BEACH BEACH BEACH BEACH BEACH

Before we made our way to the top of Mount Isabela, Bob stopped at the side of the road for some coconuts. He bought them green and had the vendor slice the top off one and pour us a cup of freshy-fresh coconut water. Not coconut milk, mind you. There's a difference. The coconut water is much more nutrient rich. In fact, when the coconuts are not quite ripe and the juice is still water and not milk, the fluid very closely resembles the chemical composition of human plasma. It was used for transfusions in WWII. Amazing fun fact of the day! 

I was proud of Nicco for trying the water. He said it was pretty good but then he didn't want any more. It's an acquired taste, you might say. Even though he didn't like it so much, at least he tried it!

After our tours of the mountain and the fort, we had to stop at a Dominican Walmart before we could head to the beach. We came home and dropped off the groceries and found a fun surprise from Mary.

 She made our beds and folded our clothes in a cute and whimsical fashion.

Nicco was very pleased! He likes fun surprises.

And now, a shameless plug. We got home in time to take care of the groceries and then head out to Bob and Pat's condo on the beach. They have new renters coming in and Pat needed to greet them and give them their keys. Here's the plug: if you ever find yourself on vacation in the DR, rent this condo. It is nicely furnished, it is air conditioned, it even has a full size washer and dryer. A rarity, apparently. There is a bbq on the deck and you can rent it for any amount of time. And the owners are incredibly nice!

The deck looks down on the pool...each pod has its own pool, so they aren't too crowded. However, the reason they aren't crowded may be the fact that this is the walk to the beach:

 Two minutes, max. Along a private path so you don't have to brave the traffic.

A hibiscus lined path, even!

 

Pat had to remain behind to take care of the incoming tenants while the rest of us headed to the beach. The plan was to meet her near a particular restaurant, but it took us a while to get to the appointed rendez-vous point.

Nicco found a friend. This little Dominican boy was playing in the water. The two of them played together as we made our way down the coast.

They spoke the universal language of children. It sounds something like, "hee hee hee hee!!!! Ha ha ha ha!!!!! Weeeeeee!!!! Hee hee hee!!!!!"

 We finally made it to our stopping place and Nicco got in the water with his daddy.

We all had a chance to get tossed about by the waves. I was first in the water with the boy and Patrice asked me how it was. He was surprised when I said it was like the pool in July. Soooo awesome!

We could only drag the kid away with promises of more beach tomorrow. With sand in our britches, we headed home.

And the sun set on a beautiful day.

Fort San Felipe

The Dominican Republic is I think the second place Columbus set foot when he went about exploring the New World. Fort San Felipe was constructed in 1540 by the Spaniards as a defense against corsairs and as a prison for smugglers. The city was torched in 1605 and the fort was the only surviving structure. 

East of the fort in the Parque Luperon is a statue of the general who ruled the country for a year from Puerto Plata.

Both the Dominican and the city flag of Puerto Plata fly at the top of the fort. 

 

Nicco and Patrice made it past the aggressive vendors peddling their wares.

One of the towers.

An old cannon at one of the turrets.

Nicco, guarding the fort. He loved the guided audio tour. He paused his recording every once in a while to tell me an interesting fact, which I had just heard on my own device. I think he felt like a big kid. Very much in charge of his own experience.

I made him stand in front of this door to give perspective on the size. The entries were short so that any enemies who managed to sneak through would be greeted by a machete as they bent over to get through the doorway.

The bed of the former moat is all black coral.

A narrow stairway up to the towers and lookouts.

My boys, looking out.

Nicco found a niche, just his size.

The views from the fort were once again, spectacular.

When Bob and Pat picked us up at the airport, Nicco said, "Vamos a la playa!" Watching the waves crashing against the shore was killing him. He was seriously like an addict jonesing for a fix. Must.Play.In.The.Ocean.

 

Poor little boy of mine had to endure a few errands before he could dip his toes in the surf, but the mama got her history/museum fix!

Mount Isabela de Torres

In preparation for our trip, I did some research about the areas surrounding Bob and Pat's home. I sent them a list of things I thought we would like to do and see. Bob returned my list with notes saying things like we already have plans for this and this and this, you will probably die if you do that, and we can fit this in on one of your days.

 

On my list was taking the tram to the top of Mount Isabela. Bob said we can drive up there. I was very slightly disappointed, but since Pat has a fear of heights and since they have been so generous and accommodating, I figured it was just as well. 

On the ride to the mountain, we heard some more details about the funicular. Apparently it has broken down once or twice and even without a fear of heights, one is wise to have a healthy fear of Dominican "fixes."  I was happy to take the road.

The Dominicans are unfamiliar with the idea of switchbacks, so the steep grade sign was not an exaggeration. In fact, I think that riding up to the top of the mountain in Bob's 4-wheel drive vehicle was at least as thrilling as the cable car would have been.

You really don't get a concept from the photo of how steep the road is. But trust me, it is steep.

The view from the top of the mountain. Spectacular!

At the summit, there was a group of school kids posing and taking pictures and being loud and happily obnoxious as teenagers tend to be.

Nicco wanted to balance on his walk up to the main attraction.

But first, a quick trip to Rio.

Just kidding. At the top of the mountain is this downsized version of the original statue of Christ the Redeemer found in Rio de Janeiro. If you angle your camera just right, you can hold hands with Our Lord and Savior.

Que Dios nos Bendiga. We are getting a little blessing on our family.

 

After we saw the statue and the view and posed and looked around, we went for a small walk along the manicured garden paths.

When it was time to head down, Nicco was worried about the steep drive. He thought it would be way freakier going down than coming up, but it wasn't as bad as he expected. It was a fun excursion and an interesting introduction to the history and culture of the Dominican.

Arrival in the D.R.

We are on vacation, folks!

 

We have good friends from Colorado who retired to the Dominican Republic about six years ago. We've been saying we should visit some day, but you know how time and circumstances often conspire against you.

 

Some Day finally arrived. Nicco is on fall break, therefore we minimize the missed school days. Although, just driving around this town is a greater education than he could hope for in a week of school!

 

When Nicco woke up on Monday, he came skipping down the hall with a cheshire grin squealing "It's today! It's today!" He'd been packed for a week already. When the Daddy got home we loaded up, gave the kitty some extra scratches, and headed to the airport for the first of three flights.

 

It took us as long to get to the DR as it does to get to France. Each of the three flights was only a couple of hours, but the waiting in between! There are no direct flights from AZ to Miami, so we had to spend the night in Dallas. We were planning to get a hotel, but then we realized that after getting off the plane, to the hotel, checking in, and getting up in time for the morning flight we would be in the hotel for about three hours. We camped out in a lounge instead. 

 Before we settled in for our long wait, Nicco entertained himself with this sonic labyrinth. It was pretty cool...when you changed your path, the speed and strength of your footsteps, you changed the tone and rhythm of the sounds in the maze.

 Nicco was totally travel-wired. He could not settle. We got him a movie on his tablet, but even that didn't work. Finally I put two chairs together, and tickled his forehead until he crashed.

 We flew in to the island over these heavy black clouds. Nicco predicted a rainstorm, but the clouds just blew away.

 We were all happy to have landed and see our friends again!

They have a charming maid who greeted us with fun towel critters. Nicco was slightly distressed when he went to bed and had to destroy his swan.

We ate and visited and relaxed and then went to bed. Roughly 2 seconds after our heads hit the pillows, we were out and down for the count.

Nashinl Nite Out

The Oro Valley Police Department put on a community event geared toward kids and families, promoting personal and community safety.

The school announced the event and Nicco put it on the calendar. He sounded out the words as he wrote it down, then with his big blue eyes he asked me if it was right. He was so pleased with himself It almost broke my heart to tell him he was wrong. I told him he sounded it out perfectly. I'm not a participation award type mom, I believe that not correcting mistakes kids make to spare their fragile feelings is more damaging than making a mistake, so I did point out that "national" and "night" are some of those weird words that we can't quite sound out.

We arrived at the parking lot to lights and sirens. Nicco climbed in a fire truck, an ambulance, and a pre-fab mobile home from which he practiced escaping in case of fire.

I was smart enough to bring the camera, but not smart enough to make sure the battery was charged before we left. This is the only picture I took. Boo!

He saw a few friends and was really happy. We tagged along with a boy whose dad is an OVPD officer. That was nice...maybe a little out of school time will help them be better friends in school. They made a deal to wear their plastic Junior Oro Valley Police Officer badges to school tomorrow.

We saw a traffic stop demonstration and a K9 demonstration. The police dog was awesome. He had a big chomp.

I learned that the police will drive by your house if you're gone for 7 days or more to do perimeter security checks, and they will come in and replace your smoke detector batteries for free. Or for taxes, actually. Nothing is free. Hear me people, NOTHING IS FREE!!! (breathe, Tam.)

Target gave away popcorn and balloons, and my boy was in heaven.

The Old Highway's a Callin'

Two years ago, almost to the day, Dan came down from Denver to join Patrice on a 5-day motorcycle ride through Arizona and Southern Utah. Neither Patrice nor Dan had a bike that was made for a long ride like that, so they rented a couple of touring bikes.

2010

The Big Ride was one of the greatest experiences in both their young lives and they swore that one day they would own bikes like the ones they borrowed for the first trip and then do it again. As it happens, "One Day" is today. 

2012

Here they are, just about to hit the road, only this time, they're both on their own bikes. Nicco would say the pictures are "the same, but different."

They turned their wheels just so, in order for me to get the 21s in the picture. I know that is something awesome in guy/motorcycle speak, so I hope I got what they wanted.

Then while they were moving vehicles around to their proper parking spots for the week the bikes were parked nose to nose. I think I was supposed to take another picture of them. I actually thought I took a picture when Dan turned his bike just so, with the sun gleaming on the chrome. Apparently I missed the shot I thought I had, and this is what I ended up with. Somehow, I think I may be fired as the official Big Ride photographer in the future.

They took off noisily down the road. Off on another grand adventure.

I asked Nicco what he wanted to do for fun while the Daddy is gone. He slumped his little shoulders, hung his little head, and said, "Nothing is fun without him."