Driving east on San Antonio Road in Mountain View, we discovered the isolated marshlands of the San Francisco South Bay, Baylands Nature Preserve. Not knowing what to expect, we were amazed by the vast variety of birds there! We were so taken by our discovery that we wanted to encourage you to put it on your outdoor activities list for Palo Alto or Mountain View in the San Francisco Bay Area. We’ve seen this marshland area many times from a plane as we approached San Francisco or San Jose International Airports. From above, the area appears as empty wilderness, islands of grass, and well… marshes… What could possibly be there?…
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Edinburgh: Down The Rabbit Hole (Part 1)
Staring at the evening sky in Old Town Edinburgh, our eyes followed bright white seagulls navigating through narrow streets, purposefully peeking into windows of the upper-level flats. It made us wonder if these birds were the inspiration for the messenger owls of J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” books. You’ll most likely catch a literary bug while wandering through the City’s streets. However, for us, exploring the city and writing about our Edinburgh adventure has turned out to be quite a challenge. Edinburgh — down the rabbit hole we go! Visiting Scotland, and Edinburgh, in particular, was a dream come true. Its vast cultural, historical, and mystical heritage is what attracted us…
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Easy No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Blob Cookies
Now that we’re all spending more time at home, it seems many of us have been polishing our baking skills. Digging out those old recipes hidden away in the back of the drawer, trying to recreate a childhood favorite, or going online to find something completely new. Whichever it is, any time spent in the kitchen is time well spent! Guess what? You don’t have to be a baker to make decadent cookies at home! This easy no-bake chocolate oatmeal peanut butter cookie recipe has always taken me back to when I was a kid. My mom would make these blob cookies for me and my brothers, while we argued…
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The Blackhawk Museum: Best Eclectic Museum in the SF Bay Area
The Blackhawk Museum is, in our opinion, one of the best museums in the entire San Francisco Bay Area, and you’ve probably never even heard of it! Located in the posh Blackhawk neighborhood tucked away in the town of Danville, California, the museum caught our attention with the public opening of a new “Into China” exhibition. We decided to check it out and fell in love not only with this collection but the entire museum complex! Into China The “Into China” exhibition opened to the public on January 25, 2020, just in time to celebrate the Lunar New Year. We were curious about the exhibit but did not expect such…
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Blogger Recognition Award
We are honored to receive the Blogger Recognition Award created by the bloggers, for the bloggers. Blogging can be fun and rewarding, but in order to excel, it takes a lot of hard work and dedication! We’d like to thank our amazing fellow travel blogger Travel Addicted Unicorn for this nomination! Check out her blog to find no-nonsense travel tips and destinations she highlights around the globe. She is a master organizer, and if you are just starting to plan your travels, she has a fantastic complimentary Ultimate Beginners Travel Checklist to help you to get started on venturing out on your own, worry-free! How MonkeysVentures.com Started We were fortunate…
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Newgrange and The Hill of Tara — First Time Solo Trip in Dublin, Ireland (Part 4)
The mystery-shrouded Newgrange and The Hill of Tara were my main destinations on this first-time solo trip to Ireland. Wondering why? Because these two places are so deeply woven into the spirit of the country, its history, legends, and traditions that they are simply impossible to miss for the first-time travelers to Ireland, just like me! The Hill of Tara The first time I heard the name “Tara” was in “Gone with the Wind” (my Mom’s favorite movie of all time, besides the “Avengers” movies 😊). The Tara plantation in Georgia, U.S. was Scarlett O’Hara’s sanctuary; and she would do anything to keep and protect it. The name “Tara” stems…
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100 Things We Want to Do in 2020 — Free Templates Gift
A few years ago, we created our first list of “100 Things We Want to Do This Year”. Now, every December 31st we sit down and cross off all the items that we have fulfilled in the past year. Then, on New Year’s Day, we compose a new list of goals and activities for the next twelve months. This is a lot of fun, and it has kind of become a tradition in our family. Last year we shared our template with you so that you could create a list of your own. Due to popular demand, we are introducing a new template for 2020! It’s printable and free to…
