Back to Reality

Well, we are all back from the Dominican Republic. After a full day of flying, 4hr flight, and a 5 hr flight, and pulling into Portland at 1100 at night, PDT, 0300 EDT. It was a long day.

The last couple of days, we went back into Santo Domingo, to a couple of malls, and walked around, and had fun again with all of the traffic. Then we took a more rural route back to our hotel. We passed by Mango trees, a Papaya grove, and many Sugar Cane Fields. We even stopped and bought some sugar cane to eat. It was really sweet, but really woody. Very interesting. We then hung around the pool reading, watching the waves roll in, it was very nice and relaxing.

Of course I ended up taking over 200 pictures of the waves crashing against the beach, but that is nothing new. Then that night, sitting around the hotel, talking with MSN messenger, to family back in the states, checking flights etc. Overall, a very enjoyable trip. But it sure is nice to be back in the USA.

Yesterday was a nice, relaxing day. Mom was working on Christmas Stockings in the morning, I guess that she needed to start now, becasue she has several to make this year. We ended up taking Miss Linda and Jared to the airport, they had a better chance of getting all the way home in 24 hours, if they left then. They should make it to Spokane sometime this morning. Anyway, yesterday here was on and off stormy, but nice. We ended up changing rooms, and now we are on the 3rd floor, overlooking the beach. It is really cool to hear the waves crashing all night long. The AC works better in this unit, and Dad about froze last night.

Wednesday we went into Santo Domingo. We had a great time. Matt especially had a great time trying to navigate through traffic. Not just normal busy abnoxious traffic, but pull into your vehicle, cut you off traffic. They sure think that they can fit anywhere that they want, oh, and look out for all of the mopeds. They are just wild. Anyway, we saw part of a fort built on the hill overlooking the Ozama River, which was built in 1502, we even saw some of the original cannons. There is a nice plaza dedicated to Christopher Columbus, right next to the "first" Cathedral in the New World. We also saw the Hacienda of Diego Colon (Son of Christopher Columbus) and his wife Mary, which was built in the early 1500's. It was pretty cool. We lucked out when we took the tour of the hacienda, becasue it sure downpoured while we were in side, but otherwise, we remained relatively dry. We had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe across from the Statue of Christopher Columbus, and then went SHOPPING!!!!!! We had a lot of fun; and we spent a little money. Then we drove out west a little bit, through the hairraising traffic, and found the Dominican Republic Temple. It sure was beautiful. Anyway, then we headed back home to Juan Dolio, but made several circles trying to get on the road that we wanted, "you can't get there from here". Eventually we made it back home. We were all tired after a long, but very fun day.

Having a great time down in the Dominican Republic. On Sunday we drove around San Pedro de Macoris, all over, and finally found one of the three churches there. Essentially a house. The church website listed the sevice in the afternoon, but alas, we missed church. It was actually at 0900. But we did get to meet the Branch President, and in my limited spanish, was able to talk a little bit with him. It was just cool to see the Church here.

On Monday, we spent the day lying around the pool, and most of us got just a little too much sun, but not burned badly at all.

Today we spent the day on Saona Island. We took the tour from our hotel to Bayhibe, and then took a huge speed boat out to the Island. We went swimming on a sandbar in the Caribbean, and even saw a couple of huge starfish. They sure were sharp little buggers. Spent several hours out on the gorgeous beach, with the palm trees swaying, and the wind blowing. Then took a slow catamaran ride back to the beach. On the catamaran, Matt, Scott, and Jared all danced with the Senoritas. It was tons of fun. Even Mom had a great time. It was a perfect day.