Recap of our vacation

[sunnysmiles]

We left on March 13th, flying into Chicago from our little hometown airport. We had a couple hour layover so we went to breakfast. Recognized a couple that have the room next to ours at Caribbean Palm so we sat and chatted with them. Discovered our plane was going to be arriving an hour late from Baltimore so our flight to Aruba was delayed an hour. We were still at our room before 5pm though! Loved having the direct flight from Chicago to Aruba!

Our neighbors had a rental car and were kind enough to ask us if we wanted to go to Ling & Sons with them that evening. They also invited us to join them a couple times at Arashi beach (Very nice beach) and we went to dinner with them towards the end of the week. We had heard people raving about the Cafe Rembrandt so we went there and were very pleased with the food and the prices (2 dinners for $27 US!)

Restaurants we went to our first week while at Caribbean Palm:
Cafe Rembrandt (loved it-went again the following week)
Pizza Bobs
Bingo! Restaurant (very good dinner, prices $24-$28/meal)
Benni Hanna (our 2nd time there and still aren't impressed-no intentions of going back)
Linda's Pancakes (breakfast-I liked my dutch pancake but dh didn't care for it)

Saturday the 20th we moved to Dutch Village.
Sunday we went downtown to hit some stores-lots of them were closed but that made dh very happy. There were enough for me for the time we were there. We walked around, got ice cream (perfect for the hot day!) and went on the helicopter tour. We went 2 years ago and were almost as impressed the 2nd time around. It's just fun flying and seeing the island from that level. We saw the windmills on the island which we didn't know were there.

The other excursion/tour we did (Tuesday) was the Green Zebra tomcar tour. How fun!!! We were picked up at 8:30 and had to go to the cruise terminal. Four of the eight people were there waiting but we had to wait about 20 minutes for the other four people to show up. We got out to the ostrich farm, signed papers, etc. and we were off. We did the Baby Beach tour because we hadn't been to any caves or to the Seroe Colorado natural bridge. We went to Baby Beach 2 years ago but didn't get to snorkel or stay long. Our guide had snorkels and masks for us so we got to snorkel for about 30-35 minutes. It was such a great time! We were filthy when we got back but nothing a good shower couldn't help! Well worth it!

Other than that we pretty much went from the pool, to the beach, to the room, repeat over and over again. One day we went to the Butterfly Farm because we were across the street checking out the Divi Phoenix. The butterfly farm was really neat. There were a lot of kids in the group we toured with. The guide was very patient with the kids but not the adults (somewhat understandable). It just rubbed me the wrong way a little. I think our experience would've been different with a different group. I left thinking I wouldn't go back.

Saturday morning we went to Matthews for breakfast and met a good online friend (we've "known" each other for 9 years). Her and her husband were on a cruise and came into port that morning. It was so great to finally meet them in person. We visited until we had to go. We sent them up to Eagle Beach to enjoy the day!

Saturday (27th) our flight was scheduled to leave at 1:50. My inlaws kept insisting we didn't need to be there 3 hrs prior but I wasn't taking the chance. My SIL and her boyfriend listened the them and got there 2 hours before their flight. They left Dutch Village about 20 minutes before us and their flight was scheduled to leave at 12:30. They were rushing and very anxious wondering if they were going to make it. We got to our gate and decided to grab a bite to eat. We saw them running to board their plane. No thank you!!
As crowded as it was I must say everything went very smoothly and at a good pace.

Coming into the airport there were so many people we could barely get in the doors with our luggage. We flew United so we were looking for that line. We found it and there wasn't one person in their line so that was awesome! I think the long long line was US Air and they had 2 or 3 flights going out where United only had the one (from what we could tell).

Restaurants we hit our 2nd week:
Cafe Rembrandt (again)
Mulligans a couple times
Salt & Pepper
Madame Janette (best ever IMO)
Pizza Bob's (again)
French Steakhouse (we find it funny that it's a steakhouse and only has like 3 steak dinners on their menu but the food and service is excellent!!)

Overall we had a great time. We both got a nice tan to make the people back home very jealous. I'm still relaxed after 2 days of work. I know it's not going to last but I still feel like I'm on cloud 9 from our trip!

[Andrea J.]

thanks for sharing your trip with us!!

:-)

[aruba here I come]

sounds like a great trip.....

[Love Aruba]

AWWWW Sounds like you had a great time. Thanks for letting us know about your trip. I love reading these, seems like you are there. I just can't wait!

[sunworshipperII]

Awesome report, I will have to try cafe rembrandt next trip,we almost went this past year but didn't have enough nights....too many restaurants...

[fry120]

Thanks for the report. It sounds like you had a wonderful time.

[Liz - Aruba Lover]

Thanks for you report. Sounds like you had a good time.

[felle442]

Thanks for sharing....2 months to go and counting......

[luckylady30]

Sounds wonderful.... we are on countdown. I can already taste the Balashi

[KATH2ME]

sounds like you had a really nice time

Luckylady30,, wow 6 days, have a great time