Watery Wednesday - Sunrise in Tennessee

First let me apologize for not posting something for Watery Wednesday last week.  We started our trip to Tennessee and having an Internet connection has had it's challenges!

So I'm hoping this picture I took this morning makes up for it!

I took this picture from the deck of the house where we are staying during our home exchange near Sevierville Tennessee.

Don't forget to see more beautiful pictures from others at "Watery Wednesday"

Tennessee Bound!

I am so excited!!!  We started our journey to Tennessee this past Wednesday, two days earlier then planned.  I'm terrible that way, plan a day to leave and always bump it up a day or two.

We left Las Vegas and so far have driven through Utah, Colorado and Kansas.  We are in Kansas City Missouri at this moment and getting ready for our drive to Nashville Tennessee today.

We will be doing two home exchanges in the Gatlinburg area over the next two weeks while we enjoy the fall colors and do some exploring.

So I hope you will enjoy the stories to come!

Well, I've got to get going!

Gatlinburg on Dwellable

Watery Wednesday - The Great Barrier Reef

In May 2009 I had the opportunity to go back to Australia on a second home exchange.  This time I took the 7hour drive to the north to see the Great Barrier Reef.

Yes I did do some snorkling, even though the water was way too cold for my liking.  But you can't go all the way to the Great Barrier Reef and not snorkle.....right?

You can read about my trip to Australia by clicking here.

Don't forget to click here for more Watery Wednesday photos! 

Watery Wednesday - St Malo France

One of my favorite birthday presents from Stijn was a trip to the coast of France a couple of years ago.  In St Malo we had an amazing view from our room over looking the coastline.

We saw many beautiful places but the most fascinating was St Malo, which has one of the best known tidal ranges in the world.

The Bay of St Malo can pride itself to have one of the greatest Spring tides in Europe, thanks to its geographical position. Spring tides are especially strong tides (they do not have anything to do with the season Spring). When the Atlantic Ocean is caught in the bottleneck of the Channel, the sea waves rush through very quickly and at an extremely great force.  The tidal range is the difference between high and low tide - on average it is more than 40 feet around St Malo. 

So a walk to the Citadel was a fun challenge in the early morning!

By the end of our day, the tide was out and if you wanted, you could walk for miles out on the beach!

You can read about our trip to the coast of France by clicking here.

Don't forget to check out "Watery Wednesday" for some more fantastic watery pictures from around the world!

From the Mountains to the Coast of the Algarve

There is still plenty to see here on the Algarve, and our days are numbered.  So on Friday, February 19  we decided to drive to the East of Ferragudo to the mountain town of  Loulé. 

Loulé is an interesting town whose beginnings are uncertain, some historians putting it as far back as 400BC, but others say it's origins are Roman. There is a mix of modern and Moorish architecture that keeps the eye wandering and the camera clicking!

After we parked our car, we soon discovered that Loulé is a very easy town to explore by just walking around. 

We were very excited when we came upon a market filled with fresh fish, vegetables and fruits.

One of the things I just love, and that you see all throughout the Algarve, are the beautiful filigree chimneys.  I have been told by Alice that the chimney is a symbol of wealth here.

Well it's time to head off the mountain and spend some time on the coast.  So we headed down to "Vilamoura", which is located virtually in the middle of the Algarve coast. Vilamoura's accessibility has helped it become one of Europe's largest beach resorts. Stijn had been here once before on a trip he had won to play poker at the "Vilamoura Casino".  So he was anxious to show me around.

Despite the name translating to ‘Moorish Town’, in terms of history there is very little to see in Vilamoura, hardly surprising as it has only really existed for about 30 years.  There were plenty of resorts and golf courses, so this place was a bit disappointing for me.  But Stijn remembered a great little beach bar on Praia da Marina, Beach Bar Maresia.

He sure knows how to make my day!

If you would like to see more pictures of our day, click here "Where's Debbie" and then on the album "From the Mountains to the Coast"