Karen and Lee Duquette's FLASHBACK to Aruba in 1992
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As Karen and Lee Duquette came to the top of this area, Lee stopped driving for a minute because the "road" went straight down, then up again, forming a V-shaped area which was much steeper than it appears in the photo below.

Karen Duquette got out of the jeep to take the photo shown below and decided to let Lee Duquette do this stunt alone. But she told Lee that he had better put his seat belt on, so he did.

Below: From the bottom of the hill, Karen Duquette took the first photo shown below of Lee Duquette in the Jeep. Then Lee waited until Karen walked to the other side of the hill before he hit the gas to quickly make this trip. Then Karen took the second picture shown below.

When Karen got back in the jeep, Lee told her that as he started to go down the hill, he realized that ALL four tires were NOT even on the ground anymore. Luckily he had listened to Karen and put his seat belt on. Karen wished she had taken a few more photos of the event.

Below: Cacti and the towering 54-foot tall peak of Hooiberg (Haystack Hill), the highest point in this area.

Below: Then Karen and Lee Duquette continued their jeep ride a few miles up the coast to the Natural Bridge. It was sculpted out of coral rock be centuries of raging wind and sea.

Below: After viewing the "Natural Bridge" from below, Lee and Karen Duquette walked to the top of it. The photo below on the right shows Lee Duquette observing the ocean pounding the sides of the cliffs and spraying water clear across the top of the cliff, leaving puddles behind.

Below: Lee Duquette playing in the field of cacti. Really? Is this a smart thing to do? NOT in Karen Duquette's opinion.

Next: There were three historical caves on Aruba. Lee and Karen Duquette explored two of the three caves on Aruba. To get inside the first cave, they had to climb up many stairs. This was the most people they had come across during their visit to Aruba, other than at the beach or in the casinos.

Unfortunately, most older photos were lost when they sold their house and moved into their 40 foot RV. (This is true of many of the "Flashback" photos on this website.) Because Lee Duquette insisted photos be taken out of photo albums to conserve space. Foolishly, Karen Duquette listened to him, a decision she will always regret.

Lee and Karen Duquette had to duck to get through most areas of this cave. It was weird to feel "TALL". The inside of the cave was hot and humid. That was the only humidity they felt in Aruba.

As is common in caves, there was total darkness inside until Karen Duquette used flash to take photos, or Lee used the flashlight of course. At this time, they were the only two people inside the cave. There was NOT even a tour guide. But they had been told to stay on the marked trail, which they sometimes found hard to figure out where the markings and trail were at.

Below: Lee Duquette turned on the flashlight (shown in his hand in the above photo) and Karen Duquette tried to photograph the bats as they came flying AT them. A few of the bats are shown as black specks on the cave wall in the below photo. Bats were flying everywhere in this cave, so Lee and Karen decided not to go any further into the cave, especially since they were here all alone without a guide.

The second cave was called "The Tunnel of Love". Karen and Lee Duquette had to go down under the road to get inside of the cave. This was a guided tour and there was a small charge.

Unfortunately, when Karen and Lee Duquette later became the famous "two RV Gypsies", Karen had to scan photos and put them in a box because she could not take her photo albums in the RV due to lack of space and they had no place to store them. By the time Karen found time to make these "flashback" pages, she no longer could find a lot of the photos, including the rest of the ones taken in this cave tour. Karen regrets pulling the photo albums apart.

Karen and Lee Duquette received one free parasailing ticket when Lee rented the jeep. So of course, Lee bought Karen a parasailing ticket. Their takeoff point was from the bow of a small boat. Lee Duquette went first.