The Canary Island of Tenerife - Day 1

We spent the weekend in Tenerife and it was a spectacular trip.  We were over due for a lazy, low maintenance vacation and we got it.  All we wanted was sun and sand and it was delivered!

We stayed in Los Gigantes which was a perfect town for us.  Right in the middle of everything we wanted to do.  The island isn't that big, but what we overlooked was that it was also Carnival week, so the north of the island was boomin'.  We stayed away, far away from the ruckus, but the roads were still a bit busy and it was very time consuming to go only a few miles.

Our first day we went to the Loro Parque (Parrot Park).  It's a bit like sea world on a smaller scale.  The kids enjoyed all the animals and it was fun because we haven't done anything like this since we lived in California.  The park was lovely to walk through, shaded paths, greenery and parrots all over.  We had plenty to entertain us in between shows and exhibits.

The gorillas were relaxing.

The penguins were playing.

The parrots were squawking.

The chimps were eating.

We haven't been to an aquarium in forever, it was very fun.  We enjoyed watching the marine animals swim around and the exhibits had a good variety of different fish, which was neat. 

This next part of the park made us feel like we were in the jungle.  The vegetation and trees were lush and you climbed up stairs to the tops of the trees where the parrots were flying free.  We were surrounded.  The kids enjoyed spying all the different birds.  The colors on some of them were awesome!  So vivid!

Had to take a few pictures of these beauties...I just couldn't walk past otherwise!

Scarlet Ibis

Flamingos with babies

The gators.  They're always looking so lazy and formidable at the same time.  To be honest, I find them extremely intimidating.

The cats. 

want a drink made from the biggest carrots i've ever seen??

The kids saw this "roller coaster" and wanted a ride.  Trent and I laughed because it was obviously for babies, but forked over the euros.  after it was over all 3 said that it "was lame".  When did my kids get to be so grown up?

Face painting! 

The Orca show....not quite up to Sea World standards, but it was still fun.  Trent and Luke sat in the splash zone and got SOAKED...2 TIMES!!  It was my favorite part of the show.

#1

#2

The dolphin show.

The seal show.  This show was our favorite!  These guys were so much fun to watch.  They were really playful and you could tell they were having a great time.

The beach in Puerto de La Cruz.  This was one of the many black, volcanic sand beaches around the island.  The sand here was more like teeny tiny pebbles rather than sand.  Not that that matters when you're in such a gorgeous location though.

This is the islands famous 1000 year old Dragon Tree.  We just saw it from the road.

We drove through a lot of tunnels on our way to and from the Loro Parque and the kids entertained themselves by holding their breath.  Every.Single.Time.  Finally I had to take a picture of Carley because she was over the top hilarious.  She was trying so hard to make it to the end of the tunnels, and let me tell you, it was an extremely taxing and difficult task for her to accomplish. 

Finally we made it back to Los Gigantes where we swam in the pool and were able to get a view of the cliffs.  The day was a bit hazy, but still gorgeous.

Tenerife is full of small banana farms/fields/plantations??