Red Rock Resort

Just when I thought I'd seen all there was to see I found out that there places here just like paradise. This resort is so beautiful. A lady from Seattle runs it and it has a beautiful walkway that is lit a t night to walk down to the tiki bar you can order from and sit under thatched tables or go down to the beach and sit in the comfy beach chairs on the white sand beach with a beautiful view of the Atlantic. Yep I like this place. 

While we were eating these amazing BBQ ribs and most amazing salad this dog was just lying there and we thought it was pretty much the best "play dead" we'd ever seen.

I love how its lit up at night.

We even found a little hike to explore. it was a bit of climbing and some steep cliffs but the view was awesome. I recommend this place to anyone who wants to relax with a view and have some dang good food.

Numero Uno Beach!!!

K so Imagine this big waves + boys = abuse. They got pushed around as they tried to ride these huge waves at #1 Beach. The Atlantic side of this island has huge waves so  these guys had fun. I can't even count the number of times I saw them slapped in the face by a wave or rolled over and over. It was very entertaining to watch.

These little guys dig holes and come out when its safe. so of course David keeps seeing them go in holes and decides to dig them out to chase them. They are so fast. After a bit it seemed like the main goal of chasing the crabs was to get me to yell or screech. Its scary when they run in your direction. 

There's a river that I'm still not sure whether it was running into the ocean or in to the island but I think it was the first since it was fresh water. We were trying to wash off the saltwater  in the river. It's sticky. 

Roseau and big hats

We made a trip into Roseau with David and Paul and Natalyn. And you know I think Steve's as crazy a driver as the Dominicans and David might just be too. I think its something about being a boy that makes you fearless when girls are seeing all the potential dangers and being cautious, boys are seeing them as challenges and trying to be the best at meeting them. The goal is always to be better than someone else, whether imaginary or present. 

This is one of the coolest places on the Island. It is also a place thats not good to stop so we took this as the car sped along. Thanks Paul! Its cool because you can see the ocean through the trees and there isn't much brush. just palm trees.

The first view of Roseau the capitol of Dominica. Its an awful busy city that is dirty and busy and has narrow streets and gross smells and people everywhere walking in the streets. And you can almost always tell where you are by where the cruise ship is visible.

We found a cool church there. Its a rare find in Dominica, but I think Steve might have been a bit snobbish about it. Just because you've visited all the amazing cathedrals of Paris and Italy doesn't mean there aren't other cool ones. Just kidding though. It was cool enough for a few minutes but after a second its really just a church built of stone and you can find one of those almost anywhere in the world. 

Here we have the tourist traps. They sell every random thing you can find on almost any island and I wanted this dress but $80 is a bit much so I said no with a capitol K. Its the 2nd one over with the plaid print. There really are cool things for sale though. We got this little leather sandal key chain that says Dominica and a giant sombrero size hat. thats not a sombrero. Its the greatest. I'm convinced it would shade my shoulders its so wide. 

Think you're lost oh wait there's the Cruise ship!

I'm so cool I have a boat as my backdrop.

Here's the best hat in the world except maybe cowboy hats or beret's or cute beanies or Crocodile Dundee's hat... Ok so maybe in the top 10.

We love our Dominican Judicial system. I'm not sure what they do all day but it may have something to do with a do-nut and watching people break laws without cares in the world cause in all actuality I'm not sure they have any laws. I think they only allowed to use the 2nd floor.

Capuchen

So Steve was the home teacher of this man Owen. He lives way out in this village that is on the farthest northen part of the island with the best view of the island Guadalupe. Steve wanted to see him one last time so we rented a car and drove up. Let me tell you its a crazy trip. There are tons of hills and turns and combinations. Most of the turns are so crazy that they turn all the way and go the opposite direction. The whole drive I was bracing myself and nervous that we would soar off the road. So we visited and it was great. Owen is one of those people that makes a lot of jokes and his laugh carries. He showed us a little park they had there and we took some pictures. I felt bed because I guess he didn't know we were leaving for good. Its kinda hard on the locals in the branch. They are always there, but the rest of the branch is always coming and going. 

Steve was commanded to climb this tree so he did. It is a series of random branches that go back into the ground in random places. So big. Look at it you'll see that it is the weirdest tree ever seen. 

This is my first viewing of a donkey in Dominica. I'll name him Alfred. He's cute kinda like Donkey on Shrek but less vocal.

Flips and flops

Cliff Jumping

So 1 day after our leg cramping hike to Boiling Lake a bunch of friends wanted to got to Bense Pool again since the students didn't go before. I guess guys like cliff jumping for some reason. I don't get it personally. So I should mention that I refused to go on this trip. My legs were still waking me up because they hurt. So I sent Steve. I also had  a lesson to prepare for Relief Society so I didn't mind not going. I'm scared of heights. 

So Steve has a love of crazy things. and cliff jumping is  one of them. He did flips and dives and belly flops and face flops and stomach flops. yeah he's such a show off. Apparently one his more graceful flops was when a bunch of students joined the group so he had quite the cheering squad.

Boiling Lake Its like one giant Staircase

So Steve Dave and I decided that a 6 hour hike is just the way to celebrate no more tests. The day after Steve's last test we headed out to Titou Gorge which is the beginning of the hike to Boiling Lake. This hike is like a billion stairs to get to the top of this amazing mountain top which I suggest any sane person stop and go back from there. then its a numbing series of upp and down steps and sulphur stream crossings. It's a beautiful hike. But no joke. before we even made it to the Lake I was trying to figure out if I would ever make it back to Titou Gorge. It was a really hard hike. The day after My legs were so tired and I just loved living on the fourth floor. Those stairs almost defeated me. 

I think one of the funniest parts of this trip was when the transport driver brought us back to Roseau to go home and as soon as we got out this guy comes up to us going on about Dominica and how we are free to do anything and its great and a lot of stuff that was not understandable to me. finally all of were so tired of standing there and not really caring what he was going on about, so we all made some random ok uh huh sounds and walked away while he didn't lose any steam but thankfully did not follow us. 

So this is us in Mordor or the valley of desolation where everything smells like egg salad. 

All 3 of us needed before pictures. I think there would have been after pics but I was too tired to take them.

So the veiw from the top of this mountain was amazing. We could see tons of mountain tops and a couple different beach fronts. A cloud also was blowing around and came right over us. it was really cool. Climbing mountains is so great when you reach the top.

This is Dave's Nature Valley Granola Bar Add.

The rocks under the sulphur water have a white film on them and people who hike past have written all sorts of things on them, this is Dave leaving his mark, thankfully not like a dog.

Oh the stairs. I hate stairs. It was kinda cool that half the logs laid across for steps have criss-cross marks carved on them. It must having taken so much work to make this trail.

Once we got to Boiling Lake if you want to touch the lake you have to climb down this wall and since I doubted myself even making it back up the trail, I decided not to climb down. Steve and Dave did however and they discovered that a Boiling Lake is in fact really hot. Amazing glad we know that.

Everytime we saw steam coming up on our hike we thought we were so close to the lake. quite wrong we were. Its like chasing a rainbow. You will never ever get there. But it was entertaining talking about it and the egg sandwiches that we needed to eat when we got there. this is a stinky hike.

Hooray this is the Lake. its in what looks like a bowl made of mountain.

As you can see it was Boiling. It was so big. The rings were crazy. the steam from it kept blowing all over us. So if you can't make this hike now you know what it looks like.