A weekend in Puerto Rico. <3

I just got home after a weekend trip to Puerto Rico. It was short but so nice to go home. I spent most of my time with the parents. 🙂 I had planned on going to the beach but mother nature had other plans for me because it rained EVERY day of the weekend! But that is OK because like a good Puertorican visiting family all you do anyways is eat; you do that frequently and a lot. The food in PR is amazing! I had my mofongo of course -2 days in a row I must confess – quesitos, sangria, carne frita, tostones de pana, etc, etc….which means I will be at the box tomorrow at 5:30am.

I took time to go to Old San Juan, my favorite area to visit. It does not get Old, no pun intended. 🙂 I think everyone in Puerto Rico was in San Juan on Sunday! It was packed. Puerto Ricans sure know how to party!

Now that i am back in PDX, I need to get ready for our big trip to Europe. We leave this weekend. Crap! I have a love to do. On that note, I am going to bed. 🙂 

Much love, Ana

Old San Juan, my favorite spot in PR

I have know these folks for over 34 years! They call me Anita ❤

LOVE my mom

Yes, my dad texts at dinner!

Mofongo!

lol! love this

Sunday Night @ Old San Juan

 

Sabbatical Planning…Aug 18

I have 2 more weeks before I leave for my long awaited sabbatical. I will be taking a total of 9 weeks of time off from work. What a blessing! I have been planning this sabbatical for the past 6 months. I have read the Ricks Steves guides, used Trip Advisor, and a few other guides to help me with my research….I changed the travel plans a million times but finally settled on a schedule 2 weeks ago. Whew! 

So here is the plan. We – my kids are coming with me for the first 2 weeks – are visiting Venice, Rome, day trip to Pompeii and hike up Mt Vesuvius, then Paris, and after the kids leave I continue to Bruges, Brussels and London. Only 3 weeks but I know I will be back since the list of other places i want to visit is quite long!  I spent a LOT of time choosing where to stay. Our hotels are small and very quaint, not the std chain hotels. 

I know in all the places we are visiting the people will most likely speak Spanish and  English but to get in this travel mood I have been listening to music in French and Italian. 🙂 I think I can decipher the Italian, not so sure about French. Lol

The second part of my sabbatical will be in Hawaii. I plan to spend 4 awesome weeks living like a local. Lots of hiking, sunbathing and hopefully some island hoping. 

 I will be posting pics and blogging from the different places I visit so stay tuned. Much love! 

Ana