turn off the electricity so I am nervous for when she does and all of my food spoils. In terms of family life, I miss my family. I went and saw my mom yesterday and she is very sad and missing me a lot. I'm not sure if these are okay topics to be writing about, but I guess we will see! Have a good day everyone :).