« August 2012 | Main | October 2012 »
Our last night! So sad to be leaving Aruba, but we are missing the kids like crazy!! I can't wait to get home to them! Brian thought I was a dork for setting up my camera to take pictures of us, but I love this one! And I was bored waiting for the elevator and snapped this one of us (is Brian rolling his eyes at me? probably!)
The sunset was sooo pretty tonight- just perfect for our last night!
Look- its us again! hahah!
Today we got up early, rented a car and drove to the other side of the island to Arikok National Park. Leaving all the palm trees at the hotels behind, you see a completely different landscape. Desert! The drive was nice- a little confusing, but we made it. The park is gorgeous- dry, cactus, hills, and the crazy ocean. So neat to look beyond all the desert landscape and see the crashing waves and endless ocean. The park has a few caves that you can explore- we went to the caves, hiked around a bit and saw the two *beaches* that were at the park. You can't swim in the water because the waves are crazy strong and high, but the beaches were gorgeous. Shaggy wild goats roamed around the park- they were everywhere! My favorite part was seeing the bats in the caves.. loved that!
Ocean! Love this view.. you can barely see it, but it is there!
One of the caves (my favorite!). Again, totally almost deserted.. we only saw like 6 people the whole time we were at the park. We had the caves to ourselves the whole time!
The inside of this cave was so cool- there were these dark places you could explore (scary!) and then in the middle rooms, they had natural skylights :) You could hear (and feel) the bats flying around you.
Bat!
Love this picture of Brian- didn't notice the bat behind and above him until I downloaded the pictures.
Is that a stalactite or is it a bat? You have to really look close to see it.
The next cave only had a small part you could walk around. There were Indian rock paintings.. so cool!
The thing about this cave.. there were millions of graffiti/names/junk scratched on the ceiling at the front- so sad.
We didn't spend too much time at the beaches- just long enough to snap some pictures. It was so hot and tiring!
After we went to the park, we drove around a bit and out to the lighthouse at the end of the island. It was so pretty.
Another great day! :)
Another gorgeous day! We decided to walk down the road a couple of miles down to a snorkel spot that I read was supposed to be good. Let's just say that walking was not the best idea- it was HOT and long! hah! At least we had the beach next to us the whole time. We ended up catching a bus home- whew!
Best snorkeling spot *ever*!!! The water was gorgeous- so crystal clear. We saw soooo many fish, eel, squid... all kinds of neat sea life! We were practically alone the whole time we were snorkeling- I can't believe more people don't come down to this beach. This was an amazing day!
After we got back to the villa- we relaxed a while and then went out for a nice dinner. Love just hanging out with Brian and relaxing!
Sushi! My man was so happy!
Seriously, I can't believe this trip has been so crazy fun so far..we are thinking about getting away by ourselves every year :)
We learned something new today...sometimes when iguanas are up in the trees, they fall when they are sleeping. ack. Brian and I were walking down to the beach today and this one fell right next to us.. crazy scared both of us! It wasn't moving and we thought it was dead.. but nope.. I guess they can take a 20 foot fall and still be fine!
We went into the city today to shop and wander around. We haven't rented a car yet- we are just taking the bus everywhere, which is fun (and inexpensive!)
We got into town when all the shops were closing up, but we walked around a bit.
Coolest store window..
This sign at the grocery store made me giggle:
Pretty sunsets every night!
This is our view when we wake up every day. Not ocean front, but so gorgeous. They have an iguana sanctuary here and it is so cool.. there are iguana everywhere. My son would be in heaven :) We might have been a tad obssesed with taking iguana pictures to show him!
Speaking of iguanas... we love to watch them sleep in the palm trees :) I think we counted 10 in this one.
Brian is happy because there is a good local beer here! I'm happy because the water here is so super perfect to drink- second best water in the world or something like that!
One thing on Aruba that I don't really like.. the wind. It is windy ALL the time. Constant wind. Which is good for being on the beach because you aren't roasting to death.. but the wind gets old! Trying to get a picture on the beach? Hair is flying everywhere!
And 4 hours later...we arrive in Aruba!! YAY!! I can't believe we have a whole week here alone- hope we don't get bored with each other.. haha!!
The place we are staying is *gorgeous* (Marriott Aruba Ocean Club). So awesome- we have a one bedroom villa with a kitchen and it is perfect! Speaking of perfect.. hello beach! This is going to be a great week! ahhh....
