#80 i'm back!

We are back from our two weeks of Caribbean fun! We got home around 2 am today and had a hard time falling asleep even though we were in our own bed and we were pretty tired. We slept on the flight from NYC to SLC and we were a little jacked up about being home and the long travel day and everything. Today we've been unpacking and downloading pictures and doing laundry.

There are so many stories to tell about our trip! It will take several posts because they may be long. I'll just say right now that we had a really really good time. We met some great people and saw some beautiful places.

We spent the first week of our vacation, from Tuesday - Sunday afternoon. at a great all-inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic. The name of the resort was the Iberostar Hacienda Dominicus. It is located about 2 hours east of Santo Domingo near the village of Bayahibe. We were dog-tired from our long flight. We took the red-eye flight from SLC to New York City (that's a 5 hour flight). When we landed at JFK, local time was around 6 am, but that's 4 am to us. We decided to eat breakfast there but when you're body thinks it's 4:00, it doesn't really want to eat. It was a good thing we did, though. The flight from New York to Santo Domingo is about 3 1/2 hours, then we had the 2 hour bus ride. We were the only people in the mini-bus. We were tired, but we wanted to see the countryside. The road from Santo Domingo to this cool white suspension bridge is good, a divided highway. After the white bridge, it becomes a two lane, pot-holed road where that dividing line in the middle is really just a suggestion. The roads are filled with unhelmeted motorcycle riders, large trucks, tour buses and private cars. There were a couple of times I actually ducked my head because I was sure I would see death and destruction on that road. Even Dominicans will tell you they are crazy drivers.

The countryside is quite pretty. There are lots of sugar-cane fields and we crossed 3 rivers. We had to go through a part of the city of La Romana to get to Bayahibe. There were lots of people everywhere and a few military/police with really big guns.

The long ride was worth it in the end because the resort was so beautiful! The lobby was all tile and marble, completely open, no doors or windows. Palm trees everywhere. Water features, like fountains and ponds, all around. The staff was friendly and helpful. We drank a yummy fruit punch while we completed our paperwork, and then we were given a tour of the grounds and shown to our building. When our luggage arrived a couple of minutes later, we changed into shorts and flip-flops and headed to the beach. It was just about sunset, so we had a couple of drinks from the beach bar, caipirinhas - I'll make you one someday if you ask me real nice! - and toasted each other on our vacation. No, T did not have a caipirinha. He was busy jumping in the little waves!

When the sun went down, we decided to eat, so we found the buffet. MT was in heaven: grilled baby lobsters!! He immediately declared that he loved the resort and the food was better than anywhere we've been. Of course we've only been to one other place, but this one was better because they served grilled baby lobsters. After T had eaten, he rested his chin on the table, closed his eyes and would have gone to sleep except that we took that as a sign to leave. It was about 8:30. We all went to bed and were asleep by 9:03 I think. It was a big travel day and we were now in a paradise. There was lots of fun to be had there and I can't wait to share our adventures with you!

Our first Dominican sunset!