Dominican Republic

Well kids I'm sure by now you're like me and sick of the Christmas craziness!  I was thinking that maybe I should bribe your mother with a trip the month of December so I wouldn't have to go through all this!  Well that got my thinking about a trip that we took in 2011 to the Dominican Republic with Gail & Kyle.  Boy wouldn't it be nice to be there right now!  This was our 2nd all inclusive trip and as with the others it was a blast.  This one was special because the women are allowed to go topless so Kyle and I counted 43 topless women!!  I never realized there were so many different shapes and sizes...but there are!

Anyway it was a fun filled week with dune buggy rides, lots of beach time, lots of pool time and plenty of adult beverages.  Now I know this is going to sound bad but when you go to these resorts the biggest stress of the day is waiting for the bar at the beach to open at 10am...and yes there is a line at that time and yes that line usually included Gail and me!!

We learned after Mexico to buy these big cups to save trips to the bar

You will be happy to know that your mother and Gail kept their tops on but it wasn't because they wanted to...actually I made your mother mad because I told her that her boobs were too old to show!

 

We went on an excursion and rented a dune buggy...it was a blast but they tried to keep you in line and at a certain speed. 

Gail & Kyle

As you can imagine they had planned stops along the way for the locals to try to sell you stuff...let me change the word "try" to "did" in your mothers case!

This was a great cove with an excellent view

There were mud puddles along the way and we were covered in mud that never washed out!

At the top of the mountain guess what, more locals trying to sell you stuff...notice what the name of their stores are

They also had a cave that you could go swimming in...I did not do this but your mother and Gail did...no way I am getting in the water with some of the people that we saw!!

 

As with all the resorts, they treat like royalty and the hotels are amazing.  All the hotels have swim up bars and plenty of help to serve you.  The tips are included in the cost but we seem to always end up tipping more.  The hotel in the Dominican even served you on the beach!!

Gail & Kyle had an earlier flight home then we did but when we arrived at the airport they were still there...they ended having the flight from hell getting home and actually didn't make it till the next day.

 

Great trip, great fun, great company and a must for the Bucket List!!

Guest Blogger-Visit to the Biltmore

Hello again my brothers...In case you have never heard of the Biltmore House, here is a little background for ya.  In 1888 George Vanderbilt went to Asheville, NC and fell in love with the area so he decided to build his home there.  It took 6 years to build and is the largest private home in the country.  He lived there with his wife and daughter until his death in 1914.  They stayed in the home and it has been in the family ever since, passed down through the generations with his great-grandson as the current CEO.  They opened the home to the public in 1930 to help increase tourism to the area. 

The home is beyond beautiful and has a billiard room, salon, music room, tapestry gallery, library, bowling alley, swimming pool, gymnasium and even multiple kitchen for cooking.  I know all of this because Taylor read me the brochure!! 

Just to give you a little more perspective on the home, Mr. Vanderbilt was worth 200 million dollars, the house is 175,000 square feet, that is over 4 acres of floor space, 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms and 65 fire places.  I would love to show you some pictures of the inside however they are very strict and don't allow pictures to be taken so here are a few pictures from the outside.

The front entrance

They set up these Christmas trees for the season.

 

If you have never been it is a must add to your bucket list!!!!! 

Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel

Well kids on our way back from our trip to Rehoboth Beach we decided to take the world famous Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.  This is a combination of bridges and tunnels that connect Virginia Beach with the eastern shore.  Some say that it saves almost 100 miles vs. going around by land.  The bay bridge-tunnel is considered one of the top 7 engineering wonders in the world!

 

Before the bridge-tunnel was built cars had to be transported by ferry boats

There are two parallel bridge/tunnels but at first there was only one.  The first one was opened in 1964 after 42 months of construction.  The second span was opened in 1999 after about the same amount of construction time.  The cost of the second span was over $197 million dollars which seems pretty reasonable to me??  There was never any tax money used to build the bridge-tunnel instead they sold bonds and those people are paid back through the tolls that are collected.   For a car to travel across it cost $13.00 each way (unless you return within 24 hours) and if you are towing a boat it goes to $22.00!

Going into a tunnel

That's me with my head in the hole

From shore to shore, the Bridge-Tunnel measures 17.6 miles and is considered the world's largest bridge-tunnel complex. Construction of the span required undertaking a project of more than 12 miles of low-level trestle, two 1-mile tunnels, two bridges, almost 2 miles of causeway, four manmade islands and 5-1/2 miles of approach roads, totaling 23 miles.

When we lived in Virginia Beach the second span wasn't open and we would hear stories about head on collisions and once we even heard that a wind gust blew a tractor trailer right off the bridge!  We took you kids over it in 1992 when we spent a week in Rehoboth with your grandparents Clark...same week that OJ killed his wife!

Cool thing to do if you are traveling this way but certainly too expensive to do on a regular basis but still falls in the Bucket List category!

Welcome to Universal

Well kids as I said Universal was also part of the game plan!  There were lots of cool things here and you guys had a good time but I believe you liked the other parks better.

Most of these pictures are of us and revolved around the movie sets but they also had a Jaw's ride and who remembers watching a 3D movie when the mice ran up our legs? 

Indiana Jones Set

Western Town and Cowboy Set

 

Tim Allen's Home Improvement Set

 

Great fun and cool things to see so why not add it to the Bucket List!

Welcome to SeaWorld

Well kids as you know in 1994 we took you on a week long trip to Florida...you have already seen the Disney pictures so I thought I would show you the SeaWorld and Universal ones today and tomorrow.

We only spent one day in SeaWorld but we could have easily spent two mostly because right off the bat you found this giant boat that had squirt guns and water cannons and it took us forever to get you to come down to see the rest of the sites!

From there it was off to watch the water skiing shows!

 

 

Look close there is a guy in red pants flying threw the air

 This guy has a giant water soaker

Everyone always loves the seals

 

The whale and dolphin shows are always a crowd favorite too!  When you sit down they have several warnings about "wet zones" but they also come over the loud speaker and say that they will be filming each of the shows and that they may use some of the footage for promotional use so if you are supposed to be at work or you are here with someone you are not supposed to be with don't sit in this section! 

 



All of you thought it was just the coolest thing to get soaked by the whale splashes

Penguins

Fish petting tank

 

Certainly a fun day and worthy of the Bucket List but just remember if your kids turn out like you guys plan on spending 2 days in SeaWorld!