Puerto Rico

We visited Puerto Rico the first week in November. It was our chance to get some warm sunshine. We stayed at a resort in the town of Humacao (eastern edge of the island). A friend of Alonda invited us to share the cost of their time-share. It worked out as a very cheap hotel!  The resort was very quiet and the time-share had a full kitchen. Saved us from having to go hunt restaurants all the time. Very relaxing.  The colors of the resort reminded us of just about every tropical area we have ever visited. Pastel colors on stucco seems to be the decor of choice around the world.We went hiking in the Humacao Nature Reserve. It used to be a sugar cane plantation. Jim was constantly reminded of his years in Hawaii. This is the palm-tree shaded trail.

We saw many lizards (geckos) on our hike. This black one seemed unusual. He was living on a bridge next to some old machinery from the water pumping station. There was a lot of rusted black iron in the area. 

This is what a baby coconut palm tree looks like.

This is what we hope the future of Puerto Rico looks like. We saw a lot of wind chargers. Since the tropics generally are well equipped with sunlight and breezes, solar cells and wind chargers should be their choices for energy.

This is a museum in Humacao. It was actually the personal home of Nocodomo, a famous Puerto Rican architect. He was strongly influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright. You can definitely see it in the house from the outside.

We got a very personal tour from an architect student at the university. The home was given to the university and they spent 30 years renovating it. This is one of the stained glass windows. They really made the light inside beautiful. 

This is the stove in the kitchen. They still have the original plans from 1918-20 when the house was built. The architect (in the plans) called for an electric stove/oven. When they built the house, the cooking staff refused to consider it (too modern!) and they changed the house to have a wood-fired stove instead.
This is an architectural model of the house. The roof comes off so you can see what the rooms looked like originally. Since it is now a museum, some of the rooms have been opened up and some of the bathrooms are gone.

This is the view from the 18th floor balcony of a condo which belongs to a DAR friend of Alonda. She (the DAR friend) and her husband bought it about 40 years ago and have slowly moved to being retired in Puerto Rico. Jim and Alonda went snorkeling off the beach. It was pretty sandy and much shallower than it looks. Even going out a long way, the water was only waist deep. We should have some underwater pictures when we finish the camera and get them developed.

We visited the El Yunque National Forest. It is the only tropical rain forest in the US. This is an example of the air plants that grow wild here.

This is one of the common lizards (gecko) that inhabit the rain forest.

This wasn't the peak season for flowers, but you still ran into them. February is supposed to be the best time to come and see the foliage and blossoms.

Our first hike was a short one up this stream to a waterfall.

This is the lowest of a series of cascades. We didn't go any higher than the pool at this one.

Here is Jim with the emergency umbrella. The day was beautiful with no rain, but you have to be ready.

This is a common date palm in the rain forest. We also saw a lot of date palms in Saudi Arabia, Sri Lankha and Pakistan.
This waterfall may look like the other one, but it is completely different. It is famous for all the people that come here to let a waterfall beat on their heads. You get here on the La Mina trail. It is 3 or 4 miles one way. We were lucky that our friends dropped us at the top and we hiked downhill and they met us.
There is a lot of water along this trail. It mostly follows a stream.
Even the trees would pose to have their picture taken.
This is one of the many colonial era churches in San Juan. We only visited San Juan for one short day of touring.

This is a street view of San Juan. There are a lot of gift and souvenir shops. There are a lot of tourists, too. There were two cruise boats docked while we were there. Each boat will bring two to three thousand tourists into town for four to twelve hours.

This is in a town called Ponce on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. It is second to San Juan in size and is the only competing port. San Juan is pretty tropical, but the southern side of the island is almost like a desert. Very different. They grow coffee in this area.
The town square had lions on each corner and a few more scattered around. "Lion" as in Ponce de "Leon". 

Jim thought the lion needed a hat to keep the sun out of his eyes.

We visited the Ponce Art Museum. It was actually a very nice museum and had a lot of things done by Puerto Rican artists.  This is "Horse Drawn Carriages of Ponce" by Miguel Pou y Becerra.
This is the fire station in Ponce. Hard to miss, isn't it?

On our way back to Humacao from Ponce, we took the scenic drive along the southern and eastern coast.

More of the countryside. As you can see, it rains a lot in the tropics. It was normal to get rained on at least once a day, but it would then blow away and the sun would come out.


We were on the east coast and didn't get to get some nice sunset-over-the-ocean shots. Here is the sunset from the east coast.

Wherever we travel, we always enjoy photographing the local birds. We saw this one hanging around the harbor when we were trying to arrange a snorkeling trip.

This photogenic parrot was in the tree just outside the Westin Hotel. Everyone went out to take its picture.

This egret was hanging out in a water hazard at the hotel golf course. Alonda managed to get really close.

This duck was in the same water hazard. We didn't see anyone playing golf!

We are going back to the Caribbean for a cruise for our 25th Anniversary. We go Tampa, Honduras, Belize, Yucatan Peninsula and back to Tampa.

Oh, Canada!

In September, Jim had an Esperanto convention in Victoria, British Columbia. We are going back to some places we have already been but still like to go.

We drove up to Port Angeles, parked the car and boarded the Black Ball systems' MV Coho. The ship was actually built in 1959. It isn't like the modern boats; it rolls and rocks. The trip is about 90 minutes from Port Angeles to Victoria's Inner Harbor.

 This is the inner harbor. Yes, seaplanes land and take off from the harbor while the ships go in and out. The water taxis wander around at the same time.

  We arrived, went through customs and passport control and walked out of the building just in time to catch the sunset on the Empress Hotel. The Empress is famous for their High Tea. Alonda wants Jim to take her on a seaplane flight from Seattle to Victoria to have High Tea at the Empress and then fly back to Seattle for her birthday.

  At sunset, they turn on the decorative lights on Government House.

  These are some of the September flowers around the Harbor.

 Jim has actually been going to the Nord Okcidenta Regiona Esperanto Kunveno (NOREK) since 1991. He hasn't gone every year, but he has gone a lot. He ran into several people he hasn't seen for about 10 years. Next year, the conference will be hosted by the Seattle Esperanto group.

Green Mountain

"Hi!" from the Droeges. We hiked up to the peak of Green Mountain. It is the second tallest peak on the Kitsap Peninsula. Sounds impressive, but it is only 1639 feet above see level. The climb was about 1000 feet from the start of the 2.5 mile trail. The peak is about 9 miles straight line from our condo.

We were not alone on our hike. Karen, our neighbor, went along for the trek. During the 4 hour hike, we counted 40 people, 5 dogs, one horse, a lot of dragonflies (Washington State Insect!) and a few Douglas squirrels. Almost the entire hike was shaded by Douglas Fir forest.

This is a view from the peak. The bright dot is a window reflection in Seattle. The main part of the city is just to the right of it. Our condo is invisible at this distance, but is almost directly below the bright dot.

This is the city zoomed in. Behind Seattle are the Cascade Mountains.

This is looking further south. This is Mount Rainier. We are about 60 miles straight line to the peak. The top is about 14 000 feet above sea level.

Barely visible north of Seattle is Mount Baker. We live on what is known as the "Ring of Fire". Mount Shasta, Mount Hood, Mount Adams, Mount St. Helens, Mount Rainier and Mount Baker are part of the series of volcanoes that are on the eastern edge of the Pacific Ocean.

These are the Olympic Mountains on the North and West of Green Mountain. They should be covered with snow at this time of year, but this has been the hottest and driest July on record. 

We saw this woodpecker, too!

The entire area was showing the effects of the lack of rain. We still found two small waterfalls.

This is the view of the peak of Green Mountain from the balcony of our condo in Bremerton. The summit is just to the right of the tower you see on the peak.

We highly recommend this trail. It was clean and well-maintained!

Seabeck, June 2015

We went over to Seabeck. It is only 16 miles from our house. We are doing shorter trips now. It was National Get Outdoors Day. This is a new National event to promote healthy living. The Seabeck Conference Center was having an Open House for their 100th Anniversary. The food was actually good and (probably) donated by COSTCO. They were there with their sign-up booth.  The weather was absolutely perfect.

After we lunched and visited at the Conference Center, we drove over to Scenic Beach State Park. It was also free because of National Get Outdoors Day. We already have a State Parks Discover Pass, but didn't get to use it. The day was also free for all the National Forests. Scenic Beach is an example of the Douglas Fir forests which used to cover so much of the Pacific Northwest. It overlooks Hood Canal and offers camping. Alonda says "No" to tent camping. Too hard to get in and out of the tent.

This is the marina at the minuscule town of Seabeck. There are about 1,000 people in the area.

This is a cafe on the back of the General Store. It is also the site of the gourd condo for the Purple Martins. The things you see hanging along the dock are nesting sites for the birds.

This is an up-close shot of a gourd with a fledgling Purple Martin waiting for lunch. Mom and Dad go out hunting insects and bring them back.

This is what Dad looks like.

This is what Mom looks like.

This is what the photographers look like. They were all lined up with some incredibly expensive camera equipment to take pictures of the birds. This is where all of those gorgeous pictures you see in magazines come from.

Enjoy the summer!

Christmas Vacation 2014

Jim and Alonda went to visit Alonda's family in Ft Worth, Texas. Here is Alonda and her two sisters in a giant snow globe. The snow is fake.

A fun Christmas side trip is to visit the model train exhibit at the local mall. There were a LOT of trains and kids there.

Wanting a warmer climate (Ft Worth weather was exactly the same as Seattle), we went down to Cancun, Mexico.  When you visit this part of Mexico, you have to go see the Mayan ruins. The bus stopped a few times en route. This was a very nice Catholic church in Valladalid.

This is Chichén Itzá. This is possibly the best know of the Mayan remains. When it was originally discovered, it was half tumbled down and covered with vines, brush and trees. What this means is that it has been rebuilt. This is NOT what it actually used to look like. They are still arguing over whether it was painted or otherwise decorated. The guides will also tell you that they don't know how much of the area still has undiscovered ruins on it and then will tell you they have uncovered 6% of the total ruins left by the Mayans.

This is a sinkhole. The entire Yucatan peninsula is undermined with underground rivers. The rock is limestone and the water has worn rivers through it. The Mayans would pull up water from underground. Without this water, the entire area would simply be a desert. We did not go swimming in the sinkhole. It looked like fun, but it had been a long day on the bus ...

This is a ray at the Cancun Aquarium.

 This is Alonda touching the ray.

This was the "pirate ship" sailing by an Italian Restaurant where we ate. It has a "Mystery Dinner Theater" on board as they sail along the beach hotels.

We took this selfie out on the Isla Mujeres near Cancun. We took a tourist cruise out for the day. The boat was crammed with Mexicans on holiday and a few token Koreans and us.

 Here is the sunset on the last evening we spent in Mexico. We had a very nice time!