Thursday 12/13
Thursday we actually got up a little earlier because a van was waiting to pick us up at 8am and take us to the Goldmine Ranch for a horseback ride. The ranch was on the opposite side of the island but it still only took around 20 minutes to get there because Aruba really is a tiny island! We got to the ranch and there were about 6 other people who were going on the same ride as us plus two guides. First they asked everyone how many times they had ridden so they could give the most gentle/calm horses to the least experienced riders. Ryan had ridden more than anyone else in the group so they gave him the "local" horse, LOL. When the guide was using that horse to show how to get up in the saddle, the horse kept walking away from him and moving right when or before he would step up. Then we found out Ryan's horse was blind in one eye so the whole ride he kind of ran with his head cocked so he could see more out of his one good eye. My horse was really good and pretty much did all the work for me, which was good since I haven't been on a horse in years.
Thursday we actually got up a little earlier because a van was waiting to pick us up at 8am and take us to the Goldmine Ranch for a horseback ride. The ranch was on the opposite side of the island but it still only took around 20 minutes to get there because Aruba really is a tiny island! We got to the ranch and there were about 6 other people who were going on the same ride as us plus two guides. First they asked everyone how many times they had ridden so they could give the most gentle/calm horses to the least experienced riders. Ryan had ridden more than anyone else in the group so they gave him the "local" horse, LOL. When the guide was using that horse to show how to get up in the saddle, the horse kept walking away from him and moving right when or before he would step up. Then we found out Ryan's horse was blind in one eye so the whole ride he kind of ran with his head cocked so he could see more out of his one good eye. My horse was really good and pretty much did all the work for me, which was good since I haven't been on a horse in years.
Here's me on my horse Kochi right before we started riding
Here's Ryan on his horse Rick (Ryan kept calling him Greg though, haha!)
Here's me and Ryan on our horses under the baby bridge
Here's a short little video Ryan took during our ride:
We had a lot of fun riding the horses. Ryan kept wanting to go faster and trot or canter and I just wanted to keep walking with the rest of the group, LOL. So he would take off faster and then my horse would follow his and once the two of us and the front guide got too far ahead we would stop and wait for the rest of the group to catch up. The total ride was around 1.5 or 2 hours and when we got back from the ride we were exhausted! Plus it rained on us during the ride so we got soaking wet and pretty muddy too. We headed back to the hotel and we pretty much just napped and relaxed the rest of the day. I think we napped all afternoon and then for dinner Ryan got some sushi from the hotel sushi bar and I got a quesadilla from the sports bar. We just ate in our room and passed out early.
Friday 12/14
Friday morning we got up even earlier to go out fishing. We met the boat at the dock at 6:30am and the guys had already loaded bait onto the boat. it was a pretty big boat but Ryan and I were the only two people going out (plus the driver and one other guy helping him). We drove out from the island about half an hour and then the guys dropped the lines and started trolling around.
Friday 12/14
Friday morning we got up even earlier to go out fishing. We met the boat at the dock at 6:30am and the guys had already loaded bait onto the boat. it was a pretty big boat but Ryan and I were the only two people going out (plus the driver and one other guy helping him). We drove out from the island about half an hour and then the guys dropped the lines and started trolling around.
Here's the sun rising over the island from the boat
We drove by a big tanker
Right after we started trolling around, we caught a small barracuda and Ryan reeled him in. But then we trolled for almost 4 more hours and didn't catch anything else, bummer! I was driving in and out of sleep as we drove around and I think even Ryan fell asleep for a bit. We weren't sure barracuda were really good to eat but the boat captain assured us that they were quite tasty. When we got back to the dock, he cleaned it and cut it into filets for us. After that we headed back to the room for some lunch and relaxation or nap time. I think we had nap time every day, LOL. Eventually we went to the grocery store and got some rice for Ryan and Macaroni and cheese for me to eat as side dishes with our fish (and just in case the fish came out terrible). We also picked up some Old Bay Seasoning so we could bake it and eat it.
I completely forgot to mention but there were two nights where we went to the casino. They had a deal going where if you spent half an hour on the slot machines they would reimburse up to $50 of losses the next day. So we played some fun slot machine games for a while until we each lost $50. The next night we went back to get our $50 credit and in the end we wound up around $100 ahead, wahoo!
Saturday 12/15
Saturday was another relaxing day but we finally did spend a bit of time laying out on the beach. Ryan had been feeling sick over the last couple days so he was pretty tired. But we had saved our tastiest dinner for the last night of our honeymoon. We treated ourselves to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse - they have one in the Marriott right by the casino. We each got a nice big steak, and I had some cheesy potatoes while Ryan got asparagus and a bowl of gumbo. Just in case we weren't already stuffed we finished it off with some apple crisp. By the time we got done with dinner we pretty much just lounged around in a food coma and then Ryan watched the Gator basketball game as we fell asleep.
Sunday 12/16
Sunday morning we packed up and had to check out by 10am. It worked out pretty well since we were supposed to be at the airport 3 hours early. We returned our rental car and got to the airport right around 3.5 hours before our flight left. When we got to the airport there was a huge line of people all the way out the airport and we were starting to see why they wanted us at the airport so early. Fortunately that line turned out to be for a different airline and we had no line, yay! We went through security and then got in the customs line. Supposedly the customs line can take up to 3hrs to get through on the weekends and the line was definitely backing up behind us pretty far (since we got in line ahead of all the people waiting in the long check-in line). After we went through the first customs line there was a second line to get your passport stamped and then after that we got randomly selected for extra screening, LOL. They literally took every single item out of our suitcase and then they asked if we had been horseback riding and when we said we had, they took our shoes we wore riding and washed and sanitized them. They put them in big plastic bags and finally let us repack our suitcases. We finally get put back together and sent on our way...and there's ANOTHER security checkpoint and bag xray where you have to take off your shoes, take out your liquids and electronics, etc (even though we had already done these exact same things once or twice AND had the extra screening). I don't think I've ever been through so many security checks, LOL. But we finally got to our gate and chilled out until our flight left and we had to say goodbye to Aruba. It was a fun and relaxing honeymoon and I'm so glad we were able to take the time to unwind and spend together. It can be so hard to find vacation time for just the two of us so I'm glad we'll always be able to look back on our honeymoon and maybe one day do another similar trip with just us. Bye bye Aruba, back to real life!
I completely forgot to mention but there were two nights where we went to the casino. They had a deal going where if you spent half an hour on the slot machines they would reimburse up to $50 of losses the next day. So we played some fun slot machine games for a while until we each lost $50. The next night we went back to get our $50 credit and in the end we wound up around $100 ahead, wahoo!
Saturday 12/15
Saturday was another relaxing day but we finally did spend a bit of time laying out on the beach. Ryan had been feeling sick over the last couple days so he was pretty tired. But we had saved our tastiest dinner for the last night of our honeymoon. We treated ourselves to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse - they have one in the Marriott right by the casino. We each got a nice big steak, and I had some cheesy potatoes while Ryan got asparagus and a bowl of gumbo. Just in case we weren't already stuffed we finished it off with some apple crisp. By the time we got done with dinner we pretty much just lounged around in a food coma and then Ryan watched the Gator basketball game as we fell asleep.
Sunday 12/16
Sunday morning we packed up and had to check out by 10am. It worked out pretty well since we were supposed to be at the airport 3 hours early. We returned our rental car and got to the airport right around 3.5 hours before our flight left. When we got to the airport there was a huge line of people all the way out the airport and we were starting to see why they wanted us at the airport so early. Fortunately that line turned out to be for a different airline and we had no line, yay! We went through security and then got in the customs line. Supposedly the customs line can take up to 3hrs to get through on the weekends and the line was definitely backing up behind us pretty far (since we got in line ahead of all the people waiting in the long check-in line). After we went through the first customs line there was a second line to get your passport stamped and then after that we got randomly selected for extra screening, LOL. They literally took every single item out of our suitcase and then they asked if we had been horseback riding and when we said we had, they took our shoes we wore riding and washed and sanitized them. They put them in big plastic bags and finally let us repack our suitcases. We finally get put back together and sent on our way...and there's ANOTHER security checkpoint and bag xray where you have to take off your shoes, take out your liquids and electronics, etc (even though we had already done these exact same things once or twice AND had the extra screening). I don't think I've ever been through so many security checks, LOL. But we finally got to our gate and chilled out until our flight left and we had to say goodbye to Aruba. It was a fun and relaxing honeymoon and I'm so glad we were able to take the time to unwind and spend together. It can be so hard to find vacation time for just the two of us so I'm glad we'll always be able to look back on our honeymoon and maybe one day do another similar trip with just us. Bye bye Aruba, back to real life!
