The Vetter's: Our get-away to Puerto Rico

Drew and I haven't taken a trip - just the two of us - since we visited St. Thomas two years ago so our recent get-away to Puerto Rico was long overdue. It was a quick get-away, flying out on a Thursday and returning on a Monday...but that was long enough to disconnect and unwind.

The past year and a half since Levi's diagnosis has been difficult even though we have the best support system around. The reality is - it's still hard. Mentally it's exhausting constantly stressing over germs, logistics for treatment days, managing calendars of events - it's just life stuff but when both parents work full-time, with two kids under five, one in ongoing cancer treatment - it's just hard. Drew and I are not superheroes. We are normal people trying to navigate our crazy life together...and this trip allowed us to slow down for a few days and relax. And we did - we had so much FUN! We didn't have a care in the world and totally embraced being on 'island time'.

Where we stayed: Wyndham Rio Del Mar
Why there: Puerto Rico because we've never been and it's a direct flight from Charlotte - this allowed us to maximize our time versus using it up traveling and we picked the resort because we found a great deal on VRBO (little condo with ocean views).
What we did each day:

Day 1: After landing (around 3 pm) and swinging by Walmart for food/drinks, we settled into our condo, then went for a walk along the beach. We had a couple drinks at the hotel beach bar and ate a late dinner at the condo...we basically sat on our patio listening to the ocean waves excited for the days ahead!
Day 2: Started the day with a 5 mile run all around the resort, spent the day between the pool and beach, it rained for 30 mins in the afternoon but passed quickly. We walked to dinner which was a restaurant with a view of the rainforest. We ate mofongo which is a local dish that did not disappoint.
Day 3: At this point, we were totally starting to relax. We did a short 3 mile run and then basically spent the day by the pool having drinks, swimming, walking the beach, etc. We ventured out to La Estacion for dinner which was delicious. Drew ate the lobster and I had the ceviche. The full moon was incredible this night.
Day 4: We booked a snorkeling, island hopping trip through SS Tobias. The boat took us out to the Culebra islands which are between Puerto Rico and St. Thomas. The islands are stunning and reminded me of the clear water and white sand beaches in St. Thomas. That morning Drew's phone buzzed saying there was a high swell alert...and it was right. Heading out the waves seemed pretty big and kept us from visiting certain parts of the islands but we had a blast. The crew was awesome - so friendly and made sure we all had a great experience which we did. This was definitely one of the highlights of our trip! Dinner was at the hotel that night since we also had to pack up....but we made the most of the night walking around the resort and enjoying each moment.
Day 5: We were up and checking out before 8 am so that we could hike El Yunque National Rain Forest. We don't have any pictures that do the rain forest justice - it was so beautiful in person. We probably did a 3 mile hike all in and then drove around to various lookout points. After that, we drove to Old San Juan - we didn't have time to walk around just drove through it so we could see it...such a charming area. I was bummed we didn't have time to tour the area and go to shops. Next we were off to the airport where we had a smooth flight home and got back to our kids in time to enjoy them for a couple hours before bed.

This trip was about relaxing...so it wasn't adventurous but we were okay with that. The only complaint we had was with taxis. There is a union that only allows taxis at the airports and in the resorts so you cannot take Uber. The taxis charge a pretty hefty fee while Uber is far more reasonable. For example, we took a taxi to a restaurant one night which cost $45 there (it was less than 8 miles away) and the Uber ride back was $15 and the car was far nicer as was the driver. It is what it is. We also enjoyed the resort but would not want to stay there longer than we did. And now, the pics!

Thanks again to our parents for watching our little llamas!