Hannah's Last Day of Machu Picchu Hike

It has been fun "following" Hannah on her hike ~ through this link.

http://www.sastravelperu.com/english/program/339/inca-trail-classic-4d3n-group-service/

Tomorrow will be the 4th and last day of their hike. 

Can't WAIT to see pictures and hear of their stories. 

Happy Friday ya'll!

P.S.  Enjoy checking out Audrey's blog (Hannah's travel mate).
She put up some great posts and pictures of their
recent travels. 
www.whenindoubttravel.blogspot.com

1st Destination: Orlando

 Alden and I left DC......

for Alden's work conference.

Left a beautiful FALL day in Washington

got into some "stormy" clouds as we neared Florida.......

little did we know what was in store for us.

and arrived safely......



tram at the airport.....taking us to baggage claim 

headed over to our hotel ~

 Very neat place ~ Peabody Hotel

Look at this neat mirror in the bathroom.....

the dark rectangle....

is.....

a TV!  WHAT?!  Pretty cool.

We enjoyed the sunset from our room window......

So pretty!

Soon realizing.....

a storm was brewing off to the left.

and sure enough ~ came the rain!

and....I want to tell you ~

it rained for 24 hours STRAIGHT!

It poured rain.

We actually found out afterwards that we got

7" of rain during our stay.

WOW!

Welcome to the "sunshine" state!  :)



 We made the best of it ~

did a little "work" and catching up on email.

Checked out the hotel ~

this was QUITE the show.

Yep, red carpet and all.



Ducks in the fountain in the lobby

They walked down the steps......

down the red carpet

into the elevator......

and up to their "palace"

palace on the roof

 QUITE the home isn't it!

 the ducks eating.....

The ducks arrive TO the pond ....by the red carpet.....at 11:00 each morning.

AND......depart for HOME at 5:00 each evening.

What fun! 

We enjoyed Alden's co-workers & friends

Vicki, Steve and Maribeth

Cathy and Larry

Earl, Alden, Chris and Larry

 Kim and I

 The rain finally stopped.......

and we almost RAN outside!

ahhhhhh, the SUN

We took a walk and found a relaxing place to enjoy being outside a bit.



Beautiful flowers ~

Enjoyed some meetings ~

 Sunday night we headed over to Universal Studios

enjoyed some dinner

 and walked through Harry Potter "world"

We were blessed with this time with Alden's company.

It is good to connect with his co-workers from CA, CO and DC.

We're thankful for Alden's work ~

he appreciates working for this company. 

We appreciate the people.

Hannah & Friends ~ Hiking the Inca Trail

Hannah was joined on Saturday with 5 GREAT friends:
Janelle, John, Shaden, Leah and Scott.......
who came to Peru to hike the Inca Trail.

Destination is Machu Picchu.

They left this morning for the 4-day hike.

They walk, see beautiful sights, "live" history,

climb in quite the altitude,
meals are cooked for them,

and they sleep in tents.

Sounds like quite the adventure doesn't it!

Hannah is VERY happy to be spending

these few days with her special guy ~ JOHN.  :)

This hike has been planned for months and it is pretty neat to see

it coming to fruition. 

Please be praying for them ~

can't wait to see pictures of them actually hiking
and hear the incredible stories! 

Adventure on!!!!!!

Florida ~ Three AMAZING Destinations

Alden and I have spent the last week in Florida

and what an amazing time we have had!

Orlando ~ Holmes Beach ~ Longboat Key

We left last Friday for Orlando, where we enjoyed a few days at Alden's work conference. 

It was good to connect with friends and co-workers.

 

At the completion of the conference, we headed over to the Gulf coast ~

 to Holmes Beach.........

to visit with some VERY dear family friends, Bea and Bob.

Ohhhh, how we love this couple.  They are my parents' best friends ~

I grew up always knowing them.  Bob and my Dad were in the AF together.

Bea and my mom had such fun together ~ raising their kids and being special girlfriends.

We have so many memories with this couple.

They truly are family to us. 

We enjoyed our first glimpse of the GULF ~ ahhhhhh,

so beautiful.

Bob gave Alden a tour of his golf course ~

We talked.....and talked.....and talked some more.

It is SO good to get caught up with each other

and just spend time together.

It was such a fun, relaxing time.

We are simply filled up with special times ~

We said our goodbyes.....reluctantly.........

and headed a bit farther south to ~

Longboat Key.

 This was a wonderful respite for Alden and I ~

we LOVE the beach.....

and oh my, the gulf beaches are simply BEAUTIFUL.

Longboat Key is where my parents retired ~

we love the memories we have here with them.
I appreciated just "being" here.

We enjoyed many sunsets during this week ~

and oh my, they were all just beautiful.

We are beyond thankful for this week away ~

I will be posting more of each of our 3 "destinations".

I HAD to give you a little glimpse into our time this week.

We head home tomorrow...........