Tales of the Traveling Tote

Welcome to another Tales of the Traveling Tote,

where a lovely group of bloggers take their wonderful

MacKenzie-Child's totes with them to explore

and share all kinds of new places.

Whew, we have had too much fun this spring.

Hope you enjoy traveling along with Miss

Madi K and me!!

Welcome to the Royal Towers of the Atlantis Resort!

(Our room was in the left set of towers.)

Miss Madi K and I found our new happy place

this spring as we traveled to the Bahamas and

stayed in this wonderful resort.  

One of our friends and neighbors (on your right)

is an engineer and architect and he is famous for

engineering resort swimming pools.  He has worked

one the Atlantis pools and is currently working on 

the pools for a new Atlantis resort being built in

Hawaii.  We have talked about going to visit the

Atlantis, and hubby and I had stopped there on a

cruise - but truly we only had a few hours there,

and knew that we wanted to come back for a stay.

The Atlantis is a popular destination for cruisers because

of its amazing waterslides and waterpark.  When we had

visited on a cruise, we were dropped off at 8:00 but were

then told we couldn't get in the water until 10:00.  It 

appears they have changed that to 9:00 now.  Within

two rides, a downpour began - it was a deluge and they

made us evacuate the pools as the lifeguards could not

see well enough to keep us safe.  Even after the rains

stopped, we weren't allowed back into the pools, so we

had spent about $200 each and got two rides.  The cruise

was great and gave us half of our money back when we

explained the situation.

Needless to say, we hadn't received much of an experience

there.  While it was raining, we were able to explore The Dig -

amazing underground fish tanks that pretend that they

really have found Atlantis, and they show you

 some of the relics.

They even have the sound of digging and tinkering

in the background, similar to Indian Jones wait line. 

The lobby and architecture follow this theme of a

found Atlantis.  We found that to be just awe inspiring.

I enjoy architecture more than art, so this was such a

fun place to go and to explore as every little space was

filled with architectural details.

This is the fountain at the front of the resort.  Definitely

an over-the-top experience all around.

Because there are so many cruisers there from early morning

until about 4:00, we found an out of the way oasis that

became our favorite spot - The Coral Pool.  The Coral Pool

is located on the older end of the property by the Coral Towers,

which were presently undergoing renovations.  You can tell

that the Coral Pool had recently been renovated.

We decided to splurge on a Cabana, since there were two

couples and we could share the cost.  It was perfect for

the gentlemen who needed to plug in their computers and

do a little office work while on vacation.

You can see the cabanas in the back of this picture.  

These fun sun pads were at the edge of the pool, but

offered no shade from the intense sun in the Bahamas.

This was another fabulous sunning spot with

all of these beds on the platform.  Of course Miss Madi K

and I had to try them all out.

But in the end, we loved the luxury and partial shade of the

cabanas, and ended up renting one each day for the rest

of the week!

Each cabana had a very attentive steward who

made sure we had cold water, fresh towels and

of course drinks and lunch.  We enjoyed these chocolate

shakes daily!

I have never experienced a more varied and fun pool area.

These are the main pools and they are huge.  There were

always lounge chairs available, despite the crowds.

Of course with a week, we had lots of time for slides.

This is the shark tank at the bottom of the pyramid

slides.  If you took the enclosed tube, it dropped

you here to the left with the square tube and it was a

slow ride through the sharks.  If you took the

open ride, you raced through the round tube on

the right and never really saw the sharks.  We enjoyed

the ride on the left.

Here is a close up of the square tube.  The sharks would

just lay on top of the tube watching you go by.

The rooms in the Royal tower were nicely done 

and spacious.

And the baths were beautiful too.  I had read some

reviews that really complained about the rooms, so

I had to do a review and show pictures as a rebuttal.

We thought they were great.

As seafood lovers we enjoyed fabulous meals every night.

There were also a lot of bad reviews about the price

of the food, but there were many options - some fancy

restaurants, but plenty of places to get pizzas, burgers

or Italian that were reasonable.

And of course, there were exceptional desserts.

One place not to be missed was their darling ice cream

parlor.  They had the smoothest, creamiest ice cream.

After we found it, we brought ice cream out to the pool

every day.

Just a small example of a fabulous dessert!

The Titanic at the most delicious Italian restaurant -

Carmines.  This restaurant was very family friendly

and reasonable and every bite we had was amazing.

Of course, you know me, I started scheming on

how I could take my kids and grandkids here.

We love the pools at the Grand Wailea on Maui,

but I think they would love this even more.  It was

a magical week.

Next we went the opposite end of the spectrum and

Miss Madi K was dragged down to the desert

outside Moab, Utah, for Glamping.  This was one

of my bucket list items, and it didn't disappoint.

Our large tents were on wooden platforms and

came with a wood burning stove (in the shadows

to your right).  

Since it was April, the small wood burning stove did a

nice job taking the chill out of the air.

  I said I might only do this once

in my life, so I wanted to try out the tent with the

bathroom.  They had nice bathroom trailers with

showers too, but it was wonderful not to have to

walk to the bathroom.

The showers were so nice after a day out in the desert.

The decor was so attractive and comfortable in each tent.

This was their amazing lobby where you could go and

get warm drinks and fruit in the morning,

or enjoy a gas fire and live music at night.

They also had a nightly campfire and the makings for

S'Mores around the campfire every night.  It was fun to

gather around the fire and meet people from all over 

the world who had come to see the beautiful red rocks

in Moab.

You just wouldn't believe where these machines 

and jeeps can take you.

Miss Madi K quite loved her Glamping experience.

To find out more about Glamping visit

Under Canvas.  They have several locations

through the West.

On our final spring trip, Miss Madi K got to travel

to the MacKenzie-Child's mother store in NYC.

My first exposure to MacKenzie-Childs was in Las

Vegas at Bellagio's Giardini Garden Store.  I instantly

fell in love with their whimsical items.  We were so

excited to get to come to the store in New York.

Sorry the pictures weren't that great because,

of course, there was scaffolding.

The sales clerk loved my vintage bag and said people

come in looking for it all of the time.

We had fun shopping and filled our shopping bag,

 which was hand-carried onto the plane 

on the way home.

I have always loved traveling to New York at

Christmas time, but it was so exquisite in April.

We had light rain a couple of days, but

look at how magical it made these flowers.

There were magical blossoms everywhere!

Even in Chelsea Market.  There were no blooms left on the Highline, but that was still fun to walk on.

 On our outing that day I had to take my sister and niece

to see The Plaza, so Miss Madi K wanted her picture taken

on the checkerboard entry.

One of my foodie bucket lists was to eat at Black Tap -

up toward Central Park and MacKenzie-Childs,

so we were right in the neighborhood.  

I follow them on Instagram.  My favorite silly comment on

reviews for their shakes were that they were too much sugar!

Duh!!!  Look at what you are ordering.  They were so delightful,

and definitely make a mess while consuming.  The burgers

were great too, but it was the shakes that had lured me here.

I had worried about an hour wait time in

line, but when we walked up, there wasn't a 

soul in line.  When we left, this was the line.

I think the rain blessed us that day!!!

I already did a post about our theater experience there,

seeing Harry Potter and the Curse Child, Frozen and Hamilton,

but we also got to go to a taping of Jimmy Fallon.  That was

a really fun experience, and he was so gracious and friendly.

He spent a long time in the audience answering questions

during a break in taping.  I would highly recommend that

experience.  

Miss Madi K came home and wasn't even exhausted from

walking ten miles a day!

Join our other fun bloggers and see where their

Traveling Totes

have been.

Come along and travel with:

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths 

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

 Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box

Jenna with Miss Coquille @The Painted Apron

Katie with Miss Daisy @ Preppy Empty Nester

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply 

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader

Lea and Miss Scarlett @ Cici's Corner

And participate in our giveaway to win this fun 

MC gift. Visit Katie with Miss Daisy at
The Preppy Empty Nester and leave
a comment to enter.

Hope you continue traveling with us each quarter

as we take our Traveling Totes to all kinds of places.

Thanks for visiting today.  It is always fun to 

have you.