CountryStuff wrote:
>> 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.
>
> Sounds awesome!! I love the beach and the beautiful fish !
> But I know what you mean about the wind at the beach, makes it hard to keep
> things anchored down !
>>
>> 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!!
>
> Oh wow that sounds so good right now looking out at this snow all around
> me!!
> Your daughter and I share same names :))
>
>> 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.
>
> Arrggg glad they worked that all out !
>
>> 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.
>
> Oh hell, just tell them your room number??, Muwahahaha...glad I was not
> there, wink, I might have forgot and gave them someone elses room number ,
> hehe
> \
>
> andFood there at the pool br the same. No one eats dinner til
>> 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.
>
> I love they way its different :)
>
>> 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
>
> Sounds like a great time for all, I am glad you made it home safe and had a
> blast!
> Congrats!
> --
> CS~
The blowing sand at the beach where we snorkeled would cover
everything. the towels, beach coolers, beach bags, people laying on
towels, we were all very ready for showers and a pool soak.
Dinner that late wasn't great for me, I felt it laying there even at
bedtime, but for the ones who stayed out til 3 orf 4 am, it wasn't a
problem. This old lady(64) can't keep up nonstop with the kids40+-).
One night I went back to hotel and let the rest of em(DH included) go
out to party. I couldn't even keep my eyes open for 5 min of news on
tv and never heard them come in, but sure heard about what a good time
they'd had dancing and karaokee-ing the next day. Guess you have to
choose your own schedule for health. About Thursday, I was wiped out
and not too unhappy we were heading home....to rest!!
We had a 3 hour layover in Philly before the 20 min flite to Baltimore
and had dinner in a Japanese Rest in the airport. Man do they soak you
for booze. We each had 2 drinks, mine saki, and his beer, and it came
to more than my sushi and his dinner. That is sooo wrong to be able
to charge so much. We also ran into the rudest people on the trip. We
were on those moving sidewalks, dead tired, and people were running us
over. One nearly knocked me on my butt whilst getting off the end.
Rich grabbed him to keep him from it, and told him how rude he was.
Phew, the guy didn't go balistic.
Well, going out to sit in the sun, and try to keep some of my tan. Not
working very well, if you'd wondered!!!HAHAHA.
Tell me more about your Amsterdam trip. I figured I'd get so stoned at
the first place I'd prolly be no good to try any others, how did you
do?
OH
