Labor Day Long Weekend: Block Island, Rhode Island

Long weekends are for ferry rides, champagne celebrations, mass production of breakfasts, petting zoos, wishing rocks, pink lemonade, outdoor showers, badminton and croquet tournaments and lots of photo ops. 

Miami: Fontainbleau Hotel

What a glorious stay at Miami's Fontainbleau Hotel.

Not only is it one of the most beautiful hotels in South Beach, it also has the best service I've ever encountered, both indoors and out, not to mention the incredible Hakkasan restaurant.

After I was stung by a jelly fish one afternoon, the Lapis Spa staff's immediate concern and quick response helped ease the pain (and who knew vinegar is the solution!) and allowed me to get back into the ocean soon after.

We're immensely thankful to the kind staff of the Fontainbleau, who generously donated the luxurious Lapis Spa products for the Nashua Soup Kitchen. We were happy to bring back a giant box of mini shampoos and lotions, that we distributed at the NSK this past weekend.

Thank you so much Fontainbleau, we'll most definitely be back!

Greece: Santorini, Skaros Rock

Certainly one of the most unique places to stay would be inside a cave, wouldn't you say?

Hotel Sunny Villas, with its incredible caldera and sunset views, was one such place and with it being situated in front of the famed Skaros Rock, it was an ideal location for a morning hike.

Now, I'm not a hiker, and not an adventure seeker, either, so seeing a well-trodden path on Skaros made me feel confident about this type of hike.

Then we met a group who had just done the hike and were resting at the foot of it, amongst them was an older lady with a cane.

They told us that there's a hidden CHURCH on the other side of Skaros Rock, that is only accessible if you hike over some fallen rocks, which, when you approach them, appear to be the end of the road. However if you hike OVER these trecherous rocks (with a sheer drop on the other side) the path continues on down to the church. With an incredible view. 

And a closer view of Heaven I thought, if I slipped.

BUT.

The old lady did it.

So we gave it a go, and of course at the pile of fallen rocks, the camera was put away, but you can see that they were right.

Totally worth it.

Heaven, on earth.

Greece: Santorini, Breakfast, Buses + Beaches

Although simple, the breakfast provided at the Hotel Sunny Villas was perfect and satiated us on our bus trip out to the black sand beaches for the day. One of the things that surprised me was seeing a Metro newspaper stand on the black sand beach! And seeing actual prickly pear plants!

Change in and out of your swim suit in here: Oh Hai!