I'm Back! (Plus sharing pics from day 1 of our trip)

****WARNING--- Photo heavy post!****

Whew! Is it May already? Sorry for being away for a while. We just got home last Tuesday night from our trip to the north. We got to visit Region I plus Baguio City this time. I am still quite tired from the short vacation but I surely enjoyed it. I'll be sharing a few pics from our trip every now and then. We took so many pictures, probably 500-800 pics a day! lol. Sadly we all felt sick after the long trip but it was all worth it, we're recovering now.

The weather was very cooperative too. It was bright and sunny during our whole trip (which explains why our skin got tanned). And when we finally arrived back home in Pampanga, a storm hit the country. Talk about perfect timing. Thank God we were back home already when the storm started.

We left home early Thursday morning (April 30) at around 4 am. We had to pick up my hubby from work first then headed off to our first stop, Manaoag Church in Pangasinan. It was around 7:30 am when we arrived. We heard mass at 8 and lit some candles after, to ask God to bless our trip.

We also bought some yummy native goodies from Pangasinan like their putong Calasiao which is one of my faves and kutchinta to match.
Then we headed off again to continue our trip. This time it was a very long trip. It took us about 4 hours until we reached Ilocos Sur:

And 2 more hours until we finally reached Ilocos Norte.
We stopped by at Tribeca, a local coffee shop which according to my research is dubbed as the "Starbucks" of Ilocos. My verdict... their drinks don't quite taste like Starbucks but their cakes and pastries are yum-o! I loved their blueberry cheesecake and carrot cake. Gotta have a piece of that if you do get there.

A few minutes later we drove to our hotel, Fort Ilocandia Resort. This is where we stayed for 3 nights and 4 days:

We checked in then headed off to our rooms to tidy up a bit. Then we rushed to the beach to catch a glimpse of the beautiful sunset.

And back to our room for a well deserved rest from a very long trip.
That's all for today. I still got more photos and stories to share in the following days. I hope you don't get too bored with all the photos and stuff. lol. Peace out!