Hope you are all enjoying the nice temperatures and getting ready for the holidays.
Despite the fact that Glenn and I have few planned visitors over the holidays, unless the raccoons decide to stop by, we have gotten into the spirit of things by decorating.
Glenn threw out our artificial "pre-lit" tree at the end of last season, so this year, we went and got our first real tree which is a beaut, if I do say so myself.
Sadly, we have to keep our tree behind a gate, or Deuce will destroy it, so it usually looks more like this.
Additionally, our neighborhood gets pretty into outdoor decorating, so Glenn has stepped up his game this year.
In other news, Saturday morning, Glenn and I took an 8 mile bike ride on the Courtney Campbell Causeway. It was a gorgeous morning for a ride, and I think we're going to try to do this on a more regular basis.
Glenn attempted to snap some pics with his phone, but alas, they are not great. I ran home, grabbed the superzoom camera and headed back to the pond, and they were gone. DAMN YOU, OTTERS!
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| There are two in this pic, but I don't blame you if you don't believe me. |
We took our bikes back to town for lunch and stopped down at the pier to see the manatees. This time, there was a couple on a kayak, which will give you a better sense as to the size of my manatee friends.
Saturday night, we went to St. Petersburg for their Holiday Boat Parade. Our first year in Tampa, we went to the Tampa boat parade and found it rather disappointing. This one was much better.
St. Pete always gets decked out for the holidays, so that was nice to see.
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| Mom and Dad, this is the Birchwood where you ate with us in St. Pete. |
Ok - I think that gets us caught up to today, when we took the dogs on a long walk in the morning, watched the Steelers this afternoon, and had a nice dinner out. Now I am blogging.
So let's finish up with this Puerto Rico trip, as there is not too much left.
Friday after Thanksgiving: We packed up and headed South, to spend our last few days of vacation on the Southern coast in a town called Ponce. Glenn had booked us at the Hilton Golf Resort & Casino and had used all of his rewards points for us to stay there.
It was about an hour and a half drive through the mountains to get there, which was very scenic.
Unfortunately, once we arrived, Glenn was clearly very disappointed (me too, but I had lower expectations). The resort was rather dated and filled with screaming kids. The casino was bad. The resort itself was miles away from anything, and the town looked kinda scary. We found ourselves wishing we were back in San Juan, at the Condado, where we had lots to do within walking distance.
So, I suggested we return to San Juan in the morning and book new rooms, and cancel the rest of our stay in Ponce. We were both very happy about this plan, especially after a sleepless night in Ponce, where the Puerto Ricans next door partied in our hallway until about 4 am.
Saturday: This morning, we headed back over the mountains to San Juan. We booked our final two nights in the Vanderbilt, the hotel we were pretending to be staying at. It is beautiful and we’re happy to be here. I spent the late morning reading on the big deck along the ocean. Today, the waves were higher than we’ve ever seen them, and actually were crashing over the balcony railing – it is something to see.
Sunday: Went back to Old San Juan and walked through El Morro. Our passes for the forts were good for both forts all week. It was a drizzly, cool day, but not bad. We walked the six levels of the fort – lots of stairs, ramps and tunnels.
Here's a bunch more fort pics.
When we got back, we had lunch and gambled a bit. We were excited to discover that the Steeler game was available in our room, so we ordered some pizza (I even found a gluten free pizza!) and we watched the game, which was terrible. Booo!
So anyway, we left on Monday, and that pretty much covers the highlights from our trip. Whew! Glad to get caught up.
Hope you all are having a great December. Happy Holidays to you all! Love us.
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