MDW

To start out the Memorial Day Weekend, I headed Downtown Raleigh to have a drink and experience some places I haven't been before. I went to the Boylan Bridge Restaurant and enjoyed the tiny Raleigh skyline. When I looked up the restaurant it said it has the best view of the skyline, but it was kind of funny how small it is coming from seeing Chicago's all my life and just visiting NYC. 

My apartment complex's pool opened on Saturday and it was lovely.

On Sunday, I decided to take a day trip to the beach. I went to Wrightsville. Its so clean and beautiful there. I think next time I may try a different beach though to mix it up.

I arrived quite early and was able to enjoy the nice quiet beach.

The houses there are my dream.

For lunch, I ate at The Oceanic. I've been there before, but never for lunch. It was pretty good, but I would suggest holding out for dinner. Their menu has much more seafood dishes. However, the views are amazing anytime of day.

Shrimp Roll and the Crab Melt.

  Capped off the weekend with a trip to the grocery store to pick up these beauties for the week. I'm not sure why, but I've been craving these for the past two weeks. So good.

Turquoise Blue

Its nice living so close to the beach and ocean, but it has nothing on the shores of the Yucatan Peninsula. The turquoise blues and greens that I saw last week were amazing, along the white sandy beaches of Riviera Maya. Valentin Imperial Maya, the resort we stayed at, had such beautiful landscapes. 

I love all these pictures from the beach.

I had such a great time, but its nice to get home. I have to admit that I am already planning my next trip abroad for next year. I'm itching to get out of the country again and explore!

Aventuras Mayas

While in Riviera Maya, I did a snorkel tour. I've snorkeled in Hawaii and loved it. I've taken a greater liking to snorkeling compared to scuba diving. This tour gave us a little bit of everything, visiting three different ecosystems. The Aventuras Mayas consists of a cave, a cenote, and an inlet. 

The Cenote.

 I'm not a huge fan of zip lining because its really not a huge rush for me, but zipping into water was pretty fun.

Cliff-jumping. 

The Inlet.

If you are in Riviera Maya, I would highly recommend this snorkel tour. You get to experience a little bit of everything. 

Happy Wednesday! We are almost to the weekend...

Photo Credit: Aventuras Mayas Photographer and me.

Riviera Maya

I headed down to Rivera Maya, Mexico last week and stayed at the Valentin Imperial Maya, which is an all-inclusive adults only resort. All-inclusive is the only way to go down there. I've been to the Moon Palace before in Cancun, Mexico and both were great experiences

The first morning I ran the beach. It was gorgeous, but very tiring. Running on sand is not the same as pavement or a track, thats for sure! One side of the resort's beach was rock and the other was for swimming from beach straight into water. These pictures were take around 6:30 am, so the sun was just starting to come up.

 This resort had six different restaurants to choose from each night, with buffets for breakfast and lunch. Don't get grossed out by the word "buffet." These are unlike any buffet you've ever been to. Beautiful presentation and amazing food. They had restaurants for all of the following cuisine: Mexican (of course!), French, Indian, Italian, Hibachi/Sushi, and a steak house. Each one was fabulous and presented in the most elegant way possible. 

Below is my favorite dessert from the French restaurant... Cannolis! I love them and these were a new twist on the cannolis I'm used to. 

 Part of the Hibachi dinner was an appetizer of sushi. They were the perfect size and delicious.

Knowing my sweet tooth, you can imagine that I got pastries, cake, and ice cream at each restaurant. My favorite pastry is the one below. It reminded me of a doughnut hole with powdered sugar on top. There was a light butter on the inside, but after sitting for a bit it turned into a boston cream filled doughnut taste or cream puff. Super light. I loved them so much, we asked for the name and recipe. However, it does not translate to english. 

You can't go wrong with mimosas at breakfast each day either...with this view.

Out of all the restaurants,  I would have to say that its a toss up between the Italian and French restaurants. I had filet mignon at the French and ravioli with beef medallions at the Italian. And as we know, I run on ravioli, so I was in heaven. They were delicious too. 

That is all for today, but I will share the rest of the resort and our snorkel adventure later this week! 

St. Pete's

I went to St. Petersburg, FL over the weekend, for the first time. It was a short trip, but much needed. The beach, weather, and ocean were beautiful. I couldn't have had a better vacation. I will let the pictures do the talking...

Morning walk on the beach.

I stayed at the Post Card Inn.

 It wasn't the most luxurious place, but it was super cute! This is the lobby with bookshelves adorning the wall. The other side had a giant chalk board, where they posted the weather for the day. Everything was super modern, with a studio/loft feel.

Since the Tampa Bay Rays' Tropicana Field is located in St. Pete's and 10-15 minutes away from where I stayed, I had to get tickets.

 Of course, I wanted to see the actual rays that they have to touch before the game.

After the game, I went to a place called Snapper's. This was my meal. To die for. Lobster risotto, pan-seared scallops, grilled shrimp, and fried leeks for garnish. It was the perfect portion and delicious.

The beach was so beautiful. Our hotel and room was right on the ocean, so it was easy to walk out in our pjs to the beach in the morning. This particular morning I ran the beach. What a work out.

 Beach/pool day!

I loved the set up of the Post Card Inn.

After dinner I took a detour through the Tradewinds resort.

We were just in time to catch this beautiful scene after the sun had set. 

Hope everyone had a great weekend. I'm glad I got to relax under the sun this weekend. Needed that vitamin D.