The time has come

 The time has come to say goodbye. It has been great.  This was our last day.  It was pretty overcast.  It did sprinkle for about a minute but it was pretty humid all day.

We sat by the pool for a few hours. Before all the clouds moved in we got in the pool to cool off.  Once we dried off, we went across to the spa and made another appointment for a massage. I had an hour and half wait so we went back to the hotel and had a cool beverage until it was time for my massage.  It was another heavenly massage.  I had the same person but the massage was completely different than yesterday's.  Weird!!!  But I enjoyed it. 

After I returned from my massage, we decided to relax on our deck instead of going back to the pool.  It was nice and relaxing.  

We got mostly packed up and then went to the hibachi for dinner.  It was really good.  Our first dinner here was there and our last dinner was there.  

Back to the room and thanks to the Dude, we were able to watch the game.

Long day tomorrow as we travel back home.  

WOWZA

 Today was pretty hot and humid.  I would not have been surprised if it rained it was so humid but it didn't. I went this morning to the spa across the street.  I had a massage and let me pause here and say WOWZA! It was one of the best massages I have ever had.  It was a full hour of bliss.  I am so thankful I could go,  I am thinking I need to go more often at home.  The gal I had was so great.  She released some of my cramped muscles that haven't been release in a really long time.  

When I got back I found Art in the pool on a floatie.  I was so surprised..... Pleasantly....... but surprised.  So I got in the pool with him.  It was so hot out that the water felt great.  

After lunch we went and played in the ocean.  We took the floatie with us.  The waves beat us up so we were pretty tired when we got out but it was really fun. I even got some more shells. We spent the rest of the day at the pool.  

We had dinner and are tucked in for the evening.  We decided not to go to the show as it is a repeat and we are tired. It is hard to imagine tomorrow's  our last day.  It has been so fun and a much needed get way. 

A little funny ...... at dinner we ordered a dessert.  The waiter brought a gigantic spoon (like they always do).  My mouth is way to small and I have to always request a small (normal size) spoon. When I asked the waiter for a smaller spoon he brought and super tiny spoon.  It looked like one you put in a sugar bowl.  It was almost doll sized. He laughed and said how is this for small.  Then he gave me a regular spoon.  It was pretty funny. 

Something different

 Today started out the usual....... breakfast and longer by the pool but that is about it.  I spent most of my time in the pool on my floatie.  It was fun as I  knew most of the folks in the pool.  Had some really fun visits and was told a lot of secrets.  I guess I'm safe to tell them to.  

At one time, I was out of the pool resting and a guy from the spa came along and gave kinda a mini facial type thing.  It was really refreshing and relaxing at the same time.  I wish he would have been there other days too.  Oh well it was really nice today.

Late this afternoon, we got cleaned up and went across the street to check things out.  Turns out they have a little shopping area up the street.  It is not a barter market and the prices are firm and expensive.  There is a spa there so I made an appointment for tomorrow for a massage.  I am pretty stoked about it.  There were also fish tanks that you put your feet in and the fish feast on your feet.  I did that but Art wasn't  too interested.  I am sure it was a good thing he didn't because I am sure he would have screamed.   We had a beverage we got back and had a lovely chat with a couple we met a couple days ago. Then off to dinner.

We were pretty tired after dinner so we just went back to the room and watched a little tv and tried (unsuccessfully) to stay awake til bed.   Now we can finally climb into bed a go to sleep. aahhh!!!  

Pete and Repeat were brothers......

 Do you remember the saying Pete and Repeat were brothers?  That is what comes to mind when I think about today.  Why? Because as Art put it, today was just a repeat of the other days.  We had breakfast at the usual place, had the usual loungers, swam in the pool, ate dinner and went to the show.

With that said, the weather seemed nicer today.  We usually have clouds but not today. It was bright blue.  In fact this afternoon the water in the pool seemed warmer.  We did go for a walk along the beach and as the ocean water splashed our feet, it seemed warmer as well. 

We went to the show. It was a Mariachis band.  Ummm..... well...... I'll just say we didn't stay for the whole thing.........um yeah. We went back to our room to watch the game instead.

Relaxing Yet.......

 Today was a great day.  For so many reasons.  The weather was great and the teams I was rooting for won. Woohoo!!!

This morning while we were eating breakfast, we saw a dog wander up on the beach were the loungers are.  The dog was clean and neatly groomed but had no collar.  She was in too nice of shape to be a stray. A couple was walking down to a lounger and saw the dog and stopped to take a picture of the dog.  The dog appeared to pose for them.  Anyway they walked over to a lounger an the gal sat down.  The dog wandered up to her and placed her head on the gal's lap.  The gal patted the dog on the head then the dog climbed up into the lounger and laid down.  It was so funny to watch.  Such a funny dog.

I took my floatie to the pool. It was nice to float around but I had to be careful as a group of scuba divers came to practice.  It was really hot so the pool felt really good.

We had room service for lunch so we could watch the game. At halftime we went back to the pool.  I continued to watch the game.  When Vikings got the touchdown I yelled touchdown.  I was so excited I just yelled.  Yikes everyone paid attention to that.  Whoops!!! Then we finished watching back at our room.  Man was the game ever stressful.  Then on to my Packers.  Another stressful game. Wow!!  I am absolutely gobsmacked they pulled it out.  

We had dinner at the hibachi restaurant.  It was so delicious and entertaining.  The couple we sat by were Bills fans and all day every time they saw Art in his Vikings shirt they would say "go Bills" and say Bills are going to win and Art would ay "we'll see".  So it was funny we were at dinner together.  We had a great time and great conversation with them.  They are a cute young couple.  

Today was a relaxing day at the pool but oh so stressful watching our teams.  So today was a very stressful relaxing day.......... 

Now we are tucked in for the night.  

Not A Lot

 Well today was pretty quiet.  Not a lot going on.  It was pretty hot and humid but all in all a great day.  We spent the day at the pool. I got in a few times to cool off.  Art got in once.   Really the day was pretty relaxing.  I worked on my crossword puzzle books and Art finished his book.  I ordered a very common diet drink they have ordered previously. The bartender looked all over for some.  He even went to one of the other bars to see if they had any.  Shockingly, they were all out. Wow!  Not only is a popular soda, it is the main brand of the soda they offer.  It was crazy!

We did go for a walk along the beach.  The tide was up and ocean water was pretty warm. 

We went to the Italian restaurant for dinner.  It was good but I don't think we will do it again.  It really didn't settle well with Art.  We are back in our room waiting for the game to start.  We'll see if we can stay awake long enough to watch any of it.  

A special note:  I failed to mention this last night when we were at the steakhouse. After we were seated, we got nice white napkins.  Soon after, the waiter cane up to me with a black napkin and said I needed to switch napkins.  Art said oh we are getting new napkins?  the waiter told him only me because I was wearing black and the black napkin matched.  Art ordered his usual gin and tonic.  Always before they would mix the drink at the bar and bring it to the table. Not this time........ He brought everything to the table to mix his drink. They measured the gin and poured it in the glass and then put a really tall twisted spoon in the glass and then poured the tonic  down the spoon into the glass.  It was quite the production.

I haven't taken a lot of pictures as my phone camera isn't working very well.  All the pictures are blurry.......it is very frustrating.  Hopefully I can easily get it fixed when I get back home. 

Cotton Candy for Dessert......WHAT?!?!

Today seemed to be extra hot and humid.  Art got us loungers at the large pool today. A lot of folks went home today so there was a lot of open loungers.  I am not sure it is worth it.  It is really noisy.  

We went to a new restaurant for breakfast.  It was good but I can say I have never had an omelet that is full of green chili sauce. I think I prefer the regular way of cooking them.

We spent the morning at the pool.  It got so hot that we got in the pool to cool off.  The pool was pretty chilly and that was good since it was so hot.......and humid.  

We decided to skip lunch as we had planned to go out to dinner and wanted to be really hungry.  As we sat at the pool we kept commenting on how hot and humid it was.  I suggested we go to the small pool that is by our building.  A few of the buildings have what they call quiet pools.  They are really small and only have four loungers.  They are shaded by a lot of trees.  Our deck overlooks it and I have never seen anyone use it.  We decided to give it a try.  When we got there, there was couple there enjoying it.  They gladly welcomed us. We had a great visit with them.  They are from Canada.  We were at the quiet pool for about 40 minutes.  We then went back to our room and got showered and cleaned up.  

We went down to an open air shopping center.  They had a ton of stores.  It was one of the biggest places I have ever been too. We took a taxi as it was too far to walk.  The taxi driver kinda hosed us.We had planned on having dinner at a steakhouse there so we asked him to take us there.  He dropped us off at the start of the shopping center and said it was in there.  Technically that was correct.  He didn't tell us we would have to 13 blocks.  No thanks to him we finally found it. We walked around to some of the stores.  I needed a new bag and as it turned out, I got 2.  We did so much walking we decided to stop and have a quick drink and rest our toes. Then we were off again.

Dinner was at an upscale restaurant.  The food was really good for the most part.  They brought us rolls fresh out the oven.  The rolls were warm and light and fluffy and oh so delicious.  I got a caesar said and I got a salad that would easily feed a family of four.  Art got lobster bisque.  It had huge chunks of lobster.  It looked really good. Art said it was good. My entree was good. Art's wasn't bad.  He had lamb chops and the outside of the chops was a little over cooked.  The inside however was really good. They didn't have any sauce on them so that was a little disappointing.  While we were eating we noticed one of the other tables got a big pink orb on their table.  Art asked what it was and our waiter said it was a thank you. hmmmm..... what did that mean.  Well when we when finished eating they brought us an orb.  It was cotton candy - how wild is that!  It was good but wild and a fun touch. I forgot to mention we had our concierge make the reservations for us however she made them for someone else.  Can't wait to see her tomorrow to find out what happened.  When we walked out of the restaurant, we were shocked at the people.  Nor sure where everyone came from but it was a madhouse. 

Tonight's show was the Tenor's.  It consisted of three men.  All I can say its WOW AMAZING.  It was our favorite  show by far.  So glad we didn't miss it.

I can barely keep my eyes open so off to bed I go.

Busy Day Relaxing

 This was busy day of relaxing. We didn't have anything going on except sitting by the pool and relaxing.  So that is just what we did.  Art got up early and got us a couple loungers by the pool.  We had a great location.  We could still see the ocean from where we were sitting.

The ocean was pretty rough this morning.  The waves were pretty vicious.  But as the day progressed the ocean calmed and by early afternoon, it was back to being calm. It was supposed to storm and be rainy but all that came were some storm clouds.  Overall it was a pretty nice warm day.  

We got in the pool this morning.  It was a little chilly when we first got in but it didn't take long to get used to it.  We met some nice people in the pool and ended up visiting and laughing with them for a couple hours.  Art never stays that long in a pool so that tells how fun it was. After lunch we went for a walk along the beach and I was able to score some more shells.

The meals were all delicious but dinner was particularly fun.  Art laugh really hard a couple of times.  The place we had dinner was a tradition Mexican restaurant.  Our waiter was a cute, sweet guy.  I ordered an appetizer that was not supposed to be hot....... but boy was it.  My lips and throat were on fire.  It tasted really good and then the fire would hit and boy oh boy was it hot.  The main coarse was really good.  I am not used to getting the entire shrimp, head and all but it was so delicious, it didn't matter.  On the dessert menu was listed a beersicle.  Art said he had never heard of such a thing.  He asked our waiter what it was.  The waiter told him it was wrapped in white chocolate had bananas then rubbed his fingers together and said "it has you know a sponge... you know.....sponge"  So Art rubbed his fingers together and said I don't know. The waiter rubbed his fingers together again and said you know......  Art said "sponge" and the waiter  lit up smiled and said yes. Art ordered something else for dessert.  When the waiter brought our desserts, he also brought a beersicle.  It looked like some sort of popsicle wrapped on white chocolate and had bananas and black stuff all around it.  The waiter pointed to the black stuff and said this is the sponge.  We tried the" sponge"but definitely not fan of it.  Art made several jokes about it.  Needless to say we laughed and laughed. 

Tonight we went to the show.  It was a band. I thought they were pretty good.  The lead singer had a great voice.  They only thing whoever was doing the AV had no idea what they were doing.  They had original videos to play of the band whose song they were singing but it kept hanging.  And the sound wasn't balanced at all.  I felt bad for the band but they persevered.  The couple who sat by us really liked the band and sang all the songs with them.  Only they were jailhouse singers.  Some folks just should sing....especially drunk.

On our way back to our room we ran into a couple who just arrived.  They are from Texas.  When we said where from Idaho, they got excited.  They have family that lives in Boise.  And the lady's parents used live in Cascade and her sister lives in Loman.  Such a small world. 

An interesting thing about this place is we don't have to wear a wrist band.  All of the other all inclusive places we have stayed at requires some sort of wrist band.  It seems strange to not have one here but we like it. 

Last night I had a dream I was on a game show.  I won't go into all the details but part of the show was getting a clue and having to guess what it meant.  For example the host would say eating coming and going and the answer was In and Out Burger or a board Sharpe and the answer is ironing wrinkles or Hans moving on, moving on hopping in a cow lassoing event and the answer is double dutch jump roping.  There were four rounds of questions but this is all I can remember.  But I know there were some good ones.  I really wish I could remember them.  I am amazing at how my subconscious works sometimes......ok all the time.  But I do think these are pretty clever. 

Now off to bed we go.

What A Day

What a day!  This day started out with a wonderful breakfast.  We did the buffet and I ordered an omelet and Art ordered eggs over easy.  The rest was from the buffet.  The fruit was so fresh and delicious.  Then we found a lounger on the beach.  It is a good thing we didn't want to sit by the pool as there was not even one lounger available.  The hotel is full and it shows.  I think folks must be reserving the loungers at 4 in the morning.  It is insane.  But there are plenty of loungers on the beach.   

We went for a walk on the beach and got our toes wet from the ocean.  It was so nice to stretch our legs and walk.  And we were rewarded. I collected several shells.  I got more today on our walk then I usually get in 10 days. The weather today was beautiful.  Not too hot and blue skies until around 3 and then some dark clouds came and it rained just a little.  It definitely beats the snow at home. 

All the food is really good.  The service is great as well. All the restaurants require reservations.  We have our own concierge so we met with her and got dinners for this week arranged and reserved.   We had some trouble with our sinks in the bathroom.   The hot water was a dribble in both sinks and the cold didn't come on at all in the other.  One of the sinks was plugged and couldn't drain properly.  We didn't have any hand towels yesterday and when we asked for some we were told they didn't have any and they gave us three wash cloths. So Art talked to them today.  They were quick to fix it.  The sinks are working great and we now have hand towels. 

They have the strangest looking animals here.  There are quite a few of them  running  around the grounds but they are more afraid of people than you are of them.  They are the size of a small to medium dog but their body type reminds me of a mouse.  The have really long snouts.  I have been trying to take a picture but they scamper off or turn their back on you so you can't get a good picture.  Their fur looks soft but it is spotted kinda like a leopard but it blends into the foliage.  They are strange looking for sure. 

Tonight we went to the show.  They have a grand theater.  It used to be a dinner theater.  It is set up similar to the dinner theaters in Vegas.  It will hold 300-400 folks. The entertainment tonight was fantastic.  A woman played the violin and a guy played the saxophone.  They had a video playing on the huge screen behind them but quite frankly I keep forgetting to watch it as I was so taken with them.  It was so well worth going. They are very talented and it made it so fun.  When we first got there we where the only ones there.  Art said he made arrangements for a private showing. (same thing happened at dinner, we were the only ones at the restaurant for about 30 minutes and Art said he arranged private dining) But then 4 others came.  It was just the six of us for about 30 minutes.  Then more and more folks came. Sad for the late comers, they miss a really good 30 minutes.  Hopefully we can go to the show tomorrow night.  It is supposed to be rock and roll.  We stopped by one of bars for a nightcap then back to the room.  Now to bed.

Travel Day A Lot Going On

 Lots to report on this travel day.  First we got up in the middle of the night to get ready.  We were up at 3 am.  We headed to the airport about 4:15.  It was way to early!  But everything worked out perfectly.  Art dropped me and the bags off and he went to the outer parking lot to park the car.  With all the construction going on we weren't sure how much time we needed but it all worked like a charm.  We got to security and one of the workers looked at me and told me to come with him and he opened another check point.  So we passed everyone that was in line.  That worked slick.  We got ready to board the plane and the woman in front of me turned to me a said "pussy cat".  I said excuse me?  and she pointed to a carrier and said "pussy cat". Oh NOOOO.... she had a cat.   And true to my luck she sat in front of us,  She did take it out of the carrier briefly but for the most part in was in the carrier.  Not only that another woman got on with a cat.  Art suggested I wear a mask... so I did and it did help a lot but I did still get asthma, And coughing these days doesn't get you very happy looks.  Got to Dallas a little early so that was nice. 

Of course the gate we needed was at different building so we hopped on the tram and it was great..... but then we had to get on an escalator.  Oops..... I tripped.  I was afraid I was going to head down the escalator head first.  And so did all the passengers coming up the escalator.  They all had a collective gasp and horror on their face.  And a couple yelled out are you ok?  Oh my I am not sure how but I managed to not go down head first.  But the whole event made me laugh really hard.  The only thing I hurt was my pride.  But every time I thought it about, I would laugh. Another strange thing when we were boarding, Dallas doesn't scan your boarding pass they just take your face. We were in line and one of the ticket agents hollered my name and told me to come over and use her machine. How she knew my name is a mystery.

You know how at the beginning of a flight, the pilot gives a little speech? Ours came out and talked and he was so funny had some good dad jokes.  He said his wife told him that his hair was good hat hair and he had the face for the radio.  But he promised he was a better pilot than comedian and promised a smooth landing.  I thought he was a pretty good comedian so he must be one heck of a pilot.   We got ready to land..... we were floating down and the landing gear dropped down and all of a sudden the plane picked up speed and we starting climbing back up.  It was a little unnerving.  But he came on the intercom and said the wind wasn't  right and the plane needed some leveling.  But...... true to his promise it was a very smooth landing.  

Going through customs was an absolute dream.  They have made it super quick. It could not have got smoother.  We found our transportation and headed out.  Our driver said it would take about an hour to get to our resort.  We were on the road for about 20 minutes and traffic came to stand still.  Our driver let us know there was a wreck ahead and it would take an extra hour to get through it.  Shortly after the ambulance passed us our driver handed us his phone and showed us a picture of the wreck.  It didn't look too good.  When we finally got up to the wreck, we concluded no one could have survived it.  It was sad and a really long drive.  We were 2 1/2 hours.   But we made it to the resort.

We got checked in and had a delicious dinner.  It had rained a little off and on. We are now tucked in and ready to catch up on some sleep.  Can't wait to go to the beach tomorrow.

Time to Say Goodbye

Today we spent the day soaking up as much sun as possible.  We spent the morning on the beach and in the ocean and the afternoon at the pool.  

We had our covid test this afternoon and tested negative......woohoo!!!!  We head out tomorrow.  It is bitter sweet.  I will be glad to get home and back to reality but I will definitely miss the warm weather and the beautiful ocean.   

Tonight we went to dinner where several of the locals go.  After we ordered, we noticed the locals were all ordering burgers.  We should have but no we thought being our last night we would order steak.  We really should have ordered burgers.  They did not cook steak well.  I am sure we will be referencing that meal for a long time.   We even laughed about how bad it was.  Lesson learned!!!  Don't order steak when everyone is ordering burgers.....they know something you don't.  

Off to bed......traveling tomorrow. Here are a few pictures from the week.  I tried to put captions on them to explain them but it wouldn't hold.  Sorry.  

Lazy Day

 Today was a pretty laid back day.  This morning we decided to try a restaurant a few blocks away for breakfast.  We had heard great things about and were excited to give it a try.  Since it is a fairly close  we decided to walk.  Glad we did as there wasn't a lot of spots to park and it was good to get some exercise.  Art rated his a solid 9 and I rated mine a solid 4.  I should have ordered the same as Art.  His even looked like a 10.  

We spent the morning at the beach.  I spent a lot of time in ocean.  Our original plan was to spend the afternoon at the pool but after we went back to the condo for a late lunch we just ended up laying around enjoying the coolness and before we knew it the afternoon was done.  It was nice to just relax.  

After dinner we went back to the casino.  Art was feeling it all day.  He thought we would do good.  He was right.  To my complete surprise they remembered me.  I thought it was so nice.  I even got picked to play the special deal or no deal.  I only won $20 but it was $20 more than I had before.  Overall I broke even but Art did really well.  He was on fire.   We were playing cards and a crazy drunk guy came and was pretty obnoxious  he sat down next by me.  He wanted me to increase my bet but I said I didn't think it was a good idea so he gave me a chip to increase it,  We lost that hand.  I told I didn't feel good about the hand ....he should have listened. He didn't offer anything else after that.  Anyway, we had a good time.  

We will see what tomorrow brings.  It is our last full day.  

It's a love Buggy

 Today we had a our last excursion. We rode love buggy's all over the island.  They are really cute looking.  They remind me of a miniature Volkswagen bug except these ones only have three wheels.  they are pretty small.  Art and I shared one and it was pretty cramped for us both but we endured. Out tour guides were a couple of locals that were very passionate about their business.  The leader of the group repeated himself so much that we were sick of hearing him by the end.  The tour lasted about 4 hours. 

I am so glad we did it as we got to see the most beautiful parts of the island that we would not have been able to see otherwise.  We saw a $16 million and $24 million home.  And wow the views were absolutely incredible.  We saw the house that the artist formerly known as Prince lived.  It had a purple drive way and it apparently inspired him to write the song Purple Rain.   Hmmmm who knew?!  

We also went to an old cotton plantation that is now in ruins.  It was an active plantation in the 1800s and was operated by slaves.  After the plantation we went to lunch.  

Lunch....... what can I say about lunch. We were served a platter for 2 that had fries, fish fingers, chicken wings,  some sort of corn pone and conch.  I decided I was going to try it all.  Yep...... I did it.  The fish fingers actually didn't taste too bad. They really didn't have a fish taste.  I really like the pone.  The wings were not my favorite and believe it or not I did like the conch.  That was the first time eating conch for both Art and I.  I took a bite and the flavor was fine and the texture was slightly rubbery.  It kinda reminded us of a cross between clams and calamari.   I was so proud of myself for trying it.  I am not one to try new foods. 

For some reason I have been absolutely fascinated by how the locals live and their culture.  So later this afternoon Art and I went for a drive and went to a hardware type store.  They had a ton of items.  And true to everything else the prices at this store were extremely high.  I found a hand mixer for $145 that costs less that $50 on Amazon.  I really was gobsmacked at all the prices. I found my favorite isle.........the cleaning isle and was shocked at the cost of basic supplies.  We stopped on the way home at the grocery store and picked up some food for dinner.    

Tonight was just like being home........ sleeping in the chair while watching TV til it's time for bed. 

For the record driving on the left still freaks me out..........always choosing the right is good for so many reasons........even driving......just saying. 

It's My Birthday

Today was the magic day!  61 today.......

It really was a great birthday! It started with a private dining breakfast.  We went to the restaurant at the resort and as it turned up out we were the only ones there.  Art laughed and said he planned it.  Then we hung out at the beach.

I found a place where I actually sweat from being so hot.  It is such a foreign concept for me.  But man was it ever hot.....and humid.  We got in the ocean to cool off but even at that it was just so hot that we decided to spend the afternoon at the condo where there was air-conditioning.  

We had a lovely dinner.  Then off to the local casino to celebrate.  It was a little scary at first.  It was like the movies.  Two big men guarding the door.  They looked through my purse they did the metal detector wand.  We passed and they let us in. Art gave me $61 to spend.  But I found out from one of the dealers that they celebrate birthday's.  I gave them money equal to my age and they doubled it in free chips.  I also got cake, champagne, tiara and sash.  They even played a drum and sang.  It was awesome.  I left the champagne but I kept the rest.  The man next to me gave me a 5 dollar chip for my birthday.  So fun!!!  I did terrible... Art did better but we had a great time.  Heard from loved ones and friends sending wonderful birthday wishes.   

Tomorrow we are exploring the island on the love buggy's.  Should be fun. 

This has been an awesome birthday!!! 

If I Had to Describe

If I had to describe this day in one word it would be blast.  Today was an absolute blast!!!!  We had a snorkeling tour scheduled today so we got up early as not to miss it.  Well early for me but certainly not for Art.  We grabbed a quick bite from the room and headed down to the beach.  We walked down to where we thought the boat was suppose to pick us up.  We were told it was a black catamaran.  There was another black boat that pulled in a little ways from our hotel.  I was worried that was our boat and we would miss it so we hurried down to it.  It was not close by any means. It was more than a 5 minute walk through sand.  I was pooped by the time we got there but then I am out of shape and have a bad knee. Turned out it was not our boat but...... there were others there waiting for the same boat we were.   The boat arrived picked us all up then went to the spot we were originally at.  Ugh..... we could have stayed.  My fault!  

Anyway,  we headed out and on our way we there was another boat and there was a cute dolphin jumping it's wake.  Our boat captain saw it and high tailed it over so we could all watch.  it was so cool.  The world's third largest reef is here and we went to it. There were about thirty people on our boat including about 10 kids.  Not everyone but most jumped off to snorkel.  I of course was one of them.

There was a family with three daughters snorkeling.  The girls freaked out once they got in the water.  I stopped to talked to them and told them what I do to start and they tried it and out calmed two of the girls down and the dad concentrated on the third one.  The two girls  had a great time after that.  There were thousand of fish.... I am not kidding.  I have never seen so many and so many different kinds of fish.  It was just incredible.  I even saw a turtle. That was a huge surprise.    

After snorkeling, we went to a island that had a lagoon in the middle.  That was pretty cool.  The lagoon was really warm.  Another boat pulled in and they had a couple conchs.  The first mate and captain of that boat pulled the living creature out and those of the boat ate it.  No thanks!!!  But I was watching and the captain of that boat told me to pick the conch up and he would take my picture.  He took a bunch.  

We then got back on the boat and had turkey wraps and a drink for lunch.  I am a fan of wraps but I will say that was one of the best wraps I have ever eaten. It was so good. 

We then went to a deeper part of the ocean.  The boat had a diving board and a slide.  The rule was you had to jump off the board  before you could use the slide.  You needed to be wet so you could actually slide on the slide.  I wasn't a huge fan of he board.  But I did do the slide twice.  It was really fun!!!!!  Overall I would give the whole tour a 10/10. We spent some time this afternoon at the pool.  The pools here are pretty nice.  

We went down to were a lot of shops are and walked around.  Things here are really expensive.  I know I am cheap but man things are really expensive.  Then we had dinner at one of the restaurants in the area.  Art was wanting some  wings so we found a place that served them.

I was super curious where and how the locals live so we went for a little drive and found one of the high schools.  They are some really beautiful homes here.   Now we are tucked in for the evening.  If I had to describe this day on one word that word would be blast.  Today was an absolute  blast!!!  Hey.... I think I said that already.

Car Trouble

We had a nice breakfast today at the outdoor Restaurant.  We both agreed it was 10/10.  It was sooo good and cooked perfectly.  After breakfast we went to the beach.  They have nice loungers and mini chairs and are all under umbrellas.  The resort is really beautiful.  Anyway, we had fun and even got in the ocean.  I was amazed at how soft the sand is. I forgot my aqua socks but I really don't need them.

This afternoon we headed to the grocery store and on the way the car started making a loud thumping sound.  We thought we had a flat tire but all the tires were inflated. We hurried back to the hotel and called the rental company.  They sent a guy out and he discovered the thread/cord had separated from the tire and was banging against the fender.  We were lucky the tire didn't blow. So we were right in thinking the tire was bad even if it wasn't flat.  We got a replacement car.  

We are going snorkeling tomorrow but we had to print our tickets.  We couldn't get the printer here to work but the office manager helped us and ended up printing it for us.  Art asked her if she knew where we suppose to be picked up as none of the info we had said where we would be picked up.  She didn't know so she called them for us and got it all figured out. She was extremely helpful! 

The Dr gave us some recommendations for places to eat from a friend of his.  We went to one of them tonight for dinner.  It was by the harbor.  It was really good and the waiter was really nice.  There was even a turtle in the water. 

The resort has several pools so I think when we get back tomorrow, we will check one of the pools out.  Most everyone goes to the beach so the pool area is pretty empty.  

I still can't get use to driving on the opposite side of the road.  It is unnerving......I am glad I am not the driver.  Art does a great job. 

Off to Turks and Caicos

 Have you ever wanted to do something for a long time and it comes to fruition?  That is what this trip is.  It seems so surreal.   I have wanted to go to Turks for a really long time.  I decided that since this is my magic birthday I wanted to do something big.  That is what this trip is, something BIG.  I mentioned this is my magical birthday.......I was born 6-1-61 and I am turning 61.  That is a lot of 61s.  I am doing a lot of celebrating.

As I mentioned earlier, we went to Princesses graduation.  We needed to get a rental car so Art surprised me and got a convertible.  I love convertibles.  I even wanted one at one time. Knowing this Art reserved one and surprised me at the car rental counter.  The clerk said you have a convertible and I said oh no we have a mid sized car and Art corrected me and said nope we have a convertible.  SURPRISE! We got a flashy red mustang convertible.  It was pretty dang fun!!!!  The weather was a little rainy so we couldn't have the top down all the time but boy was it fun we we were able to put it down.  

Let me tell you the Atlanta airport is a madhouse.  We got to the airport 2 1/2 hours early.  Turned in the cute convertible and proceeded to the ticket counter....... so we thought.  We were sent to three different lines before we got to the right one.  Thankfully we did all the precheck.  The ticket agent told us that saved us a lot of time and thanked us for doing it.  Then off to security.  I am not sure I have ever seen so many people in one place at the same time.  We were beginning to seriously have doubts we were going to make our flight.  But we did....  just in time.  They boarded five minutes after we got to the gate.  

The flight was great and we got to the island early afternoon.  We got a rental car.  I have never seen a car like the one we got before.  The island is British ruled so ....you guessed it, they drive on the opposite side of the road.  I will say I am glad I am not the driver.  

Our hotel room wasn't  ready when we got to the hotel so we went to the grocery store and picked up supplies.  When we got back our room was ready.  We are on the third floor with no elevator.  You should have seen our faces when we were told "NO ELEVATOR"  oh boy!  Not fun to carry suitcases up but we are getting our exercise.  

We had dinner on site at the outdoor restaurant.  We saw on the online menu they had turf and surf but that menu was old.  When we asked the waiter he said they no longer had it but he would as the chef if he would do it for us.  The chef agreed and that is what we had..... steak and shrimp.  It was soooo good!! Then to bed early. 

The Princess Graduated From High School

It is so hard to believe that the Princess is old enough to graduate from high school.  She is so smart, beautiful, and so talented.  Art and I went to see her get her diploma.  We went a few days early so we could spend time with the entire family. Unfortunately, the Dude and Megaman caught the dreaded Covid.  That meant we would be staying in a hotel.  Dr and Mrs Dr were very generous and got us a hotel room. I felt so bad for the boys.  Not only did they feel super crummy, they missed out on all the fun activities.  Honey Bunch  even sang at Princesses graduation ceremony and she had a solo. She sounded awesome.  Princess earned several honor cords and a gold medal for the many service hours she performed. I didn't see anyone with as many as she had.  She is amazing!!! 

Mrs Dr, Honey Bunch and I went and picked up some confetti canons. (Honey Bunch had the eagle eye and found the canons)  and what we thought was a table top blow up 2022.  Turns out it wasn't a table top but very large numbers for the yard.  They were as big as me.  Yikes!!! But Princess liked them so it was all worth it. She wanted a certain cake so we went to get it but they didn't have any in the case that didn't say Happy Birthday.  We asked the Baker and to make a long story short he had a chocolate and vanilla with no writing but the vanilla had balloons on it.  We said that was no problem and took it.  The funny to that is it had pink and blue balloons. It had the appearance of a gender reveal cake ....... not a graduation cake.  Princess found the humor in it and we all had a good laugh.   I will say it was delicious.  

Graduation was in the morning and we went to a nice restaurant that evening to celebrate. Princess went to party in the afternoon.   We shot the confetti canons off when we got back from dinner and Princess loved it.  I think Dr is going to be cleaning confetti out of the yard for a long time.   

Big congratulations to Princess we couldn't be more proud of her. 

All Good Things Must Come To An End

 Today was our last full day,  It has been a fast 10 days in some ways and a long 10 days in another.  Today was pretty chilly and cloudy all morning. This has been the coolest it has been.  It finally warmed up early afternoon but it didn’t last long.  I got in the pool this afternoon for a last time but it was chilly so I didn’t stay in a long time compared to the past week.  

The construction noise was really bad today.  They had to remove the concrete floor on one of the upper floors.  The used a concussion hammer to bust it all up.  It got so bad we went to our room for a while just to get a break.  That worked out well as Art sat and played his guitar.  It was soothing and comforting.  I am telling you his new song sounds really good.  I am excited for him to record it.  It is one you’ll want to put on repeat.  I will anyway.  We went back to the pool but the noise was worse so  we went for a walk to get away from it.  We were so surprised we found a huge mall. We had no idea it was there.  We didn’t  shop but we will remember it for another time. 

Our waiter tonight tried to tell us a joke.  The funniest part of it was we had no idea what made it funny.  He delivered the punchline and we just sat there.  Then he laughed and we looked at each other hoping the other got it and could explain it.  Nope…. Neither of us got it.  Art looked at me and said I bet it is funnier in farcy.  Then we really did laugh.

We had our covid test tonight and passed so we are good to go home.  .  

Best Massage Day

It has been nice to sleep in a little the past few mornings.  And sleep through the night.  Out neighbors went home,  I think a lot of folks have gone home.  The resort was pretty quiet all day.

We had a good breakfast.  We found a waiter that makes sure Art’s  breakfast is cooked just right.  I tried the French toast today.  It was just ok……don’t  think I will order it again though.  I will probably go back to my old standby….omelette.  

It was a little warmer than usual today.  I didn’t mind.  I like the heat.  I went this morning to get another massage and facial.  It was different than the last one.  I will say I LOVED it.  It was one of the best massages I have ever had.  It was so heavenly.  I think I was comatose a few times.  Not to worry my snorts from snoring snapped me back to consciousness.  When it was all over, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get up I was so relaxed.  The therapist was super sweet.  She was worried about me.  At first she said I needed to relax……my muscles were so stiff.  They were likes bricks.  But that didn’t last long I was so relaxed I could hardly move. She also did some extra  reflexology work on me   If I was going to be here longer I would  definitely go see her again for another one of her incredible massages.

That really was the big deal of the day.  Other than that we just hung out at the pool.  We are getting pretty tan.  I will really miss the warn sun after we leave.  Tomorrow is our last full day,…

Throw Caution to the Wind

 Well that is what I did this morning.  I threw all caution to the wind and ordered something for breakfast off the menu that a.  Really isn’t  breakfast food and b. Nothing I would order anyway.  I ordered chicken enchiladas.  It is listed as the chef’s specialty on the breakfast menu.  It isn’t offered at any other time then breakfast.  So…… I did it.  It actually was good.  Art’s breakfast was excellent.  It was a great way to start the day.  I was either at the pool or in the pool all day.  Art was for the most part.  He went to the room to practice his guitar and get the floatie. Art learned a new song and it is sounding great.  Probably my favorite of all he plays.  

The poor floatie is on life support.  Art keeps blowing it up but it just refuses to keep air.  I can usually get about an hour out of it.  I think it is destined for the garbage can.  You can only perform so much CPR on it.

Hardly anyone was at the pool area for most of the day and then late afternoon it was packed.  I am not sure where everyone came from.  Tide is up so most of the beach gets covered with waves.   We watched two drunk guys taking pictures on the beach by a pile of rocks.  They were making all kinds of poses.  By the look of the poses, they thought they were pretty special and the worlds gift.  A wave came and in their drunk effort to get out of the way of the waves one fell down on the rocks.  Oh my gosh he yelled and cursed.  Not because he was hurt which he was but because he was bleeding and that would ruin the pictures.   He kept saying the rock hit his head.  In an effort to help him, the other guy fell down and rolled in the water.  I feel bad for them but it really was funny to watch it all unfold.   

I did get a free shoulder massage today poolside.  It was sure nice.  I am going tomorrow for a last massage at the spa. I am really looking forward to it. 

Lazy Day

 This will be a short post.  We spent all day at the lounger by the pool.  The day seemed to fly by for not doing anything.  I tried to zoom into church but it kept cutting out so I gave up.  I didn’t even try to put my floatie in the water today even though Art brought the pump to the pool.  The floatie is pretty flat. Maybe tomorrow.  Art went to the room to practiced his guitar and I just stayed on the lounger.  It was a super lazy day.  I think we all need one of those every once in a while.  

The weather was a little cooler for most of the day.  But by mid afternoon it heated back up.  We have really lucked out with the weather.  Tonight we are just chilling watching football.  We will probably retire early.  This relaxing is exhausting.  Hahaha. 

Aligning the Stars

 This was a different kind of day. The stars weren’t completely aligned but that is ok.  We had breakfast and instead of regular ham in my omelette I had turkey ham.  Not my favorite but ok.  Art’s pineapple wasn’t that great either.  It has been super good until today. It was just off.   Off to the pool we went after breakfast.  There were a lot of folks at the pool.  I went this morning for a mani/pedi.  Art says everything in life is either a learning experience or a good time.  My mani /pedi was a learning experience.  I won’t do it again….. I learned. It is surprising because the massage was so good. 

We went to lunch for the first time since we have been here.  We were hungry and it sounded good so we went to the open air restaurant.  It took over an hour just to get our food. Thought we were going to have to eat my arm before we got our food.  My burger wasn’t completely cooked and Art’s wings were way too spicy to eat. The fries were good though.

To top it off my floatie has a leak.  So sad!!! I am hoping we can fill it enough for me to use some more but if not …….oh well it was fun while it lasted.  I was lounging in the pool and all of a sudden I heard that old familiar sound…….NO!!!!  The tuba band was back.  They played for a while this afternoon.  Maybe they won’t come back and play again tonight…….with any luck.

Dinner was really good……. Ahhh back on track.   The weather has been just stellar.  Couldn’t ask for better.  Here’s for the stars aligning for a fabulous tomorrow. 

Malecon Day

 I knew today was going to be a fun one and it certainly didn’t disappoint.  Art had somewhat of a rough night.  His dinner didn’t completely agree with him.  They argued through the night.  So needless to say he slept in. He is much better and appears to have won the argument with his dinner.  He won’t be eating the duck again.    The neighbor kids even did better.  They were good until 5 this morning.  So that was a huge plus. AND an other plus was no tuba band today.  This has been a great day.  Now if the construction noise was gone this would for sure be the Garden of Eden.  Guess you can’t have everything.  I’ll take the construction noise over the tuba band every time.

We hung out all morning at the pool.  Art rested on a covered lounger and I was on my floating in the pool.  I had a great time visiting in the pool with my peeps. Seriously,  I was in the pool from 10:30 til 1:30. And the only reason I got out at 1:30 was because we went back to the room, got cleaned up and headed to the Malecon.  

We had a late lunch at our favorite restaurant.  Yummy it was so good!!!  Then we walked around to work the lunch off.  A lot to the shops are still closed.  We didn’t go to the barter market but I understand it just opened back up. Only went in a couple shops but didn’t buy anything…….  Not even shoes.  Surprising, the Malecon still had a lot of the Christmas decorations and displays up. 

I know there are a lot of jokes about women drivers but let me just share something.  We have taken a lot of scary taxi rides here.  In fact, I can’t think of a time that the taxi ride didn’t scare us…….. until today.  Today we got in the taxi to go to the Malecon and it was a female driver.  That is the first time we have ever had or even seen a female taxi driver.  BEST ride ever.  Didn’t scare us once.  It was great!!!!  The ride back was the usual…… our driver was a nice guy but……..we flinched more that once in fear. 

For dinner, we decided since we had such a big lunch we would have something small so we thought we would share a pizza.  The chef said we should each get are own because they are small but we decided we would share one.  Good thing,….. it was big.  Even if we were really hungry, we couldn’t have eaten one by ourselves.  It was really good but it was big.  

Tonight we sat on our deck and watched fireworks.  We have great seats!!!

What did you do today

  What did you do today you ask? I lounged in the pool.  It was a great day!  The weather was hot and sunny. 

We woke up pretty early.  Our little neighbors are early risers which kind of surprises me as they don’t sleep all night.  You would think they would want to sleep in past 5:30 am.   But it makes it all the sweeter to sleep down by the pool.  

The food was awesome today!  We had a good breakfast and a great dinner.  Lunch was cake.  I had chocolate cake and Art had carrot cake.  It was so good that we had some more tonight after dinner.

We hung out at the pool until early afternoon and then we walked down to one of our favorite stores.  We were so surprised.  I guess the supply chain is effecting them as well as they didn’t have much.  It was pretty disappointing.  But it wasn’t a complete lost.  I managed to find some sandals and a swim suit cover.  We stopped off at the farmacia on the way back.  It was cool the clerk didn’t speak English and we don’t speak Spanish so she used translator software on her laptop and we were able to communicate perfectly.  They are super careful here.  Masks are required everywhere and the store we went to had a thermometer that took our temperatures when we walked in and all the stores have sanitizer for you to use when you walk in.  It is working as their numbers are super low and flu and colds are pretty much nonexistent.  We went back to the pool area when we got back and I spent the rest of the time in the pool and Art napped on the lounger.  Such a splendid afternoon.   

You know I have talked about the tuba band and how bad the are and really they are but we discovered something even worse…….Hard to imagine I know but the hotel next door, where the tuba band plays, had a karaoke night.  But it had a twist.  It was  karaoke with rap music.  Holy Hannah!!!!  We prefer the tuba band over the rap karaoke. The open air restaurant had a flautist tonight.   Now that was beautiful.  We enjoyed it from our deck while we were eating our delicious cake. 

The hotel is currently under construction.  They are building a new building right next to us. It is pretty noisy but  fortunately, they don’t begin in the morning until after 10 and stop by 5.  The new building will be three bedroom suites.   

Totally enjoyed today…..Not sure what all tomorrow will bring but I am sure it is going to be another great day!   

Goldilocks Day

What a great day!!!  We spent all day at the pool and I spent most of the day in the pool.  Art brought the blow up floating chair.  He blew it up this morning with the electric pump and I was set.  It was heavenly just bobbing around most of the day.  We were a little tried when we got up as our neighbors have three small kids and one of them had several loud melt downs all night.  The dad was none to happy and he had a loud voice as well.  It was so nice to go to the serene pool.  Hope the little tyke realizes they are not taking him to the pool in the middle of the night no matter how loud he screams and he gets better sleep tonight. 

I met some really nice folks in the pool and I met a couple that is from……any guesses???  drum roll please……Green Bay.  We had quite the football chat.  He was taken aback on how much football I knew. But we really had a great conversation.  

There are a lot of folks here today.  There weren’t any empty loungers in our area.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the hotel is full.  But the weather was great.  A little cloud cover to keep it from being too hot but not so much you couldn’t see and feel the sun.  It was a Goldilocks day…….just right.  

The tuba band was back this afternoon and played on the beach.  They added a banjo and accordion player.  Sadly, it didn’t improve their playing but hey they are out there trying.  It’s just they are really soooo bad.  It is sad that they are so bad.  At dinner tonight they had a trumpet player and he was exceptionally good.  We could even hear and enjoy him from our balcony.  

The food today was all excellent. I am so full tonight I can hardly move.  Tonight was batted veg night otherwise know as Japanese night.  I had sushi and a lot of tempura shrimp.  Art had batted veg and stir fry.  For this who understand the batted veg joke I will say……. We went mad.  

Anyway, it was a great day and sad to see it come to a close but I am sure tomorrow will be another great day……ever so looking forward to it.  

We Arrived

 We did make it, I was just too tired to blog last night so I will combine the two days. Yesterday we got up before the bum crack of dawn…. 3 am.  The buddy picked us up at 4:30 and we were off.  The flights were as we would hope….uneventful.  When we landed here the runway was under construction so we had to wait about 15 minutes on the runway along with 8 other planes.  Not that big of deal until we all unload into the customs area at the same time.  It was crazy full!!  But the positive is by the time we got through customs our luggage was waiting for us instead of us waiting for our luggage.  We even got the green light to get out of the airport.  That was great because a lot of folks were getting red.  We got a taxi pretty easily and made it to the hotel safe with not to scary of a ride.  After six years, the hotel has changed a little but a lot is still the same.  Needless to say, we had some dinner and called it an early night.  We did manage to walk the ground after dinner.  The hotel next door had a tuba band.  The band had a snare drummer, bongo drummer, a guitarist and tuba player.  They all sang…….and overall they were terrible.  And I mean terrible. And they were back tonight……….and yes they were still terrible.  Most of the entertainers around here are really good but ummmmm not these guys……yikes!   We wanted to watch the championship football game but we kept falling asleep so we caved and climbed into bed.  Our suite is really nice.  It is a one bedroom 2 bath with a full kitchen.  I say full kitchen which it is but it has a tiny fridge.  No problem for us as we aren’t really going to use if for anything but drinks.  We even have a concierge assigned to us.  How fun is that.  He checks on us, it is nice.  When we asked where the ice was, he said if you want ice, just call me and I will bring it. 

Today we had a great breakfast at the open air restaurant.  Then we went to the adult pool area.  One of the improvements they have made is the pool is now heated.  Hallelujah!!!  I am planning on spending a lot of time in the pool.  While we were hanging out this morning a gal from the spa came around and I booked a detox massage and facial. First let me say it was incredible and I loved it but I have never experienced anything like it.  I was scrubbed , lotioned, and steamed about four times.  I definitely got detoxed.  I am planning on doing it again before I leave.  Crazy part is when it was all done I felt rejuvenated with a lot of energy.  I haven’t felt much energy as late so it was really a nice.  The service at the pool area wasn’t  very good but I think tomorrow will be better.

We had a a great dinner at the open air restaurant.  We watched the sunset and it was just beautiful.  Couldn’t have asked for a better night.  The weather was nice.  It was partly cloudy but that was great, it kept it from being miserably hot.  It was just right…..very pleasant.  The rest of the week is supposed to be the same.  Can’t wait!!!!!  Gotta go…….Art is playing his guitar and I don’t want to miss it.