Puerto Rico

Two weeks ago, Rick and I went for a week's vacation in Puerto Rico with my cousins Paul and Jaime. Here are the highlights:

Day 1 - Old San Juan. My favorite part from our walking tour of Old San Juan was coming up out of the city and onto the edge of the grassy plain behind the Fort. This photo doesn't do it justice. There were tons of families all over park flying kites. So many kites! The wind was blowing at least 15mph, which felt great in the hot sun.




Day 2 - El Yunque. We rented a car and drove to the Caribbean National Tropical Forest (El Yunque.) We thought Monday would be a good day to go, fewer people. But we were wrong. It turned out Monday was a holiday. There were people everywhere! We hiked to a waterfall only to find it crawling with people. So we hiked a bit further up and found a waterfall all for ourselves.

On our way home, we stopped at what has been called the most beautiful beach on the main island of Puerto Rico - Luquillo. We grabbed some food from the beach side vendors and then took our beers to the water's edge to watch the sun set.

Day 3 - Vieques Villa. On day 3 we traveled to the small Puerto Rican island of Vieques, where we had rented a villa. We traveled for 1hr by taxi to Fajardo and then caught a 90min ferry over to Vieques. Check out the view from our pool!

Day 4 - R&R. Our villa on Vieques (Bravos by the Sea's Culebra villa) was fantastic. While Rick went fishing, Paul, Jaime and I felt compelled to sit by the pool and do nothing. That night we went on a tour of the bio luminescent bay. While swimming in the glowing bay was spectacular, the tour company (Abe's) was not. Letting us stand in a fire ant nest and cramming 18 people into a 10-12 passenger van is not fun!

Day 5 - Snorkeling. We spent our last day in Vieques checking out beaches and trying to find a good place to snorkel. We found some fish and a lot of starfish. That night we went to dinner at Chez Shack, located in the middle of the rain forest. The food was great. Here we are back at the villa at sunset just before dinner.

Day 6 - Old San Juan. We traveled back to Old San Juan and spent the afternoon wandering the streets and shopping. It was rainy, but that made the colors of the buildings and especially the blue brick streets of Calle Cristo stand out more.

Day 7 - More Old San Juan. Paul and Jaime went home that day. Rick and I continued to wander the streets and finish our shopping. Cigars for Dad and a Santo for Mom. That night we had a fantastic dinner at Marmalade. This OSJ photo is from Day 1 and is one of my favorites.

E. Fork Owyhee (the raft trip from hell)

Back in April, Rick and I went with some friends on the raft trip from hell. I call it this because that's what it was, and here's why:

1. The trip was 42 miles on the river and we had three days (Fri-Sun) to do it. But since the shuttle took all day, instead of 2 hours, we only made 4 mi the first day and had to paddle like hell on Saturday to make up for it. And we didn't get back to Boise until 5am on Monday.

2. Our friends were in canoes (2 people per canoe), while Rick and I were in inflatable kayaks. Canoes go fast in the water with little effort. Inflatable kayaks do not, requiring Rick and I to paddle even more like hell.

3. The rapids were bigger than I thought they would be, which made me scared. I don't like rapids.

4. There were two rapids we couldn't run and had to instead portage our boats and all of our gear (tents, etc.). The portage was long and steep and treacherous. It was the portage from hell!

OK, that all being said, the E. Fork Owyhee canyon is beautiful! The photos don't do the straight-up towering cliffs justice. We saw a lot of wildlife, and we saw no people. I heard this is the least populated area in the lower 48 states.

Here are some photos - good memories:

I woke up the first morning to find my socks frozen. This was OK because I didn't have to put them on.

This is a movie of Rick running one of the rapids that looked too scary to me. So he ran it twice, once in his boat and once in mine.

Here is a photo Mike took of the river canyon from above on the desert plain.

Here is one Klaus took of Rick and me on the water.

These are parts of the portages from hell.

And here is an attempt to show the spectacular canyon walls.

If you want to go on this trip, plan for at least 4 days and pack light!

Go Jayhawks!

Even though I didn't go to school there, my favorite college team is the University of Kansas. Rick and I temporarily turned my 2008 Orange Bowl champions T-shirt into a NCAA basketball championship T-shirt to wear on Monday as I root for the Jayhawks.

Bruneau Sand Dunes

Our first camping trip of the year was at Bruneau Sand Dunes in the RV park. (All of our friends have RVs, so camping in March weather is just fine for them, with their heat, running water, ovens, and snuggly warm beds.) Here's how we camped. The tent is a tailgating tent attached to the back of our truck.

The dunes were pretty cool. I think they are the tallest in North America or something. We climbed up part way and tried to be creative with the camera.

We found a really strange track in the sand and decided to follow it. Any idea what it was?

We had an amazing stack of wood for our fire.

By the second night, we had a Jenga fire. I think you'll be able to see what I mean.

Back to the track in the sand. Check out who made it!

Springtime in Japan

I went to Japan for work last week. Japan is famous for it's cherry blossoms in springtime. We were there just at the beginning of the season.














There is some kind of religious walking path behind our hotel (above). I think it is Shinto. There are hundreds of little statues of people. Everyone seems to enjoy walking among the statues in the mornings before work. But when I go, I never see anyone else there!




Some of the statues are dressed up with hats, clothes, necklaces. I am thinking people visit these statues and take care of them, like a cemetery. But I don't know for sure. Maybe if any of my Japanese friends read this, they will comment and tell us more.

Palm Springs

Over the President's Day weekend, we visited my parents at their February rental in Palm Springs. It was spectacular. Their place was right on the golf course. We could sit on the back patio and watch a new group of golfers putt about every 10min. Here is the view.

We also played the course one afternoon. It was pretty intimidating having all of those condos lining the fairway and surrounding the green. I thought for sure one of us would break a window. Rick came the closest when he landed on on the roof of the club house.

Snow Jeep

It snows nearly every day in Boise. Each morning Rick drags himself out of bed to go shovel the driveway. We have about a 3ft mound of snow in our front yard. At work, the snow pile is a lot taller, and it is placed right in our normal parking spot. No problem though - we have the snow jeep.