Honeymoon

Ok, so I just have to grab the bull by the horns and get this over with! (You all should be proud...I got a saying right without effing it up! I'm patting myself on the back right now!)

(8/18/08)

We left Jacksonville for Gainesville at 10am. We asked the front desk for directions on how to get to the highway and they gave us the right directions...they were just pointing backwards so we got all sorts of confused and ended up being lost in Jacksonville for about 20 minutes, which is nothing compared to Puerto Rico (more on that later).

We arrived in Gainesville at about noon. I was so excited when we pulled into my Mimi's driveway. I hadn't seen her sense my high school graduation, that was 8 years ago. (I have to take this time to thank my husband for being so wonderful and agreeing to spend part of our honeymoon meeting the rest of my family! I know he had other things on his mind...after all we are "newly weds"!)

We barely had time to take our bags inside and my Mimi was rushing us out the door to do sight seeing!!! I had been to Florida, but Daniel hasn't.

First stop...The Butterfly Museum...

This place was amazing, I couldn't believe how many different butterflies there were. And there were so many that if you stood in one place for a while, they would land on you.

After spending as much time in the museum as possible (Daniel was getting "mopey") we went to try and find an alligator. My Mimi really wanted Daniel to see a "live" one and knew of a lake where one hangs out. To get to the lake, we had to go through an amazing church...Then on to Lake Alice to find our alligator...Unfortunately, we never did find an alligator...or maybe that's a good thing, considering how close we were to the waters edge!

After our alligator hunting we went back to my Mimi's house and this is I found in our bedroom... I thought it was the most thoughtful thing ever! The sign on the bed says "Just Married" and she left us the cutest, most heartfelt card along with some gerber daisies - my faves!!!

Mimi made us a home cooked "southern" meal. She made parmesan chicken, twice baked potatoes, white acre peas (YUMMY), salad and biscuits. Words can't describe how good this dinner was...my mouth is starting to water just thinking about it!!! Then she served us up a homemade cheesecake with strawberries and coffee. What can I say besides WOW??!?

After dinner Daniel and I went and sat on the back porch and listened to the Florida night "music" and watched the lightning bugs.I think that it's safe to say that all (or most) of the porches in Florida are screened in to keep the bugs out. It was so peaceful listening to the night music and being with my hubby.

(08/19/08)

We woke up at 8am and had breakfast then left for Melrose. Melrose is where Mimi grew up and where my mom grew up (she spent a good deal of her childhood there). We took a tour then went to the cemetery to see the memorial that my Mimi did.

And here is a pic of my Grand-dad Tom's brick...it brought tears to my eyes seeing this...I am defiantly proud of this man and I'm so thankful to get to call him Grand-dad!

Now we are off to Crescent Beach. It wasn't too far from Melrose and it was beautiful.

Even when my hubby is trying to through me into the Atlantic ocean. Notice how big the waves are (the Atlantic is usually the calm ocean) that is from hurricane Faye, that we missed by one day!

After frolicking on the beach for a while, we went to Mantazo Park, where there was a very small fort that helped protect St. Augustine.

Can you see the fort? It's just behind us (above our heads). This is also where the bugs attacked me. What can I say the mosquitoes love me...I just know I'm gonna catch the West Nile!!!?!

Now we are off to St. Augustine. (Oh, I forgot to mention that we picked up my Aunt Terrie who I haven't seen sense I was 15, maybe??) First we went on a horse carriage ride through the town.

I got a ton of pictures of all the ancient buildings there...I'm only going to share a few of them. Then we came across this tree. It's called the "Love tree". If you look close you can see why...Do you see it? There is a palm tree growing in the middle of the elm. Neat-o huh? Well legend has it that if you kiss under it, your love will last as long as the tree lives. And if hubby new I was posting this he might kill me. Ok not really, but he DESPISES kissy pictures. I am truely surprised he was okay with taking this pic!

So we finally made it to see the fort. However, when we got there all we could do is walk around the outside because everything was closed (and the flags down) because of hurricane Faye.

So after walking around all day we were all starved. We went to a "hole in the wall" restaurant (as my Mimi described it). It's call O'steins and OMG it was fantastic. It's my mom's favorite place to eat and now I finally know why. The shrimp was to die for!

We left Gainseville that night. We had to be back to Jacksonville to catch our 9am flight to PUERTO RICO!

(08/20/08)

We got up at 6am and got to the airport...no problems! It was pouring rain...Faye was finally showing up. Although it was just a "tropical storm" when we left Florida.

When we finally got to our hotel in Puerto Rico, we went to check in and apparently there was some sort of problem (good thing the guy at the desk didn't know hubby spoke spanish) he got on the phone with some one and was saying something to the effect of our reservations being cancelled (in spanish) and I could just see Daniel's face going red with rage. We were so tired and worn out we didn't need this. But lucky us it all worked out in the end and we got checked in!

After we got everything settled in our hotel room...we had this view from the balcony...

AMAZING! After hanging out on the balcony for a while we decide to go walk around. We walked along Isle Verde, which was the name of the street that our hotel was on. After that we were both starved so we went to eat at a beach-front restaurant right behind our hotel. Which is were we saw our first Puerto Rican sunset...so I snapped this pic!After dinner we were both so exhausted, but Daniel had to have some beer...so we walked to the Walgreens and apparently they don't sell alcohol. So we went to a "fresh market" right across the street and all the had was 6 packs, of 10 oz. cans!!??! And the worst part is that it was $8.50 for a 6 pack. WHAT THE HELL??!?
Needless to say...this is Daniel after drinking the entire 6 pack to himself in about 2 hours! Crazy man!

(08/21/08)

So today we finally got to sleep in on our vacation-er-I mean honeymoon! We decided to go to Old San Juan today and go SHOPPING!!! We wanted to save as much money as possible so we took the public bus...very bad idea! There was no organization to that bus system what-so-ever! We waited at the bus stop for about 45 minutes as we watch buses fly by us??!? We finally got on one and it took us around an hour to get there. BLAH.

After making it to Old San Juan, we took a ferry over to Catano where the Bacardi factory was. When we got there, they gave us each 2 free drinks.(Doesn't he look great in his "wife beater"??!?)

We snapped a few pics of the tour they took us on...which was kinda disappointing, because I thought they might actually take us through the factory, but the just took us through a small museum thing and went through the history of bacardi and how it's made.

Then it was off to the real Old San Juan for some shopping...This place is incredible...I love the "feel" and the "ambiance" of it all. By the end of the day Daniel was so sick of shopping. He couldn't believe that I had to go into every shop, he said, "it is the exact same as the one we just left!" I guess it's a girl thing! I wish I would have known how incredible this place was...I would've planned for another day there. So when we left, we (and by we, I mean me) decided to take a taxi back. I didn't want to have to deal with waiting for another bus, I just didn't have the patience for it by then.

We got back to the hotel and walked across the street to grab a bite to eat. We saw a Churches Chicken, and because neither of us has ate there before we went there. I would eat at a KFC over them in a heartbeat. GROSS.

(08/22/08)

This day is horseback riding. I was looking forward to this the most! Here's why...We went riding through part of the rain forest and then off to the beach! I couldn't believe how much fun it was. Daniels horse was named Sebastian, and he defiantly fit the name...he was the slowest horse. The whole ride hubby was about a block behind all of us, that is until Jose gave Daniel a tree branch to whip the horse with. My horse's name was Caesar. We developed a quick friendship, except for the fact the he kept cranking his head and trying to eat my shoes.??!? It was a fun day...the only thing that sucked about it was the ride back to the hotel. Our tour guide, Jose, nearly killed us all by wrecking the vehicle about "a million" times on the freeway. And I am not exaggerating (okay maybe I am about the million part, but thats it)...that's all I'm gonna say because it freaks me out to this day just to think about it.

We got back to the hotel and both of us passed out. When we got up we decided to walk around Isle Verde some more and went shopping. Tonight was the night we had reservations for Ruths Chris. Daniel was beside himself with excitement (it is his ABSOLUTE favorite restaurant of all time) me on the other hand, I have never been there, and I wasn't let down with how good the food was!

After dinner, we went and sat at the bar for a few drinks. To our surprise they had a live salsa band come and play. It was soo much fun. We ended up staying there for a good part of the night listening to "authentic" music and watching people dance!

(08/23/08)

This is the day we went on a tour of the only US tropical rain forest, El Yunque. It was one of the most marvelous things I have ever seen! I couldn't believe how green and lush everything was! Our first stop was (of course) the gift shop. Next we went to Torre Yokahu (Yokahu Tower). This what the tower looked like.View from inside the tower.View from the top of the tower.

Then we hiked to Cascada la Mina (La Mina Falls), which was absolutely stunning .The only thing that sucked about it was this...There was so many effing people there. I guess that's what you get for going to a place like this on a weekend. At least the hike wasn't too bad. It was only about a mile and a half, however the trail was so slippery. I'm surprised that me or Daniel didn't end up on our butts!

The next stop was Cascada La Coca (La Coca Falls), this waterfall was right off the side of the road. So there was no hiking involed, and it was just as spectacular as the first waterfallAfter hangin' there for a while we stopped at a "local" restaraunt called La Muralla. Daniel told me that if I were to get sick from any place that we have ate so far it would definatley be from here... This is the side view of La Muralla.

This is just across the street. I took this pic because this is what I remember when I think of Puerto Rico.I ordered the pastele con pollo (not exactly sure what it was) but it was disgusting, I think it was boiled plantine leaves with chicken? Daniel got beef burritos, which were pretty good!

We got back to the hotel and I passed out. Daniel decided to go here... As you probably guessed...this is not my kinda thing, so it worked out well that I passed out! When he got back we were both famished so we ordered room service, which was another first for me - just like most of this vacation - er - I mean honeymoon! Yes, we got hamburgers and french fries! Would you expect anything more from us? We just stayed in the room for the rest of the night and watched back to back episodes of Law and Order SVU and the Olympics.

So here's a story just for fun...

That night we went to bed and at about 4am Daniel got up to go to the bathroom. On the way in there he kicked the scale on the floor and scared me to death. It woke me up and I couldn't see him so I said "Daniel??" all sorts of freaked out because I couldn't figure out where I was. Anyway, he crawled back into bed and I had to get up to use the bathroom. For some reason I need to turn on the light so, thinking he was awake I said,

"Daniel cover your eyes"

Him: "How for?" -- giggles -- "I ment to say 'What come'?" -- then it was full on laughter from me and him! Hah, good times!

(08/24/08)

This was our last full day in Puerto Rico, so we decided to make the best of it! We hung out on the beach and relaxed all day long. This is us right after we woke up...

And us soaking up the sun!

So after the beach we went to go grab a bite to eat.

This is what I wore to dinner. (I figured, I am a tourist so it doesn't matter if I look like one!) We ended up just across the street at a small restaraunt called Mi Casita, it was DELISIOUS!!! Too bad we didn't go there sooner because that is where I would have ate the whole time we were in Puerto Rico. After dinner we headed to the swimming pool because we figured we better at least sample the "swim-up-bar". And no, I didn't have to put arm floaties around Daniels arms and ankles...he did just fine on his own!

And for my very, most favorite picture of the entire trip............. What a great ending to a perfect vacation...so I thought.

(08/25/08) -- THE DAY FROM HELL

We got up at about 5:45am so we could leave the hotel at 6am because our flight was at 9am. We had everything we needed, including directions on how to get back to the airport...

That was easier said than done. We got lost in Puerto Rico. The streets there are the most unorginazed chaos I have ever seen...not only does one road suddenly turn into another (ie. west 26 all of a sudden is west 105?) but there are absolutely NO signs. I literally saw one sign that had a small airplane symbol with an arrow. Then the exit that was to the airport...yeah, that sign came AFTER the exit we were suppose to take! ugh. Can you tell this is a sore spot? This was all I needed, I was so ready to go home. This really test Daniel to see if he could really put up with such a dramatic wife!

So we finally get to Avis to turn in our rental (which we never, ever used) and told the lady that we were in a HURRY to catch our flight. By this time it was 8:10am. And you know what she said to us? "Well, you're suppose to be here 2 hours early." WELL NO SH*T!!!

So we get to the bag check area at 8:20am...we were 5 minutes too late...FIVE EFFING MINUTES. Nothing they could do, we had to book another flight (with Jet Blue because Delta didn't have any more that day). To make a long story short we ended up forking out over $700 just so that we could get home so Daniel wouldn't miss another day of school. Needless to say, we WILL NOT be flying Delta again!