On the way to the beach...

We went to the beach for our first time the other week.

There are a bunch of cool pic's so it will come in a few posts...

I will start with the drive so you can feel like you where there with us!

We took the road that drives right next to the Panama Canal and saw this "ginormous"
ship going through. Super cool cause we can see and watch these big one's from our apartment.

The largest ships that go through are called "Panamax."

A few quick Panama Canal Facts: The highest Canal toll to date was charged on May 16, 2008 to the Disney Magic, which paid US$331,200, and the lowest toll ever paid was 36 cents by Richard Halliburton, who swam the Canal in 1928. And swimming the Canal is not recommended these days. It's nearly 8,000 miles shorter to traverse the Canal than to go around South America... that's a huge savings in fuel and time. The first ship to pass through Panama Canal was named Ancon and it was allowed to sail on August 15th, 1914. The San Juan Prospector was the longest ship to transit the Canal; it was 751 ft. in length with a 107 ft. beam. The Hydrofoil Pegasus of the United States Navy did the fastest transit of the Canal by completing it in 2 hours and 41 minutes. It takes 8 - 10 hours to transit the Panama Canal and approximately 3 hours to pass the locks. Not less than 60,000,000 pounds of dynamite were used to excavate and construct Panama Canal. The Panama Canal started operating on 24 hours since 1963 after the introduction of fluorescent lightning system. Nearly four and half million cubic yards of concrete was utilized into the construction of the locks and the canal. Each door of the locks weights 750 tons. Click this VIDEO link to watch a 75 second time laps on a boat going through the canal. Click this VIDEO to see a time lapse of the locks and how they work. It's fun to see how the ships go up and down. It's 6 min.-so you don't have to watch the whole thing. You get the idea in 30 seconds... Click this VIDEO to see the little trains that guide the ships in/out. This is the Puente Centenario (Centennial Bridge). It goes over the canal. It's really cool looking.

Looking down at the canal...

All three kids fell asleep on the way-
they were so pumped and excited to go it just tuckered them out!

These mountains looked so pretty on the way-


The neighborhood on the left is like the one that Spencer is building.
Only his is in a nice location, sweet amenities, and way better. ;)
You can check out the website: http://www.brisasdebelen.com

The next two are just more scenery so you can feel like you were there...

It takes about 1 1/2 hours to get to the beach that we like.
The closer beaches are mostly private and/or cost. But we enjoy the drive and time away from the hustle of the city.
Stay tuned- more to come!