Cabarete for Thanksgiving

This year was the first time we spent Thanksgiving alone, just the two of us, without family. Because we're going to be spending Christmas in the States, we decided to forgo Thanksgiving altogether and head to Cabarete.

I've mentioned before that my favorite place on the island is Puerto Plata. Perhaps I should expand that to the entire North Coast, which includes Puerto Plata, Sosua, and Cabarete. Cabarete will probably always hold a special place in my heart, as it was the first place outside of Santo Domingo that we visited after arriving in the Dominican Republic over a year ago. It's a little coastal town known for its kite beach, but it also offers good restaurants, great scenery, a relaxing beach, and a little shopping.

We drove up on Thanksgiving Day, a little worried about the weather. The North Coast has been experiencing a lot of rain in the last several weeks, which has caused flooding and mudslides. We decided against driving the usual route (which includes going over a mountain) and opted to head to Puerto Plata (via Santiago) and then cut back to Cabarete. The route was a bit longer than usual, and we were delayed by a crew fixing a bridge that had been flood damaged, but otherwise we didn't experience any difficulty.

Sunrise view from our balcony.

 It rained a bit on Friday morning and we saw a beautiful double rainbow over the Atlantic.

Double luck. Taken with our cell phone.

We took an early morning walk along the beach and then ate a leisurely breakfast and did a little shopping.

What Cabarete is famous for.

Sunset view from our balcony.

When it came time to return to Santo Domingo, we decided to drive east along the coast and turn south just past Nagua. We hadn't been that way before and were rewarded by some really beautiful views. Sadly, we also came across evidence of flooding:

I loved spending time on the beach, but I missed having the holiday. I missed the turkey and the parade and our girls.  A little bit of a lesson learned for me, I think. It's important to keep the traditions we know and love, even if we're far away from "home." Next year, I'm going to make it a point of celebrating the holiday no matter where we are.