Today we drove to Hot Springs, Arkansas and decided to check into our hotel and get straight to checking out this city because we are only here for one night. The first thing we did was visited The Arlington Hotel which was very old and lovely. The staircase in it was cool.
The next thing we did was walked down bathhouse row and visited The Fordyce Bathhouse which is the only one open to public tours since it is the visitor center. I have to say that I found it creepy. We had a self-guided tour which is good sometimes tours have a lot of people, and they ask stupid questions.
We drove passed Bill Clinton’s childhood home after visiting the bath house and our driving tour we then decided to have a beer at a local brewery before going to have dinner.
The Arlington HotelInside The Arlington HotelInside The Arlington HotelInside The Arlington HotelInside The Arlington HotelThe Fordyce Bathhouse which is now the Visitor CenterInside The Fordyce BathhouseInside The Fordyce BathhouseInside The Fordyce BathhouseInside The Fordyce BathhouseInside The Fordyce BathhouseInside The Fordyce BathhouseInside The Fordyce BathhouseBlow Dryer Inside The Fordyce BathhouseInside The Fordyce BathhouseChanging Room Inside The Fordyce BathhouseInside The Fordyce BathhouseInside The Fordyce BathhouseInside The Fordyce BathhouseInside The Fordyce BathhouseInside The Fordyce BathhouseInside The Fordyce BathhouseInside The Fordyce BathhouseGym Inside The Fordyce BathhouseActive Hot Spring
Today we visited Graceland the home of world-famous Elvis Presley. I grew up loving Elvis and his music so today was an exciting day to see inside the life of Elvis.
We first visited the ticket office which is a vast building with a gift shop and a museum that houses his huge collection of cars and a bunch of items donated by other singers who he worked with during his career.
While walking through his home, you could feel his spirit. I felt as though any minute he’s going to come downstairs singing one of his many hit songs. The house was unique as you will see in the following pictures. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I did taking them.
September 26th – October 1st, 2012, December 4th – December 7th, 2012  May 19th – May 21st, 2013, October 21 – October 25th, 2013,                 December 15th – December 19th, 2015, May 15th, – May 18th, 2017
We have visited New Orleans 6 different times which shows you how much fun this city is. Each time we’ve stayed for at least three-four days. I believe that’s enough time after that you need to check yourself into the Betty Ford Clinic LOL.
If you love people watching, Jazz music, Food you will love New Orleans as well. We have a friend of ours Yvonne Blount-Alciatore who owns the oldest restaurant in NOLA called Antoine’s. It’s a must to eat there. When you’re there make sure you order Oyster Rockefeller this is the place where they were invented. After dinner leave room for Devil’s Brew Coffee and Baked Alaska, it’s another definite.
If you are a fan of fried chicken, we have found the best one which is served in Fiorella’s in the French Quarter it used to be Willie Mae’s Scotch House but the last time we were there it wasn’t as good.
You also have to make sure to go to Desire Oyster Raw Bar and sit at the raw bar and see how fast they open the oysters it’s pretty amazing.
We have stayed at the Ritz Carlton, and The Roosevelt Hotel both are excellent, but the Ritz Carlton is definitely in a better location.
Maria & John with Yvonne Blount-AlciatoreMaria & John
Roosevelt Hotel With Christmas DecorationsRoosevelt Hotel With Christmas DecorationsRoosevelt HotelYvonne’s Pretty Christmas TreeMaria & JohnMaria & John
Maria & Yvonne Blount-AlciatoreMaria, John & Yvonne Blount-Alciatore
StormTroopers
Mint Julep
Balcony Above Antoine’s Restaurant
Yvonne Blount-Alciatore and Maria on her balconyMariaBeignets at Cafe Du Monde
Today we flew from the Big Island to Maui which was a short flight. We rented a car and drove to the Westin Hotel where we were meeting up with our friend Nano Lopez. There is nothing negative that I can say about Hawaii it’s one of my favorite places to visit. We try and go to Oahu at least once a year. I believe if it weren’t so far away from Florida we would go more often. We love driving around there and eating at the many food trucks.
The rest of the time we were in Maui we just drove around and found these hidden pockets where we would walk into bamboo trees and hike to many hidden waterfalls. That is one thing that Hawaii isn’t short of magnificent sunsets/sunrises and waterfalls.
One of the evening’s our friend Nano who is an artist was having a show at one of the galleries downtown which was great we got to meet a lot of people who love his work as much as we do.
One thing to bring with you are watershoes they are more comfortable to hike and walk on wet rocks. Unfortunately, this was our last stop on this trip.
We got settled in and decided to take a ride to a local supermarket to get some provisions since our villa had a full kitchen and dining room we decided to make dinner a few of the nights were there.
March 01, 2017
Today we had a helicopter ride scheduled to see the lava flow which we were lucky to see because they aren’t sure how long it’s going to flow. The helicopter ride was terrific the lush greenery, the beautiful waterfalls and seeing the lava flow was just fabulous. Once again we made a delicious dinner in our suite.
March 02, 2017
Today we just decided to drive around the island and do a little bit of hiking and a lot of sightseeing. One of the most amazing things that we ate was a Portuguese donut called Malasada. It was so good that I am still thinking about it today, and I will revisit the Big Island purposely to get it again. We had dinner at this local place at the Lava Lava Beach Club since we had to pack and get ready for our flight to Maui in the morning we didn’t want to hassle with making dinner again.
September 14th – 21st, 2013 September 7th – 14th, 2014                                        September 23rd – October 1st, 2016                                 February 23rd – February 28th, 2017
John and I have been to Oahu/Honolulu, Hawaii so far four times. We always stay at our Disney timeshare called Disney Aulani which is located in Ko Olina. The first time we were in Hawaii we visited Pearl Harbor, it was a very somber sight to see. The oil is still coming out of the USS Arizona ship. We also took a helicopter ride to get a bird’s eye view of fabulous Hawaii.
One of the evenings we took a sunset cruise which was nice they had food and drinks on board. I also got a chance to see my first green flash which was terrific.
One thing we love is food so we love to get recommendations from the show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and we try a different place everytime we are there. Another thing we like to do is try the food at all the different food trucks. There are so many various options and so far all of them have been good. Since I started the blog years after visiting Hawaii, I never wrote down which food trucks we visited I will take better notes. So far the one we love and visit each time we are there is Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck, and we get one serving of Spicy Shrimp and one with Garlic and Butter. You can’t go wrong with either cause both are delicious!
One great thing is that each time we have gone to Hawaii our good friends Nano & Mariya have met us there and we go hiking together, and we also took a dinner cruise that came complete with dancers. It was a great time! We have made long-lasting memories in Hawaii.
If you would like to see more about Hawaii. Big Island & Maui.
Today we took a helicopter to another Glacier which was once again amazing. We flew over Chilkat Glacier with cascading waterfalls around the Ferebee Glacier and the river of ice known as Meade Glacier.
We took a brief 20-minute walk on the Glacier and got a short lesson about glaciers. It was the first time I ever walked on a Glacier and John’s second time. He said it was just as exciting as the first time.
When we arrived back on land we had plenty of time before we had to board the ship, so we decided to take a walk through the town and get a bite to eat. There is one thing you have while in Alaska you guessed it King Crab Legs. Every chance we had we ate them.
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