by Katherine

     While we were in Washington, we of course had to go hiking. Our original intention was to go up to mt. Rainier, the largest mountain in the continental US. But being that it was November, a lot of the trails are closed or highly advised not to go on, as it gets pretty snowy and icy. After checking weather reports, I decided Mt. Rainier wasn't the best idea. So I had to figure out a new plan the night before our intended hike.

by Bradley

          The second castle that we visited on the first day of our trip was Hohenschwangau. This one is at the bottom of the hill from Neuschwanstein and belonged to the father of King Ludwig.

          This is a very cool castle because despite being both decorative and not being at the highest part of the hill still appears to have been a functional, defensible castle. One of the things that made me enjoy this one over the son's castle is there are far less people!

by Bradley

          After being awake for many hours, a long plane ride, a long train ride and a short car ride we finally arrived at our first destination! It felt like it was very late at night/early in the morning but we were determined to make the most of our first day of vacation so naturally we visited two castles that day. When our plane touched down in Munich it was snowing lightly and there was a covering on the ground and the snow steadily increased as we made our way south towards the foothills of the German Alps.

by Bradley

          From the Temple of the Descending God to the beautiful, picturesque beaches, Tulum was my favorite part of the trip. It's hard for me to believe that my favorite aspect of our trip didn't even involve food! Being immersed in such an ancient culture and all the while being guided by a gentleman of Mayan descent, I found myself in awe of what stood before me.

by Katherine

          As mentioned in an earlier post, our main reason for picking this resort was its included nature park. And I would say, definitely worth it! One of my favorite parts of the trip was kayaking through the mangrove forest. It was relaxing, beautiful, and hardly anyone else was doing the same; it felt like we had the rivers to ourselves.  We kayaked 2 of the 3 rivers (the last one was short and hard to get to), which were pretty narrow and thoroughly shaded, as the mangroves grew over the rivers almost to form a tunnel. 

by Bradley

          When you visit this resort give yourself a few hours to soak in the sunlight or hide in the shade of the mangrove trees, that sprout from the water, while you're aboard the ocean kayaks provided. Kayaking the rivers and swimming in the cenotes is a must! Among others reasons, the plentiful activities available on the resort grounds tipped the scales in our decision to stay at this resort - and I'll be the first to tell you they did not disappoint. 

          This resort was built on an existing nature park and on the property there are 3 rivers and 9 cenotes.  The beach is small compared to other resorts in the area but is still very nice and secluded from the view of neighboring resorts. While other resorts may offer a larger beach area, the beach at Hacienda Tres Rios is beautiful ,and other resorts don't have nearly as much to offer. There are hundreds of resorts available that have nice beaches and sometimes I'm in the mood for a vacation where I just sit on the beach all day and that's all I do. But don't you want to do some other interesting things in addition to the beach?