> Aruba was wonderful, it is amazing. It is a desert no doubt. Cactus
> everywhere not landscaped and a neat tree, the Divi Tree which gets
> like an umbrella, thick on top and nothing in the way of branches
> near the bottom. There were Iguanas everywhere and neat chamelions
> that changed to spots and aqua colors. Someone had to go down every
> morning before 7:30 to put towels to reserve our beach chairs, there
> were 8 of us most of the week. I fried on my shoulders, forehead, and
> upper arms. Because of the constant wind, sometimes so hard that it
> was annoying, it made it not feel hot or like you were burning. I had
> bubbles in my sunburn which means some sun poisoning even using 25 spf
> the whole time and after tanning for over 2 weeks prior to going. I am
> peeling and what is underneath hurts, the burn went so deep. But my
> legs look great!! Hope I can keep some of it to build on this summer.
> There was a lot of walking from the hotel to pool area and more to the
> beach. Hotel grounds were allo Royal Palms, and gorgeous plantings,
> taken care of immacculately. Ocean water we'd guess about 80 and pool
> the same. We went over to a reefed beach to snorkel and saw amazing
> colored fish all around you when you released bread underwater. There
> were hundreds of them, blue white stripped, yellows, truly fun to do.
> I would do that again in a heartbeat.

>
> The wedding was beautiful, Laura was just gorgeous and Paul handsome
> and beaming. Will be downloading pics today or tomorrow We got some
> really good ones. The vows were beautiful, but made no mention of
> Christ, so when it was over Richie got up and gave a beautiful
> Christian blessing over them. We know it was from God, his words were
> smooth, delivery strong and true and no searching for words. He said
> they were just there and it was say them or bust. We had champaigne
> on the beach during sunset and then the bus picked us up for the
> reception. Catamaran was about 20 - 24' wide and probably 30' long.
> The food done by the Hyatt hotel was wonderful, and the liquor flowed,
> along with good music, Cuban Cigars, and dancing. It was a 3 hour
> cruise, thankfully with a better ending than Gilligans 3 hour cruise!!

> We lost a day at the begining due to US Air and an engine that
> wouldn't start for over an hour, on our flite out of Baltimore. As a
> result we missed our connecting flite to Aruba and had to stay in
> Charlotte overnight which made for 2 days of stress and flying and
> airport walking, shuttles etc. US AIR paid the hotel and some food,
> but we still lost $$ on the deal, plus arrived more tired than we
> should have. We were told several times that our connecting flites
> were being held and ran thru the airport, Richie says about a mile, to
> the new gate, only to find the plane there but the doors shut and they
> would not let us on. There were at least 5 of us trying to make that
> flite.No explanations, just told to go to the services desk and they
> would reschedule us.( we were later told that they sold the seats)
> Never an 'I'm sorry', nor any offer of anything to make up for it.
> The service line we waited in was 3 hours long. US Air had screwed up
> with so many people, definitely several airplanes full of people, not
> just ours. I wondered how much they had to spend in hotel & meal
> vouchers just that day. And the line was still 3 or 4 hours long
> after we had reached the front. No wonder they are in trouble.
> Everyone staying at the Raddison with us was from a messed up US AIR
> flite we found out at dinner when talking to people.

> Downtown Orangestadt was full of restaurants, tourist traps and
> diamond dealers. We had ribs at Iguana Joes that were good, they had
> a lot of sage in the sauce, interesting flavor.I had escargo at a
> place that the locals frequent, Que Pasa, and some of the biggest
> shrimp I've ever seen. And a bananna dessert that was to die for.
> Scala had grouper stuffed with shrimp in a cream sauce with fresh
> veggies on top, yummy. The one place I wasn't impressed with was
> Bennihana, the food was ok, but the atmosphere was a little dingy.We
> hadn't planned to eat there but had made no reservations and found out
> it was an Aruban holiday and all the restaurants were jammed.
> The superbowl party at the Marriott was great, and the win so
> satisfying for Richie and his Giants!! Paul lost very graciously and
> even said his Pats didn't play like they were hungry for the title.
> When Paul said the 'liver olympics', he wasn't kidding. The drinks
> were mostly juice and booze combos and a happy hour at the pool bar
> with buy 1 get one free from 3 to 5 every day. Crazy drinks with
> crazier titles, Slippery Monkey where they fill the straw up with rum
> just before handing it to you, was like a mudslide after that, with
> banana liquor added.Blue Aruba, I'm not sure what was in it, the
> fruity drinks all were similiar to each other, and went down very
> easily. And you just told them your room # and they charged it to
> that.

> about 8, and sometimes 10, European style, so you needed something to
> eat about 5 or so to keep from getting looped. No drunks, but a lot of
> happy people, and I'm sure the swimming to and from the bar helped
> too.

> We saw a hummingbird once at the flowers near the pools and a bird
> the colors of a baltimore oriole, sparrows, a little balck and white
> bird, and doves.
> It was a wonderful trip, wish you all could have been there with us.
> Ehugs, Olde Hippee