Hidden Valley

Manila is a pretty intense urban place.  There's not a lot of green space and there's a lot of traffic. And unlike our last post where we could cross the street and be at the beach, in Manila it takes a 2 hours drive or more to get to a beach you can enjoy.

So - when our Brazilian friends invited us to check out a somewhat nearby day resort that had volcanic pools, we jumped at the chance.









Hidden Valley is about an hour and a half away from Manila (provided you leave early and avoid most of the traffic).  We drove south along the expressway (SLEX) and eventually got off and drove through many cute towns.









As we strolled through the resort to the first set up pools, our friends pointed out all the changes that had happen because of the recent typhoon.








Many trees were down, but it was still quite beautiful.

























Hidden Valley has several groupings of natural springs pools.

The water is slightly warm - which is quite refreshing.

There are also a number of waterfalls.  Some of the pools even have bubbles coming up from the bottom.

And of course all the fun made for a restful drive home!

Half a Century

I had a milestone birthday this month.
Usually as a Leo, I insist on celebrating my birthday the entire month.






But this year - in light of my milestone - I think I'll just celebrate all year.  

There are lots of things I'd like to do or learn or experience to mark the beginning of my second half a century.

 In addition to exploring this region and nearby countries (Thailand, Vietnam, China),

I also am planning to learn to scuba so that I can really check out new territories.



The Philippines has many wonderful dive spots that we will check out.











I spent the actual day in spa mode - a full day of all the pampering possible at the local spa.  It was very lovely and relaxing and I left feeling like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz before meeting the wizard.













And then I had a wonderful dinner at a new spot with my family

- and an Aviation cocktail.


A great way to begin!

WIDTOTO

There are a lot of acronyms out there that have become part of the regular language.  Words like scuba (self contained underwater breathing apparatus), snafu (situation normal, all f'd up), and fubar (f'd up beyond all recognition)  I particular like ones where the word has become such a part of regular language that the acronym origins have been forgotten.  Posh (port out, starboard home) comes from British travellers on their way to India and the importance of being on the correct side of the ship for each leg of the journey.

So - I thought it would be fun to create a new acronym and see if it could become part of regular language. The word I came up with speaks to the common practice that when something electronic isn't working and you can't figure out why, turning it off and then back on often fixes everything.  So - WIDTOTO - when in doubt, turn off, turn on.

Let's see how long it takes.