shelli's thoughts and pics: Honeymoon, part 3 (where we gain insight on Shelli's vacation philosophy)

When we booked our honeymoon trip, we were looking for someplace that was
1. Not a typical honeymoon spot, I guess we just wanted to be unique
2. We sort of leaned toward a beach area
3. We wanted to see something new and hoped to have activities other than just lying on the beach/pool
4. Along the same lines as #3, we were hoping to experience a different culture
5. It had to be close enough to be worth spending just a week there, and not too expensive to get there or stay there

Well... we hit about 3 1/2 of these. We avoided Hawaii, Florida, Cancun, Jamaica, etc because they all seemed like cliche honeymoon spots, although we are still dying to visit Hawaii sometime soon! I didn't research these places very much but my impression of them (except for HI, it seems like there is lots to do there) is that it is mostly about beach and drinking. Which is fine but not exactly what we wanted to spend our time and money on! Fiji, Australia, Indonesia, all seemed like an AWESOME trip but these places are either far away or expensive (or both!). Although Greece is not that unusual of a honeymoon spot, I would have loved to go there - I have this dream of going on boats between the islands, especially some smaller islands, and exploring (like Bob and Renee). But it turned out that October in Greece is not all that warm, so forget about relaxing on the beach.

I thought I had happened upon a hidden gem with the Canary Islands. The photos of the beaches were all beautiful, and the climate was around 80 degrees year round with only rare rain. It is part of Spain but close to Morocco and the guide book I had mentioned multi-cultural influences. At first, I had grand plans of traveling between the islands and spending a day or two in a few different spots, but Chris talked me out of it, and staying in one place for the majority of the trip was sounding pretty good after all the travel leading up to the wedding. (Not having to unpack and repack your suitcase every couple of days?! I have never taken a trip like that before!)

But, as you might know, the area we stayed in was not the multi-cultural, activity-packed haven we had hoped for. Unless you count northern European culture. We stayed on a part of the island that is essentially full of resorts (for miles and miles, as we discovered). The resorts are full of Swedes, Norwegians, Germans, probably also Danes, and the rare Englishman. By the second day, we had realized that our honeymoon was not what we had expected. But we quickly decided there was nothing to be upset about! We had a beautiful beach and pool, awesome weather, a stack of books to read, spanish wine - and best of all, we got to spend ALL DAY EVERY DAY together. For two people who average about 8-12 waking hours a week together, this was pretty much the jackpot. So what could we be upset about?

Just wanted to give a little background! For those of you who are hoping to visit the Islands someday, though, don't despair - there are plenty of different areas to visit! There are several islands, and all are different.

So what did we do? One day, we decided to take the bus into the big city.

Chris waiting for the bus. I have to add that I bought tote bags for all my bridesmaids and I got myself one too. I picked this one not just because it was pink, but because it was pink with orange accents and I liked the contrast. I quickly figured out that the big problem with travelling with this bag is that my hubby is not very willing to carry it for me. This is about as close as he got to it.

There was a local bus that picked us up near the shopping area and took us there. We had a really nice time wandering around Las Palmas.

We had lunch - ceviche!

And of course we had to stop for a beer here and there.

There was a beach we stopped at, although it was pretty much too chilly to swim. We just admired the ocean.

We went to dinner at an Irish themed restaurant.

Chris did not want to go there, but I talked him into it, and we had what might have been one of the more authentic Canarian meals there! They eat lots of potatoes with different sauces.