Flamenco Beach

Flamenco beach is said to be one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world. I'll admit that overall, it is the best beach I have ever been swimming at. Part of the appeal is its isolation. This is what it looks like in the middle of the day during Spring Break.









We had a great day at the beach. Part of the reason it is so isolated is because the U.S. Military used to do maneuvers in this area, complete with heave artillery. This tank is just one remnant. One of the locals we spoke to said there are unexploded elements still around. A person walking over one would not set it off, but heavy machinery would. So, this beach will probably remain undeveloped.



I just love this video of Alyssa. She loves the beach.

Culebra

The third day of our trip we drove from the rainforest to the port city of Fajardo, where we took a ferry to the island of Culebra. This is a very small island off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico. Something like 2,000 people actually live there. The main town is called Dewey. This is where the ferry stops. We wanted to stay at some villas on the beach, so when we arrived we caught a taxi to take us to the villas. When the driver realized we didn't have reservations yet, he stopped the taxi and ordered us out. It's one of the more bizarre things that has happened to us on our trips. We reassured him that we would pay him for both ways travel if they didn't have any openings, but he kicked us out of his taxi. Note: when looking for a taxi in Culebra, DO NOT accept a ride from Willy.

It turns out that the villas didn't have any openings for that night, but they did for the next. So, we stayed at a place in town for the first night on Culebra.

Mamacitas just happens to be the most happening restaurant and bar in Dewey. Since it was spring break for a lot of colleges, we happened to stay in a room next to three very nice girls from colleges in the D.C. area. They were very taken with Alyssa, and volunteered to watch her for us if we needed it. We didn't take them up on it, but we enjoyed their company out on our shared patio.

We were a little worried that noise from the bar would keep us awake at night. It turns out that roosters were the true menace to our slumber. Two am, three am, they just kept crowing. Oh well. It's all a part of the adventure.

Puerto Rico and the Rain Forest

In March we finally went on a trip that was just for exploring and having fun. Our destination: Puerto Rico. We thought that we would just spend a relaxing week on the beach and not follow our usual every night in a new place traveling style. Then we realized there was just too much we wanted to see. So, even with a toddler and a baby, we spent every night in a different place. The first day/night we spent in San Juan recovering from our middle of the night flight. The next night we spent at an eco-lodge on the south (and undeveloped) side of the El Yuenque rain forest.
Alyssa loved it! She is really into Diego right now, and to stay in a rain forest was awesome. Plus there is the whole water obsession. A 10 minute walk brought us to this gorgeous waterfall. It was really soothing at night to hear it from our room.

Alyssa was fascinated by this banana tree. I don't think she realized that bananas actually grow somewhere.

Even Abigail made it down to the waterfall. She was more interested in sleeping. Eating and sleeping....she did a lot of that on this trip.

This is the view from the road up to the eco-lodge. You can see the ocean off in the distance.


Our room had a hammock in it. Dan was so excited to show Alyssa what it was for.

She got the hang of it pretty fast. She kept opening and closing it, calling it her cocoon. Our little butterfly is emerging.

One of the really cool things about the eco-lodge is the people. We often travel to kind of out of the way places, where we meet like-minded travelers. There was only one restaurant about a half a mile down the road, so of course everyone went there for dinner. The eco-lodge served a big breakfast in the morning that we all ate around a long table. It was a lot of fun talking to people about where they had been, and what their plans were in Puerto Rico.

I think this was Dan's favorite part of our trip.

The End of Interviews

We have spent a lot of time since last July traveling for interviews. The last interviews took place in Gainesville and St. Augustine, Florida, and in Houston, Texas. Since I had not been to northern Florida before, the whole family tagged along. I mean, if we were going to end up living there, I should at least know what it is like, right? And if we end up someplace else, I've at least been able to see a lot of different places.

We spent a lot of time in Gainesville looking at real estate, but we took some time out to have some fun. While Dan was interviewing, the girls and I went to the science museum. At all of the locations we go to, it seems that we either end up going to a zoo, a children's museum, or a science museum. The one in Gainesville was small, but rather impressive for its size. Here are Alyssa and me checking out the aquarium.

They had a visiting exhibit about the amazon. Here is a replica of an anaconda, I think. The snake is thicker than Alyssa! And definitely much heavier.

Here is our little baby Abigail in front of the mastadon fossil. She does provide some perspective on size, doesn't she? Poor Abigail. At six weeks she had to do quite a bit of traveling. Most of it she spent asleep in her car seat or the stroller. She is quite a trooper, though.

The museum has a butterfly exhibit, but because we were there during the cold snap, the butterflies weren't really moving around. So, we didn't visit the butterfly exhibit, but I thought this sculpture was beautiful.

We didn't spend a lot of time in St. Augustine, but here is a picture of the oldest fort in the United States. It was built by the Spanish sometime in the early 1500's. St. Augustine is a cute little seaside town about half an hour south of Jacksonville.

So, after traveling to something like eight different states, with a search spanning almost eight months, we finally have Dan's job settled. We are moving to Greenwich, CT, about an hour from where we live now. Isn't life fun?

Disney World

The beginning of January, Dan had interviews in Orlando, Gainesville and St. Augustine, Florida. The rest of us tagged along, so we took the opportunity to visit Disney World. This was our first trip to Disney World. We were there during a cold snap, so it was about forty degrees out. We were cold for most of the day, but it was so empty that we could pretty much walk onto any ride. That was a lot of fun!

Even though it was January, they still had all the Christmas decorations up. That was a lot of fun to see. Alyssa is just getting into holidays, so she was really excited to see the Christmas tree.

People commented on how brave she was with all the characters coming up to say hi. I have to admit, she is pretty fearless. When we went on Pirates of the Caribbean, she covered her eyes a couple of times, but that was all. She really liked seeing Mickey on the float in the parade.

We didn't really plan on watching the fireworks, but we couldn't help but stop and watch them. There really is something magical about taking your kids to Disney World. Alyssa was wide eyed and thrilled all day long. Poor Abigail was just bundled up sleeping in the stroller all day. Hopefully the next time we go she will enjoy it more.

I love how the colors on the castle kept morphing. Dan captured this great moment when the colors were changing.

Here we are in front of the Walt Disney statue. Alyssa keeps asking when we are going back. Maybe next year we will go with the grandparents.