Vacation is Over...

Tom and Brenda at a cave

The past week has had to been the fastest week of my life. We are on our last day of vacation. Isn’t that always the case? When you want the time to be the slowest, it is the fastest. I felt like we did less and the time went very fast.

We are sitting in the airport, waiting to board our plane. And it is just a few days after a plane went down in the Hudson River due to birds flying into the engines. Ok, we can’t be afraid of flying like we can’t be afraid of driving after someone we know has an accident. Just as we can’t be scared of getting back onto the horse after we fall or get bucked off (Tom’s thought!!!). We just need to be more cautious. But after we are on a plane, our lives are in God’s hands! I’m praying for a safe return! “Dear Lord, Our lives are in your hands. We place our trust in you. We know you are with us. Let us return safely to be with our loved ones. Amen.” Isn't that a quaint little church?

We have boarded the plane and we get the seats at the exit row, at the wings of the airplane. We get to open the escape door in case of an emergency. Yeah! I am praying for no emergency. Tom has the window seat and I have the middle seat. We have lots of leg room - one advantage to this row!

Vacation was very relaxing. I’m not sure how much Tom thought of work, as he was wise not to tell me! We only thought of home and the horses once, after we saw on the news station that all of the Northeast United States was being bombarded with zero temps and snow. Nebraska had minus degrees at night and early mornings for a few days. I wondered if Micah would look INTO the water tanks to make sure they were thawed. If Traci, my friend who did weekend chores with her daughter, filled water tanks on Sunday, then tanks would be fine until Wed. I didn’t worry as much as I would have since the day temps on Thursday and Friday were suppose to be in the 30-40’s. We have month old Beagle puppies, but they were walking around well the last few days before we left. I knew that, even if they got out into the stall away from the other puppies, they would get back together and huddle up under the heat lamps.

We decided to relax more on this vacation and do very little else. We didn’t want to be running around every day. When we landed in Aruba last Saturday, we rented a car, checked in at the room, and went to the beach. We saw our first sunset of the week. Not as colorful as other years as there were more clouds in the sky. We were told this was due to some rainy weather the week before. We decided to walk the beach more every day.

Lighthouse

We took advantage of a free breakfast at the Orientation/Welcome meeting on Sunday morning. Mid-morning, we enjoyed the pool and sunshine for a few hours before lunch. The sun is so intense, even in 80 degree weather, that within an hour of laying on a lounge, (which I started to spell “lunge”, chair, I had to take a quick dip in the pool to cool off. After lunch, we headed to one of our favorite areas of the beach, to lay on a lounge chair, soaking up the rays, listening to the ocean waves. aaahhh. I brought a book to read, but how could anyone stay focused on reading when all your body wants to do is to have you close your eyes and enjoy all of these sensations. When the sun became too hot, we walked the edge of the water. The water is so clear, a mixture of aquamarine blue and teal, darkening in color as the water deepens the further it goes out into the ocean. The sand is so soft and white. Where the wave lands on the shore, the sand is packed down and easier to walk on. Where the water gently splashes, the sand is squishy soft, still easy to walk but leaves a footprint. The water is cool when you first step into it, but instantly becomes comfortable to the touch. When you are really hot, the water is absolutely refreshing! The waves are a little rough, so we didn’t get into the water many times to swim. For us, it is enjoyable to walk, feeling the waves against your legs, somewhat drawing you into the ocean, yet leaving you to remain on the beach.

We did take an all day jeep tour on Monday. The island is 6 miles wide by 19 miles long, and it did take all day to see all the areas. Oh my goodness, I wasn’t prepared! They needed extra drivers, and Tom volunteered. Mid-way through the day, I was glad, and so was he! The jeeps were larger, covered top, and with 2 seats up front and a passenger area behind that seats 6-8 people. We started out on paved roads, but went quickly to off road, then into some “off” off road terrain. We drove through rocky ground and over, what appeared to be but couldn’t be seen, roads that were as rocky as the terrain around us. Roads that were full of ruts, and ditches, and washed out areas. In some areas, the passengers in the back said that they felt that the jeep was going to tip over. We couldn‘t feel that up front where we sat, but I was glad when we got back to paved roads. We did see a lot of the island that day, from the Lighthouse at the far northwest part of the island, and past the rocky, rough waves on the eastern Atlantic side. There we saw the Natural Bridge and a smaller natural bridge, where, when the waves aren’t so strong, there is an area to swim. We continued inland to the Gold Mine Ruins, a charming old Church, and the Ostrich Farm. We went south to the far south west corner to Baby Beach, were we enjoyed some snorkeling. There were not as many colorful fish there as we had seen the year before at a different area. Late in the day, we drove the west coast north, back to the resorts. We did not see the Aloe Vera plant that we had toured last year.

We did pass people on horseback. On a trail ride of some sort. The leader rode a Paso Fino, but some of the other riders rode so badly that I couldn’t tell what movement their horses had. I’m sure the horses preferred to walk than trot that day! I laughed when I saw people in shorts - for 2 hours in the sun, riding in a saddle! I'm sure they will be be sore! It would be neat to ride on the beach, but when you can ride for free, this seemed awfully expensive!

The rest of the week was filled with a morning of shopping, a morning of relaxing in the room, and some mornings at the pool. The afternoons found us at the beach, sometime lounging and sometimes walking the waters edge. We enjoyed the sunsets a few evenings. We enjoyed an evening of dinner out and a few hours another evening of music and dancing. We enjoyed a few evenings of drinking coffee by the pool after the sun went down.
















Ostrich Farm - Don't they have strange feet? Or are they hooves???

The week ended all too soon. I’m not ready this year for the time to be over. Maybe next year we will come for 2 weeks. We are already thinking ahead of when Makenzie and Caden are old enough to come with us. Maybe in 4 years, as 3 year old may be too much for Grandpa! I would love it! But they may be homesick at that age. We’ll start somewhere closer to home for a week’s vacation with us.

All in all, a great week away from the responsibilities at home and work. A great week for just the two of us. A great week to enjoy each other’s company and conversation. A great week to just go…aaahhh.