Home safe and sound

My two daughters and I returned home on April 12 from a lovely vacation in the Dominican Republic.  

It was a first trip for my youngest daughter "E" and myself to this destination, my eldest daughter "B" had been there on a previous vacation with her husband.  

Everything  on the resort we went to was great, clean, friendly staff,  a large verity of food and of course drinks.  Evening entertainment for young and old, swimming pools also for the smaller guests and adult guests.

We decided to go on two tours off of the resort.  The first one started with a safari type vehicle up Mount Isabel de Torres.  At the top was the statue of Christ the Redeemer,  a botanical  garden and views as far as the eyes to see. 

Then the trip down, it was quite a ride.  Back down at sea level, we went to an Amber Museum, Rum factory, Chocolate factory, cigar making demonstration.   Walked along Umbrella Street where the colourful umbrellas and bougainvillea blooms above, protected us from the sun. 

Then on to Pink Alley, where everything was painted a vibrant pink.

Now, time for lunch we had a choice of chicken or fish,  E and B had the chicken along with the five other people on the tour, I decided to have the fish and we were all very satisfied with our choices.  Then on to the Fortress San Felipe,  by this time it was late afternoon, so time to head back to our resort.  A fun filled informative day which we all enjoyed, and pleased we decided to do this tour.  Now back for a cool swim in the pool before dinner.

The second tour again was a full day to Ocean World Adventure Park. 

This park has a rain forest where we could enter a huge area where we could feed Love birds, E loved doing this. There were also flamingoes, parrots and toucans.   Dolphins,  sharks and seals also put on shows to watch, there was also an opportunity to swim with the dolphins, we had all done that previously so did not want to do it again.    We all decided to snorkel in a man made coral reef, so we donned the required mask.  I am not a swimmer, I am not a lover of putting my head  especially the face under water.  I did it, however, was not the most graceful person in the water.  Seeing all the fish so close was exciting, just wished I could have relaxed a bit more.  B and E did a second time, I took photos of them though a glass part of the enclosure.  Buffet lunch and a short rest, then off the the beach area for a swim.  Some dark clouds were now present, so we decided it was time to visit the gift shop, got there just in time before the skies opened up.   It rained hard and was still coming down when it was time to meet our bus back to the resort.  We got wet again.

We had booked two al a carte meals, one Japanese Teppanyaki grill and the second was a steak house, both were great dinners.   All of our other meals were from the buffet.  

All of the other days, we were in the pool, at the beach, taking photos, reading or just relaxing.  We each had our own room, so it was nice to have our own private times too.

Unfortunately, our time here was coming to an end.   We had never been on a vacation with just us three before, it was a great  time, and thinking of doing it again.

My son and D I L were also on vacation with friends, at the same time in Mexico.

If you have read previous posts you know I had an accident on an escalator.  I am now petrified of them.  The airport  in D. R. had two, both of which we had to use, the first was a short one, I put my big girl pants on, took a step, I was so scared.  I made it to the top and had tears running down my face.  The second was longer, made it to the top  once again.   

Home, now just need the weather to warm up here.

Have a great day

Cheers