Un-Belizeable: Honeymoon Adventures Part One

19th April 2015

With wedding season around the corner (our first invite as a married couple arrived this week) and the fact that Atlanta seems to be channeling its best Portland, it seems like a good opportunity to go ahead and recap one of our best adventures yet: our Belize honeymoon. I wrote about the planning process way, way back. As we wrapped up and headed out, most of the major details stayed the same. The little details however, are always the best part.

After countless words of advice from friends, we opted not to leave the day following the wedding, saving that for rest and more celebration with friends and family. We left the next day, Monday, on an early flight direct from Atlanta to Belize City, a quick three hours.

We split our twelve day trip into two sections with three stops at four days each. As this could get a bit lengthy, I’ll be splitting this round up into three posts. To get started: the jungle.

A recommendation from a friend and a phone call to the lodge lead us to Caves Branch and the idea of sleeping in a treehouse and daily adventure tours had us booking within minutes.

Arriving in Belize – the walk off plane arrival and entrance to the resort

Upon landing, a guide from Caves Branch was waiting to pick us up at the airport and took us for the hour and half drive into the jungle. When we arrived at Caves Branch, we immediately felt at home. As we’re not ones for large resorts, choosing Belize relied heavily on the fact that we wanted to find small, locally owned places to stay, eat and explore for the duration of our trip. Caves Branch fit the bill perfectly.

The entrance to our treehouse and outdoor shower

The view from the lodge and our indoor shower – with a live tree running through it.

During our time with Caves Branch, there were anywhere from 15 – 25 guests total, low season, but also designed to feel quite intimate. Each night, the chef cooked a three course meal, served family style with the other guests. On several occasions, we were even graced with the presence of Ian Anderson, the resort’s owner for a meal. During dinner, a member of the staff would roam from table to table inquiring which adventure you would like to take for the following day. This proved fantastic, as we were able to chat with other guests about their day’s adventure and gauge what to do next.

Caves Branch pool

On our first night, we signed up for cave tubing, which it turned out is exactly what it sounds like. Our trip took us on a rather exciting trailer ride through Cave Branch’s citrus farms (they own upwards of 60,000 acres (!!)), to a 15 minute or so hike and into the creek on tire tubes. Picture Shoot the Hooch with fewer people, clearer water and far more beautiful surroundings, we were hooked.

The tractor ride to the creek

From there, we floated for the better half of the day, in and out of five different cave systems, some big, some small, stopping for a picnic lunch and some cliff jumping halfway.

Entering the first cave

Heading to the lunch stop

Pre cliff jumping

A quick walking break between caves

Final cave

Blurry blue, blue waters

The literal light at the end of the tunnel

Each day’s adventure put us back to the lodge around 3:00, where we could spend afternoons by the pool with nachos and Cokes with real sugar or rum punches until dinner. Heaven.

Day two took us on our favorite adventure of the trip (and also darkest), cliff water-falling. While our GoPro footage turned out TERRIBLE from this adventure (who knew you can’t film in the dark and expect a headlamp to suffice), the trip itself was incredible.

To begin, we headed back into a different section of the jungle, where we hiked through the jungle for a half hour. From there, we went into a single cave system and then hiked for another an hour or so. During the cave hike, water ranged anywhere from a trickle beneath our feet to waist deep. Before heading to the falls portion of the hike, we stopped to have lunch inside of the cave, only supported by our head lamps.

Pretend you can tell what’s happening here. As a hint: it’s lunch on a giant rock

As a result, the photos here are about as good as it gets. You’ll have to use your imagination for the rest. After lunch, we climbed a series of five waterfalls. One of the five required a clip in, the rest were free climbs. Once we reached the back of the cave, it was back the way we came, but jumping and swimming on our way out.

One and only halfway decent photo from inside the caves – and without water up to our knees!

After our final difficult rock maneuvering, I somehow managed to face plant in the sand, though luckily I was at the back of the group and only Patrick noticed. I did leave Belize with a pretty nasty hand gash and leg cut. The photo here doesn’t do it its disgusting justice. Scars from your honeymoon: check.

Day three took us out of the water and back onto land for a Mayan ruins tour. While the Mayan ruins run throughout Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras, Belize boasts a few amazing stops. We visited two Xuantunich and Cahal Pech. I won’t attempt to try to recount the history here, but we were quite in awe by both the stories and the surroundings.

A hand cranked ferry took us across the river and up to the ruins

The Mayan ruins are also known as a popular cruise ship stop, but our guide timed it just right and we basically had the place to ourselves, only seeing the tourist buses as we departed. Score.

Before heading up

Us at the top. Please note, guardrails are not a thing in Belize

View from the top

The second stop

Inside the ruins

Next stop: island life. Stay tuned for part two later this week. It does involve a lot of this…

Updated! Find part two, Caye Caulker, here. If you’re really looking to jump ahead, find part three, Ambergris Caye, here.

Leaving a job for the first time

26th January 2015

“There are no happy endings.
Endings are the saddest part,
So just give me a happy middle
And a very happy start.” – Every Thing On It

Leave it to Shel Silverstein to be the only way I can sum up the bittersweet-ness that is saying goodbye. Friday was my last day at Moxie. It was also the first time I’ve ever truly “left” a job. Whew. Even typing that still pangs my in my heart a bit – even after spending the last three weeks knowing the date was on the calendar.

Big girl milestones over here.

After quite a few internships, I started at Engauge (which would later become Moxie) still nearly fresh out of college. So while I’ve had the chance to say my fair share of goodbyes, this one carries with it an entirely different feeling. A few to be exact.

Thankful to have had the chance to work for a company where my voice was heard and elevated in ways I never thought possible. I’ve learned to raise my hand and ask for the projects I want – then dive in and work my butt off.

Humbled to know that no one has all of the answers – no matter how much experience you may think you bring to the table. I’ve learned to ask questions and lean into the incredibly smart people around me, absorbing as much as they will let me.

Gumption to stay energized, open minded and realize the ideas that change our course rarely present themselves in a wave of brilliance. I’ve learned to hang on, to make it a habit of supporting others before myself and to offer a lending hand as quickly as it’s been given.

So here’s to another very happy start, because this past one is going to be pretty hard to top.

A new adventure. A new comfort zone. And a new color that sadly, isn’t orange. More to come.

Signing off as a Dennihy

5th January 2015

After nearly two months, a lot of paperwork and ~~several~~ far too many naps, I’ve recovered from getting married, changed my name (as far as the federal government is concerned) and I can officially call myself a White. It’s been a whirlwind of two months and we’ve loved just about every second of the journey.

Everyone tells you that your wedding day will be the best day of your life. Our entire wedding week surpassed every expectation and filled that claim for more. Everyone also shares endless advice. I couldn’t love that tradition more, especially one particular coworker who kept me sane the week of by sharing a new story daily (thanks Adam).

I’m sure I could blog and share photos for hours, but to tribute all of the advice and stories shared, it felt best to break down down the day with our favorite shared words of wisdom.

Five pieces of wedding advice worth sharing

1. Get plenty of sleep the night before

First, this didn’t happen whatsoever. Though after staying out with friends until 3:00 AM on our wedding day, I wish it did. So did the five hours I spent napping on the couch on Sunday.

Living close to the wedding venue (and having in-laws who also live within a few miles) I was fortunate enough to have the girls stay at Patrick and I’s little home on wedding eve. When we planned it this way, I thought to myself “Fantastic. My own bed? I’ll sleep like a baby!”

No such thing. After about 1:00 in the afternoon the nausea set in and didn’t subside until after the ceremony. Having the cops come to your door at 2:00 AM after a neighbor backed into your bridesmaid’s car didn’t help either. Yes. That happened. But survive we did – and thankfully no one was hurt.

2. Every hour, step back for a full minute and just take it all in

This did happen. From the moment we joined hands at the alter, to soaking up our loved ones all together on the dance floor at Johnny’s Hideaway at 3:00 AM, this was hands down the best advice we were given.

Per the advice of our planner, we opted to forgo cocktail hour, choosing to have plated hors d’oeuvres brought to a room in the offices of the reception venue. It may have only been 15 minutes or so, but just taking a few minutes to soak in what was happening, just the two of us, was so special.

3. Dance … and then dance some more

We may not have had the chance to speak to every one of our guests (if we didn’t speak to you 1:1, know we love you just as much), but we did make the most of the dance floor.

P is NOT a public dancer. Pretty early on in our dating days, I made him a compromise that he only had to dance with me for one song at every wedding we attended (which meant a LOT of girlfriend dance days) … if he would agree to dance every dance should we ever get married. Welp, that paid off. Maybe I had a hunch 😉

4. Don’t leave for your honeymoon the next day

I don’t know how people make it to the airport 12 hours later. See the five hour Sunday nap comment above. That combined with a going away brunch for our out of town guests allowed us to recover and savor every second with family and friends.

5. It will go by in the blink of an eye

So that’s not quite advice, but I don’t think I really understood what anyone meant until we experienced this ourselves. Our entire wedding week literally flashed before our eyes and from what I hear, the years and then decades will continue to do the same. And in this case, we look forward to soaking it all in, one moment at a time.

A most sincere thank you to our incredible vendors who made our day come to life.