Category Archives: Reviews – Travel

Bloggings, Reviews - Travel, Travel

3 Year Anniversary & Other Updates

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A few weeks ago we celebrated our third wedding anniversary. We have been pretty busy since we moved back to NYC. We went camping with a group of people in PA in September. We camped at Locust Lake State Park. The park was awesome but the experience wasn’t our most favorite. It rained a lot and it was very cold. We also visited the Yuengling Brewery while on this camping trip. My friends Becky and Deni visited with us in September also. It was really good to see them and show them around the city.

So finally in the last weekend of September we went up to the Catskills and stayed at a bed and breakfast. We stayed at the Slide Mountain Inn. The grounds of this place were beautiful. The inn itself was also nice but we have stayed at nicer B&B’s. There were so many things to do just at the inn. There were hikes, paddle boats, and outdoor games. We went on a hike right up the mountain, but we didn’t go all the way up. The views were amazing. I don’t think I have ever seen more beautiful fall colors.

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We also walked around the pond on the property. During this walk a snake snuck up on us and was right under my feet. It was pretty crazy. After checking out the property of Slide Mountain Inn we decided to drive around and see what we could find. We found a trail called Giant Ledge Trail. We thought might as well try it out. We were not really prepared at all for this hike, but the weather was beautiful and we felt like walking. We only had one bottle of water to share between the two of us. At first the trail wasn’t so bad, but then it was just like you were going straight up. After about 2 hours of hiking we came to a point where we would basically be walking straight up a cliff. We debated for quite some time if we wanted to do this. Everyone who came down said it was well worth the effort, so we did it. When we made it to the top the views were amazing. It was so beautiful and peaceful. I was so happy we were able to do it.
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The hike back down was much easier than the way up. I think we even gained energy the way down. It felt good. We went back to the room and got ready to go out to dinner. We knew we wanted to check out the town of Phoenicia so we I found a place to eat there called Tavern 214. It was a more upscale bar and restaurant but not too fancy. We had a sausage slider appetizer. Don ordered a philly cheesesteak and I got the NY Strip. Everything was pretty good and I would recommend this place to anyone in the area. It was a good anniversary dinner. When we got back to the inn we noticed how pretty the stars were…they were so amazing.

On Sunday we got up and did not have breakfast at the inn because we wanted to try Phoenicia Diner on the way home. This place was pretty good. I had breakfast tacos that were probably some of the best breakfast tacos I’ve ever had. On the drive home we also decided to stop by a winery. It was called Palaia Vineyards. I loved everything about this place. The atmosphere was great and they were getting ready to have live music. They have live music often and there were also board games that I saw so maybe it’s a good place to chill. In addition to the wine tasting they had food, beer, and cider. The property was also very pretty. Visiting this place made me long to own something like this of my own. I didn’t want our weekend to end.

Every weekend in NY we have plans. Life has been very busy between fantasy football, school, work, and hanging out. We have been having fun though. We hoping to soon walk across the George Washington Bridge, visit some haunted houses, visit Little India in Jersey, and do some apple picking…

Bloggings, Reviews - Travel, Snorkeling, Travel

Snorkeling in Culebra.

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Woke up today and got ready for snorkeling at the island of Culebra. We booked with the company called East Island Excursions. We were a little worried our excursion would be canceled because the winds had been very strong for the past few days. We had to be at the port at 9 am, so we stopped for some breakfast at a deli nearby.

The boat for the excursion was very nice. Our main tour guide was Chris. He kind of reminded us of Doug Tucker haha. We sat with another couple from California. They guy, Carlos, was originally from Brooklyn but he was in love with California now. He had a very fun personality and talked a lot. His wife’s name was Marlene.

The boat ride over to Culebra was very rough. I thought I was going to puke, so did Marlene. Of course Carlos and Don were perfectly fine. A lot of other passengers were feeling sick also. The tour guides gave us a tissue with hand sanitizer on it and told us to sniff it. This was supposed to make us feel better, maybe it did a little but I just felt horrible.

We were so happy to make it to our first snorkeling spot without getting sick. It was awesome. Probably some of the best snorkeling we have done. There was a lot of coral and a lot of fish. We snorkeled for about an hour then we got back on the boat for lunch.
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Lunch was really good. They had sandwiches, chips, fruit, cookies, and pasta salad. They also started serving rum punch. The rum punch was very good. Then we headed to our second location which was Flamenco Beach. Flamenco Beach was rated the #2 beach in the world in 2012. It was beautiful. The snorkeling was also very good here, we were not disappointed. We saw a dogtooth snapper, he hung out underneath the boat. The sand on the beach was so fine, like powder.
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After we were done at Flamenco we started to go back to the port at Fajado. We were able to enjoy this ride more because it was much smoother. We had some more drinks and fruit. Rum punch is always so delicious. We talked with Carlos and Marlene and we got back to the port around 3:45.
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We went to Walgreens on the way back to Coqui’s. There were horses grazing in the grass near Walgreens, freaken crazy! Don’s bee sting was still very itchy and tender so we picked up some ointment for it.

Judy and Steve made steak tacos for dinner tonight. They were delicious. This trip has proven to me more that I don’t see the point in dishwashers…haha I can do it faster and better myself. We watched Tropic Thunder. After dinner Don, Steve and I went out to the pool. Don and Steve enjoyed a cigar. We saw Senor Seis again! We also saw a giant frog. There is so much wild life here.
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Bloggings, Food Blog, Reviews, Reviews - Travel, Travel

Old San Juan to Coqui’s Hideaway.

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We woke up today to pick up our cars that we rented. We each got a Toyota Yaris.It was kind of cool to drive this car because it is similar to our Ford Fiesta and we had considered trying out the Yaris. So far I am happy we went with the fiesta.

Since we couldn’t check into Coqui’s Hideaway near the rain forest until 3 pm we decided to hang out in Old San Juan. We left our hotel to head for Old San Juan around 10 am. We found parking spaces in a garage in Old San Juan…it is very hard to find parking! Never rent a car if you are just staying in Old San Juan.

We stopped for breakfast sandwiches and lattes before we started walking around. We started walking to one of the forts, Castillo San Felipe del Morro, ‘El Morro’. The walk there was very hot, but the views were great and we saw lots of cats! The cats of Old San Juan!
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Once we got closer to the fort it was cooler with a breeze. El Morro was $3. We walked around there for about an hour and took lots of pictures. It rained a bit on the way back but it felt good. We found a place to eat, Manolin. It was pretty good, but it was so cold in the restaurant! The power went out for a bit and it was nice because then the AC couldn’t blast. The food was okay, nothing spectacular. I had fried steak with rice and beans and plantains. After we were done eating we checked out a few gift shops. Then we went back to the car to make our drive to Coqui’s Hideaway.
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The drive to Coqui’s was about 30-40 minutes. It was a nice drive until we started heading into the mountains. It got scary, the road was so curvy. Once we got to Coqui’s we met with Ray. Coqui’s Hideaway is basically a house rental and Ray is our host. He lives next door with his wife. Coqui’s is very nice and the property is beautiful. There was a little welcome basket with fruits grown on the property, rum, Puerto Rican snacks, and supplies to make pina coladas.
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Once Ray showed us around we decided to check out the pool. The pool area was awesome. It overlooked the rain forest, El Yunque. The pool water was very cold though so I did not get in. I just enjoyed laying in the sun; it felt awesome. The views were amazing.
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We found a few coqui frogs, which is how coqui’s got its name. Coqui frogs live only in Puerto Rio and they are loved by everyone. They make a mating call that sounds like “co-key”. They are also small and super cute.
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We found a huge spider up in the rafters above the grill. He looked like he had been in a fight because he was missing 2 legs. We named him Senor Seis. He was very scary looking but still he was very interesting. I wonder what kind of spider he was. He was above us and too hard to kill so we decided to just keep our eyes on him.
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Once we got out of the pool we decided to go to Ralph’s Grocery Store. We picked up a few things then on the way home we stopped at El Verde BBQ. It wasn’t really a place to sit down so we got our food to go. It was a little interesting place on the corner. It seemed to be the place to go and they even had a couple of gambling arcade games. We got a ton of food: a rotisserie chicken, pork, rice and beans, plantains, sausage, and sweet fried potatoes. The food was delicious. After dinner we were stuffed but we still had room for some rum and coke and beers.
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We went out to the pool again and saw Senor Seis. He had moved a little and was between the boards now in the roof. Then we came back inside and watched some movies. There is a huge movie collection at Coqui’s. We watched 2 movies, I can’t remember the first one but the second one was Whip It. Then we went to bed. Tomorrow we are going hiking into El Yunque.

Bloggings, Reviews - Travel, Travel

A Day In San Juan.

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We woke up this morning and had breakfast at Cafe Caribe in the Hotel. The food was okay. They had a really nice view of the ocean from the restaurant. It was funny because Don and Judy saw someone they went to Jr. High School with! Crazy!

After breakfast we went to the pool and beach. The pool was freezing cold so we didn’t get in, but the beach was a little warmer. We did a little snorkeling in the beach and we saw quite a few fish. I saw a pretty big fish it was probably about 2 feet long but it swam away really fast. It looked like the barracuda we saw in Belize. We saw this fish that blended in on the bottom in the sand, it looked pretty scary.

It was raining on and off while we were at the beach. We sat out by the pool for awhile but then it started downpouring so we went inside. I did some research on snorkeling excursions. I booked one tour for the island of Culebra. I also researched some beaches on the Southwestern side of Puerto Rico because we are thinking of taking a little road trip there.

Later in the afternoon we went to check out Judy and Steve’s room. We had some rum and cokes. Why is rum so good here?! Then we went out to eat at Casa Lola. It was recommended from one of Steve’s friends. It was absolutely amazing. We had a sampler appetizer and everything on it was delicious! I ordered a steak and it was one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. It’s going to be hard to top this meal. The waiter was so awesome. He gave us so many recommendations on what to order. He also gave us shots on the house, it was a Pitorro. It tasted like a caramel coffee. It was absolutely delicious. He also gave us advice on where to go in Puerto Rico. One of the best experiences I’ve had at a restaurant.

After dinner we stopped by Cold Stone Creamery. It was a good night.

Bloggings, Reviews - Travel, Travel

Leaving for Puerto Rico!

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Today we left for a week vacation in Puerto Rico. We were going to meet our friends, Judy and Steve, in San Juan. Our flight left O’Hare at 8:30 am. I was really excited to go somewhere warm because Chicago had been bitterly cold for the past couple of weeks with highs in the teens. The weather wasn’t so great when we were leaving so we were getting worried that our flight would be delayed or canceled.
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Luckily, our flight was on time. The flight from Chicago to San Juan was pretty good. We bought the flight with our American Airline points. I sat next to a guy that kept falling asleep, but when he fell asleep he moved around a lot and ended up hitting me in my side a few times. He was really annoying. One thing cool about this flight was I believe it was the first time we have had a woman pilot. Oh, I almost forgot though…note to self, never agree to sit in the “bulkhead” seating. We switched our seats before the flight because they were not together and the attendant asked us if we were okay with sitting in bulkhead seating. We just agreed to it. It is the row right behind first class. There is no under the seat bag storage and the arm dividers do not move. The seats felt very cramped but we did a have a little more leg room. But never again, if we can avoid it.

We got to San Juan around 3:30 pm. They are 2 hours ahead of us in Chicago. We took a cab to our hotel, the Condado Plaza Hilton Hotel. The cab fare was about $20 from the airport. Our cabbie was cool, he was very proud of his automatic van doors. The lobby of this hotel was beautiful, it had a big aquarium and the whole place was just nicely decorated. Once we checked in we decided to venture out for some food and to check out the pool. It felt so good to be in warm weather! The grounds around the hotel were beautiful and they had a great pool area and their own beach.

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We were going to eat at the hotel but then we decided to walk around outside the hotel. We saw so many restaurants. We decided on a place that had Mexican and Puerto Rican cuisine. It was okay…I had a steak and was expecting a delicious steak like I had last time in San Juan but it was not very good. It was too well done. The rum punch there was excellent though. I wish I could remember the name of this place but I can not find it on google maps right now. Maybe it will come to me later. Here’s some pictures of the view from the restaurant and our food. Don really enjoyed his meal, it was a fried pork chop.
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After dinner we walked around more. We were right next to the ocean so the views were amazing. It was funny to see Christmas decorations and be in a such warm weather. We got some ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s because neither of us had actually been to one before.
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We got back to the hotel around 8:30 pm and we were so tired. We fell asleep and around 1 am Judy and Steve arrived. They had switched their flight to avoid the winter storm Electra. They stayed with us in our room the first night. Slumber Party!