National Parks and Recreation

Working our way back to the present, let me tell you about a trip we took just five months ago. Even just typing that, I can’t believe that was only five months ago. It seems like ages ago. It’s going to feel weird talking about cruises now, given everything that’s going on, but we’ve always loved cruising and go on one about every other year!

Mom and I had been planning this Disney Cruise from NYC to Puerto Rico for a couple of years, but unfortunately she got sick again right before we were supposed to leave. It really sucked and it was scary to decide whether we should go at all or not, but ultimately we decided that somebody should enjoy it and she was gracious enough to encourage James and I to go.

The cruise was simple. New York City to Antigua to Puerto Rico. And then we flew back home. This was perfect for me. I’m not a sandy beach, Caribbean island kind of person. I’m the happiest just chilling on the deck by the pool at open sea.

After three days of nothing but open sea around us though, it was nice to see Antigua appear on the horizon.

Mom had planned a zip lining tour through the Antiguan Rainforest for us.

It was a blast!

And the best part was that the rainforest was on the other side of the island from the touristy port. So we got to get in an old van and take a trip across the island and up the mountains on the tiny (slightly terrifying) island roads. It was cool to see what Antigua was actually like and not just the small area around the boats where everyone tries to scam the stupid Americans.

The next day we arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico and had to leave our ship behind and make our way to our AirBNB without any cell service.

Yes, we were as hot and sweaty and miserable as we look in the above picture. See, I’m super cheap and refused to pay for an overpriced taxi to Old San Juan when it was only a 3.5 mile walk. However, I underestimated how hot it got so early and it was not a pleasant journey.

James was a trooper though. And we made it to a park with wifi (and shade!) to check my messages and get directions to the AirBNB. Luckily, they had a place where we could drop off our luggage before the room was ready so we could begin exploring.

As suggested by our AirBNB host, we went down to the water in search of the entrance to the Paseo del Morro. And we were delighted to see that it was a part of the National Park Service.

The path began around the Puerta de San Juan, the old entrance to the city during the Spanish colonial era. We kept walking down the path by the water along the outside of the Castillo San Felipe del Morro, a fort at the entrance of San Juan Bay to protect the Spanish against foreign invaders.

I obviously loved walking along the rocks on the ocean.

There are plans to continue the paseo from this fort to the other one in San Juan, Castillo de San Cristóbal, just a 15 minute walk down the coast. That way people can check out both NPS Historical Sites in one go, without having to walk through the city to get from one to the other.

But for now, the path ends at El Morro.

Knowing that we were going to three more national parks in just over a month, we decided now was a good time to spring for the annual pass to all NPS sites. So we were able to go into the forts and explore.

It was mostly just worth it to be able to go inside and watch the history videos in the air conditioning. It was HOT! Well into the 90s at this point.

We even found some small “hiking” trails and paths behind the fort that we explored.

I think these will all eventually be connected to the full path they plan to construct.

But for now, it seemed like we were the only people who knew it was there.

Except for these little guys.

And this not-so-little one:

You can see the paths in the picture below. And if you look further down the coast, you can see Castillo de San Cristobal in the distance.

While we wanted to check out both forts, our AirBNB was finally ready to check in to and we were very hot and tired. So we decided to go cool off, check in with some family we hadn’t spoken to in a week now, and rest up a little bit. We would tackle San Cristobal in the morning.

Our AirBNB was incredible. I highly recommend staying right in Old San Juan when you’re there. Everything’s within walking distance.

So, like I said, we went to check in and rest up “just a bit.” But after a week of cruise activities, the heat, the sunburns, and the 11 miles of walking we had done that day we were exhausted. One second I was watching Coco on the TV and FaceTiming mom and the next thing I knew, it was pitch dark outside and six hours later. We were tired!

We reluctantly decided to stop being lazy and head out on the town for a bit.

And I finally got to try some mofongo!

The next day we were back at it again. This time to check out Castillo de San Cristobal.

We started off walking a little bit past the fort to a small beach. The water was so beautiful and clear.

It was very peaceful.

From there, we explored the fort. It was a lot of the same history as El Morro, but there were even more towers to climb and walls to explore.

You could see through to the other side of the city as well, including this view of the Capital building.

And it was a beautifully clear (and hot) day again so you could see all the way back to the fort we had explored the day prior.

Overall, I can’t recommend San Juan enough! We were only there for less than 2 days so there was so much we didn’t do (Bacardi, actually go to a beach), but we loved every second of it. The food is amazing, the rum culture was great, and Old San Juan was just so dang charming! I could’ve walked around for hours just looking at the history of everything.

And I’m glad we got to check out a different side of the National Park Service, aside from the original 59 official parks that we had planned. And it was a good excuse to get our annual pass and start getting really excited for our big Texas National Parks trip coming up in just over a month. But those posts are coming soon!

I’ll leave you with this last picture, taken from inside a public restroom in one of the NPS forts. I mean, if their public restrooms are this nice, you know need to go!