Week of 5/18/2020 Big Sky is a beautiful place in Montana. The area is mostly known for their beautiful scenery, and of course their downhill skiing! The first time I visited Big Sky was in elementary school with my dads side of the family. That's where I learned how to ski! Big sky is an amazing place to relax, ski, and shop! Big Sky's most well known slope is Mr. K, which is a green slope (green is the easiest, then it goes to blue which is medium difficulty and then there are blacks which are the hardest. The more diamonds on a black slope the harder it is). If you have ever skied in Alexandria or Detroit Lakes, MN, the green slopes at big sky are more like the black slopes in Minnesota. Big Sky has way to many slopes for me to have been down all of them, and no matter how many times you have been on the same slope, they never get old. One of the fun and unique parts about Big Sky (that I haven't done) is to ski off the main slope and make your own path through the woods after getting off a steep ledge from the slope. It looks really scary and hard! The first time I visited the area, my cousin decided to try it and ended up running into a tree. Big Sky, MT is the perfect get away location for everyone, both skiers and non skiers! The views are amazing and they have some of the best skiing in the country. I highly suggest to anyone that ever has a chance to visit, GO! This area is absolutely stunning! I hope everyone is staying safe and inside. See you next week!!
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Week of 5/4/2020 Bryce Canyon is a beautiful National Park that is located in Utah, and is only one hour away from Zion NP. The park features beautiful red/ orange rock structures and amazing hikes. I hope you enjoy this blog about this stunning National Park being that this will probably be my last National Park blog post... Until quarantine lifts and I can travel again! Enjoy :) Bryce Canyon is known for their rock formations called "hoodoos", which are rock formations that are still connected to the ground that have been eroded on their sides to make them tall and skinny. They are really amazing to see in real life! The image below shows some of them, but it definitely does not do them justice! These rock structures can be as tall or short as they want. The park has a long road that brings you up to the top of a mountain with many places to stop along the way to take a photo, enjoy the scenery, and to relax. Once you get to the top of the road, you get to a building with an elevation of almost 9,000 feet. The last stop on the road before you turn back is absolutely stunning! You can see everything and it feels like you are on top of the world! Although we definitely didnt get to spend as much time as we wanted to in Bryce, we definitely made the most of the time we had. After a mandatory gift shop stop (gotta get those stickers!), we took a hike down to the bottom of the canyon. However, we didnt make it all the way down because there were some dark clouds heading our way and the last thing we wanted to do was be in the bottom of the canyon during a flash flood! I will definitely miss blogging about all my adventures in these beautiful national parks. I can't wait to explore more of them! However, I would absolutely love it if you would leave a comment down below on any national park recommendations you have, and why you liked that park so much! I'll see you back next week for a blog about the beautiful country of mexico and my time there a few years ago! I hope you are all staying home and safe :)
Week of 4/24/2020 Chico Hot springs in Pray, MT has always had a special place in my heart! The first time I visited this gorgeous place was for my cousins wedding about 6 years ago. Anytime we drive through Montana we make sure to stay there to bring back all of the amazing memories and to be surrounded by beautiful scenery. I highly recommend stopping at this beautiful place any time you can get the chance! The main attraction at Chico Hot Springs is the pool that is heated naturally because it is a hot spring. The pool area is not covered by a roof, but is surrounded by the hotel which makes it extra special. Along with the pool, there is a hot tub, outdoor bar and restaurant that are all attached to the pool area. From the pool you can see gorgeous views of the mountains that surround the area. Like you will see in pictures later in this post, they are truly breathtaking. Whenever we stop at Chico, we spend the whole day at the pool and then usually go for a sunset walk. There is nothing really close to chico which makes the scenery so much more pretty. They have multiple trails that you could hike and a river if you wanted to fish or even just to daydream. My favorite "hike" is pretty short, but it leads up to one of the most beautiful places (which is also the spot where my cousin got married). I think that this location is the most beautiful at sunset or right before. You get to see the light hitting the mountains and see them glow. The area is surrounded by long grass that also glows when you are there at the right time. In the center of the little field there is a beautiful little building with a roof over it. Chico has so much to offer including horseback riding, shopping, good food, a natural hot spring pool, beautiful trails and so much more. I love the feel of it when I walk in! I highly suggest that you check it out the next time you are in Montana!
Week of 4/27/2020 Mexico is a beautiful country filled with kind people, beautiful scenery and a stunning ocean! In 2018 my family (moms side) decided to take a big family vacation to Akumal, Mexico to celebrate my grandma beating Pancreatic cancer (and I am proud to say that she is still cancer free to this day and is living her best life)! Akumal is on the Yucatan Peninsula on the east side of the country, bordered by the gulf of mexico. After finally arriving in Mexico, we were going to meet up with the rest of our family who flew out of Minneapolis, MN. Since we were on different flights, the airport in Mexico has multiple terminals, had different arrival times, and were all having troubles getting cell service, it took us about an hour to try to find each other! After we finally did, we were off on our way to paradise! Because there were eleven of us, the house we rented was huge! There were five bedrooms, a kitchen, dining room, living room, several balconies, pool and was oceanfront! I honestly don't think we could have rented a better house for the week! Although we could have easily stayed at the house the whole time, we chose to explore the area! We stayed in Akumal, Mexico which is near the beautiful beach town of Tulum. Out of all of my travels, Tulum is one of the places that I would love to move to! Tulum borders a reservation that has tons of gorgeous beaches with probably the most beautiful ocean water color I have ever seen, which is the picture below! Along with exploring beautiful locations, My parents, Abby and one of my cousins Tait, all went to spend a day at an ocean water park called Xel-Ha! Xel-Ha (pronounced chel-ha) had many things for us to do like cliff jumping into the ocean, zip lining into the ocean, going on a ten story high ocean slide, and so much more! If you are ever in this area in Mexico, I highly suggest visiting Xel-Ha, even though it is pretty touristy! Mexico is a beautiful country that I have been so lucky to have visited a few times. There are many hidden treasures and adventures to take in Mexico. Mexico is a popular vacation destination that I would highly suggest anyone reading this to visit! I hope you enjoyed this weeks blog! Come back next week for a very different style of vacation blog post! Stay safe!
Week of 4/20/2020 Hello again!! Im am so glad that you are back! This week I will be telling you about the crazy city of Las Vegas, Nevada! My family and I visited the city halfway through our national park road trip! My dad had visited Las Vegas a few times for work, but it was my moms, Abbys and my first time there. Throughout this blog I'll tell you about what we did, what we thought of it all and where we stayed! I hope you enjoy :) We spent two days in Las Vegas and tried to see as much of the city as possible. The first day we got there we checked into the hotel, got situated and then started to explore!! To start off the evening, we walked around and explored the different hotels and malls! My favorite hotel was the Venetian because there was an indoor river and the skies were painted like we were outdoors! Although I knew we were inside, it really looked real! Along with the outdoor feel, it was decorated and had cafes and boutiques like we were in Europe! The hotels in Las Vegas have almost anything you could imagine in them- pools, malls, rivers, theme parks, casinos, restaurants and so much more! At night we went to visit the eiffel tower (in the picture below) and an outdoor water fountain show! The water fountain show was really neat. The water sprayed in the air in correlation with the music playing! There were so many lights at night and it was so cool! I absolutely loved the entrance of our hotel which is the image below! It was not uncommon to see things like this in the hotels in Vegas. Since I have never been to Europe to see the painted ceilings, eiffel tower, and so many other things, it was fun to see things that were similar! The last day we had in Las Vegas we spent at our hotel pool. We rented a pool cabana to use the whole day. The cabana shared a private pool with the other cabanas which was so nice since the other pool was ridiculously full all the time! The pool area had a cool view of our hotel, The Luxor. It was a nice and relaxing day to take a break from all of our hikes in the national parks. Las Vegas is definitely a neat town. For me, I feel like being there once is enough, but I am so glad I got the chance to visit it and to see what it was like! My favorite part of the city was seeing all of the amazing hotels and what surprises they held inside. Hopefully you enjoyed this weeks travel blog! See you next week for another adventure!!
Week of 4/14/2020 Hey hey!! Welcome back to my adventure blog! This week I will be telling you about my time in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. This is the second half of my Costa Rica trip, so if you haven't read the first half about the Monteverde cloud forest, you should go check it out! I hope you enjoy the blog! Tamarindo, Costa Rica is located towards the top of the country on the peninsula on a gorgeous beach. Along with Tamarindo, there are multiple other beach towns around. Tamarindo is a big surf town in Costa Rica which means that it's really wavy and has a strong current, but its only like that in certain parts. We (for the most part) stayed in the main area of the beach where the water was really calm. During our stay in Tamarindo, we stayed at a place called the Breeze. The little oasis has a stunning two tiered pool with recliner chairs, and was just out of the houses. In the gated area, there were five houses in total, but because of the circumstances, only one other house was booked. The area was kept up and gorgeous and was an amazing place to get out of the sun, swim, and relax. Along with the beautiful area, the staff were so generous and kind. I highly recommend staying there if you ever visit this beautiful country and town! A commonly said thing all over Costa Rica is "Pura Vida", which means pure life. That phrase is used for greetings, starting conversations, in the middle of conversations, and to say goodbye. When visiting the country, my family and I were all skeptical and thought that natives didnt actually say that, but after connecting with my dads friend from college we were surprised to find out that everyone actually says that. I love the phrase so much! After being in Tamarindo a few days and relaxing on the beach, we decided to snorkel. One of Abby's requirements for our 2020 vacation was that we had to go snorkeling, so we booked a boat in Playa Flamingo to take us snorkeling. On the snorkel trip we saw puffer fish, tons of sea urchins, Pacific Blue Tang (dory from finding nemo), Moorish Idol (Gill from finding nemo), and so many more that I don't know the names of. Because Costa Rica is so close to the equator, the sun is extremely hot and can be very dangerous (speaking from experience lol). After just one day being at the beach, I was extremely burnt! However that didnt stop me from enjoying every second in paradise! Tamarindo has so much to offer including restaurants, surf shops, boutiques, markets and most importantly... the beach!! One of my favorite things about Tamarindo (and everywhere else in Costa Rica) is that it is very common to see monkeys hanging from trees and buildings only feet away from you! On our very last day in Costa Rica, Abby and I decided to take a surf lesson. I can say with 100% certainty that it was one of the best experiences in my life! Although it definitely looks a lot easier in the movies, once you get the hang of it, its absolutely amazing! I highly recommend taking advantage of a surf lesson next time you are near the ocean, I promise you won't regret it! Along with lots of successes, learning came with plenty of fails (let me know if you ever need a good laugh and I can show you them, lol). Costa Rica has definitely been my favorite vacation of all times and I am so grateful for the experience. The country is filled with kind and caring people that makes the country the amazing place it is. I highly recommend putting Costa Rica at the top of your bucket list! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! Make sure to come back next week for another blog!
Week of 4/6/2020 Welcome to my blog again! This week I will be writing a part 1 to my most recent and probably favorite vacation... COSTA RICA!! We went March 10-18, 2020 (and yes, if you are caught up on the news these days, we went during COVID-19 but it was before everything got as bad as it is now). I hope you enjoy this blog just as much as I did the trip :) We flew out of Minneapolis, MN and had one layover in Atlanta, GE. While being in the airport we wiped down every table we sat at, all chairs, used hand sanitizer what felt like every ten minutes, didnt touch railings, etc. Whats a family vacation without a little drama right?! While we were boarding the plane in Minneapolis, Dad went to check to make sure we had the passports so we could get out of the country but when he checked he couldn't find it! After stalling the plane for a few minutes and talking to many security guards seeing if they found four passports, Abby found them in a secret pocket in the backpack! We then boarded the plane and had a peaceful ride WITH our passports (lol). After arriving in Costa Rica, we drove about an hour on the countries main (and only paved road in the country) highway to a small city to stay the night. After waking up extra (5am Minnesota time) early the next morning because of all of the birds and sunshine coming in through the windows, we went to go eat breakfast and then continued on our way about 3 hours. Halfway through the mountainous and curvy road up to Monteverde, I ended up getting carsick so we decided to make a quick stop at a little soda shop to let me rest and take some of my motion sickness medicine. When we finally got to our eco lodge in Monteverde we had the most stunning view of the ocean (even though we were in the middle of the country) and had rainforest surrounding us. The lodge was on about 10 acres of private land that they made a preserve. However we didnt have much time to explore the lodge yet... we had to get to our Cloud forest tour and Zip lining!! Costa Rica does not have the best signage and does not have good roads (it takes more than double the time to get places in CR than it does here!!). Being said, yes, we got lost for a while while trying to find the tour! After arriving at the Cloud forest we were greeted by our guide and started the tour! It was super interesting to see all of the wild animals and nature. About halfway through the tour, the guide took out his flashlight and put it in a whole in the dirt and had Abby and I look at what was in it... There was a tarantula!! We passed about 20 tarantula holes throughout the trip without even realizing it! On the tour we walked across five different hanging bridges which were absolutely stunning! They had the best view and sometimes you could spot howler monkeys. After the tour we got ready for zip lining!! It was so crazy to fly through the clouds while hanging in the air! Once you got off the starting platform, you could honestly not see anything half the time! That made it so much more fun than past zip lining we have done. However, the one downside about being so high up in the clouds is that it got really cold and we were all so wet, but it was so worth it! After returning home to the lodge we were all exhausted, but we were in Costa Rica and refused to go to bed that early! We decided to go to the little dining area and eat and play some games. The next day we decided to go on a hike through the preserve. The first time we went we saw about 10 of some sort of animal that looked like a combination of monkeys and anteaters! They started to get pretty close and since we didnt know what they were, we decided to keep walking and leave them alone. The second time we went on the walk, we took a different route and ended up in the hammock garden! There were about 20 hammocks all over the area. There was almost no one there and it was so quiet and peaceful! There was also an amazing overlook of the rainforest there as well. Costa Rica is an absolutely beautiful place that has been on my bucket list for the longest time! This was a trip of a lifetime!! I am so blessed to have had this opportunity and if you ever have the chance to go, GO! I promise you won't regret it! Come back next week for my part 2 on Costa Rica when we go to the beach in Tamarindo! Stay safe my friends :)
Week of 3/30/2020 Located in Colorado, Rocky Mountain National Park is a stunning park with mountains, waterfalls, and plenty of wild animals. Even though Rocky Mountain NP is not one of the most popular parks, it is definitely a very pretty place that everyone should to see at some point in their life. Estes Park, Colorado is the base of the park. We camped in a campground right outside the small town. The park gates were in close proximity to the campground. This park is in a beautiful location with lots of nature and animals. We took a hike to an absolutely stunning waterfall (the first picture on this weeks blog) that had rocks around it that you could hike up to and sit on top while looking down at the river part of the waterfall. Although it may not be the best known park, Rocky Mountain NP is a park that would definitely be worth the trip! It would be a great place to have a get away with your friends or family.
Back to the National Park series, this week I will be writing about North Dakota's Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Although this park is not as well known and may not be as big as the other parks, it is definitely a gorgeous destination! Theodore Roosevelt National park is made of lots of natural rock formations. This park is full of wild horses, cacti, and beautiful scenery. There is a nice visitor center with employees that love talking about the park, and are always open to help you find a hike or something to do in the park. The only downside about this park is that because it is smaller than most National Parks and not as popular, there are not as many things to do. However on the up side that means that the park is less crowded! Theodore Roosevelt National Park is a stunning location in North Dakota that everyone should visit! I enjoyed my time there, and I think you would too. I hope you are excited for the National Park blog series to come back, I know I am!
This week I will be telling you about the last vacation that I took with my family. In march of last year (2019), we took a cruise with Norwegian cruise lines and went to Nassau Bahamas!! Even though it was our third time visiting the Bahamas, it never gets old! I hope you enjoy this weeks blog :) After boarding the boat in Cape Canaveral, FL my family and I had some time to explore the ship, get some food, get situated in our room, and soak up the sun! I can still remember the first time I walked on to the cruise ship deck. There was so much sunshine, everyone was smiling, the water in the waterpark and pools were going and there was so much food and deserts! The ship had so many fun things to do that included restaurants, shopping centers, a water park, gym and spa, kid zone, adult only deck, and also a secret deck on level 18. I loved all of it so much! Abby and I went down the waterslides multiple times, and swam a lot! We also loved to go and eat at different restaurants and at the pool deck buffet. Of course we would also lay in the sun near the pool a lot too. Our first stop was in Nassau, Bahamas. After getting off the ship we got a taxi over to cabbage beach, which is also where the famous hotel Atlantis is. Although it was a little windy, that didnt stop us from getting in the ocean and jumping the waves! The water color was absolutely gorgeous, I can still picture that color in my head. The next day we planned on stopping at compass cay, which is Norwegians private island in the Bahamas, but unfortunately it was to rough on the ocean to get off the ship and on to the island since we would have to bring little boats to the island, but that didnt stop us from having fun! We soaked up the sun on the secret deck, swam, ate, and relaxed! This cruise was an amazing vacation that I won't ever forget! I absolutely loved being in the warmth, and enjoyed every second in the bahamas and on the ocean! I hope you enjoyed this weeks blog post as much as I did writing it! See you next week for another post!
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Welcome!!Hey hey!! My name is Mara Lysne. I have always had a love for traveling, which has inspired me to create my very own travel blog! I will be writing about some of my favorite places, National Parks, and will also include some good travel tips to keep in mind when traveling! I hope you enjoy :) Archives
May 2020
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