We spent Valentine's weekend (yes, you can make it a weekend and not just a day!) in Punta Cana with two other couples soaking up the sun and all-you-can eat snacks and beverages!
The trip got off to an odd start because although we arrived unusually early in order to check our bags, the security check in line at Midway stretched all the way back up past the elevators and toward the EL. Amazingly, it still only took about 30 minutes to get through the entire process, but the walk to the end of the line took 5 minutes of traveling. The woman behind us said it was because of the "holiday" and all the people traveling. Uh.....since when is the Friday before Valentine's the airport's biggest holiday? I flew this year the weekend before Christmas; Christmas Eve; and in January when the blizzard hit the entire East Coast. None of those days had a line like this!
Once on the plane, we enjoyed a nonstop flight of under four hours and landed to a beautiful 75 degree day. Much better than the 15 degrees that we left! We made it through customs and immigration quickly and made good time to the resort. We were excited that our shuttle van had Wifi to catch up on a half day's worth of email messages while we had been in the air. When we arrived we found all of the Koudeles enjoying the pool and swim up bar! We caught up on their day (things like horseback rides on the beach and photo ops with a monkey) and then headed to our room to get settled and cleaned up for dinner at the Italian restaurant. Our room was a little beat up (and we would discover an unwelcome visitor later) but dinner was good - and in true all-inclusive/cruise ship fashion, we all ordered a lot of food!
After dinner and before the evening show, I returned to our room to change shoes, and was horrified to find a cockroach in our bathroom! I'll save you the horror of the photo, which of course I took for proof for the front desk when I requested a room change (they didn't require photo evidence and moved us the next day when we asked. . . .) After the cockroach incident, I returned to the lounge grouchy and discovered that the resort was not non-smoking, so that made my attitude even worse to be surrounded by both stale and fresh smoke during the show. So, night one was a little rocky with the travel and then the room being not up to par. I thought we would be ok once John captured and flushed the cockroach, but everything had me on edge. In the morning while he was off golfing with Keith and Daren (Wow! What a beautiful course!), I packed the rest of our bags and left them for bell service to move to a new room. Our new room on an upper floor in a different building was in better condition, cockroach free, and easy to relax in for the next two nights!
To help get Saturday off to a good start, I enjoyed this for lunch: chocolate moose, cream puff, and Presidente Light. What else do you need? Oh, yes, this was following our girls trip to the spa! What a fantastic experience! Desiree and Joanna got massages and I got a body scrub. But the real highlight was the "Aqua Circuit" for the hour preceding the treatment! We went through a series of showers, steam room, cold room, sauna, and hot tub stations. My favorite were the steam room where we had lavender exfoliating cream to rub on our arms and legs and the warm pool with the massaging water jets that pulsed on the knots in my back. We had our best dinner that night, as well, at the tapas restaurant. Since there were six of us, we decided to order nearly everything on the menu to at least sample! Some of it was amazing; most of it was great; and only one thing was bad. Those are great odds!
Sunday was Valentine's Day and we planned to spend it at the beach. Keith and Desiree got up early enough to claim us lounge chairs under the Tikis which was great for the 50% of the group (me included) who don't tan. I happily sat in the shade reading a book from 11-4 - only moving to get beverage refills and lunch at the beach bar, which was comically named Sausage Fest! We also enjoyed tracking the progress of the elaborate Valentine's Day decorations being done. Sadly for all the workers who spent the day wrapping fabric around pillars and dressing tables, it stormed really hard around 6:30 so the buffet was likely rained out. We were going to the French restaurant so missed the drama while we were in our rooms getting ready. We did swing by for a photo op after dinner though.
On Monday John and I went back to the spa for a couples massage and another trip through the Aqua Circuit. He was braver than we girls were, so he tried the ice bath and made us both do the sauna and the "rustic shower" which was a barrel of cold water dumped over our heads water park style! My favorite was still the hot tubs with the jets pulsing my neck and back. It was great to get relaxed before we had to spend the next 8 hours traveling home!
When we got home that evening, we found our Valentine from William and heart cookies that he and Grandma Joni had made. They, of course, had a great time without us! Though William was a little disappointed that Mommy and Daddy were "going to the Caribbean" without him.
Ryan was very clever and used the tool box he made in high school (junior high?) shop class as the basket! They also got out the paw print making kit that Ryan had been gifted at Christmas to make an Ernie paw. It was a total fail! They ended up tearing the clay into two pieces and each making an ornament decorated with the dyed Easter egg shells. Good save!
