Jamaica Part 1

This trip was actually before the trip to North Texas that the previous post was about, but I couldn't pass up writing about such an amazing place! Nicole and I went to Jamaica on our honeymoon in December and it was the trip of a lifetime!! Unfortunately, we both were feeling a bit under the weather the day we flew out, but upon arrival with the warm weather and warm hospitality of the locals, we soon began to feel like ourselves again. Jamaica is home to bountiful green vegetation both by the ocean and in the mountains, perfect moderate temperatures and some of the nicest people in the world.

We decided to stay at the Sandals Grand Riviera Resort near the town of Ochos Rios, which we found was a great decision. It was an all-inclusive resort meaning that we paid a one-time up-front rate that included our airfare, room, food (unlimited) and drinks (unlimited as well), as well as many on-resort activities and events. The restaurants on the resort were unbelievable. Most of them were 4-5 courses with great wine accompanying meal. Our favorites were Valentino's, Italian, The marketplace, Caribbean cuisine, and the Manor Grill which was open almost all day with pizzas, burgers, nachos and Jamaican beef patties, maybe our favorite food of the trip.

A few things such as extra excursions (which occur off the resort), gifts, and spa credit could be purchased for extra. For these purchases, they give you a "purchase card" when you arrive that is waterproof and takes the place of a credit card so you don't have to lug everything around. The card credits the purchases to your credit card and you pay the total at the end of your stay. The grounds were beautiful with a variety of lush greenery, flowers, hidden pools and many places to relax in the shade.

Some of the grounds outside our building. Our building was up on the mountain, a little ways from the ocean.

The beach and small boardwalk at the other part of the resort.

Nicole and I before one of our fancy dinners.

The Manor Pool outside our building.

A little hidden pool buy the outdoor grill. There is a tile slide connecting two pools.

Our stay was close to perfect with the many Delicious dining options, outstanding friendly service by the staff and a few extras since we were honeymooners. We were given breakfast in bed one morning with all the food we selected and a bottle of champagne. Every night we had our beds turned down and were given the schedule of events for the next day. On our last day there at the resort, we treated ourselves to a days rental of a poolside cabana. This wasn't free, but we had some resort credit given to us for the wedding that we used (Thank you to the Coppedges, our close family friends and Wanda, our amazing travel agent). The rental included our own covered cabana bed, lounge chairs, towels, unlimited drinks from the pool bar, a three course lunch, a HUGE dessert, crackers and cheese for the wine, a fifteen minute massage for each of us from the spa staff, a couples photo session and to cap itall off, steak and shrimp for dinner (that we were too stuffed to finish from all the other food). Our concierge for the day, Stanford, took very good care of us and made a day we will surely remember for a long time.

Jamaica Part 2

Apart from hanging out and relaxing at the resort, we took two excursions which gave us great opportunities to experience the real Jamaica and the mountainous part of it's landscape. We went on a ziplining tour in the rainforest about half an hour from Ochos Rios that consisted of 9 zip lines! The drive up the mountain was bit daunting as a the 18 passenger bus crawled up the beaten and pot-holey road that I would probably use four wheel drive if i were on it. Our trusty driver, Joe, who also gave us a great tour of the town of Ochos Rios as we went to many hotels to pick people up had everything under control. The zip lines were a lot of fun, and one of them was actually straight down! What?!

The mountains rose quickly into the clouds up from the ocean.

Nicole with her Jamaican Pespi.

The Zipline tour took us through the top of the rainforest canopy.

The Landscape was thick with green plants and exotic trees.

Thick vines completely covered some of the trees.

Red Stripe. The local Brew.

The other excursion that we went on was a bike tour through a coffee plantation in the Blue Mountains. It took about 2 hours for our tour guide, Cleeve, to take us up the windy mountain road going through a couple of coffee towns, past a few waterfalls and dangerously near to two 1000 ft cliffs before we made it to the top where we got on the bikes. On the way down the mountain, we made a few stops so our bike guide, Venny, could show us the process they use to make the famous Blue Mountain coffee, other plants used for various remedies and a huge 150 year old tree that would have been used to make a canoe if had been closer to the water. At the end of our ride, we went to a waterfall that had a pool at the bottom of it that was supposedly a fountain of youth, taking away 10 years from anyone who swam in it. Cleeve told us that he is really 130 years old but after swimming it it 10times, he onlylooks like he is 30 years old. My question is, what happens to a child who is younger than 10 if they swim in it??? On the way back to the resort, they gave us lunch that consisted of Jamaican jerk chicken, rice and vegetables, it was excellent! The tour was a blast and we highly recommend it, but if you are wanting a good biking experience with good bikes, this isn't the tour.

It was a cloudy day, but the mountains were so high and impressive.

Coffee beans being dried by the road.

Nicole and I on our bike tour through the Blue Mountains.

We past several waterfalls on our ride.

The tree was over 150 years old and would have been cut down to make a canoe out of but it survived since it was so far away from the ocean.

Children in one of the small coffee towns in the mountains.

Small house in the coffee town.

Fountain of youth waterfall, it was freezing but we made the plunge!

Our trip to Jamaica was a trip of a lifetime and we had such a good time, we are wanting to go back some time soon. One of the factors that made it so great was the Jamaican people. They are so friendly and and laid-back and have such a positive, happy view of life. One of their sayings is, "Why work at something today, that could wait till tomorrow?" They insist that you use a couple words from their dialect during your stay in Jamaica. These words were, "ya'mon" which means yes (to either a male of a female, they told us repeatedly it was not a sexist word haha) and "Irie" which means great or wonderful. These are probably the two most common words there and they reflect the overall feel of Jamaica. We left on Christmas day and several of the staff were dressed up as Santa or elves and sang Christmas carols (some of the lyrics were right haha) as we departed.

This was taken during their rendition of "Jingle Bells."

NorthTexas

I know what some of you may be thinking, and you are right-no I don't care much for Texas. The recent trip I took to North Texas was a great chance to visit family I have there, relax, and pick up a few pieces of furniture for our living room. Although North Texas has never been a destination I ever desired to go to in the past, I can live with the idea now that I have family out there. Also, I am trying hard to find things to appreciate everywhere I go and write about them. One of the unique aspects of the geography that I thought was interesting was the rich red color of the soil. Since it was in the middle of winter, most of the crops were plowed up exposing the iron-rich red dirt. This dirt is actually quite a sight, especially when it is right next to green grass.

(Image courtesy of google images)

If you have never been to the northern part of Texas below the border of Oklahoma, it is similar to the Hill Country of Texas near San Antonia or Austin-some rolling hills with a lot of mesquite trees. There is quite a bit of farm land, but it doesn't cover every inch of the landscape as it does in West Texas. Also the hills are a nice change from the flattest land around in the west of Texas that we spent around 5 hours driving through on our way to Wichita Falls, the town where my grandparents, aunt and uncle and cousins now live.

(Image courtesy of google images)

Wichita Falls is a small city of about 100,000 people located about 15 miles south of the border of Oklahoma. A short 3 hours from Lubbock to the southwest and again 3 hours from Dallas to the southeast make it centrally located in rural surroundings with larger cities within driving distance. It is also a very easy city to get around in with a central highway cutting through and heading to the down town area.

One of the highlights of the trip was getting my first flying lesson in my uncle's Piper Cherokee. He was nice enough to take my dad and I up to for a quick flight before his afternoon lesson with a student. Apparently my first few turns were a little aggressive and steep, but hey, I didn't know any better. My dad did a lot better than me. He had his license years back and it was a nice refresher course for him that he loved. He completed takeoff on his own and even nailed a tricky landing with a heavy cross wind.

Our other activities during the stay in Wichita Falls included a tough bike ride in strong wind, games with the family, tasty dinners and we took my little cousin Anna to the play Cinderella on Saturday afternoon. It was great seeing the family and spending time with my parents on the trip there. Stay tuned for the next post!