Punta Cana

I won a contest at work and received a travel voucher for Luke and I! We chose to go to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic March 10-14 (Mon-Fri).

We had quite the eventful start to our trip. Immediately after our plane took off at 7am on Monday morning a man 4 rows in front of us stood up and starting shouting and waving his arms...pointing towards the window. We later found out (and saw) part of the wing was hanging off the wing. We circled for about an hour to burn some fuel and then landed back in MSP. We were met on the tarmac by firetrucks and then towed to the gate. We all got off the plane and waited for instructions on our next flight. We were lucky to be able to get on another plane just 2 gates down from ours that left about an hour after we landed. We arrived in Punta Cana about 3 hours late, but we were happy to arrive safely. The incident made the news and it is under investigation. There were many stories circulating through the plane.....but it sounds like an engine may have failed, which caused the wing to detach.

The red portion is the broken part hanging off the wing-this was taken in the air

This was taken on the ground--you can see the red part and the firetrucks

We were happy to arrive and relax that first night. We weren't able to make dinner reservations for the first night so we had to eat at the buffet, which wasn't what I was expecting.....but it was fine. We stayed at the Riu Palace Punta Cana. The rooms weren't very nice, but everything else was great--the entertainment at night was great--the beach was perfect and the pool was great...with a swim up bar!

My view! It was beautiful!

Before dinner reservations on the 2nd night

There was a nice plaza area where everyone congregated in the evenings, which was fun!

On Wednesday we took an excursion on a Safari. We visited a school, a home, saw how the locals lived, make coffee, chocolate, coconut oil and the way of their life. The highlight was visiting a local beach where the waves came in and we were able to go boogie boarding--it was awesome and I laughed the entire time we were there-it was so fun!

On the Jeep to go on the safari!

Our first stop--a school--this class had grades K-6

Hanging out with a couple school children

Next stop--lunch!

Iguana

Bishop's favorite picture from our trip--an alligator!

Our great guide, Ruddy!

A nice local house

The stove in the kitchen at this house

Their sewing machine--Luke insisted we take this picture for my mom! :)

"The Jungle Man"--with 7 snakes and a tarantula on his eye!

Luke was riding the waves!

The local beach

 Each night at 9:30 there was live entertainment. Some of the shows were better than others--this was one of the better ones....it was a "circus show".

Our last day at the beach.....

Playing a little backgammon!

While we were in Punta Cana my Grandpa's health started to decline. He got a cold and hospice came in to make him more comfortable. It made me so sad not to be able to be there to visit him, but according to my mom the steroids they gave him made him much better by Thursday.  On Thursday my sister and nephew Jack went to visit him, along with my parents. Thursday evening I got a message on my phone to call home.....I had wifi while at the resort, but I had my phone capabilities turned off. I called my mom and learned that my Grandpa had passed away a little after 6:30pm. I was so sad. It was hard being away from home and learning this news. He was 90 years old so it wasn't a huge shock, but I thought I'd be able to get down to visit him when I got home. My Grandpa loved his beer....so I had one in his honor on Thursday night! Cheers to a great man!

A beer in honor of Grandpa!