In 2019, I found a travel book about Puerto Rico in a community library near our house, and I immediately declared, "I will take my family here one day."
This particular island has been a dream of mine since college, but I wasn't sure I'd ever get there. My
travel rewards hobby is no secret at this point, and it's because it takes us to places that we'd likely not be able to afford without it. This was our first trip of the year, and it was a hard-but-good one. We were fresh off of a tremendous loss, and this Caribbean paradise was the perfect place for space and healing. After waiting over a year for this trip to arrive, we spent the last few months holding it so loosely as life changed time and time again.
Alas, we made it to paradise. With broken hearts, nonetheless, but we made it.
We decided to mostly rest and recover oceanside for this trip, but there were two non-negotiables for us:
1) A day in El Yunque National Forest
and
2) A day in Old San Juan
These two are iconic in Puerto Rico, and they were the perfect amount of adventure and culture for us. We considered doing other excursions when we first booked our 6-night stay, but honestly, just swimming in the pool and floating in the teal-blue ocean felt other-worldly. If we ever get to visit Puerto Rico again, I would love for us to take a catamaran sail to a nearby island of the coast (looking at you, Icacos Island), take a night tour of the bioluminescence bay, and an ATV tour through the rainforest.
Even without the extra excursions, though, I would 1000000% go back to Puerto Rico! It was just stunning.
We had five full days on this fun island, and we stayed at the beautiful Hyatt Regency Grand Reserve. We booked flights with Southwest points plus two companion passes, and included two adventure days staggered between resort days. Our resort days mostly consisted of going back and forth between the pool and the beach, with food and bathroom breaks mixed in. This is a glimpse of what it looked like:
Adventure Day #1:
El Yunque National Forest
Our first adventure day was through the El Yunque National Forest. We were so giddy for this day! We drove 40 minutes to our first hike of the day (Angelito Trail), and spent the next few hours floating and playing in the most glorious swimming hole. It was such a peaceful place, and it didn't start to get busy until we were packing up to go explore another part of the rainforest.
Before heading to our next stop, we stopped in Luquillo for a Puerto Rican meal at a waterfront restaurant called Nativa #9 (where I enjoyed the most delicious mofongo with shrimp, yummmm).
After that, we drove back the same way and stopped at another hike: Juan Diego Falls. We hiked through mud and a sea of people to explore this tiered falls, and it was breath-taking. If we had gotten there earlier (aka before the masses), we probably would have stayed and swam a bit before heading back down; still, we all loved this short, steep hike.
As we drove out of the rainforest, we stopped at the Yokahu Observation Tower.
We were just awed by this entire day.
Adventure Day #2:
Old San Juan
We woke up early, ate breakfast, then made the 45-minute drive to Old San Juan on our fourth day in Puerto Rico. I had anticipated this experience for so long, and I woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready for an amazing day! Just thinking about the bright colors and cobblestone streets made my stomach cuts flips.
It was even more magical than I imagined.
It was, also, a lot hotter than we were prepared for, too, so be advised (LOL).
We spent most of our time simply walking along the character-ripe town, and that in itself was unforgettable. We did a quick tour of the grounds at El Morro within San Juan National Historic Site, visited the pigeons at Parque de las Palomas, walked through Catedral de San Juan, peeked at Calle Fortaleza (aka the umbrella street), walked along the historic trail known as Paseo del Morro, and more.
We enjoyed treats at Zippops and Chocobar Cortes to beat the heat, and snacked as necessary while walking along. We aren't typically foodies, which was a good thing this day since we were so hot and full from a big resort breakfast. There were so many highly recommend food spots, but I can't speak to any of them sadly.
What I can speak to is the beauty. Just wow. We all took a special picture in front of a wall/color of our choice so we could always remember our first visit to Old San Juan:
All in all, this was one of the biggest dream-come-true days for me. And to experience it with my family was just...incredible.
After making the trip back from Old San Juan, we ate dinner a restaurant within our resort called The Sand Trap. We chose this particular restaurant because it has a TopGolf Swing Suite inside. We ate burgers and fries, chicken fingers and tater tots while playing different virtual sports, and it was a highlight for all four of us. Definitely a fun and worthy splurge!
Aside from these two adventure days, we only ventured off the resort one other time, and that was back to Luquillo for a restaurant I'd been dying to try: Boardriders. The food was great (loved my mahi mahi tacos) and the drinks were perfectly mixed, but the biggest reason for my desired visit was for the atmosphere and ambience. It was oceanfront and just gorgeous! There were surfers out in the water catching waves, famous Puerto Rico cats sprawled out on the street, and fellow beach-bums wandering around with their eyes on the blue before them.
Cheers for visiting a bucket list island with my bucket list family. We are a handful of beach lovers, so this was the perfect week for us.
I snapped hundreds and hundreds (and hundreds) of pictures, determined to soak and savor and freeze as much as I could. Ten frames could never tell the whole story of our week in Rio Grande, but they do give a glimpse. The tears we cried aren’t pictured, and neither are the moments where the dark side of our humanity revealed itself; but rest assured, they were just as present. Even more holy than what you see here, perhaps; but I’ll keep the memories of those grace-filled moments in my heart, mind, and body.
I think we’re getting the hang of this travel-often lifestyle, and I am so grateful. When I first became a mother (a wife, too, to be honest), I hoped this day would come — when we would be a family who spring-breaked this way. I’m so glad it’s here. I’m so glad that, in spite of every reason not to, we haven’t settled for a life less than what we want. “Easy” or “hard” doesn’t matter as much to me as “true” — that’s what we’re after, and that’s what we’re living as a result.
What a gift to be alive.
Every time my heart breaks anew and does the hard work to mend again, I believe it a little more than I did before —
What an absolute gift to be alive.
Especially in the paradise known as
Puerto Rico!
