This DR trip had all the people that mean the most to me.  My Bestest bestest friends in the whole wide world.  And though this was a really great trip, it was sooooo much better because my Friends where there.  Well, you met them on day one of this DR blog series, now just watch the slide show to see some of what we did together in the Dominican Republic.

Tomorrow my Dominican Republic series comes to and end.  Just like our trip ended.  So, I’ll share pictures of some of the fun.  Hopefully you’ll see why we are going back this year.

To tripping the light fantastic.

This is post 7 of 8

We quickly settled into a little routine.  In the afternoon, usually after lunch at Azuls, where we also had cocktails, we would sit at this outdoor smoothie bar that overlooked a lucious part of the property.   We were first drawn to this spot because it was the only bar that served us Grey Goose. (Jennifer and I’s Vodka of choice).

This is the second reason we went back daily.  It is a watermelon smoothie made with Grey Goose.  It was cold, refreshing and delicious.  We consumed lots of these during the week.

Now remember we had liquor in our villa as well.  The highlight drinking game at the Villa was “Circle of Death”, our cruise director, Jennifer, had prepared lots of games for us to play during the week.  But Circle of Death brought some of us close to death on a couple of days.

If we weren’t at our Smoothie Bar, it was because we had spent the afternoon at Serenity Beach.  This was one of our bartenders at the beach bar.  We did occasionally get off our lounge beds or out of our hammocks and sat at the bar to chat with our bartender.

Depending on our mood, we drank a variety of cocktails, a plethora of shots, and this bar always had an unlimited supply of Mimosa’s.

Our night time spot was the VIP Pool Bar, and our #1 Bartenders for the week Janelly & Eddie.  They took real good care of us all week.  Never let our glasses get empty, mixed up lots of new stuff to try and worked their way into our hearts.  We hated leaving them at the end of the week as much as the resort.

Our week came to an end, and we had to leave.  As we sat at the airport waiting for our flight we figured.  Hey, we were going home, it was time for the last hooray.  So as we made a meal of Pringles, and had our last Grey Goose, we ended our trip as we started it –  Just Having fun.

Good Food, Good Fun and tomorrow Good Friends!

Post 6 of 8

There is nothing more relaxing than laying out by a pool, working on my tan and reading a book.

The pool you’re seeing above is our villa pool.  This was our own private pool.  This was a new luxury that we hadn’t had on any of our previous vacations, and let me tell you – I don’t know how we’re are going to survive at the  ”common”  group pool ever again.

Having our own pool gave us the opportunity to hang out here in the evenings.   Have cocktails after dinner, or quite mornings with access to the morning sun.  Believe me, it was the source of much fun.  Most of which will stay in the DR, (cause we’re not telling).

The resort property had several other pools, that were beautiful.  So, I guess that if  we had to hang out at the common pool, it would still be enjoyable.

There was a VIP Pool as well.  Though it is beautiful, we didn’t spend our days here.  But we did spend our Nights here.  The pool bar was our nightly drinking hangout.  And the home of what became our favorite DR Bartenders –  Eddie and Janelly.  They were wonderful, attentive, and we went to see them every night.

Beaches

This resort had 3 beaches, The VIP Beach, Harmony Beach, and Serenity Beach.

The VIP Beach was limited to VIP members only.  It had great cabana’s, a bar and waiters that served you drinks, plus a Sushi Bar.

As Beautiful as this is, we didn’t spend one minute here.

Harmony Beach was the smallest of the 3 beaches.  We didn’t lay out here at all, but we did enjoy the pool bar on two separate occasions.  The Bartenders here were very nice and the food here was excellent.

Serenity Beach – This became our favorite Beach.  If we weren’t at the pool, and doing other things on the resort, we could be found here.  This was the quiet beach with lovely hammocks and yes, a bar with attentive bartenders.

We spent some mornings here, starting with Mimosa’s.  Stayed to have Alex (left picture) bring us lunch.  Slept the afternoon away is the warm breeze, and drank until we had to tell Alex – “No More”

Soothing waves roll onto the Beach

Open Beaches of the Resort

I enjoyed strolling along these beaches on my morning walks.

The series continues tomorrow with the fun – It’s Friday and it’s Happy Hour somewhere so join me for the DR Booze Fest!

This is post 5 of 8

There are 3 VIP  Restaurants on this Lifestyles resort and we had reservation at Simply Gourmet the first night.

This restaurant was elegant, with a very attentive wait staff.  Seafood and Steak were featured on this menu.  We enjoyed are meal on our first evening in the DR. – We enjoyed it so much we went twice, that says it all.

My favorite of the three VIP restaurants was Jazz.  It had a New Orleans themed menu, featuring some cajun dishes.  But it had none of the laid back feel of New Orleans.  Jazz was jazzy!  The decor was white walls, with wispy white floor to ceiling sheers and bright royal blue accent.  There were wide comfortable chairs and sofas at some of the tables.  Soft jazz music played while you ate.  This is a great spot for a romantic dinner.   Oooh, but I’m suppose to be talking about the Food.  Any cajun or creole restaurant is judged by it gumbo.   Again we passed up trying another restaurant to eat here twice.  The gumbo was good, I ordered it both times.

Azul is the third VIP restaurant and they served lunch daily.  We didn’t find that out til late in the week.  But guess what ? ? ?  We liked it so much we went two days in a row.  Do you see a theme here.  This is reason number one that we have to go back to the DR.  We have restaurants yet to experience.  Another big plus for Azul’s was that they had excellent cocktails, and  lovely outdoor seating.  The restaurant is located in the tower which put it about 4 stories up.  The view of the property was wonderful from there.  The lunch menu was creative and delicious.  We enjoyed ourselves.

GOOD FOOD . . .  I’d have to say yes.  This was just 3 VIP restaurants.  The property has a Brazillian, Italian, Mexican and Seafood restaurants. Plus we had a good amount of our lunches at the excellent pool bars and restaurants.  I’m guessing I’m going to have to do a day on pools and beaches – and to think I started this with 3 post.  Well, tune in tomorrow for more on our Dominican Republic Vacation.

Good Food, Good Friends,  Good Fun

This is post 4 of 8

I am too happy to let Jennifer do her thing.  We are all given cocktails, while she makes sure we are all checked in.

After our long trip, we are ready to relax and have some fun.  Our Villa is two houses joined together by a large backyard with our own private pool and patio area.  For VIP members (which we were),  you are provided with 3 bottles of liquor a day, and the frig is stocked with beer and water.

This is not our Villa - But you get the idea

Each morning our cook, Edwina, came by the Villa, and prepares breakfast.  It was really beautiful to sit outside in the morning and eat with food prepared by someone else.  Breakfast was something that we all managed to attend almost every morning.

Eating and drinking are a big part of all our vacations, and this resort didn’t disappoint.  The next blog will focus on just the food, and the many restaurants located on this property.

Good Food, will be our next installment, tune in tomorrow for more DR adventures

Post 3 of 8 in DR Series

A sidebar for this story   - I don’t have a cell phone on this trip.  So I can’t call anyone.  I can only rely on the information from airport agents, and the information Jennifer gave me before we left.  Ok,  so I pull out my laptop while I wait.  I e-mail Mr. Bishop, tell him Buffalo flight is delayed, but I’m waiting for him at the airport, cocktail in hand – yeeew haaaw – we are ready to party.  .  .  .  .   .  .  .  .  .      (long response time) .  .   .  .  .  .  (heck I figure he must have boarded the plane and they made him turn his cell phone off) .  .  .  .    .   and then I get. .  .  .  .

“I’m sorry, I’m not going to be able to make the trip – I had an emergency.  Tell Nette and Bob I’m sorry.”  So of course I write back what happened.  He replies:  “I can’t get into it right now, I’ll talk to you later.”  Well, I’m kinda bummed about that, in addition to it being vacation, this is my time to see all my friends, and yes I’m extremely disappointed and worried.  Oh well, the Buffalo troop finally arrives, and after we say our hello’s Jennifer says, “I have some bad news.”  I look at her and say “I know.”  We, all hash and re-hash, the abscence of Mr. Bishop for the night.

We had all decided at some point early in the planning, that it wasn’t worth the money to get a hotel for that night.  We would just stay in the airport, since our flight left like 6:00 or 7:00 a.m.  Now, realize that Jennifer did not vote to sleep in the airport, (See all the Diva references in the Phoenix Extravaganza Trip),  I on the other hand slept in a train station in Italy, all documented in this blog.  Because of the flight delays we are too late to have dinner at airport restaurants, so we set out to find chairs together and get comfortable for the night.

After much talking and coffee drinking through the night, the airport re-opens and we head to the terminal for breakfast.  As we are all eating, I hear surprised gasps and turn to see none other than Mr. Bishop strolling toward us in the restaurant.  He has played a very good trick on us all.  We are extremely happy to see him, but of course we vow to get him back for his little prank.

The rest of the journey goes by without a hitch – and we arrive in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic to begin our vacation.  Ready to

“Trip the Light Fantastic!”

Post 2 of 8 in DR Series

Well, if you’ve even TRIED to keep up, the last you heard . . .   The Extravaganza with Jennifer was over and I was counting down to our Dominican Republic Vacation.  Now where I planned the Extravaganza,  Jennifer planned the DR trip.  October is our usual month for our fun in the sun vacation (just what we like to do, give us some water, and some sun and we’re good).  We have a third travel partner (JB),  that has accompanied us on a couple of our October Vacation Ventures.  He, missed last year and was not about to miss this one.  So meet JB.

The third Musketeer in the My and Jennifer’s BFF triangle is Annette.  Nette is married to Bob, and before, during and after all of our vacations she always says, “I should have went, we could have had sooo much fun”   Now we usually just ignore her, because we know how she is (lol – It’s OK we still love ya girl), but last year Bob said he wanted to go, and we knew we had a better chance of  Nette going along.  So meet Nette & Bob!

I always tell you that planning a trip, is part of the excitement of going on a trip.  And no one revels in the pre-trip stuff more than Jenn and I.  Now, Annette, was the source of much of our pre-trip discussion.  Where Jennifer and I plan everything down to the last detail, Annette is just the opposite.   Laid back, no worries, I’ll get it done . . . etc.    I’ve known Nette longer, and I just let it go, because somehow she always manages to pull it out in the end.  Jennifer on the other hand is optomistic, and she thinks, that she can make things happen.  I sit back and enjoy the show.

So, we had verbal bets on when Nette was going to get her passport – I won.   I’ve talked Jen through several worry sessions.  ”It’s ok, you’ve done your part, the rest is up to them.”  I even began to wondered at some point if they were going to make it at all – They did.    See all that worry was for nothing – but it did make interesting conversation over the months.

Adding people to any group, changes the dynamics.  Jen and I wondered how all our friends,  would get along in this bigger group.  Now everyone knew each other, at least on some level.  We girls are tight.  I went to high school with Bob, Jennifer, Nette, and Bob still live and Buffalo and see each other weekly,  Jen & I have vacationed with Mr. B and Bob and JB  have at least met.   But we still tried to plan things to do that could include everyone (mostly Jennifer) while also leaving enough space to do what our idea of fun and relaxations is – nothing more that reading a book and laying in the sun.  Another thing that worked out just fine!

Well, the DR Trip, was “Da Bomb” – You will have to see how, it all played out.  But let’s just say, we’re going back this year!

Good Food, Good Friends, Good Fun

I will use this part of our motto as the title of 3 of the  upcoming DR Blogs.   And as always, we are looking to “TRIP THE LIGHT FANTASTIC”  - Keep Reading.

This is the 1st of 8 installments – It will run daily until completion.  Enjoy!

If you’ve spent any time reading my adventures in Europe, or more so my other blog LOST,  you know that I’m a food junkie.  A big part of my vacations are having good food and trying the local cuisine.  So when Food Network started the show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (DD&D), I was instantly hooked.

A couple years ago, Jennifer and I talked about hitting the road and trying to find some of the locations and restaurants we saw on the show.  I realized that the show is so popular and after the years it’s been on the air, that there are lots of DD&D locations.  So, I’m making it a life quest that I’m starting this year.

My 2012 travel plans are going to be focused in the U.S., therefore, hitting a DD&D location during my travels is going to be a must.  I will have to create a new page devoted to Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, and list specific ones I want to visit and rate the places I’ve been and the dishes I tasted.

So, as I begin this quest – What better place to start then at home!  So, I will have to hit a Phoenix spot in the next few weeks.

And folks, this is the beginning of a vacation planning  for 2012.  See, you can get your inspiration from anywhere.  So hang around and lets see where 2012 takes me!

It’s January, and I need to have some idea what my travel plans are for the year, otherwise, there is no reason for me to get up and go to work each day. lol

Help me decide.  Send me suggestions on where to visit this year.  It’s probably too late to pick a place off the North American Continent.  I need more time to save for those kind of vacations.  But, I do have a bucket list of  U.S. spots I still want to see.  So if your town or city has something you think I should see, I’d love to hear from you.   I still want to hear about non- U.S. locations.  I need somewhere to got next year as well.

So while I wait to hear from you – tune in this week to hear my ideas.   (If you’ve got any extra money – Please send it my way)

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,400 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 40 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.