Think of a warm and happy place

Imagine a place where the sun is shining, the sky is blue and the only ice you need to worry about are the cubes in your drink, and only slush there is comes in a drink machine!


This is the resort we visited .. the Bahia Principe in Rio San Juan, near Puerta Plata, Dominican Republic.


The lobby has a huge (enormous really!) chandelier, and not a wall in the place ... all open air concept, filled with beautiful floral arrangements, and sculptures.

The lobby opens up onto 3 outdoor bars
(and there are 7 or 8 other bars located in close proximity to everything else on the resort -- there is always a cool drink handy for cooling down from the heat). the lobby also opens up onto one of the pools a the resort (pictured in my previous post). It is the mosty popular of the pools at the resort, and has a "beach" area (where you can wade in graually, like at a beach), as well as an island located in the centre, and an enclosed kiddy pool area.

We ate at all the restaurants on the resort ... the Italian was great for breakfast, with a fella making omlets to order, and is located directly on the beach, the Mediterrian was awesome -- delicious food, great service and the best rolls I have ever had ~ On my birthday, our first vist there, T ate 10 dinnr rolls! We went back several nights later and the young man serving rolls remembered him and was serving him 3 at a time! LOL! The man was really sweet, and funny, and said his name was Eddie Murphy! Didn't look like the Eddie Murphy I know!) We had supper our final night at the Mexican restaurant ... which is why we were wearing somberos in the post earlier in the week. There was also a really good buffet restaurant that was open for breakfast, linch and dinner daily, and served pretty much anything you could want (from hot dogs, and pasta cooked to order, to wickedly rich desserts and octopus curry -- they had it all!). Of course, being in the Caribbean, the fruit was plentiful, delicious and sooo fresh ... there was one chef at the buffet who made fantastic fruit sculptures each day ...





pretty amazing work, eh? T said "I bet his Jack O'Lantern is something else!". I coouldn't get him to smile for the pictures ... and by the time we left lunch, the one he was working on was done ~ a dragon with wings (super looking!)






I wish I could write more, but am a little tired ... will post again another day. Tune in next time for shopping, snorkelling and Superbowl Sunday in the South!

** PS> Don't forget, local knitters, Wednesday is Knit Nite at Lanes -- 7 p.m.

** PPS> Sorry re: any typos -- I can't seem to get spell check to work (grr! Blogger!)

**PPPS> Most of these pictures should embiggen if you clickedy them.