Puerto Rico, Part I

For Scott's spring break, we took a trip to Puerto Rico to visit his sister Emily and her husband Eric. They were married about a month before us (today is their one-year anniversary), and they moved to Puerto Rico last summer for Eric's job with the Coast Guard.

We stayed most of the time at their house, and the free lodging meant we could splurge on two nights at a beach resort and fancy dinners.

Our first full day was devoted to visiting and photographing Old San Juan. It's a cool place with a huge wall surrounding the city and great old architecture.

The basketball court with the best view I've ever seen.

Scott and Emily

After a rest, we went to this awesome beach to try to catch the sunset. We serendipitously ended up at a locals beach about 30 miles west of San Juan. Kids were EVERYWHERE, running and playing in the water. It was a little chaotic, but it was a fun vibe.

We then made our way back east a few miles to a quieter beach to wait for the sunset.

The sunset wasn't that great, but we did the best we could. The next morning we set off for the El Yunque rainforest. Our beach resort was near there, so we spent the morning hiking before we checked in.

The rainforest was beautiful. But we were glad to park ourselves at the resort and not drive for a few days. We had a rough trip out to the rainforest. We missed a few exits because the signs can be ambiguous and because Puerto Rican drivers are no joke. You have to always be on your toes and checking your mirrors when you drive there. I was glad I wasn't driving, and I was grabbing my "oh shit" handle while navigating the packed streets.

The resort was the Wyndam Rio Mar Beach Resort. It was something different for us because we always pack our vacations full of activities. So it was nice to have no real plans for at least one day. We actually sat on the beach for most of the day on Tuesday. And on Monday night, we had one of the best dinners we've ever eaten. I can still taste it. YUM! All these photos were taken with my iPhone because I didn't even take the camera out pretty much the whole time we were there.

View from our room.