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.