Aruba... WOW... what a week!
Why Aruba you may ask???
An instagram post with flights for $280/person got us there...
in combination with a timeshare exchange that was available for the exact week we had our tickets for.
that's how we ended up in Aruba. ;)
Not gonna lie the flights were cheap but not THAT convenient.
We left July 8th @ 4 PM and flew to Dallas. In Dallas we got a hotel room, ordered doordash Torchy's Tacos... and had a great night sleep. The next am we were back @ the airport for a 10 am flight to Aruba.
The flights were uneventful and we were so excited to start exploring the island.
After getting our car... (which I am still a bit salty about. Since the price was quoted as $450 including everything.. except that we ended up paying $850 when we got there. GRRRR) we headed to our resort Caribbean Palm Village.
It was very nice... not on the beach... but we would have been in a hotel room on the beach and this was a 2 bedroom/2 bath place + we went to different beaches every day so it worked out fabulous.
That night we ate at Smokey Joe's in Noord and all loved it.
And loved getting to explore Noord and Palm Beach a little that night!
The next morning was Sunday.
We woke up early for breakfast @ Diane's Danish Pancakes.
Aruba is a Dutch island... one of the four countries that form the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
(Bonaire & Curacao are the other two)
This was our first experience with Dutch pancakes and we loved them.
Similar in consistency to a thick crepe.
We then drove the 50 minutes to the bottom of the island for church in San Nicolas.
A little pre-church nap on the way.
LDS tools took us to the wrong place, a little driving around finally got us to the right place.
We were early and sacrament was last... + there was only 1 car in the tiny parking lot.
So we decided to drive down to the beach to explore for a minute.
This is "Baby Beach"... so beautiful!!
We headed back to church after a few minutes.
What a cool experience it is to go to churches around the world.
Aruba was our most unique yet!
There were 15 people there... TOTAL!
the 5 of us + 2 missionaries + 2 members of the branch presidency... and 6 others :)
The missionaries both spoke, (both were in this branch for their first week, and the one missionary from North Carolina had just arrived in Aruba 3 days before.)
The messages were great... one was on the Sabbath Day.
So I felt a little bad about spending the rest of the day at the beach snorkeling...
San Nicolas is known for cool murals... so we took pictures with a few ;)
After Baby Beach we headed to Mangel Halto Beach for more snorkeling.
It was fun that each beach was different. To me the snorkeling wasn't AMAZING in Aruba... but it was definitely fun!
We couldn't decide on where to go for dinner.
I mean I had this whole list of places to try that had great reviews on google.
But.. we drove past an Olive Garden and our three girls ALL wanted to go there.
Shane and I both said no way.
But then... we couldn't find a couple restaurants we were thinking of and we ended up back there... we conceded... only to find out there was a 2.5 hour wait. hahahaha
It was in a big movie complex...PF Changs was in there too.
And nothing says Aruba like PF Changs. ;)
So that's where we ate.
It was delicious all the same!
Walking along the main road near Palm Beach we came across a food truck called... Poffertjes van Pofferdorie. (Which I actually had on my list of places to try but didn't realize).One sample was all it took for us to return another night for more of these!
We ALL love Poffertjes now... Jadyn even found a recipe for us and made them for us!
The next day was spent on De Palm Island we had SUCH a fun day!!
Hanging out on the beach, eating the all you can eat food and fruity drinks, water sliding, snorkeling (this was my favorite snorkeling spot), the banana boat ride, the flamingos, the iguanas, our salsa dance lesson etc.
Our time ran out too fast here!!
These girls got a taste of what people drinking all day looked like on our ferry back.
The ladies dancing and cheering were crazy happy. hahahaha
More yummy food this night of course.
And we fit time for the pool in everyday too.
Tuesday morning we were off on a Catamaran Tour with snorkeling stops at Boca Catalina and Antilla shipwreck site.
probably because they advertised it as "Catamaran Dolphin Adventure Tour".
So I was a little surprised to find that there were no dolphins involved... except for the name of the boat. hahaha
The shipwreck spot was in pretty deep, choppy water.
If this was my first snorkeling experience I probably would never go again!
I did not love this spot and was worried about Lydia so I didn't see much anyway.
But like every other day... the weather was beautiful and we had a blast.
The other stop was beautiful and calm.
I'd give that a thumbs up!
After the Catamaran Tour we toured the Aruba Aloe factory and definitely got our fair share of "lotion/aloe samples" after our day in the sun.
Afternoon smoothies in our room featuring chef Kenna.. sporting her new I heart Aruba shirt... (that we all got with purchase of the catamaran tour.)
We hit the jackpot that night for dinner.
A Mexican place that offered $1 Tacos for taco Tuesday.
Lots of tacos + delicious nachos AND friend Oreos for dessert... definitely cured the hangry going on in our family before the meal. haha
(who's the most hangry in our family you might ask??? Kenna... Kenna is the most hangry. But give that girls food and she's the sweetest. ;))
Wednesday we rented a jeep for the day and explored the east side of the island.
There was such a contrast between the tropical west side and the desert east side, and it was fun to explore both!
It was rough and bumpy on all of the backroads. We were definitely grateful for the Jeep!
The California Lighthouse
Wairuri Bridge
Jumping into the natural pool.
Most of us were nervous... but we all did it.
Although some of us jumped from a higher spot than the others. haha
(Shane)
Bushibarana Gold Mine Ruins
The Alta Vista Chapel an iconic Aruba site.
Arikok National Park
(I came into the visitors center a minute after everyone else... and I saw my girls waiting for me in these cutouts and actually thought... hmmm that picture looks a lot like my girls. We had a good laugh about that.)
Fontein & Quadriki Caves
Our guide at the cave told us that there was a little pond that acted as a natural pedicure spot.
The girls could NOT believe that Shane and I put our feet right in.
Some of those fish were pretty big guys and they were really chomping at our feet.
Was it a great pedicure??
I'm gonna to say no. hahaha
Actually my feet were super rough after.
Maybe if we had stayed longer? But I think they just started doing there jobs and it just left spots MORE scratchy.
I will say that it is a crazy almost electric feeling to let fish nibble on your feet.
We stopped at 2 beaches Boca Prins and Dos Playa.
Both were NOT for swimming.
Super strong currents apparently... but there weren't enough signs around to keep two surfer guys from going right out in it.
Our next stop was not high on our girls list.
But they were super good sports because we hadn't made them go to a fish restaurant yet.
This is Zeerover's and it was a GEM.
Fresh fish and shrimp bagged and weighed when you purchased at the counter... then cooked and prepared for you.
The girls opted for popsicles. ;)
Shane and I were in heaven.
Lydia was in shock watching them prepare the fish. haha
We had a full day of exploring and it was time to get the jeep back.
A dip in the pool that night felt fantastic.
The next day was our last full day.
Breakfast @ Linda's Dutch Pancakes... a great way to start another morning.
Snorkeling @ Tres Trapi
Then on for beach time @ Eagle Beach.
Eagle Beach is voted the 3rd best beach in the world. So.... it was ok I guess. ;)
More smoothies in our room and then we were off to Oranjestad to ride the trolley.
Then a good chunk of time shopping @ Zara.
As of yet we hadn't seen a sunset on the beach...
we made it JUST in time!!
But had to run... it was totally worth it.
The next morning we swam and hung out by the pool. Then headed to the airport.
Overall I couldn't say one bad thing about Aruba.
Or our week.
It was clean, beautiful and the people were friendly.
An adventure I hope my girls NEVER forget!!
Now the flights home weren't quite as smooth.
A flight to Charleston... then a 5 hour delay that put us in to Phoenix @ 1 am.
We had a hotel in Phoenix, but by the time we got there and got ready for bed it was 2 am and we were off to the airport by 6:30.
So not QUITE the restful night we THOUGHT we were going to have.
That part could have gone better... but since that was all of our problems... we'll take it.
Thanks to good attitudes from all of us it just added to the adventure and memories.
We all LOVE ARUBA!
(And we all have shirts to prove it!)
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