Two weeks ago, Boo Boo and I celebrated our one year anniversary in Grand Turk and Amber Cove. Grand Turk is the capital island of Turks and Caicos, and Amber Cove is in the Dominican Republic. We both love to travel and are adventurous individuals, so we decided to celebrate our love with passports and shots of adventure! We booked a cruise with Carnival and booked two excursions in advance to get a special discount. We planned to try snuba (which is a combination of scuba and snorkeling) while we were at Grand Turk. We also scheduled a horseback ride along the beach in the Dominican Republic.

CHILE….Let me tell YOU; we are DONE with being adventurous for a very long time! LOL. We had a wonderful time, but we realized we planned these excursions right after we skydived together, so we were still on an adventure HIGH…and currently, we are NOT on that adventure high anymore. LOL. We may do something TINY…and I mean a ‘tiny’ adventure in the future, but all of our upcoming trips will include a passport with a whole wine glass of relaxation!

SO…do you want to hear the details of our excursions?!? We were SO excited about the snuba excursion we woke up early on vacation (6:00 a.m. to be exact). However, that wasn’t the real reason we woke up early. We had to be at the assigned meeting area @ 7:30 a.m. (that’s the real reason we woke up early) We were surprised to find a notice that was slid under our room door, telling us that due to weather, our snuba excursion was canceled, and we would be receiving a refund. We were very disappointed. How were we going to get our shots of adventure now?!? We quickly started looking at other offers because we didn’t just want to hang out at the beach and go on a tour. We went to the guest/information desk to see what other excursions were still available. Eventually, we decided we would take a tour, but in a HXT Electric Hummer…and Bae had to be comfortable driving on the left side of the road. The Hummer tour started at 1:00, so we decided to spend the first part of our morning on the beach. The beaches in Grand Turk were beautiful, but our Hummer tour exposed us to a lot of poverty on the island. It was shocking to see that the island is still recovering from Hurricane Irma and Maria. Our tour guide told us that several areas are still without power. The tour was not as adventurous as we would have liked, but it allowed us to reflect and have an in-depth conversation about 3rd world countries. (AND of course, Bae was able to have fun driving the Hummer around the island) This particular excursion didn’t discourage us from giving up our shots of adventure just yet, but the heat was draining. (BTW…before we left Alabama we woke up to snow flurries; which was nothing like the warm weather we experienced in Grand Turk)

Here are a few pics of our HXT Electric Hummer Tour in Grand Turk…

The next day we were scheduled to arrive in the Dominican Republic, and we were worried our horseback riding adventure was going to be canceled too. Luckily, that didn’t happen (well, after our experience, I’m not too sure if we were lucky). When we arrived at Amber Cove, we met our guide and took a 45-minute ride through the island. We were fortunate to have a well-educated tour guide to inform us about the history, current issues, and politics in the Dominican Republic. I was SO fascinated with the amount of knowledge he was willing to share with the entire group. After the 45 minute ride, we arrived at the Seahorse Ranch. It was a beautiful location…but we were in for a ride! (no pun intended)

SO… before this trip, I had only been on a horse one time and rode it a short distance. When we arrived at the ranch, we had to sign a waiver, put on hairnets, and helmets. After that, the workers at the ranch pointed at us and helped us on a horse. I was only showed three motions…how to stop the horse, how to make the horse go left, and right. That was it!!! Now, being a person who loves detailed instructions and visuals that 3-minute lesson was not enough for me! After we had our ‘3-minute’ riding lesson, we were off! Immediately we were trotting along the beach…now let me tell you…all of that trotting was making all of my ‘jelly’ shake. I wore some cropped jeans, a bikini top, a cover-up, and tennis shoes. I am still healing from two wounds on my ankles because I was pressing my ankles against the stirrups every time we trotted. (yes, I was holding on with my dear life…well my ankles…LOL) After riding for about 20-30 minutes, we took a break and was able to relax on the beach. The waves were extremely too strong for us to be out in the water, so we were instructed to rest and enjoy the view. I was in such a disarray and pain I couldn’t completely absorb all of the beauty the beach had to offer. After resting for about 15-20 minutes, we were back to trotting most of the way back. Boo Boo and I were in so much pain we did not go to the formal dining that night. Our inner thighs and buttocks were SO sore; we questioned each other about whose idea was it to go horseback riding…AND then that’s when we agreed as a couple that we were DONE with our shots of adventure! Now, we will be enjoying a full glass of RELAXATION !