R. I. P. Friends!

Another first for me today, we flew up to the Texas Hill Country early this morning to spread the ashes of a couple, that were old friends of Dale when he lived and worked in Houston. He had promised them he would mix their cremains and spread them from his plane........they chose the Hill Country for their final resting place......so with Amazing Grace playing in our headsets, we spread Eddy and Jordan over fields where beautiful bluebonnets will bloom in the Spring and over Enchanted Rock.
R.I.P. Eddy and Jordan!


The promise fulfilled we landed at Fredericksburg for lunch at the Airport Diner and to warm up....it was very chilly flying with the door open! Mission accomplished we flew home!

Ringing in the New Year in Curacao

Up early on New Year's Eve morning, we arrived at the airport in Aruba, turned in our rental car....only to find our DAE flight had been canceled. Seems the airline was in financial trouble and had restructured its flight schedule. I frantically raced around the airport, trying to make other arrangements and calling the resort in Curacao to advise them that we would be delayed. Not a great way to start the morning!
We landed in Curacao about an hour late, but the driver was waiting for us outside the airport. Alex, the driver made a stop at the big grocery store so we could get groceries before the drive out to All West Apartments in Westpunt. Checked into our apartment, we unpacked, and walked down to the beach.....sitting under a Manchineel Tree for shade...only to find out later the tree and its fruit are poisonous! Seems we had some of the sap of the tree on our hands and spread it onto our eyes, lips,and faces.....which began to burn! In fact, it burned for several days!
Live and learn....don't sit under that tree! We didn't see the signs until later!


New Years Day we had a late breakfast, a light lunch before heading to the dive shop to do a checkout dive. That night we enjoyed dinner at Sol Food and saw our friend, Sunshine. Dale and I shared a salad and pizza....Sunshine surprised me with a delicious brownie with ice cream and had the whole restaurant sing "Happy Birthday".
Diving filled the next few days...two boats dives every morning, but we didn't get back to the dock until almost 1:30 pm each day. Dale and I enjoyed a snorkel boat trip together with a stop at the "Blue Room" and a snorkel over a shipwreck.
The folks at the dive shop began working with the airlines trying to get us a flight back to Aruba to catch our flight home.....with not much luck! Finally we found a flight a day early and booked it.....Monique our friend in Aruba found us a room for the night, so our plans were set.
Our last full day we decided to drive into Punda and do some sightseeing and have lunch. I had read about a museum, and after a long, hot hike we found it. Taking a taxi back to the harbor we discovered our car had been booted for a parking violation. As we tried to figure out what to do....a young, very attractive woman and young man stopped and said to get in their car and they would take us to the office to pay the fine. It was kinda wild, but off we went....boy was this young lady a "Guardian Angel". Fine paid we crossed the swinging bridge to eat lunch in a cafe and watch the traffic along the waterway.
Our diver picked us up the next morning for our flight back to Aruba, were we grabbed a taxi for the trip to our room at the Camacurri Apartments for the night. We decided to go out and find some place for supper...........and after a very long walk we found ourselves in downtown Oranjestad at Iguana Joe's for dinner.
Not wanting to take any chances we arrived at the airport early....the process in Aruba is very long and tiring! Finally we boarded our flight and landed in Houston...driving home in a dense fog.
The trip was a real adventure, but we survived, had some laughs and made some great memories to cherish!

Xmas in Aruba 2011

In the early morning hours of Christmas Eve, we drove to Houston to catch our Continental flight to Aruba. Santa surprised Dale, as we boarded the plane, with First Class seats for the flight down and we really enjoyed the First Class treatment...they sure did spoil us! Sure gonna make sitting in the back stink! We arrived, picked up our rental car from Amigo and it was off to Sunset Beach Studios for our stay. Since the stores had closed early, they had stocked our apartment with the groceries I had requested in my email. We unpacked, had dinner on the patio as the sun set and turned in early.
I tried to get up early every morning and go for a walk on the beach....Dale even joined me one morning. Every evening we had a date to sit on the beach with a glass of wine and watch the beautiful sunsets....each better than the last.

We took the car and explored the island, noting the changes since our last visit two years ago. A couple of snorkel trips and relaxing under the shade of a Divi Divi tree filled our days. Soaking in the hot tub was on the schedule each afternoon.....providing a great way to relax. Dale caught up on his reading and working his puzzles, while I worked on my photos.
The week seemed to go by very quickly and soon we were packing for our flight to Curacao. This is where the adventure really begins.....a major glitch in our travel plans!