Welcome to Puerto Rico (Part I)

Pat and I spent Christmas in Puerto Rico with Pat's four aunts, parents. siblings, cousins and nephews: 16 people in all.

One might think that you can get from LAX to anywhere in the world, which is absolutely true, but our journey to PR was an epic one: from Orange County to San Francisco, across the country to D.C. and from there on to PR. We arrived 16 hours after we started, a little rumpled but in good spirits. Our good spirits improved even more when the front desk handed us glasses of the Island's traditional Christmas libation (yum, rum). This picture is us upon arrival in the hotel room.

About an hour later, they brought us popcorn and beer. We both decided we could get accustomed to this life pretty quickly.

Our room at the Sheridan overlooked the cruise ships docks which provided many opportunities for people watching.

We also spent a lot of time watching the big ships come and go.

Later, in the hotel lobby, we ran into Pat's sister Kerrie. She had been to Senor Frogs, the restaurant next door, where apparently they pour sangria down your throat and force you to wear a silly balloon on your head. I warned Kerrie she was about to make the blog...

I didn't get any pictures at dinner the first night but I did take this shot of Pat and our nephew with the sign advertising $2 tequila shots. Yeah, I am pretty sure we are bad influences...

Beaches and Pools (PR Part II)

I've never considered myself much a very "beachy" person but PR tried hard to make a believer out of me, and it pretty much worked. We spent many lazy days around the pool or on the beach, doing a little light reading and catching up with one another.

The Hilton Caribe, where Pat's sister Colleen and her family were staying, had a stunning facility. And they had a swim up bar! Of course, we had to give that a try.

We spent something like $80 on drinks and charged it to Colleen's room. She wasn't even there. Don't worry--we gave her some money later (actually, I think maybe only Kerrie gave her money-we are such deadbeats!)


Later, we took a little walk.

And found a grove of trees with hammocks!

And then we came to the beach.


On the way back, we watched tropical fish from this platform.

A few days later, we went to check out the pool at the Marriot, where Pat's parents were staying. Beautiful!

And, here is Pat with his dad relaxing by that pool.

Christmas Dinner (PR Part III)

Here is our official Christmas picture-taken in our hotel lobby. For those of you who receive our annual Christmas card, you know this picture won't make the cut. Nice, none the less...

Then we headed to the Marriot where we had a private room reserved for dinner. Before dinner, we, of course, took a ton of pictures. Here is one of the whole gang.

Then it was time for what has (like many traditions, I don't know quite how this one evolved) become a Christmas tradition: exchanging instant lottery cards. Everyone brings lottery cards from their home state, and we all spend a few minutes thinking we are about to be $20,000 richer. Unfortunately, nobody has ever won more than a few bucks which is paid out on the spot by the people who brought the ticket.

Aunt Ellen had brought an Etch A Sketch to occupy Timmy during dinner but it was Kerrie who entertained us all by producing very detailed drawings. If the whole education field doesn't work out for her, I am pretty sure she could make a few bucks...

It was a long night, and the excitment was too much for Jacob.

After a superb meal, we headed to the lobby bar to fortify ourselves before heading to the tables for a little holiday Roulette action (no luck there).

Puerto Rico Adventures (PR Part IV)

While in Puerto Rico we had the chance to get out a bit to explore the surrounding landscape.

One day we went to one of PR's National Parks, El Yunque, a very beautiful rainforest about two hours outside of San Juan.

The familiar US National Park signs made me feel at home. I don't care what anyone says--the National Park system is one of the greatest gifts our government has given us.

We make great tourists, don't we?

This is our guide, Roberto. He reminded me of a PR Indiana Jones with that hat.

We climbed up, up and around inside this tower.


Pat and Kerrie outside the tower.

We also did an awesome night kayaking trip to an area where microorganisms in the water (not unlike fireflies) light up the water on moonless nights. First, of course, we had to don life vests. No drowning allowed.


Then we jumped into kayaks.

And headed through the mangroves. It was very, very dark and a little spooky.

We insisted on taking pictures although it wasn't easy. Unfortunately, the glowing water didn't really take to photos, but, you have my word, it was really cool. It was also very tiring--we didn't get back to our hotels until after midnight.


And we got a fun group shot with our guide.

The Tourist Trail (Puerto Rico, Part V)

In addition to hanging around the beach and casinos, we did squeeze some in some of the standard tourist sites as well.

Well, the first one isn't really standard: we took a tour of the US Coast Guard base. The daughter of Pat's parent's friend is stationed on the base right by our hotel so she met us for a tour.

Here is Mary Dwyer with Pat's parents. She was a great host, and it was interesting to get a glimpse into military life.

After our tour of the base, we walked up to Fort San Cristobal to poke around.

It was very pretty and green.

One day, we went to Puerto Rico's premier tourist attraction: The Bacardi Rum Factory.

The grounds were immaculate.

We took a little tram over to the tour.

Outside, we were given two tickets to try daquaries, mojitos, and Cuba libres, Bacardi's three most famous drinks. I drank a lot of mojitos in PR. Done right, they are fantastic.

We hung out for a long time afterwards.

On the way back, there wasn't room for all of us in one taxi so the cabbie just threw a lawn chair in back for me--it was funny.

After everyone else had flown home, Pat and I went to El Morro, the oldest and biggest of the San Juan Forts. It was impressive.



Here it is from afar.

And near.



Here is Pat.

We also went to the San Juan Cathedral. It was stunning.

And Ponce De Leon is buried there!