Bali

Suzanne and I are now in the Gili islands, enjoying the true 'island experiance'. Our travels from Bali to here included a 5 hour ferry, hour and a half van trip, (barely avoiding getting carsick) a 2 hour wait in the scorching late afternoon sun, and then a half hour boat trip where we all ended up soaked from the rough sea. now that we're here, life is very peachy. We're done our first 2 days of our open water diver course, and have out first dive in the morning! We're both very excited. Today we've played some beach volleyball with some Frenchman (and women) and tried the Indonesian version of Mexican food. I think they should stick to their Nasi Goreng (Fried Rice) and Chicken Curry instead. We are gretting used to the heat and humidity, and learning to drink water whenever we can. We're also learning how to barter, although I'm pretty sure we still paying more than twice what the locals pay. Tonight we're going to watch a movie on the beach! The 'strip' here on the beach is more built up than I thought it was, and you can indulge yourself quite nicely. We plan on hanging out here on the island for a few more days to finish our diving course and then do a few fun dives as well.

Honeymoon Details - Salmon Arm to Sorrento

We spent our last 2 nights at Craig's Parents cabin in Sorrento. We found a little Evangelical Church to attend Sunday morning - they were so friendly and genuine and very curious to hear all about our upcoming trip and involvement with Christian Vet Missions & Athletes In Action. They even asked us to add them to our prayer chain and to send them a letter and they'd try and help us out financially a bit too! Wow! Love being a part a God's family! Anyways - after all that, we decided to venture out to Copper Island on a 2 person kayak. It took us 3 hrs round trip but was well worth the sore arms and shoulders!

The island was beautiful and had great panoramic views. We found a trail that took us up to the summit and enjoyed a bite to eat before hiking back down.

Just a quick flex to pump up our egos! Feeling quite proud of our very adventuresome, outdoorsy, athletic honeymoon! And we've only just begun! We're excited to have so many of you curious to hear about our journey and thank you in advance for your prayers and support!

Next stop - Bali, Indonesia!!!!

Honeymoon Details - From Canmore to Salmon Arm

One of our friends - Caleb, invited us to spend a night in his crazy tree house in Salmon Arm as his wedding present to us so we took him up on it!


Its quite the tree house - a little tricky to get into if you're scared of heights or unsure of your balance - but we slept great after an awesome sauna and hang out time with a random group of very interesting people & friends of friends.


In the morning Caleb took us to see the last part of our wedding present... A Giant Rope Swing 30 some feet in the air! He calls it - "Walk the Plank"




Um ya - major adrenaline rush! Loved every second of it!

Honeymoon Details - From Fairmont to Lussier to Canmore

After a long day of hiking, we treated ourselves to a great meal at the Eagle Ranch Golf Resort. The view was beautiful (the clouds in this area the last 3 days have been amazing!) and the food was delicious. After supper we drove out Lussier Hot Springs - an awesome undeveloped all natural hot spring right next to a beautiful mountain stream! We camped over night a few km's away... froze, as Craig's 1st post stated, but warmed up considerably after an early morning dip in the hot springs!

We drove up to Canmore from there and did a short 2 hour hike up to Grassy Lakes. Again, beautiful views, a huge waterfall and 2 aqua blue calm as can be lakes to hang out and explore for awhile.

And by then it was time to check in for the night... a little warmer than tenting... Craig's parents let us stay the night in their time share. We cooked up an awesome meal, maple glazed salmon and enjoyed a relaxing evening!

Honeymoon Details cont'd

The second day at Fairmont found us on a 4 hour uphill climb to the peak of Mt. Swansea! The views were beautiful but the sun was a little too bright for me to smile normally :)
In the 3rd picture you can see a launch pad for hang gliders that takes them right off a massive cliff and into the valley! Talk about a rush!

Craig has a way of finding hilarious signs (we both got a kick out of the top one if you can read it) and in the 2nd picture he's standing on top of a jump that takes crazy mountain bikers over the logging road and veering down a dozen or more winding, twisting and steep trails!

Honeymoon Details - The 1st few days in Fairmont

Thought I'd try posting a few more pics from the 1st leg of our honeymoon 4 ur viewing pleasure! Definitely a great start to our marriage!
The drive from Lethbridge to Fairmont Hot Springs was beautiful!

We stayed a quaint little bed & breakfast and upon our host's suggestion we spent our first day exploring and hiking through some very interesting "hoodoo" rock formations!


The weather & scenery were perfect. Not too hot & not too cold!

Our 1st Post

So this is the first post as Mr. and Mrs. Craig & Suzanne DeGroot. Our wedding day was a ton of fun- surrounded by all our favorite people, and then we spent a week driving from Lethbridge to Chilliwack. We spent a couple days exploring the hot springs around Fairmont, (including one cold, unprepared night of tenting at Whiteswan Provincial Park) and then a night at Canmore, followed by treehouse antics in Salmon Arm and then lake-time in Sorrento. Although I've visited my parents cabin in Sorrento many times, I've always wondered what that island in the middle of the lake is like, and I've never actually explored it. So on Sunday, after church, Suzanne and I kayaked the hour and a half from the cabin to Copper Island in the Shushwap Lake. Once there, we ventured the 15 minute trek to the summit, and had an amazing view of the whole valley. The kayak back was not quite as relaxing, as the lactic acid from thr first hour and a half was starting to set in. I'm very glad thad I finally got to explore that island, and even more glad that I got to experience it with my beautiful new wife.