[Andrea J.]

• american airlines non stop from boston 1013 flight uneventful and almost full 1/8/09 american airlines 1044 nonstop aruba flight 1044 to boston only 80 seats sold and the plane was 1/2 empty.
• casinos terrible luck we lost most nights alhambra still very smokey and warm. marriott still the most comfortable. keylargo hurting for business. new casino near the aruban...........no progress is being made on the renovation/refit. still looks the same as when we saw it in october 08 and april 08.
• car rental we got a fine toyota yaris from TROPIC for a good price good service great airconditioning great customer service

and gas is under $4 per gallon

• lacabana brc we had unit 128A used our bluegreen points good unit and not has been renovated yet
• restaurants in no particular order B55 = excellent and reasonably priced good steak Tulip= good as always and good chicken sate', good mixed grill, good tossed salads! MJ= went 2x had chicken ceasar salad 2x and lobster ravioli Lindas= delicious tenderloin sate' and magnificent tomato soup went 2x. Wacky Wahoo= paul and i had the best seafood that we have EVER had on island. he had the pan fried grouper and i had the pan fired wahoo. excellent! Pam Pam= paul had great ribs and kathy and i had "just ok" lasagna. we'd go again but would not order the lasagna...............and also no dressing for the salads.....what;s up with that?
• new and old friends lizarubalover was on island for a month! we met up with her during her last week at lacabana and enjoyed the company of she and her sister our new friend katherine. also too met up with lil and bill from guilford nh and their friends! we had a blast meeting many.
• bulletin board gathering at amsterdam manor beach bar met up with liz, katherine, tom and karen, eagle beach boy (gary) and wife linda, and tom (as in tom and pam)
• dental visits see separate thread
• shark teeth hill see separate thread
• island tour from cyrillo croes ....a real tour with tons of history and anecdotes! highly recommend his services for tours or regular taxi service
• weather outstanding one day we had overcast with a few sprinkles for a few hrs. sun came out early afternoon.
• observations/opinions things seem to be SLOW and uncrowded. unsure if it is related to the economy, i assume it is.

so i guess that is it.
going to aruba never gets old but writing trip reports do.
it is always the same............we always have to come home.
we are pretty boring folks. we spend all day outdoors at beach and pool. we eat out most evenings. we gamble a little. we go to bed b4 midnight.
i guess we are old.

andrea