Sybaris Pool Suites Northbrook

... or where we had been was, "Why?" Or, like my boss, who until the day before I left thought we were going to Panama City Beach (which, granted, is a more 'normal' vacation destination). We stayed in hostels (most without hot water), went scuba diving, played with a kinkachoo, saw the Panama Canal, swung through the rain forest on wire cables, and climbed a volcano, among other things. We met travelers who couldn't believe how much we had done in our ...

... conquered it yet since we're still in the process of planning and booking things, but we're close to getting there! We have time...it's still 4 days away. Plenty of time to figure the rest of the minor details out such as how do we get from the airport to our hostel? And where the hell is our hostel? We always seem to pull it together somehow! <br><br>I will try to keep this updated as much as possible along the way!<br><br>

... stand on and take photos. Quite mind-blowing to look down 103 stories! We then queued to catch a lift down, then queued again to catch the lift we need to go from the basement to the ground level. <br><br>We managed to find our way on an 'El&#8221; - elevated train &#8211; to a bus stop to go to the famous Navy Pier. Navy Pier was packed &#8211; it's a popular local attraction as well...think of it as Victoria Park Market in Auckland but much bigger and loads more people and built over ...

<br>Hit the road out of Mankato on time of 8.30 this morning, and drove straight to Rochester, MN to a mall there, as Josh left his jacket on one of the two planes coming over and by evening here, you definitely need a jacket. At the moment the temperature is about 15 &#8211; 16 degrees, but the windchill at night...brrrr. The Mall we stopped at was HUGE, had at least 3 full size department stores: JC Penney's, Macy's and Sears, plus lots of ...

... put out that she didn't have any thing to offer us. I think that she was a little mad and sad that she couldn't remember much any more. She did remember that we brought her flowers and that we lived in Denver. I was glad for that. I was also glad that she was still walking on her own (she walks fast for a 90 year old woman), she was glad for that too. We took Nana for a walk and then sat by the ...

... FUN! but it does makes everyone a little crankyer. I learned that if you just dont say anything then you wont get snapped at, if it's important- it can wait. But once we found a Starbucks and Sam and Cait got out of the men's room (girls line was too long) we were all happy once again, and once we were back in the traffic we saw someone peeing on the side of the road which made us all laugh ...

... too appetizing so they bought some Swedish fish instead. Our drive back into the city was about 1 1/2 hours to go about 20 miles. It was a parking lot. Everyone stayed in good spirits though and we made it back into the city to check into our hotel. The Drake is beautiful and our room was great. We checked in without issue and then went out to shop a little and find some deep dish ...

... line of Rio. The state can be divided in three frames: - the coastal low lands -the coastal elevations -the highlands The entire State of Rio is located in the tropical zone (the Capricorn Tropic Line is just a few degrees south of Rio). The ...

... the airport it was too late to board the plane. We were going to have to go stand-by but the woman took pity on us and managed to get us on the next flight (and bonus we got economy plus). For the Denver to SLC leg of the flight, Andrew and I couldn't get seats near each other. Unfortunately for Andrew, he got normal economy, while I got economy plus and the emergency exit aisle. Anyway, in the end we made it to the university (late in the night).

... and La Finca de Susana, both are in Lonely Planet and both were recommended by Brynne, who gave us the best food recommendations of the trip...Thanks. If you want the addresses, send me an email and I'll look them up. It's nice to be home. Sleeping in my own bed after so many nights away was great. I'll wrap up the whole thing in a couple days after I have some time to reflect. Thanks for reading. I'm sure I'll talk to you soon. Blake