Far Flung Forays

Okinawa: The Land of Humidity and Typhoons

Posted on August 6, 2026 by Todd

Sunset from the pool at the Hyatt in Okinawa

Guys, we made it to Okinawa. That might not seem like a big feat, but we had a touch of user error in our travel day leaving the US. We spent two nights with Tristan and Lemac, hanging out in LA and seeing them. Our travel day we left for the airport on time, went through security and waited in the lounge for our flight. We then inadvertently went to gate 135 instead of gate 153, but even though they might seem like they are close together, they are the end of different branches. We managed to board one minute after they said final call.

All of our luggage for the trip. We do have another bag to inside to expand to once we get there.

The flight was at 3pm and was uneventful. The kids got some sleep and the adults too. It is one you didn’t want to sleep too much on since it arrived at 6:45p. We got in a few minutes early, deplaned, and started through immigration. We were in a decent rush since we had an 8:15p connecting flight that was on a separate ticket, so if we missed it, they would not rebook us (we did have a backup plan for the next day, but the difference would be arriving in Okinawa at 10:30p or 5:20p the next day). We were confronted with an immigration line where a worker was actively running around changing the bollards to extend the line, being worked by a single immigration official. After a frustratingly long time, checking the time too frequently, a few more immigration lines opened. We made it to our gate with ~10 minutes to spare, just enough time to use a vending machine to get a drink and board our plane.

After an uneventful flight, free of kid drama, we arrived in Naha and left the airport to be assaulted by 80F and 80%+ humidity. Roses legs then stopped working (turns out her legs generally don’t work if the sum of the temperature plus humidity is greater than 150). We Ubered to our airport hotel, and our travel day was finally over at ~11pm (plus 1 calendar day).

Our first morning in Naha, I walked to 7/11 with Rose and got some snacks for breakfast, and then I walked to the car rental place and ended up with the second smallest car I have every rented (our clown car in South Korea still wins).

We first went to to the Imperial Japanese Navy Headquarters tunnel system. I went in while Katy and the kids and went to the park next door. It turns out Okinawa does parks well and the longest slide was ~80 steps tall.

Surprisingly, Archer was a fan of the blue slide, it was a given Rose would be.

We then drove to Team Labs Okinawa which is a digital interactive amusement park geared to kids about Archer/Rose’s age. It was super cool with the slide being one of the biggest hits.

The excitement after the slide. You had to follow very specific instructions, when to sit down, when to slide, to go down the slide.

After a quick stop to buy some tea at a shop with a dubious parking spot that I managed to shimmy the rental car into without hitting anything, we headed to a mall for lunch. It also provided an opportunity to stop at Montbell and pick up a western sized long sleeve shirt to replace the only one that I brought that I left on our first plane.

We eventually arrived at our resort shortly before 5pm. Rose had slept through lunch but was revived enough to head to the pool for a little evening pooling before bedtime.

We had 5 nights booked at the Hyatt Seragaki, which is located about an hour from the airport on the west coast of Okinawa. Our goal was to relax and get used to the time zone switch before really being on the go. The previous day the kids did well. Rose decided that 530am was an appropriate time to make sure everyone else was up, and we were one of the first people in for breakfast when they opened at 7am.

Pool time, the water temperature by the end of the day is rather impressively warm

We then put sunscreen on and went to check out the pool and beach complex. There was some griping from the kids since they wanted to go to a playground, not the pool and beach, which speaks highly for the activities of the day before. Okinawa is hot and humid. I don’t think the humidity dipped below 79% the entire time, and the temps seemed to stay above 80F in the morning and evening. The “feels like” temperature was 107F some days. A good place to adjust to the 10 time zones change but not a good one to walk 100 yards.

We spent ~$25USD to get the all-you-can-drink package from 10a-5p at the pool, and Katy and I each had 3 fancy drinks. We pooled hard, with a short pool break to check out the beach. Unfortunately, in Japan you can’t just freely snorkel at resorts, and they yell at you if you go outside the netted in beach zones. They have an indoor pool in additional to a normal pool and a saltwater pool. I was really wondering why they needed an indoor pool but at about 2pm I figured out why. We needed a sun break, and the indoor pool was the way to go. The resort had a ton of kids staying, and it seemed to really focus on families, it even had an air compressor when you got off the elevator by the pool to fill up your floaties (we managed to fit 2 in our packed luggage), a section of the lagoon pool with kid paddle boats (you powered the pedals with hand cranks, Archer and Rose could do it), and a kids’ pool with a ton of balls that you would normally find in a ball pit.

After a solid day pooling we went to dinner at 530p and after sitting down, Rose promptly fell asleep (literally within 90s). She went hard, without a nap, and was pooped. Archer held it together through dinner, he ordered a kids meal, which was the fanciest kids meal I had ever seen. Katy and I splurged on the set menu ($60) and I spent an extra $10 to upgrade to a wagyu sirloin as the main, which melted in my mouth. Dinner was great.

Our third full day in Okinawa we headed to a local playground for a bit after breakfast. It was another good one, albeit not as spectacular as the first one. We stopped at 7/11 and grabbed an ice cream and then headed back to the resort for some more pooling. After a good day at the pool the kids hung out with a babysitter who spoke really good English while Katy and I first drove to a “Okinawa souvenir” store that focused more on things made in Okinawa (including treats) than Chinese trinkets to explore it without kiddos expressing their opinions. We then dropped our car off and wandered to where I thought we were going to eat dinner, but they were full, so we ended up at a place nearby that had a specialty of agu pork tajine (cooked at your table) that you then cook risotto (translation) style rice in the broth of the tajine, it was super yummy (Katy had a selection of other dishes). We then got a drink in the lobby bar and went back to a room with two sleeping kiddos (Rose only made it to 5:26p per report from the babysitter).

Our fourth day, we packed up after breakfast and headed to the Okinawa aquarium, about an hour farther north to see their whale shark. Katy and Archer are doing a good job transitioning to the time zone. I also did a good job transitioning, but I cheat and use 3 days of hydrocortisone to mimic normal cortisol levels while my body adjusts its natural production to Japan time, not Colorado time. Rose on the other hand is taking a little longer to get on the program, coupled with her FOMO and not wanting to take a nap. The aquarium was crowded when arrived there at 930a, we had read that it got busy later in the day, but I was surprised to see it so crowded already that early. We walked through, towards the whale shark tank, and Rose eventually gave up, just wanting to be held. At the whale shark tank there is a cafe, and Katy navigated the touch screen display to get a ticket for a table to eat next to the glass tank. It is a number system, and when your number is called you have 10 minutes to get to the counter. We then finished the rest of the indoor aquarium and decided to join the throng of people shuffling outside in the 90F heat towards the dolphin show. I busted out portable fans and gave them to my flushed kiddos, and it didn’t really improve their mood… The dolphin show featured bottlenose dolphins along with false killer whale dolphins that have rather impressive teeth. Rose was a big fan and afterwards she wanted to see it again, even though she had some sweat dripping off her nose.

We went to re-enter the inside zone of the aquarium when our number finally came up (you could track the restaurant queue online) and discovered that they were holding people outside, before they even reached the area where you buy tickets. It was even move of a zoo than earlier. Katy pulled some magic (Katy says: I some them our cafe number and asked politely), and we were able to skip the line and re-enter and weave our way back to the restaurant. The kids got some ice cream for lunch (there was some pizza involved too), and Katy and I got some blue seafood curry. They had melon flavored Coke and melon Fanta, which was a hit. We had an amazing seat right next to the tank and it was a good 45 minutes in the air conditioning.

We then headed back and were hoping that Rose would fall asleep in the car, but that wasn’t in the cards. We got back and did some afternoon pooling, followed by some dinner in the cocktail hour from 5-7p that they had at the hotel.

A little lights in the cave. This cave was also used for people to hide in WWII

Our last full day in Okinawa we did some morning pooling. We then went to Okinawa Cave, which is a cave ~20 minutes away. It was half natural cave and half them adding lights. The kids really liked it. They also had 3 hidden treasure chests, which Archer found and got a postcard as a prize. We then went to a place near the Marine base that is conveyer belt sushi. I have to admit that instead of food just going around in a circle this is more high tech. You order on your touch screen and then your food gets magically zoomed to you. This place didn’t have the highest quality sushi, but it was the cheapest I have ever had. Archer ate 5 orders of 2 piece sushi, he learned to push the buttons and order another set when he was ready. The craziest thing is that an order of 2 piece sushi cost 100Y, which is $0.63. Archer had an ice cream for dessert, soda, 10 pieces of salmon sushi, and his portion of the bill was <$6. We had a ton of fun (Rose ate a piece of hamachi and salmon sushi and 1.5 orders of udon noodles).

Archer grabbing his 2 piece tuna from the belt

If you don’t back into the parking spots, I don’t know what happens to you, but I didn’t want to find out

It was a semi rainy day, but the rain was not Colorado rain. It would just loose from the sky, then it would stop. We went to the beach (we had only spent 30 minutes at the beach before this) and the pool. Boy, did it rain. It was actually fun to be in the water while it was raining. Archer finally worked up the gumption to try the hand paddle boats, and he loved it. Rose was a fan, but she preferred to jump out of them and put imaginary babies in to take them to preschool in the boats. We ended the day eating at the cocktail hour and going to the lobby to play a family game. We had a great stay.

Now, I did leave out that we left Okinawa just in time. Typhoon Dolphin (likely will be a category 4 typhoon when it hits landfall) is scheduled to make landfall on the 7th, and we left the 5th. Flights were already being cancelled on the 6th. The resort was already cancelling some things on the 6th. The last 2 days the resort wasn’t crowded because people were cancelling their trips, so there weren’t new guests replacing the old ones. We got to the airport a little earlier than we thought we needed to (just based on driving time). It turns out the day before a “very large” (this is a technical term) typhoon the airport is a jammed zoo. It took us over an hour to check our bags, but we had time and got to our gate 15 minutes before boarding. Our flight was a tad delayed, but we were manage to escape before the typhoon hit.

Awamori, Okinawa’s local distilled spirit

The kids and Katy playing in the beach while it is down pouring outside

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Trip over view and randoms 2025

Posted on August 6, 2026 by Todd

List of Items Lost and Forgotten

Todd’s belt: forgotten, new one purchase in Miami

Katy’s sandals: lost in Miami, not replaced

Children’s toothpaste and toothbrushes: left in Qatar, replaced in Baku

Archer’s replacement toothbrush: lost in Tbilisi, replaced in Akhaltsikhe

Noise machine #2: broken Miami, not replaced

Rose’s elephant stuffy: lost ???, replaced with Sheki doll

Rose’s small stuffed blue thing: lost before Azerbaijan.

Chimney cake. Cinnamon dough is cooked over charcoal and this one is filled with pistachio sauce and ice cream. This was one think I wanted to get before we left Tbilisi and I grabbed it the last night, I wasn’t super hungry

There are so many things wrong with this, in Georgia.

We found a working shoe shine machine in Akhaltiskhe. Archer’s sneakers got cleaned. Rose was irritated I wouldn’t let her partake.

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Yerevan

Posted on August 6, 2026 by Todd

“No pit” this is what Rose asked about the eggs. It is one of her favorite phrases on the trips. She had learned to successfully eat olives, cherries, other “random” fruits, and stone fruits with pits. She now asks about a lot of food, including eggs apparently, if it contains a pit. We went out for breakfast. A lot of places were open at 8am, but our first choice Lebanese place did not appear to have anything Archer would like. Ended up at a fancy coffee shop. I have declared my grumps are going away.

Yerevan has a lot of water fountains too. I read 1500. While Rose was getting a drink, 4 people stoped by for a quick sip at this 7 person fountain. We are wandering the city our first morning here.

The question was, would 572 stairs take any energy out of the kids. Walking here we discovered two private playgrounds, but no public ones.

“My map did it” Archer successfully lead us up the steps to the obelisk. I think he map was on his imaginary wrist communicator. I did not ask too many questions.

We crossed the road to the amusement park which is a lot like the one in Tbilisi. It was too early for it to be really going yet. More rides on this one, but the atmosphere in the Tbilisi one was a little cooler. No giant cups of mulled wine that we discovered yet.

Don’t think we will make it to the circus.

Then we bought an overpriced water and went to Victory Park. A park with that name by the USSR proudly displays a lot of old Russian military equipment which Archer and I got odd satisfaction from seeing. S-75, MIG-15, T-34, and more. I don’t climb on the equipment for selfies like others.

We discovered supervised play structures at restaurants. This one cost $3/hour and included a bounce house. Archer decided he wanted to whine at the table with us (he was probably hangry) and Rose just wanted to play. The food was good, maybe not the best ever, but lunch was peaceful which is not every meal.

Katy and Rose went back to nap. Archer got another milkshake and I got a beer. We then went to what people said was like the Tbilisi flea market, but it was just set stalls selling tourist “stuff”. Archer spent $2.50 on a crystal necklace.

“I knew it, my magic crystal is real, it led us to the fair” … “My dream came through”

Rose “me up high”. With the $1.10. It didn’t break. Archer rode on it too. It turns out his crystal has real super powers. One of them being bravery and after traveling a month Archer is now able to ride a kiddie ride without a parent going on it. WIN.

“You just have to rub it to go up and down”

Rose get yelled at in Russian and Armenian for rocking her swing. Her response was to do no hands. She didn’t fall out.

We then found the best playground in Armenia (per me with a small sample size, but I’m right). We ate at a Punjabi restaurant next door. We were warned that dinner would be 20-30 minutes since they cooked everything from scratch. We might have been their only customer for the family that ran it that night. I made the suspect decision of ordering 1 of the 3 meat dishes (chicken) at the slow restaurant that it appeared the family that ran it was vegetarian. It didn’t come back to bite me in the butt. No options of spice level, Katy ordered some riata.

We discovered the music dancing fountain near our hotel which started at 8p on the walk back. Archer did some amazing dancing and conducting.

Day 2, Archer had arranged all of his toys on the second bed in his room. Rose has a separate room, more sleep for the kids I think.

It was raining. We got breakfast, went to the grocery store, and went to go to the museum of illusions, but it turned out that all the guides were busy with a school group so we couldn’t go in. We then had some frustration with what to do.

Our first restaurant with a playroom was having a birthday party? In the playroom and it wasn’t available until 3p. We could find very little information online, but we took Rose to a supervised play room and we went to lunch. I had to go back once, but Rose did not want to leave when it was time to take her to nap.

Archer ate most of the hamburger that was the size of his head. His first one in over a month. I had the best beer I had in Yerevan at the brewery.

Archer and I went in search of ice cream. Katy and Rose went to nap.

We succeeded after walking a mile. It was yummy. We made it back to the apartment exactly when we said we would be back and Katy went to get her nails done.

Rose was woken up at 4:25p and we went out to explore.

We went to Zazaland which turned out to be a rather lame amusement park, but the kids still enjoyed it. Rose did not get yelled at on the swings. At the end the swipe machine took double the amount for a $0.75 ride so their response was to let both kids ride a $1.50 ride, I’ll take it.

We spent two more days in Yerevan after this and then concluded our trip (I am typing this a week after we left) by flying Yerevan-Paris-Chicago. We spent the night in Chicago and took an early flight back to Colorado. Rose did not start the Paris-Chicago flight making any friends by screaming for 10 minutes when we buckled her seatbelt, but she eventually relaxed and took a nap. Archer refused to give up any movie time on the flight and fell asleep with <5 minutes left on the flight. About a week later we are all pretty much back to normal. Rose has needed many a days of big sleeps to catch up on a month of less sleep than she is used to.

WE HAD A GREAT TRIP.

(a wrap-up, random blog will be coming as the conclusion)

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Dilijan

Posted on August 5, 2026 by Todd

(This is published a year after the fact when I found it in drafts. No proof reading)

We took a “GG” (read Uber” from Gyumri to the mountain tourist town of Dilijan. It is a weekend destination from Yerevan and probably the second most popular foreign tourist city in Armenia.

The breakfast deserts. I will admit that every morning I cut the uncut ones and had a small slice of each. Well, “small”. It required a large plate.

We checked into our hotel and I can tell everyone is suffering from a little travel fatigue. I got irritated how the check in counter said that we had to pay for breakfast and to use the spa/pool because we booked via Booking. This is something that I knew and the truth is that the base rate was 40% cheaper via Booking and that even with the things added in, it was still cheaper. I still got irritated. Archer is a little more labile and Rose is acting like she is going to get her top back molars any minute.

Evening in Dilijan Arrival Day

Walked to town, 15 minutes if you able to follow the terrible Google Map directions. I got a grade B- dinner, Katy got a grade A dinner. Went to store to stock up on supplies (read hot chocolate packets).

Full Day #1

Did a tour to a monastery, a “wine and cognac factory”, and a tour of town. It was a woman who owns her own business and provided a different perspective. She helped with the kiddos while seeing the sites.

Going 2 nap less days in a row might have not been my smartest planning move.

We used our “travel baby monitor” and Rose went to bed before dinner opened since the restaurant is 100 ft from the room with no stairs/elevator being a townhouse.

Archer’s favorite part of the winery tour was the giant excavator in the river cleaning it out.

Rose did cause production of bottling to slow down due to the number of people watching her instead of packaging the wine/cognac.

Rose and I went for a walk while they waited for lunch. She was not in the mood to sit peacefully.

Archer took ~58 photos of this rock at the winery with my phone so I am including it.

Full Day #2

Rough morning. Kids and I went out to the playground on the roof. Rose had a mega potty accident and I left her 2 phones and toy car on the roof. When I returned in an hour, they were gone. It took a bit for the grumpiness to wear off.

We went to town and went to the big park there and then came back and did some pool time. Archer refused to pool. Rose napped and after nap we did more pool time. We help archer down and forced him to wear a bathing suit. Guess what, he loved the pool. There were 4 different size and bubble effect pools and like 7 sauna rooms (the hot tub was in one). It was great. We did dinner and there was a big dance party going on. The kids went to bed and Katy did a massage.

“ball pIT” has become Rose’s favorite word in Dilijan. Each time she says it is succession “ball” gets shorter and the “IT” gets longer and louder until it’s a 5 second word.

Rose at the pool with her drink. The morning pool session, Archer refused to put on his swimsuit and participate. The post Rose nap pool session we forced Archer to get his swimsuit on, despite a frustrating amount of caterwauling. Guess what, the kiddo loved the pool including the deep pool with super giant floor bubbles. He didn’t want to leave.

We ate lunch on the drive to Yerevan at a brewery. We got our own private structure to eat in. Food was good. We did get the kids rice after we paid the bill. I don’t think the last thing to come out has ever been rice before (we forgot about it, they didn’t).

Our driver mentioned that in this area they sold “pop corn”. I said let’s buy some. Turns out there was some translation error and he really meant corn on the cob. It was really hot. Kinda surprising it was still in season in mid October.

We did go to a church!!! See, we touristy things.

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Gyumri, Armenia: The Land of Water Fountains

Posted on November 1, 2025 by Todd

My first snow of the year near the Georgia/Armenia border, ~7000 feet.

Rose and I went down to breakfast because Archer was still sleeping at 8 o’clock, and Katy was still upstairs. The last couple breakfasts the kids didn’t do a great job eating, but it turns out if you separate them and one parent can devote all their attention to one child, they tend to eat pretty well.

I was surprised to see that it was raining as we were walking down to breakfast, but since today is a transfer day, rain is not the worst thing. The rain did scramble our plans to go to the playground and run some energy out of the kiddos before we started our drive to the Georgia–Armenia border.

It was a rainy 2-hour drive to the border. I was sitting in the back with the kids on an incredibly uncomfortable seat. Plus, I could not see out the window of the Prius that my head was hitting the ceiling of. When we approached the border, the rain turned to snow, my first snow of the year (7,000 ft).

When we arrived at the border, we scampered out of the car in the cold air into the border facility and were stamped out of Georgia without any fanfare.

We then drove a bit to the Armenia border control. They immediately noticed our Azerbaijan passport stamps but did not ask us about them. They wanted all the details of our itinerary and flights out. By the time we finished with immigration, there was a nice line of 10 people behind us. We then took our bags from the car and put them through the X-ray machine in customs and got back into the taxi. It was cold outside. Then we drove through one more passport check, and we were in Armenia.

The scenery difference in Armenia was pretty treeless and more rolling hills compared with the mountains of Georgia with the changing fall leaves.

The orange and black brick are two stones that have nearby quarries.

We arrived in Gyumri, and the rain had stopped (luckily there wasn’t the Baku wind either), but it was cold and dreary out at the 5,000 ft of elevation Gyumri sits. We found our apartment, and it was also cold inside—actually, very cold. It appears that the radiators had not been turned on for long before we arrived. Our host showed us around the apartment and gave us a bowl of apples picked from the trees outside, which everyone quickly ate one of, signaling that we needed to order some late lunch.

After we ate our Uber Eats (we used Glovo), we decided to bundle the kids up and got Archer to consent to wearing a pair of pants over his leggings and Rose to wear her rain jacket over her sweater. I had shared a lot of dishes with Katy the past few days, and my body was craving meat, and I had a strong desire not for Georgian/Armenian food. I ordered a hamburger with local fried meat on top; it was exactly what I needed. They just think I am a slob/barbarian since they included latex gloves to wear while eating my burger, which I did not use.

Gyumri is located near a quarry where black stones and orange stones are mined. The city experienced a heyday during the 1800s when it was controlled by Russia (pre-USSR), and there were many grand building projects. In 1989 a 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit the city, destroying most of the city, and 25,000–50,000 people died. Since then, the city has been a constant rebuild. There are buildings all over that are being rebuilt and others that appear abandoned (who knows if rebuilding is in their future). It creates a moody city that has great architecture. It is known as an artist city, and you can tell.

Cake, tea, and hot chocolate time. Armenia produces herbal tea as an export, but doesn’t produce “tea tea” like Georgia and Azerbaijan

We went to Honey and Herb and complemented our late lunch with some cake for dinner. On our way home we stopped by a toy store, and Archer started to plot what 2 toys he wanted to pick out for his birthday.

Archer had a fall coming back from dinner with his hands in his pockets. The concrete won, and he demonstrated that faces bleed a lot, a lot. In the morning there were some scrapes and a fat lip, but less bruising than expected. Other than the hour after impact, it bothered him minimally.

After not a great night’s sleep on a bed where I could feel the mattress springs, I awoke when I heard Archer making noise. It was still chilly in the apartment, but it was much warmer than it was the night before.

We woke up to a very important day: the day before Archer’s birthday. It was cold outside, but it was sunny, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, which was much better than the rain that we had been seeing all day the previous day.

The night before, we had ordered delivery food to make breakfast and had a lazy morning, which was needed. The ability to order delivery food and delivery groceries is great while traveling with kids. It also leads to ordering one of every mineral carbonated water that the store carries to “compare.”

The house was warmer, and after breakfast, we let the kids watch a movie, and we did some of the final logistics planning for the last 10 days of our trip.

There seems to be a “viral tickle” going around the family, and the kids are a touch more volatile, coupled with the fact we have been traveling for 3 weeks, and Rose almost has one molar all the way in and the second is halfway through.

We got some pastries, walked around town, visited a church, found some playgrounds (Armenian playgrounds are nothing compared to Georgian ones), Katy bought some flowers, and we separated ways when it was Rose’s nap time, having already stumbled across 4 toy stores.

We bought some sweets from this stand. Walnuts are in season. The balls are fruit leather covering walnut and apricot.

We got some pears and strawberries here.

Archer and I stayed out and explored 5 more toy stores, getting ideas on what toys he wanted to get for his birthday. He is allowed to pick out 2 toys (plus the few things we brought for him from home) tomorrow. Archer and I then stumbled upon their market. This is one of the few great markets I have come across. What makes a great market is that the price of everything is labeled, and the vendors don’t talk to you unless you signal them. Archer and I bought some traditional sweets and stocked up on some pears and local strawberries.

One of the numerous toy stores around. I compare Gyumri is to Yerevan as Grenada is to Seville. The rent is just that much cheaper/less touristy

After nap we had some playground time and then went to the Gyumri Fish Restaurant, which is located next to a Russian military base. This restaurant is so “famous” that people drive 2 hours from the capital to eat, and apparently it is the center of some Russians’ trip to Armenia. They are a fish farm that does trout and Siberian sturgeon. BBQ Siberian sturgeon is what they are known for, and boy, was it delicious.

That is the Russian military base above. I didn’t take any pictures of the troops patrolling the fence line. It was interesting to see Russian military jets in the sky and not US ones.

We were feeling wild and had our Uber drop us off downtown, and we got the kids some cake at Herb and Honey (again, worthy of 2 visits!) before we called it a night.

Archer’s Birthday

Archer woke up and left his room and was greeted by some balloons and a scavenger hunt to find some Matchbox cars that I had brought. Katy wanted to hide all 4, but the truth was Rose picked out 2 of them, so she hid 3 and Rose got the purple one she picked out (not the pink one). Archer found them all, including the one in the freezer and behind the TV.

We then left the house to go to the grocery store, which had the remote-control tank (“tanker” in Archer speak) and train set. He picked those out rather quickly, but Rose was having a real moment deciding what toy she wanted, to the point that Katy and Archer left. Before they left, Archer picked out his chocolate cherry cake, which was a reasonable size. I had feared he was going to go for one of the $20 6–7 lb cakes.

We had a key mishap with me having the key, but needing to get wrapping paper (and tape since the wrapping paper store didn’t sell tape—it only took 3 stores to find it).

We then went home, and Archer played with his new toys, and we shortly put Rose down for a nap.

Rose was tired and wanted nothing to do with the rest of the world

Archer and I went out for a milkshake and beer. We brought his new “butt” card game, but it was so complicated I didn’t have the gumption to do a game.

We then went out to the restaurant Ani, which didn’t have a menu on Google, but I read online people liked it. They put us in a back room, and the kids could frolic and not disturb the front of the restaurant, which filled up. The food was really cheap and good (Katy’s huge stuffed trout was $11). Music started, and it was a touch too loud for Archer, but Rose was a fan, so we went out front and watched the 4-piece band.

Rose liked the music. Our room was in the back with the entrance near the band.

A little carriage ride around the block (literally)

We then stopped by a purse store that was “made in Armenia,” and Katy picked out a purse.

We stopped for cotton candy for the walk home ($0.75).

1 cotton candy for 2 children leads to zero drama…

We almost made it home when Archer noticed the Ferris wheel was lit up, so we went to do the Ferris wheel. It cost $2.50. It likely has not been updated since the fall of the USSR. It was kind of 4 lawn chairs welded to a metal plate with a central handle to hold on to. No sides. They did put a small chain over the “door.” It did not squeak as much as the one Katy wouldn’t let me ride in Tbilisi.

Katy was thrilled with the safety features

Rose even sat and didn’t try to jump off for part of the ride

We then went home. It was a good birthday.

The next morning we packed, ate lunch, and called an Uber to take us 2 hours to the next city, and 3/4 seatbelts worked!

No singing allowed. Only the candle at the end of the day. He was more interested in watching the wax drip than making a wish.

Armenia doesn’t do playgrounds as well as Georgia

Posted in Armenia, backpacking, EUROPE, Georgia | Tagged Armenia, family, travel, writing, yerevan | 1 Comment

Akhaltsikhe:

Posted on October 21, 2025 by Todd

Our next stop is Akhaltsikhe, a town that according to two people who I inquired about rides said that staying 3 nights there was a terrible idea. We didn’t listen.

A church on our way to Borjomi. Our driver was rather grumpy.

This was by far the largest concentration of tourists that we have seen.

The is Borjomi, the town with the same name as the water. This was the original spring and the water came out nice and warm.. It also had a nice sulfer twinge, if you are into that sort of thing. The bottles were hand blown through the 1950s.

I found this tree/vine interesting. No witty comments.

We did some walking in the Borjomi park. There was a gondola, but we passed. More time for lunch which had a very good honey cake.

This was our destination. The town of Akhaltsikhe. This is the castle which was rebuilt in 2011 and is now a tourist destination. Most tourists spend 90 minutes at the castle or spend one night on their tour.

We stayed 3 nights here, they built a hotel into the castle when they rebuilt it. We got a room upgrade so our room is the second and third floor of the building you see right ahead the with wooden covered balcony’s on the third floor. Katy enjoyed the heated floors in the bathroom ($110/night)

We saw this toy store coming into town. After the car ride we walked here and each kiddo was allowed to pick out a toy that cost less than $7. We now own more cheap Chinese junk.

The kids favorite playground in town. Right next to the police station. It was the pirate ship playground. Only 1 slide was a little broken

This gem of a jacket we purchased in Azerbaijan, but it has a built in costume/snow protection hood. It is chillier here, but not this cold.

This is Vardzia, one of the main reasons we are in this area. It is the ruins of a cave city that was destroyed in an earth quake. There was minimal signage, and you could wander most places.

Katy coming out of the exit tunnel. The exit was not labeled at all and after 2.5+ hours we were looking for it.

It was grape harvest day, and a group of gentleman were picking the grapes at Vardzia

The restaurant where we ate lunch gave the kids some of the grapes that were just picked. They were super yummy. The seeds weren’t huge and will help provide some fiber to keep Rose regular (which she needs)

The ruins of a castle on our back from Vardzia (1.5 hours drive). I explored it while the kiddos and Katy explored a nearby playground. Katy was historicaled out. There was a street dog that Archer thought was fluffy so he named him “sluffy”

This was our grumpy driver behind a vehicle filled with hay in every possible spot.

We went to get some bread pastries for dinner. That was a bakery we bought from. The oven is a buried clay oven called a tone. This was a 4+ person operation.

I saw a beer store. They had 6 taps. The pricing is per liter with 5=$1.75 with a 2 liter minimum. The only thing else they sold were “beer snacks” like nuts, dried fish, sausage, and cheese.

Views of Akhaltsikhe from one of the many towers we climbed up.

The castle was a conglomerate of styles and religions over the years. I wasn’t able to find true before pictures. They had a museum that we went through quickly that was one of the nicest small history museums I have been to. The lighting on each exhibit was what made it.

We found a treasure chest that was unlocked… No comment.

Archer has collected many keys. He is now trying to unlock all doors he comes across. He has concluded he needs more keys.

Cannonballs the Russians fired at the castle when they attempted to take it over. First time they failed, second time they succeeded.

Georgia has really good fall colors. There is a bush that turns a really great red color that is in the mountains, and this vine like plant that is more of a deep red.

Archer literally is trying his keys in every lock that we come across. The door may look old, but the masterlock isn’t.

The real question is will Armenia have as many $0.37 vending machines. They are Archer’s favorite.

This carousel might have been the roughest one so far, it didn’t even go up and might have been made in someone’s garage.

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Georgia: The Land of Many Playgrounds

Posted on October 16, 2025 by Todd

After 3 nights in the wine region we headed to the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi. A nice thing about the Georgian language is that things are often pronounced how you would guess they are pronounced.

The previous day there were elections that had very low levels of turnout and no international monitors (according to our driver, I did not confirm this). Many people who are opposed to the current government chose not to vote since the last election they viewed as invalid (international monitors cited concerning irregularities).

There is supposed to be a fence behind those vehicles which was torn down by the protesters.

We arrived in Tbilisi a little before we could check in to our apartment in old town so Katy got a latte, and the kids got a cake from the bakery across the street. We then were able to drop off our bags, and we headed to a playground. We stumbled upon a playground that I didn’t know was there on the way to the one that I knew about.

There were people cleaning the pedestrian only streets, and we were able to piece together that there were protests the previous night where people showed their displeasure at the election situation by burning things. Luckily, this happened the day after we arrived in town.

Archer examining his vending machine options with an ice cream.

After lunch of khinkali, Georgian dumplings, we headed back to the apartment, and Rose took a nap. Archer and I went out to get an IPA and play a game while Katy enjoyed some zero stimulation time supervising Rose.

A Rose nap time beer and game with Archer (black IPA).

I went in the wrong door at the grocery store and discovered a giant open food hall with probably 20+ venders. One thing with traveling with a 2 and 4 year old is that we often prioritize the “ease” of eating at a place vs places that are the most highly regarded. We do have some less intense days, but at this point the kids have been going for 2+ weeks. Rose has had very few naps where she has been able to sleep as long as she wants and bedtime has generally been 1-2 hours later than in Colorado. Needless to say, by dinner time we are not always operating at 100%.

We did the food hall for dinner, and I had a regional cornmeal mush and chicken dish. Katy had pho. She was eager to eat some food not from Georgia/Azerbaijan.

Brief Recap of Full Day 1 and 2

Day 2: Walked around the old city. Went to a smaller park with a few rides after nap. Went then went to a hipster restaurant in an old Soviet era factory.

If you are bored, read this menu at the hipster place. It is rather amusing.

The natural history museum. Rose was more interested in the stairs than in the museum.

The old city wall and border of old town. They are “renovating” a lot of the dilapidated old town, making it more of a tourist draw.

Archer examining things at the flea market.

So I guess I am telling our third full in Tbilisi via photos, semi real time.

The latte art on my morning beverage after the grocery store unexpectedly didn’t open until 9a when the plan was to get food for the kids and play in the park. Well I showed up before 8a, not even thinking it wouldn’t open until 9a. Slightly grumpy, then had AI find me this coffee shop that had breakfast that happened to be near the big church we wanted to go to, so I came back and got Katy and an Uber whisked us off.

A giant church in the middle of Tbilisi, visible from most places in town. Newly built. Shiny.

Two communal cups you can use to drink the holy water. Due to its holy nature this is sanitary. Enough water in the bucket for a little bathing, but I only saw people drinking it from the blue cup.

Tbilisi zoo is definitely a grade C zoo. Does not compare at all to the amazing Baku zoo. Total admission price $3.75 for 3 people, Rose free

Rose rode the swings and cars. A little lower stakes than the Ferris wheel. I asked Katy if I could ride the Ferris wheel with Archer, her mouth dropped open, her right eye twitched, and then she turned around and continued walking like I had said nothing. I took that as a no.

The last 3 days archer and I went out and explored while Rose napped. Katy chose to stay in and nap/decompress/not see any humans. Today I was feeling rather “short” with the kids, and Katy let me go and get some Georgian tea to take home and have a beer and decompress. The tea shop was not what I was looking for, but the beer was cold.

We then went to go to the digital art museum. Turns out that the entries are tours every two hours. Rose then spotted a donut with pink icing and sprinkles and the options were to give her the donut or else. We chose the donut.

We split a tarragon flavored local naturally sparkling mineral water. Way better than it sounds. This is now the only water Katy wants to drink in Georgia, even if it is $1 vs $0.15 for a bottle. High roller she is.

At least he wasn’t trying to run into the road.

Katy really planned this all along so she could take us in the 5 story shopping mall and ride the elevator up. Rose at least once on every floor tested their cleaning by using her back as a mop on the floor. Mix of US and European brands.

We walked around some more and just explored. This was Rose’s favorite statue. We had a yummy dinner and the kids are kind of shot after being gone for 20 days. Archer misses Wally cat and a little homesick. We used a movie for dinner entertainment for the first time in Georgia (7 nights)

The next day

Our last day in Tbilisi was going to be more of a “down” day. I had stocked up on donuts and chocolate milk from the grocery store the night before because I learned the hard way the previous day that the big grocery store doesn’t open until 9am when we went to get treats.

The kids and I played in the park and ate chocolate milk and donuts. We were going to stay out later, but Archer had to poop. I also thought it would be a good opportunity to change Rose’s pants since they got wet on a slide with what I hope was water from the parks sprinkler system… Well, when we got back Archer no longer had to poop, and then I got a message at 9:02 from a new number, “do you have a problem”. The rather rude message aside, it turns out there was a scheduling glitch, which was my fault, which had a driver show up at 9am the day before we needed him. After an hour of stress we had things sorted out, but my jovial mood had been thwarted.

All of us then went out, and Katy grabbed a coffee, and we wandered across the river to a new park that also had a water park. While looking for a bakery earlier in the day, I had happened on an article from a baker saying their favorite places to get bread products, and we were near one. Luckily google maps had a photo of when they used to have a sheet of paper with their products taped to the front of their store. There was nothing like this when we got there and google translate got us – round bean filled bread, a long potato filled bread, and a “layered kachapuri” which was more puff pastry dough with their traditional cheese in the middle. These are all cooked in a tone, which is a traditional clay oven. We then went back to the park and ate our yummy early lunch while Rose worked up the courage to go in the splash pad.

Mailing some post cards in a shady looking postbox

After lunch, we all walked through the flea market, and Archer came up with some grand ideas for what he wanted to spend his pocket money on, including a large axe.

We then went back to the food hall, and the kids got a traditional fountain soda ($1.75); tarragon is Katy’s favorite flavor and the most traditional flavor. During Soviet times it got so popular it was exported throughout a large part of the USSR. I grabbed some more tea from one of the shops, and we headed back.

After Rose was down for a nap, Katy and Archer went to get a coffee. When they came back Archer and I went out. We went back to the flea market and decided a keychain is a more realistic thing to buy. While we were walking through, the person Archer bought a key from on a previous visit came up and gave him another key for free, and boy was Archer excited!

We then stopped at the cafe at the end of the flea market street, and Archer got a milkshake and I got a beer, and we played a game and listened to some live music.

Heading back, Archer found the perfect keychain, which was shaped like a key, and we headed back and put all of his keys (3) on his key chain.

We then headed out to go back to the fair. We took the subway where we had an issue. The issue was Katy and Archer stopped while I was halfway in the subway because it was so crowded, and then the door started to close on Rose and me. Neither of us thought the door would just close and not reopen, but that is what happened. Some helpful bystanders helped pry it open so Rose and I could get in the car. Note to self, Soviet era subways might not have the modern feature of stopping closing if you are hit by the door, so push your way in.

The very long escalator ride down the subway

We took the cable car up to the amusement park (our second visit). The kids rode some rides, Rose went to the petting zoo (archer didn’t want to), we rode the Ferris wheel, and ate dinner. The kids got slushees to end the night; the guy recognized us from the other day and gave us three, one of each flavor. It turns out the green is tarragon flavored and not too sweet.

We headed back and packed up while the kids slept for our next spot, Akhaltsikhe.

Picked this gem up for $1.75. It is a little worse for wear after Rose football spiked it twice. The into is in Russian, the rest in English

Here are some of the subjects.

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Georgia’s Wine Region Here We Come

Posted on October 13, 2025 by Todd

Katy is in no man’s land between Georgia and Azerbaijan, the river bed is the boundary, while walking across the border. Only foreigners are allowed to cross the border. It must be done on foot and only from Azerbaijan to Georgia, not the other way around.

We crossed into Georgia on foot and likely overpaid for a pre-arranged taxi, but it did take out the stress of negotiating with 4 friends that aren’t going to underbid each other for our ~2 hour drive to the winery hotel we had booked.

Our ride. There was a seatbelt upfront. The driver was not aggressive, likely due to the engine powering the boat.

We arrived a little after 2pm at the Babaneuris Marani winery where we spent 3 nights.

The playground at the winery shined like a golden beacon to Rose and Archer, and Rose started chanting “park”. By chant, I really mean screech in an increasingly hostile tone. We dropped our bags in our 2 bedroom (no living room) room and quickly headed to the playground.

We decided on a rather early dinner and bedtime for the kids since Rose did not take a nap. She had the sniffles, combined with fact she is in the middle of getting 2 of her back molars has made her more “opinionated” than normal.

The popular thing to do if you owned a winery in the region seemed to be build a castle.

We had scoped out the weather, and the weather our first full day was supposed to be the worst of our 2 days, so we picked that day to do a wine tour. Our driver/guide ($55) for the day suggested that we go to 5 wineries from 10a to 6p. We let him know that 8 hours of drinking wine with a 2 and 4 year old wasn’t the best idea, so he said that it was okay to only go to 3 wineries, but I think that he thought it was a terrible plan.

After some hotel breakfast the next morning that did not start until the lofty hour of 9am, we headed out on our wine tour with the first spot being a small operation that owns their own vineyard outside of town and then brings their grapes to their house to make their wine. The “traditional” method of wine making in Georgia is to bury large clay pots and have the wine ferment in there, usually for 6+ months. When they do this with white grapes, they leave the skins on, which gives the wine an orange or amber color.

We then went to a larger establishment that I think he picked for us not for the quality of wine but due to them having a large outside space complete with peacocks and chickens running around. Most people that go to this region do it via a day trip, and this winery is a popular stop.

Our third stop for some reason wasn’t doing tastings at that moment, so we got 3 glasses to share and some more food.

The chocolate crepe was a huge hit. We also had a “grape pie” that was a cake soaked in grape just that was rather yummy.

The children had not completely lost their cool, so we decided to call it and head back before they did. We had an early dinner and both kiddos were asleep by 730p. Rose seems to be suffering from a combo of sore mouth due to getting two new molars and a little virus. We did not hear her usual constant refrain of “eeeeeeaaaat”.

The next day we had a “rest day” built in. The children were up promptly at 630a. We ate breakfast, went for a 3 miles hike where we discovered a fairy castle, went to the playground, and went to the pool. Rose’s nap was unfortunately cut short by noise from Archer acting his age.

The pool was supposed to be heated. I can attest that it was absolutely freezing. Katy said no thanks, so I got to enjoy the pool with kids. Yay…

There were a lot of mushrooms. There was a trail system that had one of the trailheads at the winery we were staying at.

It had been so rainy that the harvest was rather late. They were harvesting while we were there. The winemaker is washing the pole he used to mash the grapes they just put in the clay pots.

The view from the restaurant at the winery we stayed at. The total food bill for 3 dinners, 1 lunch, 2 bottles and 2 glasses of wine was ~$200.

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Bye Baku, Time for Sheki and Walking into Georgia

Posted on October 4, 2025 by Todd

After five nights in Baku, we left. We planned to use the same driver from our first two days, who spoke significantly better English than I speak Azerbaijani, but not always well enough to manage extras. The night before we left, we had a communication hiccup about our route to Sheki. The price we had previously agreed on suddenly increased by 50%. Luckily, I had talked to several people and within 20 minutes had locked in a different driver with a Mercedes van, working seat belts, and fluency in English (and Italian), all at around 7 pm for the same price.

We decided to leave at 9:30 in the morning, which gave us enough time to order some Uber Eats—mashed potato filled fried dough, and fried dough with apple jelly inside—for $4, including tip.

Ali, the driver, filled us in on history on the way to the oldest mosque in Azerbaijan, then we visited a waterfall with countless steps. Archer and Rose insisted on watching the water the entire way up. Rose and I had a minor disagreement on the way down: she wanted to walk along the slick, haphazardly built steps, while I preferred to hold her and grip the railing. Archer kept stopping to take photos for his preschool scrapbook—we now have a whole collection showing different ways water can drain off a sidewalk.

The grocery store we stopped at on our drive. Hanging from the ceiling are “martyrs” that died in the last conflict with Armenia in the 90s. There were reminders everywhere about the conflict. It seems like the dictator is trying very hard to keep it in people’s minds.

We stopped at a lake for lunch and had the most expensive meal of our trip so far. I’m sure the driver got a kickback, but our children needed to eat. We were planning to take a gondola ride in a nearby ski town, but by then, Rose was clearly done and needed a nap. The final straw came when I took her and Archer to the bathroom, and she tried to mop the floor with her body while I helped Archer wipe. After a fair amount of screaming in the car, Rose fell asleep for the next hour until we reached Sheki.

Sheki is very different from Baku. It’s an old town with history stretching back more than 200 years, having been ruled separately from Baku before being taken over by the Russians and, much earlier, Alexander the Great.

The caravanserai. Please note that I referred to it as a caravanista the entire time…

We checked into the caravanserai, a several hundred-year-old Silk Road inn once used by traders. Two remain in town, and one has been converted into a hotel. The setting is amazing, and you’d think it might be pricey, but it’s a bare-bones place. Our “luxury room” consisted of two connected rooms, each with two twin beds; one had a couch and coffee table. The total cost: $40 per night.

After settling in, we spotted a playground through our window and went in search of it. After walking around the block, we realized it was probably part of a school and not accessible, which disappointed the kids. We decided the next best option was to go eat dinner.

We walked down the hill to a restaurant our driver had pointed out, which sometimes had live music. I think there was a single menu for the entire place. I ordered a bottle of local red wine for $12 from the display rack. Soon after, a party with balloons and cake began next to us. The “local music” turned out to be a man singing with a sound system as his backing band. Rose was given a balloon and a lot of head pats from the women at the party. A Chinese woman asked to take a photo with Rose—she mainly got a picture of herself with my crotch and Rose dangling from it.

Then another guest, a three-ish-year-old boy, arrived. Archer, Rose, and the boy proceeded to wreak havoc on the restaurant (we and the party were the only guests). Their favorite game was releasing helium balloons to the ceiling and having someone retrieve them. Dinner eventually ended, and we went back to our caravanserai.

We went to get a treat after dinner at the convenience store. Archer took that to mean a cheap toy.

They closed the big door at night when it wasn’t open to the public so we used the mini door.

We woke up to the expected pitter-patter of rain, which would define the rest of our time in Sheki. Katy had read that the caravanserai had super-hot water but cold rooms at night. They actually turned on our radiators, and we had to open a window to keep the room pleasant. It took us a minute to realize “H” was cold and “C” was hot, but once we figured that out, we had a toasty room and scalding water.

We walked to a café we’d noticed the day before and had pastries and coffee for breakfast. It turned out to have the nicest bathrooms in Sheki: a Western-style toilet, foaming soap, and paper towels.

She did eat some of the eclair after licking the chocolate.

Since it was raining, we decided to be lazy and spent $0.90 on an Uber to save ten minutes of walking to the palace of the Sheki Khans. The palace was really interesting—its mosaic-style windows contain thousands of colored glass pieces held together in tiny wooden frames. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside.

Then Rose took a giant poop. It’ll be nice to travel once she’s potty-trained.

We walked to a nearby mosque, and someone outside told us we could visit the 3-manat museum or the free mosque. We saw both and really enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere, although Rose required constant supervision.

Afterward, we stopped at a halva shop that also sold coffee. Halva is a traditional sweet made with sesame, nuts and honey. The store had no English signage, but when we asked for prices, they were lower than any of the more touristy shops. Sheki, overall, is much cheaper than Baku.

Then we went to lunch at our hotel and explored the restaurant’s back area, which was a maze of corridors and rooms. Right under our room was a former storage vault where traders would keep goods accessible through a trapdoor (no longer in use). After lunch, it was nap time. Archer was soaked by then; his rain jacket might have actually made him wetter by funneling water in whenever he purposefully ducked under drips.

Some of the hidden parts of the caravanista

In the afternoon, we took an Uber to the market zone. Since the Baku market went late and Google said this one closed at 8 pm, we thought visiting at 4 would be fine. Most stalls were closed, though, so we just browsed a small store in a mall-like building and grabbed the kids some sweatshirts (we forgot to pack theirs).

Stocking up on individual wrapped “snacks” for the car ride. Sold by the kilo (10=$6)

We then tried a restaurant recommended by our Sheki driver, supposedly named after the first astronaut. It took me a moment to realize “Qarqarin” referred to Yuri Gagarin—the Q equals G in Azerbaijani. Unfortunately, it was closed. Another nearby restaurant gave off a weird vibe, so we bailed and went back to the same place we’d eaten lunch.

Feijoa compote and pear lemonade which is slightly carbonated and not too sweet.

The next morning, we booked an Uber to the border. The app quoted $22 for the two-hour drive, but the driver demanded an extra $13, which we agreed to. Thankfully, it was all handled through the messaging app. Katy wasn’t thrilled with the seatbelt situation (it could have been worse) or the driver’s aggressive style, which shaved twenty minutes off Google’s ETA.

Approaching the border, we passed 10 kilometers of trucks lined up, waiting to leave Azerbaijan. Our driver dropped us in the middle of the road. Thankfully, a border guard stopped traffic and directed us where to go. A guard opened a gate, checked our passports in the rain, and sent us up a 200-yard ramp to customs, where we scanned our bags through an x-ray machine. Then we showed our passports at immigration and were officially checked out of Azerbaijan. Another 200-yard walk brought us to a closed gate. After waiting about 12 seconds, I told Katy to open it. A guard appeared 30 seconds later, had us go back, and checked our passports again—he was probably on break or in the bathroom.

We finally crossed the bridge over the river separating Georgia and Azerbaijan and entered the Georgian immigration building. The officer asked a single question: where were we going? I had to look it up; he probably thought we were hopeless. He disappeared with our passports, returned shortly, and waved us through.

I then tried to withdraw $150 from the ATM, but it kept erroring. After several attempts, I realized it had a 30-bill limit and had six 20 lari bills ($6) and the rest 5 lari ($1.50). I didn’t take all the 5s, but now we have an impressive stack of small bills, which actually turned out to be super useful, since change is hard to come by.

Katy wouldn’t let us go to the CIS Olympic polo match being held that day across the street from our hotel. Maybe the rain or the grumpy children had something to do with that

We really enjoyed Azerbaijan. It definitely had some quirks to it. We didn’t know before we started researching our trip that they are very friendly with Israel and actually at odds with Iran (different type of Islam) and Russia. They have a ton of oil/gas money, and in the 90s their second oil boom started. Having a lot of oil money had made them less dependent on Russia compared to many other former parts is the USSR, this has created some tension. The country is way more modern and cleaner than I expected. Many places you think could benefit from a coat of paint, Baku wasn’t one of them. There are a lot of issues with authoritarian rule and that is what Azerbaijan is. The country is a Muslim country (Katy can attest to being awoken by the call to prayer), but they sell alcohol freely and most people are not strictly practicing Muslims. Our driver said that when he started doing tours someone asked him what type of Muslim he was, and he had to call his dad to see if he was Sunni or Shiite. It did not feel like a Muslim country like Indonesia or Turkey.

Next country in our adventure is Georgia…

Posted in Azerbaijan, backpacking, EUROPE | Tagged Azerbaijan, Baku, Sheki | Leave a comment

Azerbaijan Here We Come

Posted on October 2, 2025 by Todd

It took a while to get to the Maiden Tower in Baku from Colorado.

This is a much-delayed post of our trip to the Caucasus. I am starting it after we have been traveling for about 10 days, so the first few days will be more of a recap.

Our trip started with Katy getting off of work and not taking a nap, and having a five-hour layover in Dallas on our way to Miami. Katy managed to grab a few cat naps in the area of the lounge away from Archer and Rose.

We really enjoyed Hollywood Beach and the boardwalk.

We spent 2 days at Hollywood Beach. The first was rather rainy and involved Archer and I going to the Bass Pro Shop and seeing the light rail station. The second was spent with a lot of playing on the beach, swimming in the 87° ocean, and the pool. Our final day we did a 4 PM checkout, and Rose was able to get a 90-minute nap to cap off playing on the beach.

Free slushies at the hotel (also a terrible photo)

We then headed to the airport, and due to us flying on award tickets and Qatar Airways only releasing two business class reward seats that we could book with points per flight, Rose and I were on the 8 PM flight and Katy and Archer were on the 11 PM flight.

She mainly enjoyed the potato chips and Fanta

Rose scored a B+ on the flight where she ate her dinner, watched a little TV, and then fell asleep for 8 to 9 hours. She woke up, had 2 to 3 hours to eat some breakfast and watch more TV, and then we arrived in Qatar around 4 PM.

We were at the hotel and checked in around 5 PM, and we played on the playground and walked around the very fancy hotel, which we got upgraded to a two-bedroom suite. It was actually kind of funny because I had reserved two rooms since they did not have a room with two double beds, and they upgraded both reservations to two-bedroom suites, so I canceled one because we did not need four bedrooms.

Rose and I ate some Qatar-style Uber Eats and waited for Katy and Archer to arrive, but Rose did not last that long and promptly fell asleep.
We were planning on going to the beach and enjoying the amazing pool the next morning, but it turned out that we all slept until noon. Luckily, we did not have to leave the property until 1:30 PM to catch our 4 PM flight to Baku, Azerbaijan.

A little playground after our long flight

We had booked a driver to meet us at the airport, and he whisked us away to our accommodation in the walled Old City located in Baku.

I literally took my eye off of Rose for 10 seconds on the flight from Doha to Azerbaijan

We spent five nights in Baku. We spent most of the time wandering around the city: going to the fruit bazaar, railroad museum, zoo, Maiden Tower, walking on the Caspian Sea pedestrian boulevard, going to the kiddie amusement park on the seaside boulevard, and visiting the palace in the Old City. We went on one excursion outside of the city to the Gobustan mud volcanoes and petroglyphs, using the same driver we had booked to take us from the airport. There is no way I can get caught up writing play by play, so I will now tell the rest of Baku in photos.

Azerbaijan has a lot of oil money and its leader must have read that pretty fountains are a good way to show off your wealth. Wandering our first morning looking for a place that served food before 9am (apparently uncommon in this part of the world). The coffee roaster we tried first had a broken espresso machine.

We stayed in the Old City, a 1 minute walk from the Maiden Tower in the picture. Our 3 bedroom apartment was ~$65 per night.

Walking around old town. Lots of street cats and kittens. In the morning you can see food out where people are feeding them and often in corners are small water dishes. Did not see any mice.

The children exploring the view out of the 400+ year old palace window in the old town.

The playground next to our apartment. It gets a D and Azerbaijan gets a C- for public playground access. There were a few more outside of the tourist areas we saw while driving and we did randomly come across one that wasn’t marked in Google Maps, I added it.

The train simulator at the train museum, a museum that didn’t even appear in our guide book. I had done a decent job of adding pins to google maps, and it did help us several times with places to eat and random attractions like this. We had zero issues with English in Baku.

The “authoritarian ruler” of Azerbaijan donated this train made out of gold to the museum. Entry to all tourist attractions had a foreigner price of normally $6 or $10 USD and kids were free, often $1-$2 for locals.

The train museum was in the building which was the original train station.

The Flame Towers dominate the city. At night they light up and have designs, pictures on them.

Guess what. This is the carpet museum. It is supposedly one of the best museums in the country, but we couldn’t muster the energy to take the kids inside.

Baku, which borders the Caspian Sea. There was a walkway with shops, malls, mini amusement parks, carousels, and greenery that was 50-100 yards wide that ran along the Caspian. We stayed a 4 minute walk from it.

A walkway under the main road to get to the seaside. Katy took advantage of the many $0.60 vending machines to get a bottle of water in need. Our first day was shorts weather. The rest were pants weather. Baku is rather windy, and we had one cloudy day that averaged ~20 mph wind, the rest weren’t that windy.

We rode many carousels ($1.80/kiddo and adults could stand next to them)

Archer chose to sit this one out. Weather was mainly in the 60s with enough humidity to give some bounce to Rose’s hair

The seaside boulevard with a mall in the background. Baku was very clean with a lot of trash cans.

We had dinner 3 nights in places that were very similar. They were all in vaulted basements like this. One had live traditional music. They were loud enough to drown out our children, to an extent.

We ordered 5 meals and 2 grocery store orders from Wolt. We mainly ate lunch in the apartment with takeaway (and our first dinner). We ordered diapers, 5l jugs of water ($0.70), beers, snacks, drinks from grocery stores in the app too. This is a mashed potato filled fried dough (minimum order was $3.60 and there was often a $0.60 fee)