Our Adventure in Paradise (Bali, Indonesia)

Bali was absolutely magical! The natural beauty, the outdoor adventure, the warm & loving people, their emphasis on relaxation (massage, yoga, meditation) we loved it all! Originally I was going there for a womens' yoga/surf retreat but after some of our good friends said they could watch our girls, it became an adventurous/romantic anniversary trip. I flew down on a Thursday to experience a bit of the retreat and had an awesome time doing yoga in the morning then getting pummeled by surf in the afternoon. But I did manage to get up on the board most of the time (my balance has improved since last time I tried it in Hawaii). The issue wasn't getting up but getting my feet right to stay up more than 5 seconds. I would paddle, push my body off the board similar to Up Dog (yoga pose), then jumped into Warrior 2 but in yoga, your front foot faces forward, with surfing it faces the same direction as your back foot. Our surfing coaches kept yelling out, "NO YOGA!" :) That night I met Sean at the airport, then back to "The Villas" at Seminyak Beach. Our villa had a thatched roof, garden, and private pool, so we had a nice romantic evening swim. I've never stayed at a place like that, so unique! See pictures below.

The next morning I took another yoga class at the "Prana Spa" (last pictures in the slideshow) & part of our hotel/villa while Sean read. In the afternoon we went back to Kuta Beach and we took surfing lessons together. That night we checked into "The Elysian Villas" (which were similar: private pool, garden, but this one had a more modern interior). Nearby was a restaurant / lounge called, "Ku De Ta". It's right on the beach, they shine lights on the waves, and everyone lays on big canopy beds outside. We looked up at the stars as we ate an incredible dessert and had to pinch ourselves to make sure we weren't dreaming. Our lives are so different now than they were a year ago during residency in Virginia. We definitely paid our dues to get to this point. In the morning went into the jungle for our white water rafting trip down the Ayung River. The pictures cannot describe how fantastic the natural beauty was all around us. It was also interesting meeting people from all over the world on our tour (China, Mexico, Singapore, Canada) no Americans. After we had fun under waterfalls, swimming & rafting down the river, they had a traditional Indonesia meal waiting for us. Yum! Then they took us on an elephant safari through the jungle. Another awesome memory!
We had the tour drop us off at Ubud village where I found another amazing center for yoga. This village is known for their yoga, local artists and handmade crafts. We ate lunch at KAFE (the same restaurant that the author of "Eat, Pray, Love" liked to frequent when she was stayed in Ubud on her spiritual journey. It's a non-profit, healthy, vegetarian place that attracts all the foreign yogis & hippies who are craving a California style salad. :) Then we headed over the local Hindu temple where the Balinese dance originated and is still performed there. It was the most interesting dance to watch, the sounds & movements were different than anything else I've ever experienced! I love it when that happens! We took a crazy long taxi ride back down to the beach to yet another hotel (The Laguna Resort & Spa in Nusa Dua). But it was fun switching things up & getting to see new parts of the island everyday. We ordered room service and splurged a bit on dessert (but hey, that's what you do on vacation, right?) The next day we called a dive shop and they took us out to a gorgeous reef (see video above). We wanted to parasail afterward but they said the wind was too strong. So we went back to our hotel and had a couples' massage outside in a cabana with flowing white drapes, it was so relaxing! Afterward we just hung out in our cabana reading, eating ice cream and trying to savor our last hours in Bali. Right next to our cabana was a large wedding cabana where we saw a gorgeous ceremony at sunset (also in the slideshow). After dinner (Indian) we headed to the airport, said goodbye to our beloved island of Bali & promised to come back!