I’m feeling summer on a Christmas Day. ❤

I spent Christmas Day in Ilocos with my family. We had a 3D2N activity-filled trip (Travelling without doing anything is boring; we are just not the rest-and-relax-during-vacation type of people.), which left us with aching bodies but happy hearts.

The last time I visited Ilocos in 2009, I didn’t get to try out any outdoor activities, missed the windmills in Bangui (‘coz I was sleeping in the van and didn’t want to wake up), and wasn’t able to try out local cuisine (I was able to try Batac empanada and igado, but it was like empanada for breakfast, igado for lunch, empanada for snack time, igado for dinner.), so this time I made sure I would avail of the things I wasn’t able to avail of during my last visit.

Our main destination was Laoag, where we stayed for two nights. We booked at Plaza del Norte, which has a very convenient location (only 10 to 15 minutes away from Paoay Church and Paoay Sand Dunes, and 5 to 10 minutes away from Laoag City Proper). We stopped over Vigan on the way to Laoag and on the way home to have lunch (Café Uno on the way to Laoag, Café Leona on the way home). Our first day was mainly spent eating and resting upon our arrival at our hotel. It was our second day that was hectic; we went to Cape Bojeador, Burgos Wind Farm, Kapurpurawan Rock Formation, Bangui Wind Farm, Pagudpud White Beach, Paoay Sand Dunes (where we went sand boarding), and Paoay Church. In Paoay, we had dinner at Café Herencia, which is famous for their Pinakbet Pizza, but too bad, all kinds of pizza had already been sold out when we dined because of so many tourists who came for pizza.

All in all, it was a great, fun, quality time with the family. I’ll be coming back to Vigan for the other famous places I wasn’t able to visit. And that’s really soon. ❤

Here are photos from the trip! 🙂

Calle Crisologo, Vigan City

eating ice cream in Calle Crisologo, under the scorching noontime sun

aboard our hot pink 4×4 at the sand dunes in Paoay, Ilocos Norte

our home for the Christmas holiday

Lastly, let me leave you this throwback/flashback collage of me, showing how I’ve changed in 5 years. These pictures are taken at the same spot in Cape Bojeador five years apart. You can spot a lot of differences, but unintentionally, my curly hair isn’t one of them. In five years, I have been sporting curly/wavy hair again, long before I realized I was a curly top when I first went to Ilocos. Hihi.

For more pictures, you can visit my Instagram account. 🙂

Photos were taken using a phone camera (iPhone 5) and/or a GoPro Hero 4.