I'm Baa-aack!

Yes, I've returned - intact - from my trip to Jamaica.  What?  You didn't even realize I was gone?  How rude.  Just for that, I shouldn't even share my vacation with you...but I guess I'm just too generous for my own good.  Here ya go:

We had a great time!  We got to the resort around 1 pm on Sunday, and signed in at the Hospitality Desk where we were greeted with adult beverages and chocolate chip cookies.  I liked the place immediately.  We then changed into our swimsuits and hit the beach.  Here we are checking out the sights.  That's me on the left. 

HA!  Just kidding (sort of).

Our dinner the first night was beautifully set up on the beach.  I'm not sure why I didn't take pictures that night, but it was gorgeous.  I got to meet Kim's sales group and their wives.  What a genuinely nice group of people.

Kim was involved with business Monday morning, so I was on my own.  I busied myself exploring the grounds and taking pictures.  For some reason, one of the groundskeepers thought this was a hoot and felt it necessary to climb out of the bushes to tell me so.   Apparently, no other guests have ever taken photos there??

That evening was the formal dinner.  What a production, but in a good way.  The ballroom was very elegant, the food delicious.  After dinner, they had a live band with dancing.  Great fun.

Tuesday we went on our catamaran sail.  We headed out into the ocean to do some snorkeling.  There was an abundance of coral, but not really much in the way of sea life.  Regardless, the water felt spectacular.  I think those pictures are on my water camera, so I don't have any to show you.

Of course, Tuesday was St. Patrick's Day, and Fiserv had rented the entire Margaritaville restaurant in town.  More great food and drinks.  After we got back to the resort, Kim's co-worker Jerry invited us all up to his suite.  Jerry won Chairperson of the Year, which is a pretty big deal; so we all headed up there to help him celebrate.  Dennis, who I think may be Kim's boss, asked if her invitation for next year should read "Kim and Becky."  I told him that I could speak for Kim, and she said yes.

Wednesday was our day to go horseback riding.  Kim is a horse person; I'm not.  Now, I willingly agreed to go horseback riding because I have a tendency to forget I'm scared of horses until I'm standing right next to one.  No sooner do we get to the stables and are being assigned horses when one of the little bastards bit some lady on the shoulder, and bit her hard.  If that had been me, I would have refused to go and sat on the bus crying.   Of course, this set everyone on edge as we were all sure we were going to be devoured by a herd of satanic Jamaican horses.  Once we got going, though, the humans all calmed down and the horses did what they have been trained to do.   It was actually a nice ride except when we had to trot.  Ouch.  I am still sore today.  Finally, we got to a cove where they unsaddled three or four horses.  If you wanted, you could ride a hose bareback into the water where it eventually got deep enough that the horse was actually swimming.  THAT was pretty cool until you noticed all the horse turds floating in the water.  Then it was, "DON'TFALLOFF! DON'TFALLOFF! DON'TFALLOFF!"  It was bad enough to realize my body was in poopy water, but I certainly didn't want it in my hair or on my face.  Those pictures are ALSO on my water camera and being developed.

Wednesday's dinner was held at the Great House at Rose Hall.  There is a story there about an earlier mistress of this historic sugar cane plantation.  Annie Palmer was apparently a little tyrant who dabbled in voodoo, promiscuous relations with her slaves, and murder.  Legend says that she still haunts the home.  We took a tour, and it is a pretty impressive place.   Here are a couple of photos I took and if those aren't ghostly orbs, then what are they?  Spooky.

They had palm and tarot card readers for the guests.  Let me tell you:  you have not lived until you've had your palm read by a Jamaican with a severe speech impediment.  I could not understand her, but felt it rude to keep saying, "Huh?  What?" so I just nodded and smiled, hoping she wasn't telling me to avoid air travel in my immediate future.

The big announcement that evening was the 2010 trip would be to - drum roll, please - Riviera Maya in Mexico!!  Very exciting.  Kimmy needs to get out there and hustle her buns so that we can do this again!  

As you can guess, I am now indebted to Kim for eternity.  I suspect that means I'll have to bow out of the little power struggle we've been having over Keith Urban.  I just hope she doesn't decide to give him MY trip to Mexico.