Whispering Palms - Day One

Last week we were so blessed to be able to take a mini-vacation to a nearby resort called Whispering Palms. Other than obviously needing a little time to relax, we had a couple of reasons for this time away. It was primarily a celebration of the kids' completion of their school year. They actually finished several weeks ago, but we delayed the trip a bit when we discovered that a very special friend was coming to visit. We asked her if she was interested in vacationing with us and she answered a resounding YES! I can't express how THANKFUL we were to spend these precious few days with her. She is always such a blessing to our family and I pray we were able to bless and encourage her as well.

The place was absolutely BEAUTIFUL and many times I found it hard to concentrate on my book because I just found myself staring at the scenery around me! I also found myself taking LOTS of pictures! Of course the camera just doesn't do it justice! So here are some of the pictures. (Yes, there are even more that I didn't post!) Enjoy!

We had about a two-hour drive over the mountains to reach our destination. The view was spectacular!! (Can you see the rice terraces??)

At one point on our drive, we rounded a corner to find this! Apparently it is a joint project of the Philippines/Korea Lions Club.

Carly and Caleb posing especially for their Pawpaw (a member of the Lions' Club)

We serve an amazing Creator!!

We found another level of this lookout that had NO RAILING AT ALL!!

Although it was a bit creepy, it made for some cool pictures!!

Carly was scared to get on the edge, so our friend was pulling her backwards!

There's one town up in the mountains that we love to drive through because the road is lined with pine trees (which are very rare in the Philippines.) Every time we drive through here, we roll down the windows, smell the pine trees and imagine we are back home in Arkansas!

Then we left the windows down for a while because the air up in the mountains was so cool!!

Things began getting a little crazy in the back seat....

Too much wind???

We arrived in the city of San Carlos - on the other side of the mountains - and stopped to eat lunch at a place called Burgers & Beer. We had been told about this place by another American, so we needed to check it out! It's owned by a guy from Arizona and he makes wonderful Mexican food!! (Also rare in the Philippines.) Even though we didn't have burgers OR beer, the taco salad was YUM-O!!

(Side note - Actually Caleb did have a burger and it smelled so good that we came back here and ate burgers on the way home, after our vacation! They were just as good as the taco salads!!)

Anyone need a job??

After lunch, we drove to the pier in San Carlos and boarded a small banka boat for our trip over to Sipaway Island, where Whispering Palms is located. After about 15 minutes on the boat, we arrived and were greeted at the resort by this sign.

After walking around the resort and checking it all out - and getting a bit sweaty - we quickly made our way to the pool!! Here we are putting our UNO H2O to good use!

'Nuff said!

She was a bit creepy!! Of course, Caleb loved every minute of it!

Playing life-sized chess

Can you guess who won????

This was my view as I was reading in the hammock as the sun began to set. WOW!!

My reading companion :)

In the late afternoon, the tide went way out.

This is a beautiful place!!