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I just realized that I haven’t posted in a month. I really had no idea it had been that long. There are basically two reasons why. Reason number one, we finally went on our Honeymoon.

Heather and I had decided long ago that we were going to go to the Carribean for our honeymoon. Heather wanted someplace all inclusive, so it basically left four countries as options: Mexico, Jamaica, Aruba or the Dominican Republic. I didn’t really want to do Mexico because I always associate that with Spring Break and that seems to be where people go all the time. I like Aruba but it was expensive and the flights were all very long. Heather had already been to the DR so that ruined the “specialness” for me a bit, but it was so cheap that it was the decision ultimately.

I was a bit nervous because I had never traveled out of the country. I also had never been anywhere south of Carbondale, IL (at least east of the Mississippi) or anyplace warm for that matter. We flew down on a Wednesday into Punta Cana where the arrival terminal is an open-air building that you basically just get your luggage and leave.

The ride to the resort was about 30 minutes. The ride there was a very interesting experience. There were lots of people standing along the side of the road. I initially thought they were waiting for a bus, but it seemed after seeing more of them, many of them were hitchhiking. There didn’t seem to be any speed limit signs and people pass each other like crazy. There was at least once instance where it got a little too close for comfort. Driving through the little towns you saw some very poor living conditions and armed guards at convenience stores.

We stayed at the Iberostar Grand Bavaro resort. Heather immediately commented how much nicer it was than the last place they stayed. It is one of the more expensive places in Punta Cana so I was happy it lived up to that. Our room was really nice and we had our own personal butler who was available 24/7. We spent the first day at the pool and our second day at the beach, which was magnificent. I had never been to a warm beach and the water was so clear and the sand was so smooth it was awesome. After spending half of Saturday at the pool, Heather got sick and we spent the next 24 hours bunkered in the room.

Monday we went on a snorkeling expedition that was a-mazing. We were a few hundred yards from shore in crystal clear water that was about 20 feet deep. We got to swim in a “fenced” off area with sting rays and nurse sharks which was awesome. Then the expedition cruised along the coast drinking and just sightseeing. Then we go to swim in this “natural swimming pool” that is basically a sand bar like 100 yards from shore: four foot deep water, perfectly calm. We closed it out with more time at the pool on Tuesday before coming back.

The food was pretty good, but nothing out of this world. They had a big variety of stuff, but that’s not really my thing so I mostly ate the same things every day. They had shows every night and we went to four of them. They were good, better than I would have expected at a resort. We didn’t really do many other activities for the most part, just relaxing.

Overall it was probably the best vacation I have ever been on. We totally lost track of what day it was for a while and because everything was included we never had to worry about anything. I had never been on a vacation where I had zero obligations and could just completely relax. It was awesome.

Two weekends ago Heather and I took a mini-vacation to Wisconsin Dells. I found a deal on TravelZoo, and if you haven’t subscribed to their newsletter, I urge you to, their weekly top 20 deals are phenomenal. The deal was two nights in a suite, admission to the indoor water park, food and drinks include for $200 total. With tax and tips it ended up costing us $250 for the following:

• Two nights in a suite
• 5 meals + snacks: 4 times at the buffet
• Admission to the water park
• All the booze we (read: she) could handle

Not bad, considering that two nights in a hotel usually cost $200. It was at Chula Vista which is a relatively new resort that is kind of away from downtown Dells. We went to Ho-Chunk casino the first night we were there. It wasn’t bad. I resisted the urge to play Craps and just kept Heather company while she gave me $20 to play penny slots.

We spent all day Monday at the water park. I had never been to an indoor water park before so I didn’t know what to expect. It obviously isn’t spread out much since it’s indoors and therefore you have to walk pretty much straight up to get to the slides. That kind of annoying for someone of my stature. There were some logistical things I thought they did wrong that kind of made it a pain to start using slides of different types. There were basically 5 different slides to ride and three of them you could go down with another person. Heather and I definitely had more fun going down together but I wasn’t that into the water slides, just as Heather predicted. The good news is that because it was a Monday it was not crowded and we never had to wait in line to go down. It was still fun though.

If you have never been to Wisconsin Dells, it’s the so called “waterpark capital of the world.” The town basically consists of waterparks, amusement parks, candy shops, hotels, eateries and touristy gift shops. We decided to do the Wisconsin Ducks boat tour. The Ducks are these amphibous vehicles that have been recomissioned. They were used in WWII to deliver troops from island to island. This company owns like 50 of them and gives scenic tours of the Dells. I had seen them on the Travel channel and our friends had gone and told us to go. It was like $25 a person and my biggest beef was that there wasn’t enough like interesting information. The guy giving the tour was a college kid who made a lot of silly jokes and pointed out weird looking rocks and trees and made up stories about them. I figured there was plenty of interesting things he could have told us, oh well I guess.

It was a nice vacation and a good deal. I would go back. Chula Vista is worth it if you can get a deal.

I went and did some shopping today. I spent the rest of my birthday money and got some things I have wanted/needed.

I have badly needed a new pair of black “dressy” shoes for work. My current pair, after like 2 years, just couldn’t handle it anymore. So I bought these. And since the Sketchers store had a sale going on I decided to pick up a new pair of “casual(?)” shoes for summer. The other pair were like these except that they have a more off-white stripe than that brown one.

I bought seasons 3, 4 and 5 of M*A*S*H on DVD. I determined that the first five seasons are the best and the rest aren’t worth owning. Best Buy had them on sale for $14.99 so I went with it.

Then I went to Target and bought a Cushtop. Why? I don’t know, because they had it and it was $19. I have been using my MacBook more from the couch so it wasn’t a bad buy. I also bought filing box so that I could try this one box filing system I saw on Lifehacker.

Not a bad little bit of purchases.