Adventures in Alisonland

January 15, 2013

Happy New Years All! And what's better than to start the new year than with a trip to sunny, tropical Puerto Rico? Not much as far as I can tell! As you will soon discover... there's a serious lack of beach photos . . . I was a little busy paddle boarding, surfing, kayaking, being a beach bum, etc!

Plaza Colon - the heart of Old San Juan and the view from my hostel.

Omar and I bringing in the New Year!

Lookin' cute, feelin' cute!

Our new friends from Texas and an amazing local band! They kept the beat going all night long!

PR doesn't F around with Christmas.

American flag, Puerto Rican flag and the old Spanish flag at Morro Fort.

More Morro Fort.

Getting ready to fight the English . . . and Spanish . . and pirates . . .

The new governor's inauguration ... check out the heavy artillery in front!

Now you see them . . . now you don't!

Welcome to Bacardi! (The bat became the logo after the founder discovered a bat in the distillery's rafters.)

Free rum drinks at the outdoor Bacardi bar... we could have stayed all day (and we did! ha!)

The walls (and governor's house) of Old San Juan. Just don't wander into The Perla district when stepping outside or you'll be rubbing elbows with an international drug gang. (And by rubbing elbows I mean getting robbed by.)

Soo pretty!

I don't even know what beach this is! Or when I went there!

But we sure enjoyed the heck out of it!

The only national rain forest in the US.

Imagine finding one of these suckers in your garden! I am pretty sure they are invincible to snail poison.

My new friend Alyssa crossing a "bridge" - as marked on the trail map.

And this is what hiking in the rain forest looks like . . .

Our new friends Jared and Alyssa asked us to be the witnesses for their rain forest wedding!

One of the private hiking trails at our ecolodge, Casa Cubuy.

And the view looking down the water fall . . .

The giant cathedral in Ponce.

And the fountain of Ponce . . . this is from the World Fair.

The famous Parque de Bombas . . . the old fire fighters building.

The standard sunset shot . . . this was one was taken from a 5 star resort in Guanica. Thanks Omar!

A Lichenstein sculpture outside the famous Ponce Museum of Art.

The eco-tree house we stayed in in Rincon . . . a bit of a shock after the resort but every bit as fun!

You have to take a ladder down to the open air toilet.

Bamboo forest at our tree house lodge = free construction materials.

Arecibo - the world's largest radio telescope! 1,000 feet across

Hellllloooo????? Anyone out theeerrrreeeee????

(think X Files music)

Yoga on paddle boards? Not as easy as it looks!!!

As if I didn't feel short enough already?

July 29, 2012

Everyone warned us that Mykonos was a party town and all there was to do was party and holy smokes were they dead on! As far as I can tell your options in Mykonos are to relax by the water, shop, eat or PARTY. So of course Jill and I decided when in Rome . . .

First day in Mykonos - eat - check.

First day in Mykonos - enjoy the view and relax - check.

First day in Mykonos - enjoy the water - check.

Day two in Mykonos proved to be more of the same, except we cruised the island in style ... scooter style that is.

Still relaxing!

The parking lot ouside the beach club Tropicana in Paradise Beach.

Travel Channel says this is the 2nd best beach club in the world.

If you can't beat them - join them!

Except this guy! Do not join this guy!

Giant Mojito. All this and it's only 7 pm!!!!!

Thank God we are still alive on this death trap! Try going up the hills with 50 cc of fury, wind gusts that have more power than the scooter, and 100s of crazy Europeans on scooters navigating curvy, pot hole riddled roads!