12-6 to 12-9-2014 Trip to Placencia, Belize

Eight of us gathered in Placencia, Belize.  It was the 3 Stallsmith brothers, their wives and 2 friends.  Everybody had a great time.  (If you check this post soon after we initially post it check back because we will make it better by including some pictures that other people took.)

The Friends Lynn and Diana arrived on Friday and checked out the town and prepared to dive on Saturday.  Lynn went diving again on Sunday as well.

At about 3 in the afternoon on Saturday, December 6th everybody got there and got together to start the weekend.  Greg, Danny and Stephanie were running in the End of the World half marathon on Sunday so they focused on that, and we didn't stay out late Saturday night.


BRIEF TOUR OF PLACENCIA

We rented the top 2 floors of this beautiful place (Bamboo Gardens, near Captain Jak's) for all 8 of us.  Each floor had a full
kitchen, living area, 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, and 2 decks!  It was walking distance to all the action in Placencia.

The third floor living area (this is where we stayed).

One of the 2 third floor decks, complete with a cat that meowed and meowed and meowed for Eric.

One of the 2 second floor decks, with an awesome hammock.

The main floor living area.

The Tipsy Tuna was near us and we went there several times.

Beautiful sand volleyball court at the Tipsy Tuna

Indoor bar with sand floor at the Tipsy Tuna

Colorful outdoor seating at the Tipsy Tuna

The Barefoot Bar was open and had several dogs running around....the whole town had a lot of dogs running around and we
saw several 3 legged dogs.

The beaches were well groomed and beautiful.  This is the view from a cute little restaurant/bar called The Shak.

There is a stamped concrete walk that parallels the road.  There are all kinds of restaurants, bars and shops along here.

At the south tip of Placencia there is a nice dock

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2014

Dan and Stephanie finishing the half marathon - woo hoo!

Greg finishing the half marathon - way to go!

The marathon got over early in the morning, so after cleaning up a bit we all went to Miss Brenda's and had an amazing meal:
Ribs, chicken, shrimp, beans and rice, pasta salad (unlike any we've had before), fresh fruit, plus a fifth of Rum and a huge
bowl of  fresh juice to make drinks.

Our group (minus Lynn) with Miss Brenda (in the white blouse) and a local artist.

After lunch we stopped at the Picked Parrot before heading out on our rental golf cart to check out the peninsula.

We had to stop for a quick photo break.  Katy is enjoying a Belikin beer by the beach.

Diana and Stephanie

We stopped at Maya Beach Bistro for appetizers and delicious drinks.  This is the incredible view from the deck seating.

Eric, Katy and Greg checking out the dock at Maya Beach Bistro

Eric enjoying the hammock on the dock at Maya Beach Bistro

We had to get back by 4 pm for our nighttime Monkey River jungle cruise and hike with our guide Percy. The tour lasted several hours and included dinner at one of his relatives' restaurants.  From the river we saw loads of crocodiles, plus herons, kingfishers, owls (called night hawks here), and iguanas.  On our hike in the jungle we didn't see any wildlife, though we could smell where the howler monkeys were.  Percy showed us some medicinal plants and trees, and he took us through a HUGE bamboo grove that had to be completely sheltered from rain and wind because the dense bamboos grew way tall and formed a thick canopy above us.

Leaving Placencia for Monkey River with our guide Percy (driving the boat).

Our guide Percy caught a small crocodile for us to check out, and Diana held it first.

Katy really liked the baby crocodile

It was pretty cool to see the crocodile up close, and thankfully nobody was bitten.

Lynne with our new friend (which we released unharmed).

A larger crocodile on shore - probably 8 feet long or so, and still an "adolescent" according to Percy.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014

Monday we hired a boat to take us out snorkeling.  He took us to Silk Cayes and we saw many nurse sharks (harmless), a blue colored ray, a brown spotted ray, many different types of fish (parrot fish, puffer fish, etc.), and a giant sea turtle (way cool).

Waiting at the lovely dock before the snorkeling trip.

We stopped here briefly for a bathroom break and to pay the fee to snorkel at Silk Caye National Park.  We saw little lizards
and hermit crabs on this tiny island.

We all saw at least one ray.  Cara saw a blue-colored ray and a larger brown spotted ray.
(Thanks for the pic Diana Lu.)

Conch shells littered the ocean floor
(Thanks for the pic Diana Lu.)

We saw lots of nurse sharks, which thankfully are harmless to us.
(Thanks for the pic Diana Lu.)

Cara and Katy's favorite sighting was the giant sea turtle.
(Thanks for the pic Diana Lu.)

The sea turtle had a small school of fish that constantly swam just underneath its belly.
(Thanks for the pic Diana Lu.)

You can see how close the sea turtle came to us.  Cara even had to move out of its way one time because it was swimming
right at her.  (Thanks for the pic Diana Lu.)

We got back from snorkeling just in time to clean up and take Diana to the airport so she could fly to San Ignacio and continue her Belize adventure, visiting caves and Mayan ruins.  Then the rest of us hopped on the golf cart and continued our tour of the peninsula, stopping in at several interesting bars along the way.

The Flying Pig - an awesome bar/restaurant north of the Placencia airport.

The Flying Pig was opened by a really nice former school teacher from the U.S.

Swings for seating at The Flying Pig!

Jaguar Lanes is Belize's only bowling alley, and they actually have good pizza there.  (Don't ask me why we ordered pizza in
Belize, but we did.)

They have WiFi at Jaguar Lanes, so that meant it was time for the ladies to check in on the rest of the world via our
smartphones.

We had breakfast together on Tuesday morning before everyone else had to fly home.  We ended up taking the bus back to Hopkins ($6 US for both of us to go about 39 miles).  It was a friendly and uneventful ride.

Our take: Placencia is definitely on the touristy side, but it is beautiful, and it was a ton of fun to explore with this great group of people!  We're so glad they were all able to make it, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

12-4-2014 Float Trip in Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary

Terry, a friend of our hosts (and now a friend of ours), invited us to do a river float trip through nearby Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary.  We went with Terry, his father Bob, Pamela (co-owner of Windschief in Hopkins, which has guest houses and a bar), and Guido (from Rome, who owns a teak farm near the mountains of Belize).  Our photos of the river didn't turn out, but Terry was nice enough to send us the ones he took (thanks so much, Terry!).

This gives you an idea of the road to the preserve.  This part actually looks pretty good - no giant holes (very common).

In addition to the river float trip, there are lots of hiking trails to check out.  We plan to return.

Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary is also the world's first jaguar preserve!  We didn't see any jaguars that day, though we
saw fresh tracks from a tapir (which looks kind of like an anteater, but is much bigger).

There is a nice little museum at Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary

Jaguar skull

We saw this interesting vehicle in the parking area.  A couple was traveling from Alaska to Patagonia in this rig powered by
recycled vegetable oil.

The nice hike through the jungle to the put-in.  Since you hike past the take-out to the put-in spot, you can actually do the
float trip over and over again if you like.

Cara, Eric, Bob, Pamela, Terry and Guido (left to right).  We're all ready to get on the water in our old school inner tubes.

Guido (in the foreground), Cara and Bob behind him

Pamela

The water was cool and refreshing, and the company was wonderful!

Terry's father, Bob, enjoying the float

Approaching the take out point

On our way out of the preserve we visited the site of a plane wreck in the jungle.

Due to a thunderstorm, researchers monitoring the jaguars in Cockscomb Basin lost control of their plane on take-off and
crashed into a tree.  There were only minor injuries, except to the plane, which was left to the jungle to reclaim.

Another view of the wrecked plane

It's pretty amazing that everyone in the plane walked away.

It started pouring down rain just after we got to the plane wreck.  Taking refuge under the wings seemed to work
for everyone except Cara, who the biting ants apparently loved.  She had to endure the downpour and jump in the
creek to wash them off her feet.

12-2-2014 Trip to Belize

Our plane was scheduled to leave at 6:30 in the morning on 12-2.  We don't fly a lot and we wanted to get there 2 hours early and with the packing and excitement we ended up pulling an all nighter.

way above the clouds

We hopped a short flight from Belize City to Dangriga on a nice commuter plane.

There was only 4 passengers on the flight

This was a very nice turbine powered plane

When we arrived we saw how nice the place was and our friends threw a party at the cabana.  Click on the video below to see what the place we are staying looks like.


It was a big day!

10-30-2014 Yelp Wining and Dining event at Seasons 52

I (Cara) was lucky to attend an amazing Yelp Elite only event (no +1 - sorry, Eric).  It was a wine and food pairing at Seasons 52 restaurant at Keystone at the Crossing in north Indianapolis.  They focus on cooking seasonally-inspired, healthy food, and nothing on the menu is over 475 calories.  They grill over a real wood fire, and they don't even have a fryer in the kitchen.  Plus, they have gluten free and vegetarian/vegan menus if you need one.

I think all of us there expected a few small tasting plates to go with our wine samples.  Boy were we wrong!  Seasons 52 really rolled out the red carpet and treated us like royalty!  We had appetizers and a full five course meal, with a different wine for each course.  We were told that each course was actually a smaller portion than normal, which was hard to believe.  Plus, we got goodies like a wine glass, reusable bag, $5 gift card, and a nice wine cork.  We were all blown away!  Five stars!  I would definitely go there again!

The lovely table setup in one of the private rooms at Seasons 52

Glasses awaiting the next wine

This was our menu that night.  Of course, I got vegetarian items in place of the meat.

Baby Spinach & Carmelized Pear Salad (yummy - the pears were delicious!) - supposedly
this was the only full-size item we got that night.  (I missed getting a picture of the two
flatbreads that preceded the salad.)

My second course of roasted butternut squash, acorn squash and apples - delicious!

My third course of  Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli - AMAZING!

My fourth course, a vegetarian sampler of seasonal veggies (squash, broccoli, brussels sprouts, red peppers, mushroom), cedar-
roasted tofu, soft taco, and quinoa citrus salad!  Thankfully they brought boxes for us at this point, because I had to take most
of this incredible food home.  Everything was great, but the quinoa citrus salad was probably my favorite in this course - I
loved the crunch of the jicama in it.

Our fifth course - a sampler of "mini indulgences" like key lime pie, pumpkin pie, blueberry
something, s'mores, and a macchiato treat that I tried and loved.

10-29-2014 Georgia Street Block Party and Pacers Game

We saw ads online and on TV for the Indy Star and Pacers Block Party on Georgia Street, so we thought we would check it out.  We hadn't planned on going to the game (okay, we didn't even know there was a game), but we lucked into $5 tickets for the season opener against the Philadelphia 76ers, and we couldn't pass that up.

Georgia Street was blocked off between the stadium and Meridian Street, and there was a band playing.  They were okay.

There were food trucks, drink vendors, and giveaways from Indy Star and the Pacers.  Guess we got spoiled by the incredible
street fairs in Portland, because this "block party" seemed pretty lame to us.

The Pacers/Sixers game was much more fun, and there really doesn't seem to be a bad seat in the house.  We won - go Pacers!

After the game we went across the street to The Pub for a (very) late dinner.  Cara's nachos (just okay) were very spicy.

Eric really likes their M-80s (spicy shrimp), so that's what he gets every time.

10-27-2014 PitchFeast at the Speakeasy

Every other month there is a PitchFeast at the Speakeasy co-working facility.  Attendees each pay $5, and that gets you dinner, drinks, and a token to vote.  (Sponsors pay for the food and drink.)  There are generally three people who pitch about their startup business, and after listening to the pitches the attendees vote for the winner by putting their tokens in the appropriate box.  The winner gets all the money collected, which is probably a couple of hundred dollars (because there were about 40 people who attended).

This handout talks about the PitchFeast concept and the three presenters this evening.

Brian Long discussing his startup, Crave.ly.  It is a website and app for restaurants to get their menus online in a nicely
readable (and searchable) way, and have the menu automatically update across the various places it is posted online (i.e.
Crave.ly, Yelp, Google, the restaurant's own website).  They currently have about 170 restaurants on their service.  Cara liked
the idea, but it didn't win.

Will Jones' startup is called Trips 4 Taps.  No, it has nothing to do with beer.  It's a non-profit to help family and friends from
across the country attend the funeral of a fallen soldier.  Trips 4 Taps is in the process of getting their 501(c)(3) status.  This
idea got lots of votes, but didn't win.

Rachel Langford introduced her startup business, the GlamourBuzz Beauty Bus.  It's a mobile salon (for waxing services,
manicures, etc.) that will have weekly stops at various busy places and companies downtown (and eventually college
campuses).  Her idea won!

Here is some more info on GlamourBuzz Beauty Bus.  Rachel plans to have the business up
and running by next Spring.