On To New Places

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We decided I had procrastinated just about long enough & thought it was time to get this updated (Should have done it  months ago).
Anyway, this is a little different from our usual format, as we are giving you our last 3 months in the Dominican Republic before the end of the year.  Enjoy!

Jan 3 thru March 27, 2014 After spending three of our last four Winters in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, we decided that, although we wanted to return to the D.R. this year, a change in location was needed. After extensive research, Karen found what appeared to be a great ocean site condo some 25 minutes from Santo Domingo. Now, as we wind down our last days here, we have concurred this is the finest location we have stayed at over our last 30 years of globetrotting. The temperature is a near constant mid-seventies nights & mid-eighties days. However, although this location is beautiful, it won’t please anyone that has a frequent need to see or do things. While there are historical places to visit (after all, this was where Columbus started his New World adventures), it will require renting a car & two hour plus drives. Our 12 story condo is one of five that make up a quarter moon shape compound. From our fourth floor balcony in tower three, you are first struck by the beautiful view of the beach and ocean through the numerous palm trees, rolling, pounding waves over a barrier reef and a near constant gentle breeze. Had someone told us South Pacific was filmed here, we wouldn’t have doubted them for a moment. The temperature & breeze are so constant & cool we only used the A/C a few hours on a couple occasions.

                        

We had a very nice condo with beautiful beach & ocean views.  Our favorite place was the balcony.  We had a nice table for eating & a fabulous L shaped couch, with nice thick cushions & plenty of room for Collins, Karen & Snuggles to stretch out for a nap.  We started every morning with coffee & breakfast out there.  We also had evening drinks there.

                       

The beach is all but your own private one five & a half days a week: the locals, both unit owners & non-owners, turn out only on Saturday afternoons & Sundays. In addition, since there are no large tracks of land for corporations to build their mammoth all-inclusives, you do not get the problems they create: tour boats, hawkers on the beach & their numerous guests making the place look like Miami. In addition, while all beaches in the Dominican Republic are accessible by law to locals, there is a clear understanding where complex beaches start & theirs end, and they religiously adhere to it. Security is excellent. Not only are there multiple complex guards on the beach 24/7 but they also patrol the condo floors each evening. On top of that, every lobby is staffed, there is a central closed circuit TV monitoring station & gaining access through the front gates is extremely tight. Even guests visiting owners require the owner’s presence and wear wrist tags.

                      

 As is Karen’s habit, within a couple days of arrival, she had met most all of the North Americans staying at the compound & had organized a weekly social hour next to one of the pools. It took no time for this to catch on & most everyone showed up to compare notes on restaurants & other bits of information, or otherwise just for drinks & socializing. And surprisingly, for the first time in several years, there were more U.S vs. Canadians present.                 

  Snuggles, of course, is with us & has clearly taken to being here in the same fashion as we. She loves her three times a day walks on the beach, is known by all the employees & likes attending the social hour where she is fawned upon. We found it amusing to watch her take her perch each morning on one of our balcony couches so she could enjoy the breeze & stare at the beach activity while we enjoyed our coffee. It didn’t take us long to realize she was enjoying the view and breeze just as much as we. She is going to be one unhappy puppy when we leave.

 

We also had some company while we were there.  We had met Sally & Allan in Panama last year.  They ended up going to Punta Cana, which was about a 2 hour drive from us.  They rented a car & came for a couple night visit.  It was great to see them again.

                          

We also had our yearly visitor, Karen's friend Sue Hollingsworth.  She & Karen have been best friends since 8th grade & are closer than sisters.  She comes every year for about 2 weeks.  Her goal is to stay out of the sun & read as many books as possible.

                            

One of our major problems with Panama was the lack of restaurants. This location has no less than 6 serving great food at reasonable prices, plus a slew of good but more limited menus at other sites. Most all, including a weight killing bakery, are within easy walking distance. And finally in the food category, there are several large supermarkets about 20 minutes away; transportation is plentiful & somewhat reasonable. To offset all of these culinary delights, Karen has taken to walking up the four flights of stairs to our condo and swimming a mile most every day in one of the two massive pools. Meanwhile, Collins does a daily work out at the gym biking 15 miles, lifting weights & doing 50 to 100 sit-ups with a 25 lb. weight on his chest. All of this is in addition to the daily beach walks with Snuggles. Since there are no scales anywhere in the complex, we’ll have to wait until our stateside return to see how successful, if any, these endeavors have been. We also had friends we had met in Punta Cana there.  We met Gayle & Doug our first year in Punta Cana & they were there all 3 years we were.  Some days we met in the pool & other days we didn’t see each other at all.  we did enjoy going to dinner together.  We really enjoyed the time we spent together there.  They decided to take a day trip to Santo Domingo & invited us to go along.  Collins didn’t go, but Karen did. 

Gayle & Karen

Our first stop was a National Park with 3 underground Lakes.  It was called Los Tres Ojos.  They were a beautiful clear blue.

 

  On our way to the Colonial area of Santo Domingo we passed this tribute to the Sugar Cane Farmers.  They still harvest, using oxen & wagons



We also wandered thru the Colonial Zone, which is the historic central neighborhood of Santo Domingo and the oldest permanent European settlement of the New World.  Unfortunately, our taxi driver didn’t speak much English & we didn’t speak Spanish, so we didn’t really get the whole story.  Catedral Santa María La Menor, is the oldest cathedral built in the Americas.   We also saw the Dominican Republic President’s Palace 

Doug & Gayle

                                   

From what we have heard, this area was a favorite vacation site some 10 years ago until it took a direct hit from a hurricane. After that, tourists abandoned this area for Punta Cana. It is now being re-found & again loved. Our compound is extremely well run, perhaps because so many wealthy locals own units here (including the U.S. Ambassador to the D.R. on the floor below us & several professional U.S. baseball players). On weekends, all of the high end car models are well represented. The employees all know some level of English and, while we try to improve our Spanish, they are all trying to improve their English. Makes for conversing interesting & not terribly difficult. They all go out of their way to not only be polite but very friendly. There appears to be very little turn-over & they appear to really enjoy working here. To say the compound is impeccably clean is an understatement; Disney management could learn a few things from these folks.

While we were there, they decided it was time to trim the palm trees.  The “brave” gardener climbs the palm trees & hacks the old palm branches with a machete.  He climbs those tall swaying trees barefoot & sits among the branches as he works.

               

And finally, the compound has a masseuse that gives a great one hour massage for $20 U.S., a lady that cuts your hair for $7, a maid for $15 a day that Karen raves about & the modern fitness center. While we won’t be returning here in 2015 due to plans to spend some time in Europe, we already have our present unit reserved for 2016.  We have returned to IL for 2 weeks.  This is the time for final Dr. appts & all the other little things we need to do.  This year is going to be a little different for us.  One of our long time tenants is moving & since the house was built in 89, it needs a major rehab.  So we've also spent the last week at Home Depot, picking out flooring, cabinets, etc.  We're bringing the RV back to IL the last week of May for our grandson's High School graduation & will stay thru June to rehab the house.  Should be fun - NOT.  We think we'll probably stay in Michigan & Wisconsin for the rest of the summer before working our way toward New Mexico.  We're going to a huge Balloon Festival there in the beginning of Oct. We'll keep you all posted!


Dec 1- Jan 3 We left our RV in storage in Altus, OK the end of November & started our annual journey back to IL for the holidays, arriving the weekend after Thanksgiving.  It’s nice having a month there so we can see all the kids & grandkids, do the Dr.  appts, etc without having to rush around like crazy people.  As it was, the month flew by. 
Lucky for us, my brother Rob & his wife Lisa graciously let us stay with them while we’re there.  It’s really great, because we don’t have to live in a hotel room & we don’t have to act like guests.  Collins & I pitch in with the cooking, cleaning, etc & it’s just like home.  Even Snuggles has decided it’s time to be friends with their dog, Cody. 
While we were there, we had a chance to enjoy some of the grandkid’s activities.  Our granddaughter, Becca, is our basketball star.  We were able to see a couple of her games – they won!

Our youngest grandchild, Katie, is a cheerleader.  Her team was invited to the State Championship, so I was able to spend some time watching her team do their routine.  She’s 11 & those girls are so cute.  They just put their hearts into it.

Katie & Karen

Katie

                   

Katie's Team

Paula, Katie & Pam

                                               

Katie & I were left to ourselves this year to make the Gingerbread House, the boys weren’t interested & Becca was too busy.  We had a good time & Katie was creative as usual.

               

We wanted to see one of Tyler’s basketball games, but unfortunately, the one we were planning to attend got cancelled.  Tyler & Ryan & Danny play baseball, so hopefully we get to see them play when we return in April. 
Danny will be graduating high school in May & we’re very proud of him.  He was offered a scholarship to play baseball at Judson University starting next year.  He’s very excited about that & we were on hand when he signed his contract with them.

Judson Coach, Danny, Paula & Dave

Collins, Danny & Karen

                 

Tyler, Danny & Becca

Having a month there, also gave us time to catch up with friends.  I was able to have lunch with a couple of my friends & we had dinner with some former neighbors & some former Real Estate friends.  We hadn’t seen Vicky & Alex in about 5 years.  It was a lot of fun catching up.

Alex, Vicky, Collins & Karen

Our daughter, Pam, her daughter Katie & I also took a long weekend trip to KY to visit my 88 yr old mom.  One of my sisters live close by, so we were able to stay with her.  We had really nice visit with mom, taking her shopping & just spending time with here.  Katie helped her decorate her Christmas tree, while Pam & I put together her new TV stand.



Karen's Mom, Katie & Karen

Mom, Katie & Pam

       

                                     


Of course, we also had the Christmas holidays.  We had our annual Christmas Eve Dinner with Rob, Lisa, daughters Megan, Kelly & Courtney, & our niece Vicki.

Vicky, Megan, Rob, Lisa & Courtney

Vicky, Megan, Courtney, Lisa & Kelly

                         

Vicky, Courtney, Megan & Kelly show off their Christmas Jammies

Rob, Megan, Courtney & Kelly model their Christmas Gifts

                   

Collins shows off a winning lottery scratch off

                                             
Christmas Day was spent with our kids & grandkids.  Our daughter Paula & her family have been hosting Christmas since we moved from our house.  She called me in a panic around noon that day.  It seems that Danny had been helping her put the groceries away & he thought she wanted the hams in the freezer.  Paula thought they were in the frig until she got ready to check the cooking instructions.  Lucky for all of us, we don’t eat until later in the day, so I told her to cook them on low for a longer period of time & figured all would be well.  The hams were cooked in plenty of time, Danny’s life was spared & we all had a wonderful day & a great meal.  Paula told our other daughter, she didn’t care what happened, Pam would have Christmas at her house next year.

Collins, Karen, Danny, Katie, Ryan, Tyler & Becca

Pam, Ryan, Aaron, Katie

                  

Paula, Becca, Dave, Tyler & Danny

Paula, Kerry & Doug

                      

Collins, Pam, Aaron, Dave

Dave, Paula & Kerry

                       

Danny, Paula & Kerry

Kerry & Doug

                           

Becca, Pam & Katie

Doug & Aaron

                         

Ryan & Tyler

We left IL for the Dominican Republic Jan 2.  Our weather had been horrible the day before, very low temps & more snow to go with it.  We weren’t sure if we’d get out of Chicago that morning.  We were delayed 1 1/2 hrs & missed our connecting flight in Atlanta.  There wasn’t much we could do, but wait for the flight the following day.  Delta was nice enough to give us hotel & meal vouchers, so we really couldn’t complain.  Unlike some of our fellow passengers who only had 4 nights to begin with, when you’re going somewhere for 3 months, missing 1 day is no big deal.  The next morning we boarded our flight & off we went.