Galapagos Grand Adventure

So the Fuller Family newest great adventure begins in the Galápagos Islands. We arrived in Quito, Ecuador on Friday evening and spent a night in the very nice Wyndham Hotel at the airport. They had a sign that declared they were voted the best airport hotel in South America-- and I believe them! It is both convenient and modern.
We hopped on a plane the next morning to fly to the island of Baltra in the Galápagos where we are "glamping" in the very nice and accommodating Safari lodge! We are staying in luxurious tents complete with some Wi-Fi and electricity and nice bathroom.
But before we checked into the Lodge, and after clearing a rigorous customs procedure at the airport, we met our fantastic guide, Carla. Then the REAL adventure began. We traveled by boat (we left our luggage to be delivered to the Lodge) to the island of Santa Cruz. The landscape varies greatly. Y the airport it is very arid - semi desert with large volcanic rocks and cacti. The water is so clear and with a white sandy bottom, the ocean takes on a glorious aqua blue color! After crossing to Santa Cruz we drove up to the highlands where we saw some large ancient craters - remnants of the volcanic era when the islands were formed. There are no active volcanos on Baltra. However, last year there were two eruptions on two of the islands in the Galápagos group. We hiked on some trails to visit old lava tubes. KC loved "the caves" and kept wanting to go back. But we had more adventures awaiting us.
Off we went to have lunch and visit a Tortoise Reserve.
We saw lots of these amazing animals - now an endangered species, with a population of 25000, down from over 200,000!
Next we went to have lunch in the Tortoise reserve where we saw LOTS of Tortoises. We saw one that was around 30 years old and a very large one that was around 80 years old, There are 11 recorded species of Tortoises in the Galápagos and then two more that are considered hybrids. A Tortoise May live one year without food or water and they may live up to two hundred years.
We had a lovely dinner outside on the Lodge deck with delicious food that they were gracious enough to customize for our varying tastes.
We also saw some Galápagos Sea Lions by the boat dock. The girls were thrilled, both with the Sea Lions and the Tortoises! Gaby is, unfortunately, a bit under the weather so she was fairly quiet. She seems a bit better today so we hope she’s close to being over whatever she has picked up.
We also drove to the "highlands" area of the island where we saw the canopies of the Secasia trees. When they are small trees, they have very large and very velvety soft leaves because they are competing for sunshine. As they grow taller and that is no longer an issue, the leaves become very tiny. These trees are endemic to these islands and have been here long before man arrived.
The pirates and early explorers decimated the Tortoise population. They were hunted for food and their shells. Today they are working very hard to restore the population. Rats, brought by the early sailing ships also hurt the Tortoise population. Just about five years ago, they discovered a type of rat poison that is on,y harmful to the rats. That has brought the rat population down and for the first time in almost 50 years, 10 hatchlings were spotted this past December! Tomorrow we go fishing for our dinner! Good luck on that one. Both Trey and Bill are notorious for bringing bad luck to a fishing boat.... We’ll see.....maybe two negatives will make a positive!
It’s late and I’m looking for bed! More tomorrow....

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Back on the travel trail again! Biltmore Estate in N.C.

Well, it has  been a while since I’ve been able to blog about traveling!  But after successive surgeries for the last three years, I am pleased to say I am now Bionic on the right side and feel great!  So Bill and I decided to do a short vacation get-away at one of our "happy places" --- The Biltmore Estate House in Asheville, NC.
 I first saw the house when I was about 9 years old on a day trip from Camp Greystone right outside of Hendersonville, NC.  For a young girl raised in Wichita, Kansas, it was an eye opening experience!  The Biltmore Estate is still the largest privately owned private home in the United States and is still owned by decendents of George and Edith Vanderbilt.  Originally, the house was built in six years by George Vanderbilt.  He moved in on Christmas Eve, 1995.  He originally owned 125,000 acres (the Estate currently sits on 8000 acres).  He  bought all the land he could see from his house.

 The house was an engineering marvel.  It included one of the first indoor swimming pools in the basement as well as an early bowing alley!  George and Editih were gracious entertainers. The  carriage ride up to the house was magnificently landscaped by George Olmstead (the creator of Central Park).   Olmstead  used lots of different kinds of plants and trees and created an amazing atmosphere of peace and tranquility as the horses pulled the carriages up the tree lined path to the magnificent Estate grounds.  Servants would greet the guests and unpack their luggage and have items carefully put away before guests could even make it to their room.  When you tour the estate house, you marvel at how the laundry system worked and the kitchen which had to feed multitudes of people -- both staff and guests.  In the early days, there was a working dairy farm and large chicken coop that provided fresh eggs and milk.  Tenant farmers were hired by George and given a home and some dairy cows.  In exchange for living free, they provided the estate with a quota of milk.  Anything over that quota they were allowed to sell in town.  The system worked very well for many years.  The Vanderbilt’s were not only known as gracious society hosts, but as wonderful employers.
The Vanderbilts’ are credited with starting the first Forest Servvice in the US.  He wanted the land to be sustainable and he replanted trees that were cut down.  In later years, George sold most of his acreage to the government to form what is today known as Pisgah National Forest. He sold the land, in part, due to income tax concerns.  The house is currently run by the Cecil family.  George and Edith’s daughter, Cornelia, married John Francis Cecil and their children are the decedents operating the Estate today.  After the death of George,  the Estate was opened to the public for visits during the depression years in the hopes of reviving the Asheville economy, which it did quite successfully.  Today the Estate has a staff of over 2000 employees and 1.3 million visitors a year.  The city of Asheville boasts a population of 88,000.  The Vanderbilt and later  the Cecil families, contributed greatly to the economy of the area.  They even opened a school for the employees of the Estate.  It is well known that all who have worked for the family think very highly of them.  The current owner and his family live on property.  The Estate does raise its own beef which is consumed in several of the wonderful restaurants available on property.  We are staying at the beautiful Bilmore Inn, a mere 15 minute complimentary shuttle ride away from the House or the Anter Hill shopping village.  There is so much to do here:  Segway Rides, FlyFishing, Falconrey, River floats, Kayyaking, multiple tours of the Estate house, and let me not forget to mention their Winery. When they sold the dairy, they opened a winery on property.  The vineyards can be seen on an Advanced Segway tour.  But all can enjoy the wine tastings held daily at the Winery.  Gift shops abound (yea!!!) and have a wide range of items for sale.  They actually sell about 125,000 bottles of wine a year.  The views from the Inn of the Blue Ridge Mountains are always breathtaking.  The grounds are meticulously kept by a massive group of horticulturists.  Everywhere you look there are beautiful flowers, trees and shrubs, many of which are changed seasonally!  It is a peaceful and tranquil place where the mountain air just smells so good it makes you happy!The Biltmore Estate House has formal gardens and a Green House that is spectacular.  No matter what time of year you visit, the Gardens are always a pleasure to stroll through.  The house and its tapestries and furnishings are all authentic and have been meticulously cared for and restored.  The great dining hall and the library are two of my favorite rooms.  The Banquet hall dining room during the Christmas holidays boasts a 35’ live tree drawn to the estate by a team of Belgian horses.  It is then set up and decorated. It takes over 40 people to get the tree in and up!  (It weighs over 3500 lbs. and there  are actually two trees cut down so that for the months of November and December the tree will always be fresh).  During the holidays, the grounds are beautifully decorated everywhere you go with poinsettias and holly and mistletoe!  It is truly magical.  The Estate house has over 65 trees all decorated differently in Victorian style.
But, after having visited this lovely estate multiple times over the years, we have returned once again for a very special exhibit by Chihuly.  The exhibit has been 2 1/2 years in the making and made its debut this summer.  It will close Oct. 7.  We came to do the tour at night and WOW, it was magnificent!  It looks TOTALLY different during the day time!  While it’s still lovely during day light, the magnificence is only seen at night with the lights! I am posting photos of our night tour and a few of the activities we have done so far.
I will mention that we have always had high tea one afternoon while visiting.  We did the same this year but were disappointed that it was not the "traditional high tea" of old with the tiered plate, the tiny sandwiches and the scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam!  They are nw doing what I would call a "gourmet"? High tea.  It is several different plates with goat cheese and almond dust and other items I cana’t even remember!  We have turned in our suggestion to the Concierge that they offer TWO different kinds of teas -- the "Gourmet Asheville " one and the TRADITIONAL high tea!  Hopefully the next time we come they will be back to offering the traditional high tea!
Enjoy the photos below!  We have certainly enjoyed our few days here!  









The Biltmore Estate House at night.

Monday in Boca Raton Noon after Irma

The latest update for us:

Grant and Bill are removing our shutters.  We never lost power.  We have intermittent cable and internet but still able to get internet from apple phone hot spot.  ATT suspended cellular data charges for the next week.  There is significant landscape damage in our neighborhood but not structural damage.  Miami Beach got slammed... But I think the worst is the Keys and Naples.  The city manager for the Keys said that at six months they might be 50% back.  They are not letting anyone into the Keys probably for several weeks.... They have shown helicopter footage of Keys and Naples.  Homes in Naples looked really bad from the air.

Mary weathered the storm well.  She had two ladies and three children to keep her entertained.  No damage at her house either.  There were only some trees behind her house that went down.

Friends, Arlene and Jerome Feen are staying with us.  They came up today because they lost power at their house.  Arlene is hard at work for all her clients at our kitchen table!

Trey, Annette, Gaby, KC and 9 week old puppy Cosmo did great!  Trey busy taking down the shutters while the girls are racing around outside on their scooters.  Everyone is just happy to be outside.  The winds slightly damaged their screen door...But that was it.

We are feeling totally blessed at what we escaped and praying for those who were not so lucky.  As of this writing, our shutters are down and all the outside things that were inside are back outside!  The landscapers came and removed trees blocking the road and cut down dangerous hanging branches from other trees.

The worst is past Boca Raton 10 pm

Grant set up a personal hotspot on his phone so he could watch the football game on his ipad!  It worked!  His hotspot  will allow two devices so I'm connected to his phone hotspot.  Since ATT is not charging for a week for data, he turned off wifi and set up a cellular data hotspot.  It is allowing me to post since we have no cable tv and no internet.  We DO have power!  Yea!  If you can only keep one power it should be!  Everyone has survived in our area quite well.  Some minor structural damage reported in a few spots and a lot of trees down, but otherwise in great shape here.  There is a city wide curfew tonight.  Clean up will start tomorrow...Thanks for tuning in. I will post photos tomorrow.

And this is why you shouldn't go wading in any flood waters..  This was just 10 hours ago in Delray Beach.  It was broad cast on CBS12 news coverage...

Irma update at 6 pm

This is the video Grant just shot out our front door during a short lull.  The severe bands are getting less, but we will still have major stuff coming through until around 10pm tonight.  Our pool is totally full and overflowing into our drains...  Screen enclosure has been crucial protecting back of our house.  There is a lot of major flooding being reported in Miami.  They just arrested nine guys for looting a Foot Locker store in Ft. Lauderdale.  They are reporting 90% of people in Dade (Miami) county are without power and about 50% of Palm Beach County has no power.  How lucky we are to still have our power!?  It's getting dark so photos will be hard to put up.  More later.  Working on dinner..  Hot dogs for Grant and Shepherd's Pie that was in fridge for Bill and me....

Huge flooding and storm surge in Miami..Unbelievable shots of rivers running through the streets of Miami.  There was a huge crane that just cracked in half...

So just checked in with Mary and everyone over there is fine.  They have only lost a tree out in the back yard.