• The magical yellow city of Izamal

    There’s a town in the state of Yucatán that is called the magical yellow city of Izamal, and we have tried to visit on previous stays in the area but never made it there. Today, really our third time trying in earnest, we spent the morning in Izamal. It really…

  • Santiago in Mérida

    We arrived in Merida a week ago and it’s really hard to know where the week went! Well maybe not that hard. We’ve done a lot of enjoying – enjoying walks around the city and seeing familiar and new things, enjoying frequent dips in the airbnb plunge pool, enjoying trying…

  • Visitors and outings between the holidays

    The days between Christmas and New Year’s Day got a bit blurry, which actually feels kinda nice since the rest of the year can be pretty tied to weekdays vs weekends and all too easy to keep track of. So in summarizing the fun things we did, I’m not even…

  • Christmas Day

    On Christmas morning, Liam came back over around 10am and we opened presents. Somehow the only photo taken was this of me wearing my new dry robe – a robe with a fluffy towel like inside for warming up after a cold water dip. Also included in the gift bag…

  • Early holiday days

    John and I both had Dec 22 off work and decided to check out the grand avenue design / vintage shops. Salvage one was particularly impressive, with huge spaces that are also rented out for events and generally so much massive scale! Liam has talked about needing a coat rack…

  • December outings

    Last weekend we hopped on a bright and mild moment and went to Northerly Island for a walk. After walking on the official path the southernmost tip of the island (ummm, peninsula) we noticed that there’s a really sturdy walkway along the harbor side headed back north. Great views of…

  • Museum Saturday

    On Saturday we went out to the national museum of Mexican art in pilsen. It was a really nice sunny day and not too cold, and we first walked up and down 18th street, stopped for coffee and treats at a coffee shop, then went to the museum. We then…

  • Thanksgiving!

    We had a lovely thanksgiving celebration at Debbie, Jeff and Maddie’s place in Naperville. We were 11 people total, with Bronwyn and her sister Kaylee joining us this year. We had a great time chatting, playing Nintendo switch sports, eating the salmon, turkey and many yummy side dishes. After dinner…

  • Chocolate, bibliotheque, vistas

    On our last full day in Quebec, we decided to walk near the ramparts or old city wall, and also visit the Jean-Baptiste neighborhood. Back to the map! See the red circle where we stayed? The walls are a shaded area just to the left of that, following around the…

  • Siberia spa

    On Monday afternoon we took an Uber out to Siberia Spa in the forested mountain area outside of Quebec City. It was so nice – with many features like previous spas, like a series of buildings and pools all outdoors, and you can stay as long as you like, going…