Where Have I Been?

Where have I been? Not on the computer that's for sure. Sorry to be gone for so long. Over the next few days I will try to fill you in on some of the things we've been up to. But for now I'll just post some pic's and blurbs about our trip to Puerto Rico and our Cruise. This was our get away for our 10 year anneversary. Yay, us!

This first group of photo's is from our 3 days in Puerto Rico. Enjoy!


View from the back of the hotel. All the windows are barred and most places are gated.

Here are some pic's of the suite we got in Puerto Rico. It's funny, but the whole place was tile. Not exactly what I thought it would be. I like carpet, it just feels more comfortable. I think this hotel would have made some uncomfortable. Not the hotel itself...it was very nice and pretty new. But the location was a little scary. As seen in the previous pic's. It was a bit like the slums. But I never felt that I wasn't safe. So, that's a good thing.

Nice spacious bedroom with king size bed and a door to the balcany. Best of all, there were two tvs. :0)

OOOOOhhhhh, the bath room. :0)

The Pool. It was so cold, they don't believe in heated pools. We never tried it out. But it was pretty to look at. Give me the beach any time.

We started out our first full day in Puerto Rico at the Bacardi Rum factory for a tour and a couple free drinks. Then on to El Murro an ancient fort and Old San Juan.

We got to try out two diff. Bacardi drinks to see what we liked. Dave tried a peach one that was pretty good. He also tried a more premeire drink...it was gross. I swear it tasted like bandaides. Nasty! I first tried the apple rum. It was ok. But......

I then tried the raz rum...oooohhhhh, yummy!

View of El Murro and Old San Juan from the ferry.

When we got off the ferry, this was one of the first things we saw. It was so pretty and peaceful. There were people playing chess behind me, enjoying the cool shade.

I took so many pic's of colorful streets this day. I can't believe how colorful this culture is. I just loved it. This one turned out the best.

The cobble stones in town are blue. I don't think I've ever seen blue cobble stones before.

The beginning of the fort walls. The hike begins.

I loved this bird sitting in the window.

A couple from Chicago took this picture of us. I have found that if I want a pic. of us together, I just go up to another couple who are taking pic's and ask if they would like me to take a pic. of them together and then of course they are kind enough to ask if we would like our pic. taken. Works every time.

I saw this flower just hanging out on the top of one of the fort walls and thought it looked so pretty there. So, of course I took a picture. :0)

I just loved the look of this beach. I was wishing that I could stay here and hang out a little longer. But, we needed to keep walking.

Oh my gosh! This is going to be a long walk. :0) It actually wasn't that far a walk.

The entrance to El Murro, finally. We walked forever to get there.

Even the inside of the fort had color.

I thought this would make a cool shot. I still think it does. :0)

Hey, look at that...a picture of me. I always forget to have someone take pic's of me. My poor kids are going to grow up and never know what I used to look like. :0)

The view of Old San Juan from the fort.

I love this shot of the sail boat and the sun behind. It almost looks like it's floating in the air.

Chapel inside the fort. Even the fort was very colorful.

Cemetary outside Fort El Murro. What a great place to be put to rest. Right on this beautiful beach.

We were walking around town and came across this church and went inside. It was so beautiful in side. Not much to look at outside. So, a nice surprise when we walked in the door.

Here's the ceiling of the church. So pretty.

I don't know how I didn't make this a blurry pic. I didn't want to use a flash, because it would really flatten it out, but I thought for sure it would turn out very blurry. I guess I got lucky. Such a pretty church.

I can't believe this didn't come out more blurry. It was so pretty in there.

Beautiful stain glass window. I loved this church.

A pink church, now how cool is that! I have never seen a pink church. I just love the colors of this little town.

On the way back across the bay we crossed paths with this cargo ship and the setting sun behind it. Looks really cool.

Here's our commuter boat to Old San Juan with El Murro in the background.

The view from our hotel balcany.

Here is where we spent our 2nd full day in Puerto Rico...El Yunque Rain Forest. A truly beautiful place.

This is the only kind of lizard you will ever see me get this close to. If it was real...well lets just say the screaming may damage your hearing. :0)

These flowers were just growing out of the walls. They were so pretty and everywhere. I wonder if I could get them to do that....prob. not!

Here's a close up.

I just loved the colors in this tree trunk. It looked like it was painted this way, but it was just naturally this way. Way cool!

I wish I could have cut off the branch blocking the tower.

Here's Dave in front of the tower.

The jungle is just so cool and lush from this angle.

The jungle thru a window of the tower.

The beach thru a window of the tower.

These little lizards are all over the island. If you know me, you know I scream like a little 5 year old when these guys sneak up on me. So, it was a HUGE thing for me to take this picture. While I was taking this pic. Dave started to chuckle because unknown to me, there was another little slimy thing climbing up the railing I was leaning against to steady the camera for this shot. I took the pic. then ran away shuddering like I had just swallowed a slug. I'm such a ninny!

We found this great place for a picnic by the water.

Dave crossing a bridge.

Tami about the cross the bridge. Green moss grows on anything that doesn't move. It's very pretty.

The majesty of the jungle was just so....I can't even describe how beautiful it was there. So green!

There it is the La Mina waterfall we had been hiking for a half hour to see. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

I was surprised how not sweaty we look in this picture. We took this on our way back from the falls. We were also so lucky that it didn't rain on us in the RAIN forest. :0)

I had seen this flower in the parking lot right before we started our hike, but didn't take the picture. I kept telling myself thru the whole hike that I should have taken the picture..it was the only flower like that I had seen the entire time in the jungle. I was convinced that someone would pick it before we got back...but to my surprise it was still there and as beautiful as I remembered it.

I think vacationing at the beach...any beach...is our preferred vacation get away. It's just so relaxing.

After hiking thru the hot jungle, it was nice to cool our feet at the beach.

Don't we look like we are having fun. :0)

The water was so clear and pretty. A bit chilly at first but not as chilly as the Pacific coast of Wash. State.

Every time we go on vacation on a beach I write the name of the place and the year in the sand.

Footprints in the sand.

Here's our rental car where we parked at the beach. I liked the paintings on the sea wall.

Getting this picture has a story...We had been in Puerto Rico for 3 days and had always been on the road when the sun was setting. This was our last day to get a sunset photo...and once again we were in the car. So, I just whipped the camera out and started to take a picture in a traffic jam. Just as I was about to take the shot a car came up beside us, saw me with the camera and slammed on his brakes so he wouldn't mess up my picture. Now that's conciderate! I got the pic. then looked back to make sure I hadn't been the cause of an accident. Thank goodness everyone was fine.

Here is the view of our hotel from across the street...the beach side of the street.

I don't know what this building was used for but I just liked the look of it.

Here is the fort El Murro from across the bay.

Dave outside a small fort called El Canuelo across the bay from El Murro and Old San Juan.