Bali, part 2

 I am not sure why this is taking me so long to finish posting about this trip, but since my mom keeps reminding me, I will add some more pictures.  These are some pictures of the second hotel where we stayed.  It was very cute and felt local.  

Every morning they replace the flowers around the hotel

The rice fields at Tegallalang are one of the big tourist spots.  These pictures look pretty because I aimed my camera to remove the things that are too touristy.  

So here you can see the toursity things.  They built these swings, and you can pay to go on the swings.  they have stores across from the field to rent these dresses with the long skirts.  So people rent these dresses and then have their boyfriends take their pictures.  Before you ask, no, we didn't do this.  But I do see the appeal because the pictures do look nice. 

Next stop was this temple -- the Temple of the Holy Water

This is an altar at the temple, and people put up their offerings. 

These are the offerings -- people put what they want to come back to them.  These include money, flowers and Oreo cookies

Our guide showed us what they do at the temple of holy water -- they take water from this fountain and put it over their head three times, and then drink three times from their hand.  They also put the flowers behind our ears as part of the offering.  

Bali part 1

 

In the fall, I went to Bali with some friends.  It was a landmark birthday for one of my friends and when I asked what she wanted to do, she said wanted to go to Bali.  It doesn't take much for me to be convinced to travel someplace new.  Here are some pictures of our first day at the hotel.  

This is a little church that has a clear view straight through to the ocean.  We saw a wedding happening here one evening.  

These little alters are built all over the island, including this one at the hotel.  

The next day, we were heading north, so we stopped at the Uluwatu Temple.  

This is the temple  built high on the cliff "between Heaven and earth."  

On the way out, we caught a glimpse of some monkeys.  

Glacier National park

 This summer, I went on a road trip with a friend to Glacier National park.  We started planning this trip in the summer of 2021, but because it's hard to get everything planned in a short amount a time, plus I had some other things planned for last summer, we decided to this summer.  We rented an AirBnb and got the "Going-to-the-Sun Road" pass months in advance.  But then found out a week before that the road wasn't open because of snow and that it might not be cleared before we get there.  It wasn't open for our first two days, but it opened by the third day and we were able to see everything we had planned.  However, there were lots of other places to go/see which are not on the road.

First we drove around, and saw McDonald Lake and took a boat tour of the lake.  

The second day, we went for a hike to Glacier lake.  Here are some pics along the way...

this is the view of Glacier Lake. 

The next day, the road was open, so we drove on the Going to the Sun road and these are some views...

up at the highest point, there is a visitor's center and parking lot and we walked around for bit.  We thought we could hike here, but the trails were closed because of the snow.

On the other side of the park, we stopped for this amazing scene at Wild Goose Island Viewpoint...

and on the way back we came across a field with cars parked along, who were looking at something.  So we pulled over and we saw what it was...

When we stopped we saw this bear all the way up on the hill, but it made it's way down the hill and was only a few feet away from where we were parked.  The bear was much closer than it seems in this picture.  It seems everyone goes to Glacier and wants to see a bear... just not on a trail or at a campsite. So this was the perfect way to see it.  And it did not seem the least bit interested in us, which was a good thing.  

NYC visit

 

Day one, we walked around a little while the parents were at a concert.  Here they are in front of the NY Public Library

Day two, I took my niece to see Dear Evan Hansen.  the brothers went to see other shows.  She loved the show! 

We couldn't get a good picture out front of the theater because of the scaffolding, but that's her in front.

Day three I took both nieces to see Six.  

Playing in Central Park

Lion King

I took my niece to see the Lion King last week.  First, we stopped at Serendipity for lunch.  Here she is with the giant menu. 

And here she is with their famous giant frozen hot chocolate

Since the restaurant is right by the Roosevelt Island tram, we took that over to the island and then right back again.  

And then this non-city kid walked all the way down to the theater.  

It was my first time seeing the show (which came out like 25-30 years ago and still regularly sells out).  I was never really interested in seeing it, but I can see why it has lasted.  The puppets are amazing!