The Adventures of Christine & Chris

[travelingjoe]

Chile 1998 — Flashback 2.5 Year Honeymoon.

[travelingjoe]

Panama 1997 — Flashback 2.5 Year Honeymoon. Watched massive cargo vessels squeeze through the Panama Canal with what looks like barely a few feet to spare side to side. What a marvel. The old town felt like a time capsule with ladies leaning out on their balconies for a chat while keeping an eye on the action down below. The streets and backwaters were a hive of colorful activity.

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Costa Rica 1997 — Flashback 2.5 Year Honeymoon. Lots of back-to-nature opportunities during our time in Costa Rica. Sweating continuously, we patrolled the beach by night protecting the massive Leather Back turtles that come to lay their eggs on the beach and building reserve facilities by day. As uncomfortable as the conditions were, it was magical to see these turtles emerge from sea under cover of darkness and lumber their way up the beach, dig a deep hole and lay their sometimes 20+ eggs. Exhausted and spent it seemed, they barely made their way back to the sea only to repeat it all the following years. Spent quite a few days enjoying the lushness of Monteverde. A highlight was a full-day horse ride where at one point we had a full canter going where you feel gloriously at one with the beast.

[travelingjoe]

Nicaragua 1997 — Flashback 2.5 Year Honeymoon. One of the things we love about travel are all the great people you meet. Liz, who lived in Nicaragua for a number of years, came to dive at our shop in Honduras several times. When we told her we would be passing through when we got back on the road, she invited us to come and stay with her. She gave us a very interesting insider perspective on life in Nicaragua — where life is tough for the locals with a history of so much war and destruction. But as everywhere, the children still beam with joy.

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Honduras 1997 for 5 months — Flashback 2.5 Year Honeymoon. Roatan was all about scuba diving and man did we fall lucky. Our original plan was to do a week-long dive package to get our experience level up. Scuba diving in Roatán is considered special because it offers immediate access to the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef the second-largest barrier reef system in the world and divers can enjoy a rare combination of crystal-clear 100-foot visibility with gloriously warm water. So we went around checking out all the dive shops to evaluate which outfit we should spend our week diving with. At Ocean Divers I went off to the facilities while Chris chatted up the staff. By the time I got back, Chris was asking me if we wanted to learn to become Dive Masters and run the dive shop. Apparently a couple who had been doing it were moving on and there was an opening! Phil the dive shop owner, along with his partner Conner, offered to train us up to DM for free and once certified (6 weeks) we could be their new Dive Masters. In the meanwhile they would pay us to run the dive shop. Eureka! Hell yes. Sign us up. These five months on Roatan were pure bliss. We rented a little two bedroom house so friends who came to visit could stay. Elizabeth and Rob and Don made their way. Two to three times a day we got to go scuba diving eventually turning into DMs, and clocking close to 500 dives. Fantastic lifelong friendships were made with Richard and Diane, Wendy and James, Quen, Alex, Cheiko and Warren. The job itself was such a pleasure— taking people on their holiday out for a scenic underwater tour—which is basically what DMs are — glorified underwater tour guides. It suited us just fine. So many good times were had along the way with highlights including the company Christmas party; friends coming to visit; DM only dives where we took the boat out for pure pleasure; fantastic nights dining at Pinocchio’s; gatherings for any excuse, and picking up mangos for breakfast that fell from the trees on our shuffle to work.

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Guatemala 1997 — Flashback 2.5 Year Honeymoon. Of all the countries we visited, this was the one where I felt most uncomfortable. The people and countryside were lovely but we were hearing terrible things about buses being pulled over and bad stuff going down. One night we ran through the streets to get back to our hotel sure that a car was tailing us. In the end we were relieved to leave Guatemala although Lake Titicaca was a real highlight along with the vibrant markets.

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Belize 1997 — Flashback 2.5 Year Honeymoon. Our first taste for scuba diving came on our trip to Belize. Inexpensive options to get the basic certification were offered everywhere so it seemed like the right time to pursue it. We made some fast friends with folks also heading to the island of Ambergris Key. They were so kind and invited us stay with them. We were infatuated with the total open plan where all the side walls folded back to make it truly open with the sea breeze rushing through. Besides the scuba diving, there was a memorable night out at a dance club where we saw behinds move in ways we didn’t even think possible and night strolls through the sleepy streets to eat BBQ chicken cooked over hot coals.

[travelingjoe]

Mexico 1997 for 6 Months — Flashback 2.5 Year Honeymoon. We started our two-and-a-half-year honeymoon by stepping over the border into Mexico from Phoenix . I’ll never forget the look on my parent’s face as we wandered off backpacks in tow while a freak hail storm pelted us. Lord knows what they made of that strange omen. All went well though. Over the course of six months we toured a wide range of cities and villages in Mexico from the interior to the coasts and then down into the canyons and up to hill-top towns. Highly memorable highlights were hiking the many Mayan ruins; exploring the Copper Canyon and meeting the native Tarahumara Indians; renting a house in the old silver mining town of Alamos for a month where we helped build a straw-bale house; a month of Spanish lessons in the magical town of Pátzcuaro where a baby was born one night in our guest house; getting crazy close to whales and their newborn calves in San Ignacio Lagoon; enjoying chill and pristine Tulum; and all the new friends made along the way.

[travelingjoe]

Peoria, Arizona — May 2026. The Phoenix Museum has a great collection so we went back again to spend a little more time on the upper floors and revisit some of our favorites like the cloisonné and Asian pottery. The paper dress exhibit was a hoot.

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Peoria, Arizona — May 2026. Arizona is in bloom. The cactus flowers are just lovely so a trip to the Botanical Garden was in order before the summer heat sets in.

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Peoria, Arizona — April 2026. Trish seems to be through the worst of her health crisis and is hopeful now on track to keep her health in check. We’ll be staying in AZ for the summer and have been cooking up a storm most days.

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Grayton Beach, Florida — May 2026. Spent the day in the charming town of Seaside today — a mere 20 minute bike ride from the campground. Seaside is crazy cute and charming in a Mayberry way. You wouldn’t be surprised to see Barney Fife with a badge wandering through the square. It’s that adorable. Biked around to take it in and read our books while admiring the action in the square. A wonderfully relaxing day. Sadly we got the call that evening that Patricia needs an operation and has some concerning mass. Booked a flight home to be there for the surgery and Chris is going to drive the RV back.

[travelingjoe]

Grayton Beach, Florida — May 2026. Finally hit the Emerald Coast on the Florida pan handle. This place is a hidden gem and some refer to it as the Forgotten Coast. The color of the water is a startlingly beautiful color and the sand is super soft like flour to the touch. Just amazing. We camp up at Grayton Beach State Park and can easily bike into charming towns in either direction — Grayton or Seaside. Grayton took our fancy today and down at the beach was jumping with a women’s volleyball tournament in full swing. Magical sunset tonight.

[travelingjoe]

Mobile, Alabama — April 2026. There’s not a ton going on in the city of Mobile but we found enough to fill our afternoon. They are trying to revitalize the downtown with restaurants, shops and galleries. Revisited a favorite restaurant of ours called Wintzell’s Oyster House, a long time establishment serving up tasty delights like fried green tomatoes. Chris even fell in love with a piece of art we picked up in one of the galleries by an artist called Hartley. It’s based on the North Side Skull and Bone Gang — a New Orleans Mardi Gras tradition dating back 200 years. On Mardi Gras morning, masked gang members dressed as skeletons wake the Treme neighborhood with singing, dancing, and warnings to "get your act together". They carry large bones and spears, and their message is to remind New Orleanians of their mortality and to love each other. Bedded down for the night at a lovely property of a Boondockers welcome right out of town.

[travelingjoe]

Dauphin Island, Alabama — May 2026. Jumped on our bikes this morning to explore Dauphin Island some more. First stop was Lighthouse Bakery that occupies the oldest house on the island. The line was already out the door at 8:30. Had the best biscuits and gravy. Even though the gravy was white it was glorious with chunks of tasty sausage.

[travelingjoe]

Dauphin Island, Alabama — May 2026. Enjoyed a fun day at the Dauphin Island Campground. It’s right next to the Audubon Bird Sanctuary so we had a nice walk through there — saw 2 bald eagles. It was a bit of a maze but we found our way out again before dark.

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Whitney Plantation, Louisiana — April 2026. The Whitney Plantation is the only plantation museum in Louisiana with an exclusive focus on slavery. It’s one of the hundreds of plantations that used to be in this area. Touring it we learned about the lives of people forced to cultivate sugar, molasses and rice on this plantation from 1752-1865. There are sixteen original structures including the Big House and two slave cabins. Several memorials are dedicated to the enslaved people who were forced to live and work here and throughout Louisiana. At the Whitney Plantation, owned by the Haydel family, there were 350 enslaved people. Slaves worked “no see to no see” - meaning up before dawn and working till dark for NO pay; 6-7 days a week. They were often beaten and subjected to other gruesome abuses that denied their recognition as human beings. On a grander scale, throughout nearly 400 years, an estimated 12.5 million Africans were packed tightly into the holds of ships and sent across the Atlantic Ocean as cargo. This forced journey, called the Middle Passage, was the largest human migration in world history. We cannot hide from history …even if that history is painful and despicable. We must remember and we must learn. There is nothing humane about our humanity when we treat other human beings with cruelty and disrespect.