Back to the blog!
View from our room at the Radisson Resort and Casino.
Palapas (thatched shade huts) on the beach in front of our hotel.
Beaches make Marcia happy.
Beaches make Eric happy too, though it is harder to tell.
Katelin and Marcia relaxing.
Walking on the beach, high rise resort area behind Marcia.
No pigeons to speak of on Aruba, where their normal human-scavenging niche is instead filled by little brown doves with cute red feet.
Katelin dressed for a nice dinner out.
Marcia ready for an evening on the town as well.
Happy, happy couple on one happy island (that's Aruba's motto).
Out on a catamaran, going snorkeling on some reefs and wrecks.
All tired out from snorkeling.
Under weigh and making way.
Aruba is a desert island, complete with desert critters.
Storefront in Oranjestat, the island's capital, with the same name as Eric's mother.
Kiosk decorations.
Main Street shopping area in Oranjestat.
Katelin ponders a boutique.
We did not let Katelin go into this store.
Dinner at the Driftwood, where I had the best piece of fish I have ever eaten:
Wahoo pan fried Aruban style. Wow.
California Lighthouse on the northwest corner of the island.
Same shot, but with less lighthouse and more family.
Northern shore of Aruba: a rocky, reefy, desert area, accessible only by jeep or 4x4, and featuring Wish Rock Garden, where people make little devotional piles of stones in order to have their wishes fulfilled.
Aruba's oldest Catholic chapel.
Hooiberg, Aruba's highest point, with a different chapel in front of it.
Natural Bridge was the north shore's primary tourism draw. Until it collapsed in 2005.
A littler natural bridge nearby, just so you can say you saw one.
Another view of the Natural formation formerly known as Bridge.
Southeast tip of the island, the beautiful Baby Beach, bizarrely framed by the Valero Oil Refinery.
Katelin and Marcia make a wish rock.
Another night out of the town.
Joy!!! Arubans love boiled peanuts as much as I do!!
Heading out on the catamaran again for a sunset cruise.
Birds drafted in our sails' wake.
Lovely lady at sea.
Lazy slug ponders his toes.
Windswept.
Also windswept, though it's harder to tell.
Sun drops to horizon behind Katelin's windswept head.
Sun drops to horizon without Katelin's windswept head.
Back ashore, residual sunset glow behind a palapa, our last night in Aruba. A lovely, recommended vacation!