Puerto Rico Part One

We try to do one vacation a year without kiddos. The tradition began when Eli was 10 months old and we went to Peru to see Machu Piccu. It was awesome. The next year, we went to Paris. Last week (Monday to glorious Monday) we did our third--to Puerto Rico. It was really fun!

On Tuesday we went to El Yunque, the rainforest, where there are also several waterfalls. Here's the visitor's center. It was also beautiful!

Here we are on the trail. We snapped a few shots, but since we kept the camera in our pockets, the settings kept getting spun around and we never remembered to check before snapping the photos. SO, pardon the pretty shoddy quality of the photos!

Also, you might notice my hair looks horrible. It's REALLY humid there. I seriously did my hair for the first few days, but it always looked terrible again after a few hours. So, I gave up! Oh well! A frizzy head in Puerto Rico was a small price to pay...

Most of the hike to the big waterfall was by a little stream. It was really pretty.

Here's the biggest waterfall. We were the first ones there.

Whit was also the first one into the COLD water with sharp, slippery rocks. I'll admit it--I didn't get in! (I was chicken).

We found a tiny waterfall on our way out.

Whit being funny.

OKay this photo did not come out nearly as cool as this really was. There was this looped vine hanging on the side of the mountain. You can't tell, but I am a few feet off the ground AND on the side of the mountain. I guess it's just how the photo looks when taken down on the subject or something. (Linsey, help me out here!) Anyhow, it was neat to "swing" on a real vine!

I always badger Whit into doing this on a pole or something. Apparently a moss covered tree is WAY harder and less comfortable than a pole. He got a welt on his arm! Poor strong, strapping hubby! (I made it up to him though!)

I loved this tree. It was so pretty!

The mountain almost fell down. Good thing Whit was there to hold it up. Just call him Atlas.

This was at the exit. They brought a lot of things into El Yunque over the years (like the mongoose to fix the rat problem, but the mongoose is diurnal and the rat is nocturnal, so that bombed) and various other things, but the bamboo idea actually worked. This strain of bamboo grows 8 inches a day! They plant it around the streets to keep them from land-sliding. They are pretty though, too.

On our way home, we stopped at a Fort Tower in the rainforest. It was neat to see the views from it.

It was tall, but nothing compared to the Eiffel Tower, so we were fine!

Whit got these-They came out pretty nice!

Here's a cool caterpillar we found.

Oh and one last shot of the beach. We stayed at the Intercontinental and we loved it! The hotel was SO nice! The beach was RIGHT downstairs and they had a nice pool complex and towels and chairs all over for us. They even swept the beach of all the icky debris so we didn't step on anything! woohoo. I mostly read on the beach, but Whit loves to swim in the ocean.