The Happy Wanderers

12 Days until the wedding!

2008-08-24T08:48:00.000-07:00

How time has flown, I can't believe it is only 12 days 'till Hugo and I are officially hitched. I almost feel like this day never was going to arrive, but before I knoew it- it is just around the corner.
All plans and projects are going accorrdingly - I only have a few more items to do: Hugo and I still have to pack for our honeymoon.

It's funny we are going from one extreme to another - meaning from very hot weather - The Galapagos Islands which is on the Equator of the world to Cold weather - Machu Picchu - Cusco, Peru.

We are so excited.......for the day to finally arrive and to just get on that plane and go!

42 Days until The Big Day!!

2008-07-25T19:31:00.000-07:00

I can't believe the wedding is literally just around the corner! I feels like it was yesterday Hugo, my father, Pippy , Chris and myself were hiking up to Delicate Arch in Moab and Hugo proposed to me!
Now we only have 42 more days and so much going on. I have a laundry list of items still to be done, but things are getting done.

Some changes have occurred with the bridal party for the better of course and I am happy to say that Pippy and Jessica are now my maids of honor! :)

I will try as hard to post as much as possible through out the days, but I can not guarantee it.

Wedding news - getting ready for the big day!

2008-02-18T19:30:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I have written and well......wedding plans are in full swing. Glad to report my progress is doing well and Hugo and I are preparing ourselves for the big day. One of the main highlights of this blessed event is our honeymoon.

We have after much thought, consideration and what was more affordable - we have decided to go to the Galapagos Islands and Machu Picchu! We are thrilled with our decision as we both have dreamed of visiting and experiencing that part of the world. Our original plans was Europe - France, England and a third country (not sure yet). But with the economy and the rate of our dollar in Europe we will have to post-pone that trip and save it for 2009! Gives us more time to save and we will be in a better financial situation (not paying for a wedding).

I have to be completely honest though, I was nervous about going to Europe fearing we would not be able to cover all costs and all.....but I am glad to say we made the right decision in deciding to go to South America instead of Europe.

Ecuador and Peru, here we come! ;)

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-23T17:27:00.000-08:00

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! God Bless!

THE PROPOSAL!!!

2007-10-28T18:36:00.001-07:00

As you may know Hugo and I are engaged to get married. We went to Moab & did this amazing hike up to Delicate Arch. The hike was a good one and a tough one. Finally arriving at the top, we realized it was definitely worth it. With that said, Hugo asked me to come with him to the arch, at first I did not feel up to it, but after much persuasion I did.

After taking some photos of the arch and showing Hugo one of the shots, he goes "Well, that is OK, but what do you think of this?" and presented me with a beautiful engagement ring. We were very fortunate to have one of our close and dear friends Chris there to document the moment.

After an emotional yes, we are engaged and ready to marry. Wedding date has been set for September 5, 2008.

http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/ceciliamorales&hugoortegajr.

Some pics of our trip

2007-10-13T09:36:00.000-07:00

A quick and OVERDUE post - some photos of the trip! Enjoy~

Delicate Arch

Delicate Arch at dusk.

The Windows

Monument Valley

The Jeep Jamboree

2007-09-15T14:59:00.000-07:00

Day 1 – Jeep Jamboree – Sign up

There is more to this story that I feel like writing about , but I really want to get to the good stuff, so without further do: Ouray is a really nice town and if you ever have the opportunity to visit, I highly recommend it. It is very small and one of those towns you know everyone knows everyone…..We picked up our jeeps at Riverside Inn and headed into town with our jeeps. As we got there – 4:45 there was already a line to get registered. So we quickly parked and headed to the community center. We stood in line for a few and finally arrived at the table to register. Finally speaking to Chris, he suggested we try Imogene and Placer Gulch and Picayne Gulch. Finally registering for our trails, we headed out for a walk around Ouray and found this really cute and quaint coffee shop called “Mouse’s Chocolate and Coffee” as we walked in there was an over abundance of chocolate and plenty of coffee to go round! Being I am an ice cream junkie, I decided to have the “Old Fashion Vanilla Shake” and oh boy……what a treat! Hugo had his favorite ‘White Chocolate Mocha Cappuccino”, my father had a shot of espresso and a piece of banana bread and Pip declined on the whole thing. We all enjoyed our treats as we admired the brick wall of the shop and the atmosphere of it. We then headed back out and went back to the hotel to get ready for the first day of being on the trails.

Day 2 – Jeep Jamboree - Imogene Pass

So today is the second day of the jeep jamboree. Pip got up first (5 am) and got the ball rolling for all of us to get up and get ready for a crazy adventure we signed up for. We headed out to the Ouray Community Center to have breakfast for everyone and to my delight and surprise I ran into a colleague of mine! NANCY! Nancy and I met when I attended the Great American Photography workshop in Page, Arizona and Monument Valley, Arizona. I had seen her from across the room and thought I recognized her but was not 100% sure. She , by coincidence, sat at our table as I approached the table I knew for sure that it was here. I greeted her and immediately we started to reminisce about the workshop we had attended and how insane we were for registering for the jeep jamboree.

We all grabbed our breakfast’s and started to chow down. They also had packed lunches for us to take with us on the road while we are up in the mountains. Ok, so let’s get to the nitty gritty – our first day on the trail – we signed up for Imogene Pass – which according to a couple of the tail gunners it is one of the more “difficult” trails that we are allowed to sign up for. First to drive for that day was Pippy - who my father was riding with and Hugo and me. Hugo got to drive first half of the day. We all met up with our trail guide and tail gunners. Unfortunately day 1 we did not have CB unit to listen to the history of these trails. Either way it was a great trail, we started up the pass and immediately we had to go into 4-low. It was pretty crazy! As we climbed up this mountain on these rocky trails, it was pretty insane (oh wait I said that already, wait…did I say it WAS INSANE!!!)….anyways…..we continued to climb up the mountain on these trails that we were once traveled by people on foot, horses, mules….it would take them days to climb up 13,000 feet. One can only imagine with the harsh cold or the heat of the season what type of affect it had on them. It was so amazing to see how these people made a living as miners and what they had to go through. jThat was certainly an intense period of time. We finally made it to Tom Boy - Tom Boy was a mining town. It was now a ghost town and all we could see were the remnants of a forgotten village. Mining shafts falling, wood scattered through out the ground, creeks polluted and abandoned homes. It was kind of eerie there, but it was our half way point of the trail and lunch time.

We all were pretty hungry and it was very apparent so were other jeepers. We all savored the turkey or beef sandwiches we had selected. A couple had brought their rotweiller named “Cinabon” who was very friendly and ended up becoming friends with Pippy and Hugo. I was very happy to report my father was in complete awe of what these jeeps could do and of the land and mountains we were climbing. He wandered through the town and admired the forgotten village. I was very happy and pleased of my father’s reaction to the beginning of this adventure.

We had an hour for lunch and once that hour was done, we headed back onto the trail, this time it was my turn to drive and my father’s, but he opted to allow Pippy to complete the day of jeeping. So we started off for the other half of the trail. As we started to do these switchbacks, I managed to break the stem of my back wheel and as Hugo and I heard the air escaping out of the tire we simply looked at one another and had this look of shock and an expression of “NO WAY!!” so we immediately pulled over to the side and got out of the jeep to see the damage. At first we couldn’t see where the problem was but then Hugo found the stem leaking air. The trail gunner came over to check to see what was up and well, he was ready for action, so was the couple behind us. Hugo immediately went to the jeep to pull out the jack to lift the jeep and to his astonishment and to the tail gunner it was a small “street” jack that would be of no use on the trail. To our rescue was the couple that was behind us. He had a real jeep jack that would be our salvation. Between the tail gunner, Bill, my father and Hugo they were all able to change the tire and we were back on the road. Unfortunately we had to catch up to the rest of the group who were already in Telluride. Finally arriving in Telluride, we realize that it was a “swanky” town with people driving their Porches and Lexus’s. We had to travel a couple of miles out of Telluride and onto the highway to get to the other part of the trail. Finally turning right onto the trail we again ascended up the mountain to some beautiful vistas. Apparently we drive through Ralph Lauren’s property twice and finally arrived to the “True Grit” location. For those of you that don’t know, The True Grit is a John Wayne movie and they filmed up on Imogene pass. It was truly amazing to see this set and to think of “the Duke” walking these same roads and filming here. My father was in disbelief that he was actually on the set of the True Grit as he is a huge John Wayne fan.

Finally descending back down the mountain, we headed back into Ouray. The one thing that we all did not appreciate on the trail of Imogene was how DUSTY it was. I mean it was dusty, we were all completely covered in dust as well as all of our belongings. But what can you do, a small price to pay for such an adventure. We arrived in Ouray and went quickly to the hotel to all shower and then headed back to the community center to have dinner. We ate our dinner – pork chops and chicken with rosemary on it. We met up again with Nancy and saw Chris and Sue, Chris of course wanted to here how wee did on our first trail and we were all happy to report that we had done excellently and enjoyed it immensely , especially the True Grit stop. Once we were done with dinner, Hugo spoke to our tail gunner Bill and he said he could fix the busted tire. So Hugo went to meet up with Bill at his Hotel and Pip decided to go back to the hotel. My father and I decided we would go for a walk to burn off some of the food we had just munched on. We headed out for a walk on the streets of Ouray. After a while we decided to go back t the hotel where Hugo was with Bill who was fixing the tire for us. When we arrived they had just finished fixing the tire and Hugo was hanging out with them. They were drinking a couple of beers and Bill was kind enough to offer my father and me a beer. So we took him on it and enjoyed the conversation that was going on. It was quite amazing to here their stories on jeeping. I mean these guys are HARD CORE! They tell us stories of how they do all of these Rock Crawling, how they get themselves out of certain predicaments. It was a real treat to hear them talk about their experiences. Chris and Sue joined us and before we knew it nice little crowd had come together to hang out. Finally realizing it was getting late, we decided to call it a night and headed back to our hotel.

Day 2 – Jeep Jambore – Placer Gulch & Picayne Gulch

After realzing we did not have to get up so early, we were a little lax on what time to get up and ended up arriving around 7:30 am at the Ouray Community center for breakfast. We then had a short meeting at 8:30 and well…..the little tid bit I didn’t mention before, today our Jeep Leader is CHRIS! Yup……Chris is our trail guide on today’s adventure and from the sound of it we are in for a real treat. Finally arriving at the start off point with the other jeeps, Hugo was fortunate to find someone who had an extra CB. Unfortunately my father and Pip were out of luck.

We started our way out to the trail and Chris immediately advised us to go into 4-Low. We started our ascend into the mountains….this time it was my turn to start the trail this day and well…I was in for a challenge. As we headed up the mountain it turns out we had to do a lot of “Rock Crawling” on this trail. I was a bit nervous, but I quickly got a handle on it. My father was driving today as Pippy was the passenger. It was quite a treat to listen to Chris on the CB. It truly is amazing to hear Chris speak, he is a wealth of knowledge.

Pip felt like having a little coffee so we had another opportunity to visit “Mouse’s Chocolate and Coffee” , Pip tried the Espresso Shake, I had my favorite “Old fashion Vanilla Shake”, Papi had a regular coffee and Hugo had his “White Mocha Chocolate Coffee”. We then headed out for a little walk and found a lot of interesting shops in the town and well…it’s quite a special town.

I will be posting photos once I can covert them over for webpages....to be continued.

Ouray and the Jeep Jamboree (post by Hugo 9/13 - Day 1)

2007-09-13T20:17:00.000-07:00

Going to Ouray and participating in the Jeep Jamboree was a very eye opening experience. Ouray, in southwest Colorado, was part of the "Gold Rush" waves that eventually lead to the expansion of the

from coast to coast. But unlike other Gold Rushes that eventually petered out, Ouray and its surrounding towns in the San Juan Mountains, was a continual source of precious metals and continues to go through periods of mining activity to this day.

Nowadays Ouray has become a more of a tourist destination than a mecca for miners and prospectors. Our friend and guide Chris states that people still buy old mining claims and do occasionally make it rich finding out ore veins that old miners never manage to find. But these days people go to Ouray to admire the scenery and go off-roading. Christopher Timmes is both a gifted photographer and an avid 4-wheel driver. He is the main coordinator for the Jeep Jamboree, an off-roading event, and from Chris's description and my desire we decided to give it a shot. Ouray is one of Chris's favorite locations to go driving and taking photos. So being that I always wanted to go off-roading, and Cecilia is always looking for new places to shoot, we made our main vacation trip start off with this event.

Ouray as a town is pretty small; though it has grown over the years due to the rise in tourism in the area. All around the towns are pictures and reminders of just how far the town has come since those early mining days. As is it now the town is only a few blocks in dimension; it would take you a half hour to walk the main street casually. Ouray started as your typical "boom" town; with all the images of the Wild West that it comes with that word. For example the place where we registered for the Jamboree is attached to one of the oldest buildings left standing in town. Now the municipal building, it was originally a library built before 1900.

The first thing that struck me strange was the fact that the large majority of participants to the Jamboree were old, alot older than us. We were by far one of the youngest group of people. It wasn't the fact that older people were participating in an off-road event, it was the fact that there were alot more of them than younger people. I always assumed that off-roading was more of a younger person's hobby. As I discovered most of the participants were relatively new to Jeeping. As far as Jeeping goes, the Ouray Jamboree is relatively easy and is designed to offer an entry to off-roading that is both fun and picturesque. Chris, the main coordinator, goes over the basic rules, make sure you have enough gas, never go faster than a walking or jogging pace and no drinking allowed while out on the trails.

On advice from Chris we decide to do Imogene Pass. Alot of the trails in and around Ouray are old mining and prospecting trails used by miners for the past 100+ years. Imogene was a trail that leads to the Tommy Boy Mining Camp, a now defunct site that sits over ten-thousand feet in the mountains.

It was a very exhilarating journey up the mountain. The trail was very bumpy and required alot of concentration to make sure your Jeep is both heading in the right direction and is giving enough power to climb up the trail; but by no means could I call the ride daunting. At several point on the trail you are literally on the edge looking straight down the side of the mountain; so there was not much margin of error in maneuvering your Jeep; but for the most part the trail was wide and the obstacles were not too hard. As we climbed higher and higher the temperature dropped more and more. A day that started with t-shirts became an afternoon wearing a heavy jacket. The landscape really struck me. It was quite desolate but serenely beautiful. As I learned later alot of that desolation had more to do with the hand of man than with the hand of nature. In their drive to strike it rich miners basically deforested these higher elevations building the mining structures which now lay scattered and dilapidated across most of the San Juan’s. Along with the lack of trees and decaying structures, mining shafts litter the landscape like open sores along the mountains. It's quite amazing but almost everywhere on the mountains you can see mining shafts. Even in places where you could not expect a person to mountain climb easily let alone carry out a major mining operation. The most obvious tell-tale sign are what are called mine tailing, piles of discarded rocks and gravel that were literally thrown outside the entrance of the mine. These rock and gravel piles are clearly contrasted with the face of the mountain; and after several days of traveling the mountains and trails around here you eye naturally will begin to spot them in like I stated before in the most unusual of places.

Actually going through Imogene pass was amazing. High in the mountain the landscape is stark and barren; alien to what most people would ever see and could almost be compared to the surface of the moon. It's hard to imagine hordes of men toiling and traveling this peak on foot or with horse and burro. But just to show that even in this barren landscape man has planted his foot down on the top of the pass nearly at the top of the mountain a couple of decaying shacks sit out there; decaying testament to the will of men whose only drive was to become wealthy.

As we crest the mountain and head down the mountain we take a lunch break at Tommy Boy Mining Camp. This location was once the hub of the entire Imogene mining effort. Now all that is left of random pilings of wood and sealed off mining shafts. It's hard to believe that men spent 7 days a week and only took off 2 days out of the year and continuously mined the mountains through all types of weather and conditions. As we wrapped up lunch it was Cecilia's turn to drive. She had a blast navigating the switchback trail down the mountain to the other boom town of Telluride. On the way down we catch a glimpse of a very serious trail called Black Bear Pass, a trail that only experienced Jeepers would dare go and from the look of it in the distance I can see that it is a daunting trail.

As we journeyed up and down the trail we take periodic stops for photos and bathroom breaks and I get to see who else is in our group. Like I mentioned before alot of the Jeepers are relatively new and for the most part drive the new Jeep Rubicons which basically offer almost everything that an off-roader would want in a Jeep. But here and there you see the old school Jeeper who tricked out his car with lift kits and fat tires. It funny to hear them talk about their cars, it reminds me of my younger days hanging out with import racers. The level of know how and bravado in their voice must be something universal to the type of person who would take a perfectly functional car and modify it to do things it was not designed to do. I also find it ironic that while these two groups of people have alot in common, they would probably never even deign to talk or acknowledge the existence of each other. During one of these breaks I get jinxed. A casual conversation with a fellow Jeeper goes with the typical, "How many of these have you done" and "What kinda Jeep do you drive." Not being overly pretentious I admit that this is in fact my first time ever Jeeping and that I don't even own the Jeep I am driving, it is a rental. The guy inquires as to the cost and I give him the particulars; adding that I included extra coverage to protect against window and tire damage. Not even a few minutes from moving down the trail I feel that we scrape up against the hillside of the trail; and instantly that clearly definable sound of escaping air can be heard.

Cecilia stops the Jeep and I investigate the damage. There doesn't seem to be any identifiable damage to the tire but I can hear the air escaping. I look in the trunk and pull out the jack that came with the car. To my utter horror it is one of those jacks you typically find on a economy compact car, not the kind of jack you would expect can help out on uneven terrain with a car that has been lifted several inches and has bigger tires that the stock ones. Luckily the rear trail guide and fellow Jeeper comes to the rescue. One pulls out a "handyman" jack, this jack is supersized and can lift even the highest ground clearance car. The rear trail guide quickly changes the tires and I discover that the air nozzle stem has been damaged and that is what is causing the tire to go flat. All that technology defeated by a torn rubber tube. We quickly make our way down the rest of the trail to the town of Telluride. Like Ouray Telluride started as a checkpoint for the mining operations in the area but has been converted to a tourist location. It is considerably more upscale than Ouray and the home of several current and former celebrities. After passing through the town we hit the highway again and branch off to a dirt road that travels the Dallas Divide, stopping on a beautiful overlook of the San Juans and passing through Ralph Lauren's ranch. Towards the end of the road we stop by some more dilapidated structures and I learn that this was a set created to make the film, "True Grit," starring the Duke himself John Wayne.

As we finish the trip the rear trail guide comes to me and offers to fix my tire if I want. While I do have the insurance coverage I am not too keen to have to deal with the hotel where I rented the Jeep and fear that I either will have to switch cars(not likely as there weren't much available) or would have to rush in the morning to get the tire repaired. We head back to Ouray; quickly shower and head back for our evening meal. The meal was excellent; the chef that Chris recommends and always eats at his restaurant when he gets the chance. His name is Scott Laws and he runs Lamplight Restaurant in Monticello, Utah. He asked Scott to come to Ouray to cater the Jamboree. The food is excellent and I would recommend to anyone traveling through Monticello to stop there and get a meal; it’s well worth it (East Highway 491, Monticello, UT.)

As dinner winds down I head over to the hotel to meet up with the Bill, the guide who offers to repair my tire. At this point I have no idea how you can fix a tire stem without the benefit of the tire mounting machine, the only way I have ever seen a stem replaced. At first he tries to force the stem through the hole in the rim but it is obvious that this will not work. By then another guide and Bill's stepfather, Bob, show up to offer advice and help. Bob has built his Jeep from scratch and jokes that he could fix this tire in a couple of minutes if he was at home. The first thing they realize is that they will have to un-mount the tire to be able to replace the stem from inside the rim. In the absence of a tire mounting rig they opt for a rather unorthodox method of un-mounting the tire. Bill tries running over my tire with his jeep in an attempt to un-mount the tire. At first I was rather alarmed by this; this was after all a rental and my responsibility and here I have this guy running over the tire with his car. But I soon realize that these guys have years of experience and have probably done this numerous times in the past. After several passes over with his jeep they realize that the rim is a newer kind and has a lip preventing the tire from un-mounting easily. So, time for plan B. Once again the handyman is taken out and with Bill's Jeep has a base they force the tire to un-mount with the use of the jack. Bill quickly installs the stem and removes the jack. Then comes one of the most amazing modifications I have ever seen someone do to their car. Bill has rigged his Jeep to be portable air compressor. He takes out a tire inflating hose and attaches it to a mount right next to his front passenger tire. He turns his car on and quickly inflates the tire. Now with the work done, we have a few beers and Chris and his wife Suzanne come over and we talk for awhile with them and the guides. Most of the guides on the Jamboree have been Jeeping for decades and the accumulated experience is quite something to behold, especially hearing stories of previous Jamborees and what the guides have experience and prefer. After a few minutes of drinking and hanging out we call it a night and head back to our rooms to get some sleep and get ready for the next day.

We are finally here - day 3 and update

2007-09-12T20:19:00.000-07:00

OK, so we finally have arrived and well...so far it has been a blast except for the little mishaps that we had on Day 1.

So on that note, here is the break down:

Day 1 - arrived at Colorado around 11:30 am Mountain Time (1:30 Eastern), flight was pretty good - not too bad. Once we got our luggage we headed to Alamo to rent our SUV. We ended up with a Jeep Grand Cherokee - Hugo and I had 2 luggage, 1 MASSIVE camera bag, 2 carry-on's. My father had two luggages, his camera bag and Pip had 2 luggages her camera bag and her carry-on. Let's just say that we completely packed the car to the point where we could not see out of the rear view mirror. Since Hugo and I were the only ones familiar with the area I hopped into the driver seat and off we went to - I-70. As we were driving we all were hungry and well....when in Colorado - BIG PAPA'S!! So I called Chris (who was already in Ouray) for directions to Big Papa's - well...here is the funny part as I called Chris turns out he was on Black Bear Pass, one of the most dangerous jeep trails Telluride and here I am asking for directions to Colorado's #1 BBQ place. Well I got the directions! :) C470 - exit Ken Caryl - left at light, Big Papa's on the right!

We went had a great and VERY FILLING meal which held us up all afternoon. Once we were done with our meal we went to Safeway (Their supermarket in Colorado) and bought snacks for the road and water. We headed back to I-70 to go and check out Dinosaur Ridge unfortunately we really couldn't spend too much time there because we had to get onto the road for a 6 hour drive.

Well the drive was very long as we accidentally turned on 24 west after traveling 4 hours on 285 - ended up in the complete opposite direction we were set to go. SO , turned around and finally got back on track. Did not arrive in Ouray until 12:30 am in the morning. We all unpacked car and headed to the very tiny hotel room they had for us. The drive was a nice one though, a lot of beautiful spots along the way.

Day 2 - Well as much as we wanted to sleep in a bit, we all were up at around 7 am, but the funny thing is we were all up, but kind of "faked" that we were still sleeping, finally laying in bed until 8 am in the morning. We all got up and headed out for breakfast - The Galloping Goose. I have to say we were all very satisfied with out meals - it was delish!

Some photos of us at The Galloping Goose:

Papi deciding what to eat.

Pip

Once we were done with eating breakfast we decided to head back to Ouray but through the back roads which was definitely a nice ride. Afterwards we met up with Chris and Sue and then registered for the Jeep Trails.

I will go into more details about it tomorrow, pretty tired right now.
Well - Day 4 is tomorrow! :) Can't wait!

WOOOHOOO!!!! FINALLY!

2007-09-11T07:33:00.000-07:00

So it's the day before we leave for Colorado and we are all anxious and ready to head out and get there. Last night we went to pick up some UV filters for my father and I treated him to a 1 GB Compact Flash card. He is a little nervous, not sure quite what to expect...which is completely understandable. This will be his first time out to the mid-west and well...he is in for beautiful country. I just love the fact that he will be able to see a part of the country he has never been to before.

On top of all of this we are doing the Jeep Jamboree which will be a first for all 4 of us. Very very exciting!

I really am looking forward to this and like I keep saying it is very much needed.
Well we are off!

Registered and ready to ROCK!!!

2007-08-15T09:09:00.000-07:00

Alright, we are all signed up for the Jeep Jamboree! So far there are 73 people already signed up for it, so imagine that 73 jeeps on the road! INSANE!

We are stoked for the whole adventure and especially since this will be a first for all of us!

I am in desperate need of a couple of weeks off, so much going on at work and well in life as well. Planning, moving, just trying to keep on top of everything. Anyways......we are getting ready for the trip and well.....count-down has begun!

3.5 weeks before we head out! UGh......can't wait to just get away from it all.

Willowwood Arboretum......AND IT'S IN JOISEY!!

2007-08-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

OK, so Hugo and I went to check out this park, not sure what to expect and to our delight, we were impressed, surprised and in awe of such beauty! We both fell in love with the place and it would be a perfect setting for a wedding ceremony and reception if it wasn't already booked!!!! Anyways...driving there is also a nice ride, plenty of homes with acres and acres of land, horses adn well just so out of the ordinary if you get my drift. Finally arriving, we pulled into the gates and just saw meadows upon meadows, lush meadows.....butterfly's flying from one point to another, it seemed almost unnatural. Well we followed the path and finally got to the main entrance of the park/gardens/arboretum. To our delight, there was a barn house and a cottage and beautiful gorgeous gardens. We were both running around like kids at a candy store. Overwhelmed with excitement, I decided to bring my parents there since I knew they would completely appreciate the location. My father and I also brought our camera's so we can practice for the Jeep Jamboree. My parents also fell in love with the park and well.....thought it was a great place for a wedding. Here are some photos:

Blue Hydrangea

Tubbs House and the secret garden

Barn house
Cottage

Papi admiring the garden.
Bridge

Entrance to secret garden

So much going on and so little time!

2007-08-03T06:53:00.000-07:00

Well there is a lot going on right now. Hugo and I are preparing for our trip to Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. We are so very excited...we first have to register for the Jeep Jamboree. I have to call Pippy to register herself and my father.

As you already know we have a fun filled trip - our itinerary is quite full and we are most guaranteed to have an awesome and excellent time.

I am just excited that my father has his new Nikon D70S with two new lenses and he is ready to go! He has never experienced a trip like this one, so I know he is in for an awesome time!

In the mean time, I have to take him out to do some test photography so he can get a feel for the camera and get his bearings.

So, the count down has begun!

Where we have been...

2007-05-21T12:41:00.000-07:00

I found this really cool tool to track our travels...

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

something in the mean time....

2007-05-14T16:56:00.000-07:00

This Past weekend, Hugo and I went for a LONG WALK in Central Park, NYC.
Approx - 4 hours.....we had a great day.

Just some photos of the trip.

The Promenade

The Row......

Tulips

Music Man....

2nd trip planning.......yes, we are going back and some...

2007-04-27T18:35:00.000-07:00

So, perhaps I should give you some detail on how Hugo and I decide our vacations. We alternate years......when we first met we both had this passion to see the world. Our first trip was the one I picked (but he always wanted to go), Guatemala (I will be posting some details from that trip, eventually), that was in 2005. In 2006, Hugo picked it and it was Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tenn. In addition to going to Bonnaroo, we also went to Colorado for a couple of days. This year was my turn, we were able to visit Colorado during the winter and now we go back in September for a serious photography trip and we are doing the coolest thing ever a Jeep Jamboree in Ouray!

After several emails back and forth, Chris and I have finalized our itinerary which goes as follows:

Day 1 - (Sept 12) We arrive Wednesday to drive out to Ouray to be there on time for Jeep Jamboree Registration

Day 2 – (Sept 13) Thursday – Register for Jeep Jamboree, most of the day we have free.

Day 3 & 4 – (Sept 14-15)Friday/Saturday- Participate in Jeep Jamboree – Return Jeep to rental place.

Day 5 – (Sept 16) Sunday - Morning breakfast – Afternoon – first afternoon of real shooting (Chris made mention of owl creek pass/road or heading towards Durango to Engineer Mountain this all pending on color).

Day 6 – (Sept 17) Monday - Dallas Divide and re-drive Last Dollar Road -> Afternoon OPEN

Day 7 – (Sept 18) Tuesday. Last morning shoot of the San Juan Mountain Range. Breakfast and head out to Moab. Time permitting – we would photograph Balance Rock.

Day 8 – (Sept 19) Wednesday morning – early morning shoot for Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park and race over to Dead Horse State Park. Lunch (rest period) – Early afternoon hike to Delicate Arch for Sunset shoot.

Day 9 – (Sept 20)Thursday - Final morning shoot with Chris anywhere in Arches National Park and Chris and Sue head back home. We will then head over to Monument Valley and capture Afternoon in Monument Valley(possibly with Tom Phillips). Head over to Goulding’s Lodge to stay the night there.

Day 10 – (Sept 21) Friday - Early morning shoot (will arrange with Tom Phillips) and explore Monument Valley (for 1 hour at most) breakfast and then back to Denver. Here is his Tom Phillips website:http://monumentvalley.com/Pages/english_homepage.html

Day 11 – (Sept 22)Saturday – See if we can get together with you and Sue for a dinner and “re-hash” of trip.

Day 12 – (Sept 23) Sunday – Head back to good ol’ Joisey

We're back!!!

2007-02-26T18:31:00.000-08:00

What an amazing trip!! Today we returned from Colorado, it was a bit nerve wrecking today. We had to drop Manny off early this morning. We got up at 4 am, to be on the road by 5:00 a.m. to drop Manny for his flight (7:45 am). During the night my phone rang and I didn't pick it up. I had a voice mail from Continental, but didn't quite hear it, it cut off. Turns out our flight was canceled. Hugo and I were flabbergasted! We immediately got a little upset but figured, well what else could we do. The ticket operator at Continental worked her magic and threw us on the standby list for the same flight Manny was on, we met up with Manny and we all crossed our fingers hoping we were able to fly back home. By the grace of God, we were able to get onto the same flight.

As we all got settled in on our seats and ready to go home early! Turns out that there was some type of malfunction with one of the instruments the pilots needed to use to fly with. We had to wait until 11:00 am to get the part because it was on board of another flight coming in from Houston, which arrived around 10:40 am. We finally got back onto the plane and it took off!
We arrived at 4:30 and well, as I looked out the window of the air plane I saw Newark and my heart sunk. Back home, back to reality......back to the norm.

Through the next few days, Hugo and I will be posting our experiences of the weekend.

I just want to thank Chris and Sue for giving us their time and sharing their beautiful state of Colorado!

TRAIL RATED!!

Buffalo Bill and Christy's Sport shop & everything in between.

2007-02-24T23:56:00.000-08:00

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Waking up this morning was like no other, I felt muscles aching where I never really worked out before and oh boy......am I in pain. Anyways, Hugo too was in pain, but I was so happy to see him really enjoy snowboarding. He had quite an episode with his ankles yesterday, they had given him a size too small and at first it did not bother him but as the day progressed it became unbearable for him. Anyway, this morning was a morning of rest, we got up around 9 am and got ready for the day. We headed over to Mimi's again and had a great breakfast. Manny and I had the Huevos con Tortillas and Hugo had the Smoked Bacon and Eggs again with fruit this time. We were so full after breakfast and headed back to the hotel to wait for Chris and Sue. Today we decided to head out to see Buffalo Bill's Museum and Grave site.
"Born in 1846, William F. Cody experienced the Old West to its fullest. He herded cattle, worked on a wagon train, mined for gold, rode in the Pony Express, and scouted for the Army. His skill as a buffalo hunter gained him the nickname "Buffalo Bill." Buffalo Bill's Wild West shows traveled the world leaving a lasting vision of the American West." (para 1. http://www.buffalobill.org/).

It was so amazing to see a part of history, the clothing of those times and how they lived, the movies of that time, everything. We then went to pay our respect to the man himself, William F. Buffalo Bill Cody. By his request, Buffalo Bill was buried on Lookout Mountain in 1917, overlooking the Great Plains and the Rockies. If you would like to learn more about Buffalo Bill and his life, please check out his website: Buffalo Bill While we were at the museum, we took some photos.

Cecilia on the horse they have there at the museum
trying to rope a calf, not as easy as it seems!

Manny giving it a go

Here is Chris doing his thing!

Here is Hugo taking a shot at roping the calf.

this a photo of a stuffed buffalo in the museum

Here is a photo of Buffalo Bill's grave site

Here is a shot of the boys up at Lookout Mountain

Here is a photo of Hugo, Manny, and myself.

We had a really nice time in the museum and going to Lookout Mountain. Quite an amazing place. After visiting the museum, we headed out for lunch with Chris and Sue at the one and only Big Papas BBQ! Last year Chris and Sue took Hugo and me to eat here and we loved it! Hugo ordered Bison Ribs with the Kansas City BBQ sauce and Manny followed his suggestion. They both had Hush Puppies with their meal. Manny also asked to try all of the sauces since he loves hot sauce and he enjoyed it all. I ordered the Pull Pork with sweet potato and had the Heidi's KC BBQ Sauce. Absolutely delish...Chris had the same as the boys, Bison Ribs and I forget what side he got and Sue had the brisket with hush puppies I believe.

We were all very happy with our meals and Hugo and Manny could continue, but since we were making this into a BBQ weekend, they decided to wait until we went for Dinner at the Rib City Grill (MORE BBQ).

Afterwards, Chris had mentioned REI and checking it out. For those of you who don't know what REI is, it's an outdoor/sports store where they have anything and everything for living an outdoors life in Colorado. The cool thing about REI is REI members save 20% on one full-price item. We went in and bought some camelbaks and looked around at snowboards and other items in the store.

Chris and Sue had to take care of some personal things and go to church so they left us there to head out and would call us as soon as the were done with their errands and Church.

Once we were done buying what we needed at REI we decided to go back to the hotel and go and buy me another pair of gloves because the gloves I had were not cutting it they were made for skiing and not snowboarding. So we drove back to the hotel area where there is a shopping mall and a Christy's Sport Shop. In there we looked around and checked out snowboards. Hugo and I were really looking forward to buying our equipment and such, once we were done we thought it would be cool to grab something sweet before dinner and headed over to Coldstone's. But when we got in line we realized it was time to head back up to Chris's house for dinner so we canceled on the ice-cream and headed back.

We finally met up with Chris and Sue for dinner and checked out Rib City Grill, what a great restaurant. This time I went with a chicken sandwich instead of bbq anything. The boys had their usual ribs and I can't quite remember if Sue and Chris had BBQ. We had a great time and really took our time to savor the food and the atmosphere.

We then headed back to Chris house for a slide show of his photographs. This would have been Manny's first time seeing Chris's work as a photographer and he was absolutely amazed by his work! He said they belonged in some gallery, calendars, anywhere where great photography is needed. We stayed a bit longer and talked as always. Finally deciding for an early start for Sunday's day in the mountains. As we headed back to the hotel, we all were so happy to be back in Colorado and well just getting a great vibe from our friends Chris and Sue and of course Colorado!

As always, nothing can compare to Colorado!

fish tacos at Rubios..........

2007-02-23T18:16:00.000-08:00

After arriving at the hotel, we called Chris and Sue to let them know we had arrived at the hotel and were going to get cleaned up for dinner. We were all pretty beat and tired and HUNGRY!

Chris and Sue suggested we go and eat at this restaurant called Rubios.......a Mexican restaurant.
Sue had suggested I try the fish tacos and well........I really wanted chicken so I decided not to go for it. Hugo got a Carne asada burrito and I had two chicken tacos. It was delish, Manny actually went for the Fish tacos! And to his delight he loved it!

If Manny likes it I knew I would, so next time I head out there...well we are just going to have to try the FISH TACOS OUT.

After dinner we headed back to Chris and Sue's house to talk a bit. I was looking forward to seeing Mac and Molly, their Golden Retrievers. I have never met such sweet and kind dogs before. As we greeted them we all started to talk and Sue remembered she had to show us her new toy!

Ladies and Gents - the Dyson "Animal" DC-14 vacuum cleaner.

She plugged it in and turned it on and I was immediately amazed at how good the vacuum cleaner worked! It picked everything up from the dogs(dog hair) and worked like a charm. The three of us were completely in awe of this toy and well, looks like it's on our shopping list.
Hugo and I need it for the cats, they shed like crazy and one for my mom. Manny said she would love it and he is right.

After the little demonstration, we continued to talk about things. Pets, family, ADOBE PHOTOSHOP and before I knew it Chris showed me Adobe Lightroom. What a great tool and well...I need to get my hands on it. As we started to talk about photography, he suggested I join
The National Association of Photoshop Professionals ( http://www.photoshopuser.com ).
So now I am going to join this group so I can move forward with my photography. "NAPP is dedicated almost exclusively to training and education. NAPP delivers training and tutorial content in all kinds of ways" (from the website ).

We also discussed our plans for Saturday, we decided that we were going to have BBQ all day Saturday and visit some of the sites in Colorado.

We were all pretty tired by the end of the night and were ready for bed, so we called it a night and bid our farewells and left to return back to the hotel.

Another great time with Sue and Chris!

On a personal note, I am so very fortunate to have met Chris during one of my trips out to Arizona on a photography workshop. It blossomed into a great friendship and 2 and a half years later I feel like he and Sue are already family. We can't thank them enough for all of the hospitality and care they have given us each time we have gone out to visit.

Rocky Mountain....OUCH!

2007-02-23T11:15:00.000-08:00

Day 2 - First day of snowboarding.....

So the story continues as we reach Copper Mountain, as our eyes glistened with snowflakes in our eyes and we were ready to embark the famous mountains of Colorado! Finally reaching Copper we were advised by our official tour guide Chris to park in the Alpine Lot so we would not have to pay an arm and a leg for parking, so we did as we were told.

Here is Hugo and me heading up to Copper:

"Hugo driving"

"Me in the passenger seat"

As we parked we saw a sea of cars already parked with skiers and snowboarders already on the mountain. We parked and immediately got ready to head into unknown territory. It was absolutely a beautiful day and couldn't ask for anything else with the exception of snow! We were directed by Chris to head over to the "Green" area of the mountain known as Union Creek. So we hopped onto a bus that took us over to that area. We were completely in awe of the village and of the mountains that stood behind the little village.

As we got off the bus, we headed toward the rental area so that Hugo and I could rent snowboards, bindings and boots. The process was pretty simple, we paid and met up with one of the kids working there.

"Manny waiting while we get our boots"

We also had paid for some lessons that kind of started us up, but honestly the guy who "taught" us sucked Sorry had to say it, but his approach was all wrong. The group of us were looking at each other like, is this guy for real. We should have complained, but we didn't want to deal with it. Finally after falling several times and injuring my tail bone, Hugo's ankles, we were ready to give up.

But then a ray of light came down the mountain at warp speed, covered us in snow and asked "how you guys doing?" As we stared at my brother with disappointment in our eyes, he realize we weren't really having a good time and immediately took the lesson over. To our delight he made this snowboarding "thing" happen for real! By the end of the day Hugo and I both felt more comfortable snowboarding and actually looked forward to another day in the mountains.

Here is a shot of me going down:

"So far so good....."

Well at least some progress was made! :)

The day ended with a high note and we headed back to the hotel to meet up with Chris and Sue.
We were pumped from our first day up at Copper! ;)

Here is a map of all of the trails in the mountains:

It's TRAIL RATED!!!

2007-02-23T10:43:00.000-08:00

Our first full day, we woke up early and hooked up with Chris in the morning, he was kind enough to stop by and give us some discount tickets those wonderful locals get over in Colorado. My bro paid $35.00 for a lift ticket that would have ran him $81.00 if he didn't have that discount coupon. In addition Chris gave us advise on where we should start out in Copper and some skiing pointers. We were ready to hit the road!

After seeing Chris, we headed out for breakfast, we found this cafe called "Mimi's Cafe". We had a great breakfast, since I was off my diet for this trip, I had cinnamon raisin French toast with powdered sugar and good maple syrup. Manny had the "Triple AA" eggs that came with some potatoes and a banana-chocolate chip muffin. I took a bite out of it and it was delish. Hugo had Smoked Bacon and Eggs and he too had a banana-chocolate muffin. We were ready for our day on the slopes. We quickly headed up towards Copper and Manny and I took some really great shots on the way up.

This is a photo of a "futuristic" house that was built on the side of the mountains going on I-70.
Unfortunately I don't know the real story (Chris did tell me but I completely forgot), I will have to get that story from Chris:

As we continued to drive, Manny was able to capture the beautiful scenery of Colorado.
Here are just a couple of shots:

Almost there to Copper:

Our first day started out pretty good, good times ahead of us yet!

We are off!!

2007-02-22T18:15:00.000-08:00

Well the day has finally arrived!!! We are off to Beautiful Colorado! I am so very excited, our weekend has a lot in store for us, from going Snowboard, to perhaps visiting Celestial Seasonings and everything in between.

I am very excited to see Chris and Sue again, it should be a great time.

Will be sure to take plenty of photos......it seem though that a heavy storm is suppose to come our way when we are there over the weekend. I hope that is not the case and if it is, I hope we don't get stranded!

Well to a safe and wonderful trip!

Preparing for the trip!!!

2007-02-13T17:56:00.000-08:00

Well less than a week now and Hugo, Manny (my brother) and me are off to Colorado! I am very very excited!
This should be a real good time and a learning experience. We will have another opportunity to hang out with Chris and Sue. PLUS we will get to hang out with my bro who loves to snowboard.

This will be the first time in close to 4 years that I have actually gone on vacation with my brother, I am very excited about this.
We haven't spent much time in a while, until recently and well...we are OVER DUE!

So far I already have my camera equipment ready to go and I will most likely be bringing my tripod (the massive thing it is) and of course some snow gear, we are going into the lion's den for snow right????

But it is suppose to snow tonight here in good ol' jersey! We will see what father winter has in store for us.

Countdown has begun!

We are off!

planning our trip to Colorado.......ski time!

2006-11-19T18:00:00.000-08:00

Today is Sunday, November 19, 2006. Well it looks like we have finalized our decision and are heading to Colorado in February and plan to return as well in September/October of 2007. This trip will be an opportunity to scope out the winters in Colorado, as it has been a dream of mine to move out to Colorado. There are a couple of things holding us up, 1. Hugo is not a huge fan of the cold. He tells me he enjoys the snow, but hates everything else winter brings with it. THE COLD! . Now that I think about that, I think it's the only thing. Hopefully though, we will be able to go in February and see how "BAD" it really is as they show on the football games that happen in Denver.

We will also be checking out the "Bunny" slopes, for this will be Hugo and my first time on skis. My friend Chris who plays our tour guide when we visit Colorado is an avid skier and will be taking us to all of the local spots in Colorado. So that should definitely be a blast. In addition we plan on doing some winter photography as well.

We have a lot to pack in the 5 days we will be there, so we have to get ready!

On another note, Hugo and I have had already an opportunity to visit Colorado earlier this year September. We hooked up with our friend Chris and his wonderful wife Sue and took a tour of the beautiful state of Colorado. We were able to go up to the Rocky Mountains and ate Elk Medallions and Buffalo steak for the first time as well. I got to do some excellent photography out there with the help of Chris who is also an amazing photographer. We also got to see The Allman Brothers Band at Red Rock Amphitheater which was not only amazing, but memorable as well. It turned out also that we were staying at the same hotel as The Allman Brothers Band and got to meet them and get their autograph. It can't get any better than that if you ask me!

Why a travel blog?

2006-11-01T17:39:00.000-08:00

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -- Mark Twain

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Hugo and I met, we found that we had the same fondness for traveling and experiencing new things. Now that we have each other we have decided that traveling would be our primary goal in life. To see different parts of the world, to meet new people and most of all experience these things together.

Our purpose of this blog is to document these travels and share with our friends and family and whoever comes across this blog.

I hope you can enjoy our blog as we have and will enjoy posting and sharing our photos and experiences with you all.