Barbados-Day 1!

So, I know re-living my vacation day by day isn't likely on your list of "must-reads" but I like to do it to look back on because it makes me happy. :) Plus, I look at these photos and still can't believe we were JUST there. It feels like it took forever for vacation to get here and mere moments for it to breeze by! Europeans have it right with their whole "holiday" thing. I mean, three or four weeks of vacation at one time?! Heck.yes.

Okay, moving on... We flew in on Friday night kinda late so we really just got to the hotel and crashed. Plus, we were a little bummed that Eric's luggage didn't make it. The luggage thing just kept going around and I said comically "Wouldn't it be funny if your bag just didn't make it?" I quickly apologized for my little comment.

Anyhoo, we checked in and told them Eric's luggage didn't arrive and they immediately gave him a resort t-shirt! So nice! That hospitality pretty much remained constant everywhere we went for the entire trip, but especially at our lovely hotel. We stayed at the Bougainvillea Beach Resort. It's commonly known that the hotels that make your credit card cry a little bit (probably where Rihanna stays when she visits...I mean just saying...) are on the west side of the island, a bit farther than where we were staying. And when we took a tour out there, we were SO glad we opted for the Bougainvillea. Centrally located, amazing staff, excellent accommodations (our room was pretty much beach front!), and arguably the best beach we saw on the entire island. I wouldn't have traded our experience there for  anything!

Not my photo. I forgot to get a good resort pic, so I stole this one from the web. :)

***So, Day 1!***

We woke up and pretty much decided to beach it up the entire day, especially once we got a look at how breathtaking it was. :) I threw open the patio door and was like "Eric, you have GOT to see this." :)

A little walkway leading away from our hotel

Our hotel's beach! Stunning. I just LOVE the blue-green water in the Caribbean.
Man in speedo become a frequent topic of conversation among us and our fellow traveler friends. He rocked speedos the whole week. We dug him. 

It took approximately 5 minutes for Eric to find the boogie board stand and hit the water. :) He boogie boarded so much on the trip that our friends on the beach we barely knew would come up to me and comment "He's growing fins, isn't he?" haha... 

I joined in the boogie board fun for a bit. This photo cracks me up because I was actually really impressed that I caught a wave... haha! I just kept trying and no go. And finally...wahoo! 

We had some drinks at happy hour... This is the view from our room btw. The bar was within 20 steps, the beach within about 75. Not.bad. 

View from the open air hotel lobby 

We walked down to Oistins- a little fishing village about a 10 minute walk from our hotel- for dinner. Lots of street vendors and little shops set up serving fresh fish. We heard Pat's Place was the best, so that's where we headed!

Eric ordering our food. The guy cooks it just to the left right there on the outdoor grill!

Local beers. Picnic tables. Self portrait. Happy. 

Pat's didn't disappoint! The local specialty is flying fish. That's what Eric got (far) and I got the tuna.
We quickly realized we could have likely shared. 

We came back from dinner and headed to the beach! We grabbed a couple beers, flipped around some beach chairs, and listened to the live entertainment (who were actually quite good) while chatting, cheersing, and relaxing. :)

The hotel restaurant at night 

We were wiped out from a day in the sun and traveling the day before, so we hit the hay early. Isn't that hilarious on trips... that you're ready to hit the hay by like 9 p.m. and it feels SO LATE? Funny.

So yeah, that was day 1! Thanks for bearing with me, friends!