Vacationing in the DR

Here is the summary I know each of you has been waiting for: our vacation!

Of utmost importance is the fact that it was an incredible vacation! Our all-inclusive package allowed us the use of kayaks and a few other activities, but we literally sat on the beach each day reading. Before we knew it, the sun was going down and it was time for another dinner! So lovely! I took tons of pictures of the water because every time I wanted to capture how beautiful it was, I never thought the picture was just right! There are 7 restaurants, a theatre (for live shows and movies), tons of quaint, inside and outside, piano or saxophone bars, plenty of chairs, couches, and places to relax. We also got to get massages one day! What a treat!

Day 1, Wednesday:
5:00pm - arrive to hotel; they upgrade us for free to an ocean-view!
5: 15pm - get to room and admire nice digs; move to balcony and stare at blueness of ocean
5:20pm - change into swimsuits--there's still plenty of daylight!
5:22pm - make our way to the beach; sit; read - this sets the tone for the rest of the week
7:45pm - go up to shower & head to dinner

Day 2, Thursday:
9:30am - wake, forego showers (why bother?!) and don swimsuits and coverups (no little string bikinis in the dining room! though I will say that we saw our very fair share of too-tiny suits [on both men and women] and toplessness while on the water)
9:55am - eat breakfast, which includes crepes, eggs, omelets, churros, bread, cereal, yogurt--whatever you want, it's there!
10:30am - stake claim on beach chairs (actually, there are tons of places on the beach and even latecomers will find spots); Brett moves his chair into the direct sunlight; I move mine to make sure no sun hits me (I don't tan, I burn; and I burn splotchy at that, so why even try to tan when I know I'll just end up burning in weird areas and then hurt all week because of it!); read
11:30am - walk over to bar to get a drink, take walk along the beach, go back, read
12:45pm - walk to pool area, shower off sand, jump in pool (the pool must have been about 3 football fields long--absolutely amazing!)
2:00pm - eat lunch, head back to chairs
4:00pm - drinks anyone?
7:00pm - go to room for showers and then to dinner
9:30pm - watch show in the theatre

Day 3, Friday:
See Day 2, Thursday. There was probably some variance: we may have gotten crazy and gotten in the pool at 12:00pm instead of 12:45pm. And we didn't watch a show after dinner but sat on the balcony.

Day 4, Saturday:
This was the day Hurricane Dean was directly south of the DR. We woke and ate breakfast to torrential raining, extreme clouds, and great winds. By 11:30am, the rain had stopped. For the remainder of the day, we actually sat at the pool and read. The winds remained about 40mph for the duration of the day, but there was no rain. The beach had eroded such that there was about a 4 foot drop-off, but we enjoyed walking up and down and the beach with the crowds of people who were wondering when the weather would get worse. It never did, thank goodness!

Day 5, Sunday:
See Day 2, Thursday. I believe this was the day we walked down the beach and I found a coconut. Palm trees line the beach, so that's not unusual. Also, I had to start a new book. After dinner we played a game of chess with pieces that were about 1.5ft tall.

Day 6, Monday:
9:30am - wake up, eat breakfast
10:30am - shower and pack
12:00pm - check out and shop for souvenirs in the stores on the campus
1:10pm - head to airport
4:25pm - leave for home

So there you have it! Enjoy the pics in the slideshow. If you have any questions or I left anything else, just comment! We highly recommend the DR. Our hotel was great-not luxurious, and the food was good- not excellent, but we feel that we got our money's worth and it was exactly what we wanted. We could have been more active, but for this trip, sitting around reading sounded better to us. It was a wonderful time, and I'm sad that it's over! But now it's on to planning our next vacay!