Where should we travel for Christmas?

I'm only good for skiing for maybe a half day! The museums are awesome there. We really enjoyed the Georgia O'Keefe,  Indian Arts and Culture and Wheelwright museums. I'm not a major artsy person, but even I really liked visiting the art galleries.

Kakawa Chocolate House is a can't miss place. The drinking chocolate is to die for.

10,000 Waves is a Japanese spa. We got the best massages we've ever had there. People did bring their kids there, but I will caution you that the communal hot tub (included in all spa treatments) is clothing optional. Most people chose NOT to wear swimwear. That part definitely had a "hippy vibe." LOL! It is set away from the rest of the spa, so it's not like people are walking around naked all over the place.

The Loretto Chapel, famous for the spiral staircase, is something you have to check out once.

We did a lot of hiking (Dale Ball trails is the only one we visited) I got a little altitude sickness one day, but it was fine after I got acclimated.

If you want to take a drive to Taos, definitely visit the pueblo and the Rio Grande Gorge.

My mom and dad this a few years ago and loved it!

I know a number of people who have done this and loved it. Hopefully you will get some snow somewhere along the way, as it really makes the markets magical.



We did this over Christmas 2015. We left Fort Lauderdale on Dec 20 and returned Dec 27. We had 3 ports of call - Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Maarten - and spent Christmas Day at sea. The ship was wonderfully decorated, and they had special menus for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the main dining room - even for breakfast!

I like everything about the city/country - people, culture, food, architecture, museums, soccer (Go Sporting CP!), etc. My husband & teen both speak Portuguese, so it allows us to visit non-tourist areas as well. Safe travels...

I'm currently living in Toronto but I try to get home (NL) every summer. I'm actually heading there next Thursday. Ironically, I think I've hit every New England state except Maine.

We are quite independent travelers and Nicaragua was reasonably easy to get around but didn't feel overrun with other tourists. 

 We did lots of cool things including a lot of hiking. But I think hands-down our time in Leon was probably the best part of the trip. Leon is a colonial city which is quite nice.  I found online a Nicaraguan tour guide that had received great reviews. So I contacted the owner and arranged a one-day tour.  In the morning we toured the city of Leon and focussed on many of the revolutionary sites. It was incredibly interesting. 

But the  afternoon was amazing. We took a small boat through the mangroves and  then walked to a lovely deserted beach area.  There was a group of Nicaraguans working to protect the sea turtles that frequented the beach and that day were letting some babies back to the sea. That's why our guide took us there and we did see and help the baby turtles go back to the sea.  While waiting for sunset and for the release of the baby turtles we just lucked out and a mother turtle came out of the ocean and came onto the beach to lay her eggs. It was a total freak because turtles do not normally lay eggs at 5 o'clock in the afternoon but she did  We got to observe her (from a distance) and then afterwords help the conservation guys move the eggs to protect them. It was the single most cool thing I think I've ever done. 

In the same part of Nicaragua volcano boarding is hugely popular-- tobogganing down the side of a volcano. I had read about it and thought it sounded incredibly dangerous but I knew my crazy husband and kids would want to do it so we talk to our guide about it and the next day he took my husband and kids to the top of a volcano and the tobogganed down. I stayed at the bottom and took photos. 

We really liked Nicaragua and are even talking about going back this Christmas but might go to Guatemala instead.  I would be happy to give you more details if you end up going. 

Emelle