La Casa de Cornthwaite Photos

The Leopalace lake


Hotel Belvedere


The picturesque wedding chapel next to the hotel


Our "new" car, purchased right here on Guam...does it look familiar?? (For those of you who don't know...our other car, which we shipped to the island, is the same year, make, model, and color as this one. I guess we like what we like!)


Now, moving on to the much anticipated photos of our house! This is the master bedroom.


The private patio outside of the master bedroom


The master bathroom, which boasts a huge walk-in shower!


Looking down the hallway from the master bedroom...the first door on the left is the guest bedroom.


The guest bedroom...aka Mandi's room to decorate!


The office...aka Josh's room to decorate (with a little help from Mandi)!


The guest bathroom


The foyer


The great room...the wall over the TV is in serious need of decoration!

The dining room, which is filled to capacity with books, in case we're ever in need of some tableside entertainment!

The kitchen/laundry room...yes, it gets quite hot if one is cooking and doing laundry at the same time!

Our backyard on a sunny day. You can see the golf course, and even the golf clubhouse, in the distance.

Our backyard on a rainy day. Now, the golf clubhouse is totally invisible, and the golf course is rather hard to make out. Conclusion...the rainy season in Guam is VERY rainy!!

But, lots of rain means lots of rainbows! This rainbow was fading fast, but I managed to catch a little snippet of it...it was beautiful while it lasted!

My favorite warning sign on the 5K walking/biking loop...which passes right by our house, giving us no excuse not to use it! There are also warning signs for iguanas and falling coconuts...

One of the many Leopalace toads who appear out of nowhere at night. Driving in the complex truly becomes like driving in an obstacle course. It's impossible to miss every toad, so perhaps this guy posed so politely for me with the hope that I would remember him next time I'm driving at night!

La Casa de Cornthwaite

Well, as we have been on-island for 5 months(!), it’s been quite a while since we actually moved in to our house, but you know the old cliché…Better Late Than Never! I have finally gotten around to taking pictures. (Perhaps I should rephrase…I have finally gotten around to getting the house ready for me to take pictures!) Josh and I live in a complex called “Leopalace Resort,” which is primarily a resort for Japanese tourists. It literally has it all – a huge hotel, extended stay condos, a spa, a gym, a golf course, a bowling alley, a huge pool with a waterslide, an Olympic-sized pool, a walking pool, a 50 meter lap pool, several additional pools, a 5K walking/biking loop, a track, a beach volleyball court, tennis courts, several baseball fields, several softball fields, several soccer fields, several “multi-purpose” fields, several hiking paths – including one to a beautiful waterfall, a mini lake with lots of fish that are always waiting to be fed, a wedding chapel, several great restaurants (so we’ve heard, we haven’t tried them out yet), a Polynesian dinner show, a bit of shopping, access to shuttle buses to take tourists into town for more extensive shopping and other activities, etc, etc… It’s tourist heaven! And then, hidden back behind the golf course, out of the way of most of the tourist traffic (whew!), there are two streets of duplexes. Josh and I live in a beautiful duplex above the golf course (though not too far above it, as we periodically find golf balls in our yard courtesy of, I assume, bad golfers!). We love our house, although the two of us rattle around in it, especially compared to our teeny tiny place in San Diego. This house has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a great room, a dining room, a kitchen, 2 patios, and a garage. What a change! We have managed to fill each room up, though…but not with furniture, with books. (How appropriate for two self-described bookworms!) We do have lots of empty wall space yet, so we’re working on that. In time, in time… Anyway, I wanted to post some photos so you all can picture where we are. And also, I’m hoping I’ll entice some more visitors… Mi casa es su casa!!

Talofofo Caves Photos

A hidden cave entrance in the jungle...can you find it?


Josh showing off our first cave...did I mention that caves are rather hot??


Josh trying hard to find a way (other than rappelling) down the 50 foot drop...fortunately, he was unsuccessful!



Looking out into the jungle from the mouth of the cave while Josh is preoccupied with our trusty guidebook, trying to decipher the directions to the next cave


Mandi blending in with a cave...almost!


Mandi (looking much like a professional caver with that headlamp!) taking a break in the pictograph cave


The natural arch from afar


The arch frames a lovely view!


Interesting rock formations by the arch


Mandi attempting to document the small entrance to our last cave...and it only got smaller!


Once we made it through the initial tunnel, the cave opened up and was filled with beautiful rock formations. (Here, I must give a shout out to our camera...not a bad picture for a pitch black cave!)


Up close, the rocks were simply amazing!


Josh hiding in a teeny tiny room of the cave, which was only accessible if one was willing to slither down like a snake...


Video documentation of Josh's journey back from the teeny tiny room!

Talofofo Caves

Life has been very busy lately…so busy, in fact, that we just haven’t had much time to explore. A lack of exploration is practically sinful to Josh, so recently, we managed to squeeze in a little adventure…literally! We decided to go caving. Now, I believe I’ve already mentioned that I’m not one for small spaces, but life is about growing as a person, right? So, off we went to check out a rather extensive cave system nearby. (Well, technically everything is nearby on such a small island, but these caves really are close to home!)

Our adventure began with a small hike through a jungle of sorts. Nothing new there. Mosquitoes were plentiful, we were sweating buckets, and we even passed some “recycled” tires and other debris, so I was really starting to feel pretty comfortable. You know, the same old, same old. I could handle that! Then, we arrived at our first cave. I must admit, the rock formations surrounded by the jungle were rather picturesque. And the cave itself was fairly big. I mean, I didn’t even have to duck – now that’s my kind of cave! Well, then we spotted the next room in the cave. No, it wasn’t small, but it did include a 50 foot drop-off. Too bad we didn’t bring our rappelling gear…oh wait, we don’t have rappelling gear. Guess we should have thought about that in advance…no more exploring that cave! So, we moved on.

The next few caves weren’t terribly notable. They were pretty, but there were no miniscule rooms or serious cliffs. So I was happy! And so was Josh, because we saw some neat pictographs, and anything concerned with history makes him happy! Shortly thereafter, we came to the end of the trail and a spectacular view. At the end of the trail is a natural arch called Window Rock. The arch was formed by the collapse of a cave ceiling long ago. It is an interesting sight, which is made even more memorable by the outstanding view of the coastline that it frames. (On a side note…the authors of our trusty guidebook must have had a negative experience at this arch. They tend to leave safety issues to their readers’ own discretion, but at this location, they felt the need to inform their readers to “Be wary of nearby bees.” Now, Josh and I didn’t see a single bee on our whole hike, let alone by the arch, but I do appreciate their concern. Perhaps we were hiking when bees were out of season? Better safe than sorry, I guess…!) Anyway, we enjoyed the view and the much-welcomed breeze from the ocean, and then we headed back down the trail to explore a few more caves.

Our final cave turned out to be the most interesting one of the afternoon. Unfortunately for me, it included several rather tight squeezes, but I made it through no worse for the wear. And we even discovered the token hiking rope inside the cave. (I still have yet to go on a hike on Guam that did not include a rope at some point.) We explored this cave and all of its nooks and crannies for quite some time. Josh was in geological heaven! By the time we were ready to re-enter the world of daylight, it was time to head home. So, we didn’t get a chance to explore all of the Talofofo Caves, but I know we’ll be back! (And hopefully, the bees won’t be in season then, either…!)