First things first!
The final 2 winners of a free copy of Veil of Pearls are: Michelle and Wendy!!!
Congratulations!! And thanks again to everyone who entered. I hope you enjoyed my
Veil of Pearls pre-release party as much as I enjoyed reading all your comments!
Well, as some of you know, hubby and I went to Jamaica the first week of July to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary! We had a wonderful time! This was my first trip to the Caribbean (I know.. crazy since I write books about it!) and it was everything I hoped it would be. The weather, the beaches, the color of the water, the plants and trees... ah.. I was in paradise! We stayed at Sandals Royal Caribbean in Montego Bay, an all-inclusive resort. If you ever go to a resort, all-inclusive is the way to go! That means all your food, drinks, room, and onsite activities are all included in the price. So, no worries about paying for anything else! Of course if you want to take any tours, that is extra. Hubby and I took 3 tours.
Hiking to Dunn's River Falls
Swimming with the Dolphins
Ziplining through the canopy!
All three I highly recommend if you ever get over that way! Here's some pictures to enjoy.
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| This is one of the rooms at the resort that walks right out onto the pool! |
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| Here's the view from our room. We were literally steps from the water! |
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| This is the front porch of our room.. and my hubby reading! |
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| Beach Beds at the resort! See the storm coming in? |
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| Have you ever seen water so turquoise? That building is a Thai Restaurant on a little island off shore. |
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| Wherever I go, I always manage to find a pirate to hang out with! |
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| Hubby and I hiking THROUGH Dunn's River Falls. They make you hike in the water! |
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| I was afraid of getting swept away!! |
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| Now, this is more like it!! Making friends with the Dolphins! |
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| Maybe a little too friendly! |
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| This was so much fun! |
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| Believe it or not, the Dolphins are pushing me up and through the water with their noses! |
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| Here's hubby !! |
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| Look at me!! 300 feet above ground speeding through a tropical canopy!! |
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| Hubby was enjoying himself too! |
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| Back to our little haven.. our room is the one on the bottom right. The yellow flag means swim at your own risk! |
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| The ocean in front of our room! |
Hope you've enjoyed journeying with me to Jamaica!! Like I said, we had a wonderful week, but all in all, there's no place like home!
Fri July 13th ...
ReplyDelete"Morning, MaryLu."
It's 5:15 a.m. (here in Ontario, Canada) ... couldn't sleep, so thought I'd come out to see if you posted Jamaica pictures. Oh ... W-O-W !!! You did !
The resort you stayed at was simply beautiful/breathtaking ! "Walking right out onto the pool" ... so romantic and pretty ! And the one of your husband "reading a book on the front porch" .. he's reading "Veil of Pearls", of course .... ??? Oh, and the "beach beds", and the "colour of the water" ... wonderful ! And, "the pirate" ... was this a part of your "pirate cruise" ? The "Dunn's River Falls" ... simply gorgeous ! But "the dolphins" just 'top the cake' !!! Imagine ... swimming with them, touching them (even kissing them), and then ... riding upon them ! Amazing, and so much fun !!! I'll bet "zip-lining" was an absolute blast !!! Re: "the yellow flag" (swimming at your own risk) ... risk of "what" ... jellyfish, strong undercurrents, no lifeguards .... ???
Well, thanks so much MaryLu ... for sharing the wonderful holiday pictures with us ! Absolutely beautiful ... a tropical paradise for sure ! So glad that you "both" had a wonderful time away together !!! What an awesome, treasured, and memorable trip !!!
(Wonderful to travel, but ... I totally agree with you .... "there's no place like home".)
And, to -- Michelle and Wendy ... "Congratulations" on being the final two winners of the book.
And so, now I am off to "Amazon.ca" to order my very own copy.
Thanks again MaryLu ... for giving us all the opportunity of a chance to win your book; and again, for sharing your photos.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
Take care, and, God Bless,
In Him, Brenda Hurley
Fri July 13th, at 5:50 a.m. ....
ReplyDeleteP.S. -- Well MaryLu ... you will be absolutely delighted to hear this newsflash: Just finished going onto the "Amazon.ca" site to order your book ... and "Veil of Pearls" ..... is "temporarily out of stock" !!!!!!!!!!! Big surprise ..... NOT !!!!!! So, I'll wait just a tad longer .... that's okay, think of the anticipation building up !
Just thought you would want to know ... it's a big hit and seller ! No surprise there.
In Him, Brenda Hurley
Ahhhh .... lovely pictures, MaryLu! What a gorgeous place, isn't it. We went and stayed at the Dunns River Falls Sandals Resort (we couldn't remember the name once I told my hubby that you were in Jamaica and we started to think back, and had to look it up only to find out it no longer exists!) for our honeymoon. So we did the Dunns River hike too. :)
ReplyDeleteThe dolphins and zip lining we didn't do though - but I'd love to! I'm so glad you were able to go and had such a wonderful time with your hubby! Hubby times are great! :)
Yes, congratulations to the book winners. You'll love the book!
Have a great weekend!
Congratulations to the winners!!
ReplyDeleteMaryLu, I'm so happy you and your husband had a great time! Those pics are beautiful and you two look so cute together! :)
Blessings,
Amanda
That is awesome! Thank you so much for sharing all these pictures!! :)
ReplyDeleteI can't wait till we go. :)
You are so cute on that zipline. :) Love it :)
Thank you for sharing your vacation! The area is awesome! Love the giant red flowers and watching you ride the dolphins.
ReplyDeleteWhat GORGEOUS pictures!! You look absolutely in bliss! I want to just sit in the middle of those pictures for hours and hours. What beauty God created!!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pics, I esp. liked the ones with dolphins, something I would like to try-heard it is so soothing for a person to be around them.
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing
Paula )(kyflo130@yahoo.com)
Congratulations to the final two winners of "Veil"! MaryLu, LOVED the pictures of your vacation. It looks like you and your hubby had so much fun. My favorite pics are of you and the dolphins. So sweet. I'm glad that you had such a good time. Thanks for sharing with us. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you had a great vacation in the Caribbean. It sure looks like fun!
ReplyDeleteWow! Those views are absolutely beautiful!! What a place! I like that you can walk right out into the pool from the resort! And those beach beds- awesome! Haha great picture with the pirate! Scary waterfall. Oh my goodness, you were swimming with dolphins!? So cool! Oh boy, 300 ft off the ground, I would be terrified but it looks like to much fun! My parents are totally jealous!
ReplyDeleteAww, you and your husband look so sweet together. Wow, what a blessing to get away to such a gorgeous paradise!! I hope you two had a wonderful time! Welcome back. :)
You have no idea how excited I was to receive your email this morning, MaryLu! Thank you so much! I can't wait to read this book! : )
ReplyDeleteAnd WOW! Your trip looks like an amazing time -- such exciting things you got to do! What a blessing to be able to share that special time with your hubby! My husband and I will be celebrating 20 years in 2013 -- I'm hoping to go to Carmel-by-the-Sea, since we've never been. From the photos I've seen, it's gorgeous. Have you been?
That looks so fun! I'm glad you and your hubby had a great time. I just love zip-lining! I did it a couple of times in Mexico. I have always wanted to swim with dolphins. Thanks for sharing some of your vacation with us!
ReplyDeleteWow! What fun! I love the shots of you two with the dolphins. I hope one day, my daughter can do that, she really adores dolphins. I am so glad you and your hubby had this opportunity to get away. I've always wanted to try a zip line. Was it scary at all? What wonderful memories you now have! So happy for you. Thanks for sharing! I hope the crew is able to get over here and see these. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you all for sharing my fun vacation with me!! We did have a blast and have so many fond memories. :-)
ReplyDeleteBrenda, no, hubby wasn't reading Veil of Pears.. he hasn't read ANY of my books. :-( And the yellow flag was due to the high wind which caused the current to increase. (It actually wasn't bad at all!)
Caroline, I wonder what happened to the Sandals at Dunns River? Hmm. That's cool you were there too!
Thanks Amanda!
Sheri, you're going to have so much fun!!
Linda, the dolphins were amazing!
Paula, yes.. they are such calm, happy, friendly creatures. I could have spent the entire day with them.
Thanks Angi!!
Thanks Diane
Tori.. yes.. it took me 15 steps to get from my hotel room door to the water. Amazing!
Michelle, Carmel is really lovely! It's only about an hour drive from me! You'll have a great time!
Heather, alright, another ziplining enthusiast!!
Debbie, the ziplining was only scary in the beginning..when we were really high up on this platform and you had to take that first step off. .after that it was a breeze!
Whoa this looks like a really fun time that you had.
ReplyDeleteI am so jealous! lol
Adventure is out there!
What fabulous pictures! Sounds like you had some amazing experiences!! :) Glad you and your husband had a great trip!
ReplyDelete~Amber
OK I never really felt the urge to go to the Caribbean, till now.. And the view from your room... I'll have to save this idea for our 20th.. 7 long years away...
ReplyDeleteGlad you finally got to meet your muse of the Caribbean!
It looks like you had a wondeful trip! Thanks so much for sharing pictures with us!
ReplyDeleteI am trying to decide if I want to read Veil of Pearls or reread your Pirate series. Why must you make it so hard! :P
It's wonderful you had such a fun time!!! :-)
ReplyDeleteAfter seeing those pictures, I might have to reconsider my aversion to international travel, LOL!
Thanks Shelby!! This is our first trip together in 20 years. But it has spurred my interest in more adventures. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Amber!!
Marie, I would highly recommend it! Start saving...
Thanks Emma.. hmm.. sorry to make your life more difficult! LOL.
Sapphire.. the truth is I hate leaving the USA. This is home and I feel safe in this country, but this trip was well worth the risk and uneasiness I felt. It's a beautiful world God created.. I'd love to see it all some day..
Very cool. You like so happy, and having so much fun in all these pictures. And you're so brave. I would not go 300 ft above the ground in that fashion. The dolphins look great though! especially the one where they're pushing you up. So cool.
ReplyDelete-Rebekkah xD
Thanks Rebekkah!! I was very happy! Who wouldn't be in the middle of a tropical paradise with the man you love? ;-)
ReplyDeleteWelcome home! Happy late anniversary, too! It looks like you had a great! I don't see how you kept from writing/researching!Your pictures were absolutely breathtaking:)
ReplyDeleteThanks for bringing me along on your vacation, girlie!
ReplyDeleteWow, looks absolutely fantastic. The trip of a lifetime!! Thanks for sharing all those fabulous pictures.
ReplyDeleteJor and I were at Sandals, Nigril, all inclusive for our honeymoon, but we didn't do all that extra fun stuff you did. Soooooooooooooooooooo Fun and you both look sooooooooooo happy. I am very happy for you, my friend. I hope to swim with dolphins one day