Jamaica 2012

Dave and I have had such a great summer! We moved out here to OKC, we got to visit back home in July and see Ashley get married, my parents just came and spent some time here, and watched Owen so Dave and I could go to Jamaica, We went and spent the day in Dallas last week, spent a few weekends with the Christensens, and I just got to go back to Idaho and meet new babies and party for a whole week! We have more stuff planned for the year, but we will see what we have time for!

Our trip to Jamaica was amazing! I was getting nervous about leaving Owen for that long, but he was so great for my parents and it was a nice break from reality! Everyone in Jamaica had so much hospitality; always trying to give us ‘free’ items, and always offering a ‘smoke’ ;)

Sunday the 12^th (Owens 10month birthday!) I left about 10pm and drove to David’s sisters where I met up with some of the guys, and slept for 2 hours before heading to the airport. We had a early flight that took us to Atlanta- There I left my phone in the bathroom, and realizing that just 60seconds after walking out of the bathroom and going back to get it, someone else got to it, and it never got turned in! Im still pretty mad about it. Oh well, right!? What a nice way to get this vacation started!

The flight from Atlanta to Montego Bay we watched The Lucky One, so that made losing my phone a teeny weeny bit forgotten.

Part of our group of 20 flew out of Tulsa, and the rest of us flew out of OKC. After we got off the plane and were going through customs, part of our group went on ahead through, and the rest of us didn’t have our travel itineraries so we could not fill out our migration papers, so we got stuck for what seemed like forever back in customs.

After getting through the airport, we had Aaron and Brian waiting for us at the front in a rental van. We all squished in, they drive on the wrong side of the road ;), and it was a manual so the ride was not very smooth, and we almost got killed a couple times, but we got to drive through the town and see how Jamaicans really do things. The ride to our resort alone was an adventure.

 

We got there early in the day and our rooms were not ready to be checked into so we moseyed around the resort all day, swam in the ocean, ate lots of food, and were in bed about 830pm.

We woke up early the next morning and hit the road! We went to Ocho Rios to see Dunns River Falls. We climbed up them from the ocean, it was really fun, and not to mentions the falls are GORGEOUS! (we got a flat tire this day too)

We got to see a lot of the country, and how Jamaicans do things (so different than Americans!), and we drove along the ocean the whole way, it was gorgeous! 

We stopped at a little restaurant on our way back to the resort; it didn’t have any walls, just a roof. We ate some amazing food and drink, it poured rain while we were eating, the sun stayed out the whole time though so it stayed nice and warm!

The next day we got up early again and went to Negril. We had plans of going to Ricks Café- where they have cliffs you can jump from, and a pool! We got there to early though and it was not open yet, a Jamaican man riding his scooter saw that we were wanting to go there and since they were not open he had us follow him to his place (if that doesn’t scream im a killer than I don’t know what does?). He unlocked the gates to his familys place. They had a beautiful light house on their property, and the edge of their property were cliffs that dropped right over the ocean.

When you jumped off the wall you had to jump out far in order to miss the rocks straight down below. I was so nervous about all these boys wanting to jump, I just knew if someone died hitting a rock it would ruin the vacation ;) Luckily they were all ‘smart’ and jumped without getting hurt!

Of coarse when we left the men there wanted some ‘donations’ for letting us over, nothing is free in Jamaica ;)

We then headed to Ricks Café where the boys did some more cliff jumping, and we got to relax in the pool.

We went and had a bite to eat after that, we kind of did our own thing, some of us went and had food from local places, but we went to BURGER KING! And it has never tasted so good. I was really missing American food. It was not quite like home, but close enough. Boiled bananas for breakfast just really don’t do it for me!

From there we went to a beach, with the most gorgeous and fine sand I have ever seen. There were men on the beach offering boat rides, and snorkeling, and parasailing. We swam a little bit, and decided to go snorkeling! That was my first time and it was so much fun! They took us out a little ways and let us off the boat by a small island. The reef was gorgeous, and there was so much aquatic life to see! When we would come back up from the water it was raining, and there was a nice little storm brewing so we headed back to the shore after an hour+. 

We went back to the resort and spent the evening there, relaxing after an eventful day.

The next morning (Thursday) I woke up really early and took a walk on the beach. It was so beautiful, and it was early enough hardly anyone was up and walking around.

 I then went back to the room and made Dave get out of bed so we could go shopping. We had a good time doing that, the shop owners are so interesting, they run out of their shops to greet you walking by and they try to get you into their shops “no pressure, no pressure,  just come look in my shop!!” in the mean time they are pulling you in , and putting necklaces around your neck and handing you little figurines and offering you a smoke.

We then packed up and headed to the airport. 

W

I was so glad to come home and see my sweet baby! It was so nice to see a little bit of my parents too! I have a million more stories and pictures from our trip, but this was the run down. About 20 of us went, and only 3 other girls, It was a great trip!!