Tres Hermanas en la República Dominicana

My sisters and I made a commitment to do a sister trip, and after some research and debate, decided on the Dominican Republic.

Valerie, the middle sister, had never even been on a flight before, much less to an an international location. The funny thing is that by the time she was done with this trip, she was on a total of 10 flights!  I think she breezed right past beginner status.

In my research, I read a lot of good things about the Iberostar Costa Dorada, so that's where we stayed.  It is an all-inclusive not far from the town of Puerto Plata, on the north side of the island.  When we got there, we got a briefing from Elvis (he operated a tour company there), which was really helpful.

Here's some pics of the hotel, and of the view from our room:

 We arrived later in the day on Saturday, so we decided to have a relaxing Sunday before we scheduled any activities.  That day, and any free time we had, we pretty much spent at the beach with assorted yummy drinks and good books.  There was a lot of shade, and usually a pleasant breeze (though sometimes it was more like a sandstorm and we had to move inland a bit).

Elvis warned us not to walk the beach to the left of the resort, and we took him at his word.  He said that it was okay to the right, and that there was a nice shopping center down that way.  However, when we decided to give that a try, we were totally accosted by this vendor/punk.  I mean, he would NOT leave us alone, even when we started yelling at him.  I would have been afraid for my safety if I had been alone.  Finally, we gave up and walked back to the resort.  Yeah, that's the way to get customers in.  Good job.

On Monday we took a private tour to the town of Puerto Plata.  It was actually less expensive for us to get a private guide than to go on one of the pre-planned tours, plus we could go where we wanted to go, for as long as we wanted to.  Most tours contain some element of "forced shopping" and this was no exception.  But after Val and Karen got the items they wanted to get (jewelry and a cigar, respectively), we were able to tell the guide that we were finished with shopping.

The first stop we made was to the Brugal Rum Factory.  I enjoy a Pina Colada as much as anyone, but I'm not generally a big rum drinker.  However, the prices were such that I bought a bottle anyway.  It was interesting to tour the factory, where they make I don't remember how many millions of bottles of rum per month.  The funny thing is that no women are allowed to work in the factory itself (there's a separate office building next door) because "drinking and mixing men and women" doesn't work.  But apparently, it's okay to mix men, drinking and work.  LOL.  The other funny thing is that they only export about 30% of what is made.  That's a lot of rum that is consumed by the Dominicans.

 We also stopped at the Catedral San Felipe Apóstol (Cathedral of St. Philip the Apostle), a hilltop for a view of the city, and Fort San Felipe.

We also went up, via cable car, to Mt. Isabelle de Torres.

On Tuesday, we went to Paradise Island.  It's more of a sand bar than an island, and when we were there the tide kept creeping up so that by the end of the afternoon it wasn't much of a sandbar either.  In fact, at one point a bunch of guys had to help lift and move one of the huts on the island so that it didn't drift out to sea.

I was a bit reluctant about this outing because, in general, I don't much care for snorkeling.  I totally admit it's my own weirdness, but I dislike snorkeling in water that's over my head.  There's something about not being able to easily stand up that makes me feel claustrophobic and a little freaked out.  But Paradise Island was absolutely perfect for someone like me.  Because the tourists feed the fish, there are a ton of them right near the shore, so you can easily just walk to chest- or waist-deep water and start snorkeling.  There was a reef quite close as well.  That may well have been over my head, but it was close enough to shore that I felt comfortable.  So we just snorkeled, drank and ... hmmm, I don't think there was anything else, ha ha.

On the way back, we had a tour of the mangroves.  I've seen these on TV, but they're something to see up close.  At one point, the guide had stopped and was telling us about the mangrove ecosystem, when one of the other guides casually reached over and plucked a crab off a branch.  He put it in a bucket and passed it around the boat.  Because most had not seen him do that, it was funny to watch their reactions.

















On Wednesday we had a relaxation day.  Which was great.  But I have to say I'm glad we decided to do the other stuff because I think it would have driven me crazy to have a whole week of that.

On Thursday, we did what the locals call the "Zipper Ride," or to be more descriptive and correct, the "Zip and Ride,"  which is a combination of a zipline and horseback riding.

First up for our group was the zipline.  I have done ziplines several times before, most recently in Provo Canyon with Teague.  That one is nice because you go from platform to platform, and except for the initial line you don't have to do any climbing.  But I have done others that are like this one: every line means a bit of climbing to get to the next.  And that was the hardest thing about it.  It seemed that I was out of breath every time it was time for me to zip.  But it was fun.

Next up was horseback riding.  I'm pretty sure I haven't been on a horse since the girls and I did beach riding in Ensenada a million years ago.  I had done some amount of riding when I was a kid, between my aunt's farm and a friend who had a horse.  But I would definitely not say I'm experienced.  However, apparently in this group that did pass for experience.  At any rate, it was a pretty tame ride, one of those where you simply follow the group.  It probably didn't matter what commands we did or did not give the horses, they were likely trained to just do it the same way always.  Although my horse seemed to have a real penchant for trying to move in between two other horses where there really wasn't enough room.  Come to think of it, my horse in Ensenada only wanted to run in the ocean ... hmmm, maybe I just always get rebellious horses.

It was a fantastic trip, most of all because I got to spend some time with my sisters, and I really don't get enough of that.  Hopefully there will be more Sister Trips in the future!

Another Check on the Bucket List

My good friend (and first cousin) Sarah surprised me for my birthday by taking me on a hot air balloon ride.  I have wanted to do this for a long time!  It was as awesome as I imagined.  I only wished we could have stayed up there longer - like several hours. 

I volunteered to help, so my job was to hold the edge while the balloon inflated.  It was pretty cold and windy until the burners started going.

No, it isn't a picture of us wrecked.  They start with the basket on the side.  It gets put upright as the balloon inflates.

These cute little boys (sons of one of the ground crew members) were pretty good helpers!  They obviously had done this a few times with their dad. 

This shot was while I was still holding on to the edge, looking into the balloon as it inflated.  Those balloons are HUGE!

 

 

I had heard this before, and it really is true ... it's a very smooth, peaceful and quiet ride.  It turns out that you can't truly steer a balloon, all you can do is read the air currents and adjust the hot air.  I always knew the Heber Valley was known for that (years ago I took sail plane lessons), and I guess it's still true. 

 

We got up to 5,000 feet (which in the location we were at was at 12,000 feet above sea level).  I didn't realize they would go that high.  I think this shot kind of puts it in perspective.



As we flew over the pond at the top of this picture, our pilot told us that it's actually heated.  It might be kind of hard to judge the size from this perspective, but if you look at the houses near it you can get an idea. 

This was an unforgettable experience!

Atti's Grammie Birthday Date

So for this year's Grammie Birthday Date with Atti, I thought it would be fun to take him on the Heber Creeper train.  They were doing a Dinosaur Train, so I thought Atti would really enjoy it, considering how much he absolutely LOVES trains. 

It turns out that he thinks the Heber Creeper is too old and rickety.  He actually asked me if it was going to fall over!  I guess he prefers his trains sleek and smooth, unless he's watching the train show at the Planetarium. 

We still had a lot of fun!

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I'm not sure, but I think this little candy/fan helicopter was the highlight of his Grammie Date!