So one thing I didn't talk about in my last post was some of the activities we did while we were in Aruba. Thanks to some very generous gifts from our wedding guests, we were able to have some once in a lifetime experiences.
One thing I never thought I'd do, was willingly get on a boat! Trust me, I almost changed my mind when I realized the boat we picked was NOT one of the ones that sailed up to the dock and let you walk on, but one that required you to get in a little dingy first (which you had to walk in the water to) and ride that out to the boat. Trust me, I was not happy!
The good news is, I found out that I can do catamarans! I loved how smooth the ride was - we didn't rock at all! (Which means no sea-sick Caitlin! YAY!) It was a great perspective of the island, we sailed from one end to the other, and of course it was a great view of the sunset! It was also super relaxing - can you believe I'm saying that about a boat ride!?
But my FAVORITE thing we did in Aruba, was go on a guided Jeep tour! This was amazing, fun, exhilarating, scary, everything! We got to see pretty much the entire island which was great, because I hadn't realized ahead of time that Aruba is pretty much a desert! It's totally my fault for not researching this trip AT ALL. After 3 or 4 different people recommended Aruba to me, and I looked at pictures of the resort (which was lush and full of palm trees), I booked the trip and returned my focus to planning the wedding.
So it was amazing to learn about the island a bit (#2 best drinking water in the world!), and see some great sites, including the first church that was ever built on the island, which still has the original tile, Mary and child statue, and cross from 1750 intact.
Our tour guide, Ralphie, was INSANE. His goal was to go off road as often as possible, go as fast as he could, and give us the ride of our lives! In part one of the video we start off pretty slow.. we're mostly on roads, and focusing on seeing sights. When we do go off road (on a field of coral) we're going slow enough that while it's bumpy, it's not TOO bad.
The second part of the tour is where things got really interesting. We went into the state park, which is pretty much just an empty desert. There aren't really roads, and when there were, our tour guide decided to go "Ralphie's way" and ignore the roads for going straight up the cliff instead. We had a ton of open space for him to to drive like a maniac and rattle us all around. This part of the island requires 4-wheel vehicles and any rental cars or "drive your own" jeep tours are forbidden. I was very, very glad to have an experienced (if crazy) driver. I was only afraid we were going to die a few times. (Okay maybe more than that, if you watch the video...) We did have seat belts though!
We had so much fun, and made memories we'll never forget. The whole trip was perfect and just what we needed. Relaxing after all the planning and logistics that the wedding required, some quality time just the two of us that allowed us to bond and get even closer (and talk non stop about the wedding!) and some fun adventures!