Rengo, Chile
The second half of my family's trip to Chile was planned completely around visiting my Dad's host family from when he was an AFS student in high school! He lived in Rengo, Chile for one half of his year, and we spent two nights at his family's home in the countryside outside the city. We had an amazing time meeting everyone and hearing stories from his time in Chile. They also treated us to some wonderful food and graciously allowed us to realax by their pool.
I especially loved walking around the plaza and the main streets of Rengo. There were still some New Year's and Christmas decorations up, which felt pretty strange with the Summer weather, but at the same time festive in a way we don't experience in the US. And as always I was a huge fan of thebright florals, palm trees and colorful homes!
This part of the trip was especially meaningful because it is what brought our entire family to Chile. Without my Dad's experience we would not have been able to spend a few days experiencing daily life with this family. During other trips I have purely been a tourist, so this was a nice change of pace and allowed us to see a more authentic version of life in Chile. Enjoy!
Full Paine and Glacier Grey Excursion
Hello, friends! Our first full day in Patagonia was spent on the Full Paine excursion offered by Las Torres. They describe it as the best way to get the fullest introduction to Torres del Paine National Park, and I definitely agree! We began the day walking over the Puente Negro (Black Bridge) and then went on to the Nordenskjöld Lookout, the Sarmiento Lookout, Lake Pehoé and the Salto Grande waterfall.
After a wonderful lunch at a camp site we went on to the southern shore of Lago Grey. There we hiked across the lake and up to a viewpoint where you could see Grey Glacier. Afterwards we hiked back down and boarded a catamaran to get an up-clsoe view of the glacier. It took an hour to get to there, and then we we spent an hour viewing three sides of Grey Glacier. It was truly beautiful. We learned that Grey Glacier connects to the massive Southern Patagonia Ice Field — it really is impossible to describe its size. One hour later we took a short hike back to the car and we were headed home for the evening! This ended up being one of our favorite days of the entire trip. We had beautiful weather and got to see so many wonderful views of the park in a really short amount of time. Thank you Las Torres!
December Around The Web
This holiday season has truly been a whirlwind, I am currently in Chile with my family (photos coming soon!) and since we left the day after Christmas I haven't had much time to reflect on the New Year. But here are a few quick favorites from the internet this month, I hope you are enjoying the last few days of Christmas decorations and 2016!
I loved Emily's new kitchen remodel!
Feeling inspired to read a few of these books in the new year.
While this DIY is intended for the holiday season, it would be fun to repurpose these for a birthday party!
I'm definitely still loving pom-poms.
An interesting article about President Obama
One of my favorite Christmas gifts, now on sale! Grab the lavender pair while you can.
Christmas Photo Booth 2016
Merry Christmas Eve! Here are a few photos from our annual photo booth, hope you spent an evening surrounded by family and friends and celebrating the season. Enjoy!
Merry? Very! Socks for Hallmark
With Christmas just a few days away I was thrilled to finally discover these socks I designed at the Hallmark store! For those who know me well, I often wear silly socks and when I was working on this project I couldn't wait to see them in real life. Hopefully you are enjoying the last few busy days before December 25th!
