...to this. My work sent me to Puerto Rico again!
Last time I was mostly in the hotel for a conference, but this time I was out and about trying to find different locations. The one thing I couldn't believe is that it is even more confusing than Boston! Example one: I asked for an address to an office and was told it is on Road #2. When I pressed for more info, I was told that they don't use house numbers. Now, this may not have been so confusing, but you can imagine that by generally using numbers rather than street names, there were many a road #2. I found a road #2 and drove the entire length of it three times before parking and trying on foot so I could ask people. It turned out that the office was on highway 2. Example two: One area did use street names, however, my Garmin GPS had completely different names for the streets than the signs I was seeing... and, like Boston, there is more than one street with the same name. I didn't mind the trouble so much, though. The landscape is amazingly green and tropical... and did I mention how sunny and blue the sky was? A nice change from the cold and gray.I did manage to find a little time to see some sights (for Mel... the longest word we found in Russian: dostoprimachatelnocti). My favorite place was Viejo San Juan. It was built by the Spanish Empire and I imagine it to be what Spain would look like. I'll need to go there just to make sure. ;) There are also two castles/fortresses that were built hundreds of years ago, as early as 1539, and continually fortified for over 250 years. They had to protect the riches they gathered on the island.
First, I went to Castillo San Cristóbal. It was built second of the two and protected San Juan from land based attacks.
This little guy somehow found his way into the castle and was hanging out.
Underground, they built mazes of tunnels connecting different parts of the castle, as well as access to outside. This was the dungeon.
Really old graffiti of Spanish ships on the walls. Amazing, right?
These three flags are the old Spanish military flag (known as the Cross of Burgundy), the Puerto Rican flag, and you probably recognize the US flag.
This is one of the four troop barracks, restored to what it would have looked like in the the late 18th century.
Castillo San Felipe del Morro (or El Morro, as commonly called) was built to protect this port city from sea going enemies.
The half circles on the ground were tracks for the cannons, so they could swing and shoot them any direction.
The main plaza where troops assembled for parades, inspections, and guard mounts.
I also walked down to La Puerta de San Juan. This door was the official entrance to the city, through which everyone had to pass.
Looking to the right of the gate along the shore.
Old San Juan has amazing artwork scattered throughout the town. This was remembering fighting against the British when they attacked in 1598.
These blue bricks were used as ballasts, loaded in Spain to stabilize the ships until they could be replaced with gold bars in Puerto Rico.
One night, I attended a Festival at San Cristobal celebrating Puerto Rican culture. I love the horses on these three wise men costumes, who come on January 5th. Christmas is celebrated from the day after Thanksgiving until the middle of January.
Another tradition for parades.
The many costumes were beautiful. Puerto Rico had influence from many different countries. For the last number, each of the crew brought up someone from the audience to dance. I went up and was awarded a travel book of Puerto Rico.
This is the Plaza del Colon, all decorated for Christmas. 
I really enjoy Puerto Rico, especially the warm weather this time of year. It caught up to me, though. As soon as I got back to Boston, I caught a cold. I wonder is the drop in temperature of sixty degrees had anything to do with it.
We enjoyed a fantastic holiday feast with all the trimmings. Their friend who normally decorates the table was in the Macey's parade in NYC, so that was my job. I even folded the napkins into tulips. The turkey got to me early, though, and I fell asleep right after dinner... even before the pie. I had such a nice relaxing weekend. We watched plenty of movies, played the piano and sang, did a little shopping, lots of eating. Thanks so much, Aamodts!
Jefferson designed the house so that the living quarters were together and all of the support work (kitchen, laundry, storage) was done in a completely separate area below and out of the way. The main house held the bedrooms, parlor, library, dining room, and greenhouse. 
This was Mulberry Row where the workshops (carpenter, smokehouse/dairy, blacksmith, etc.) were, and behind which were the gardens, vineyard and orchard.
This is me steering the ship. That stick controls the rudder from inside, near the captain's quarters. There is a hole above so he could communicate with the navigator and lookout.
Katie was all bundled up.... brrrrr!
We had intended on watching the Thanksgiving parade that day, but after waiting (and shivering) in the cold for it to arrive... we found somewhere warm to eat instead. We did manage to see some of the parade walking by the windows...
...and catch the tail-end... and see some of the floats after it was over.
I was all about the turkey love that day. :).JPG)
...a yummy stew of pumpkin and cranberries with honeyish syrup. Yummy fall foods..JPG)
Next, we wandered past the Eel River Pond to the 1627 English Village. The people there took on a specific role and would tell us about their life/story... even knew who their next-door neighbors were. When we asked one woman what she missed about England, her answer was, surprisingly, hearing bells ring. 
Afterwards we hurried home so I could make an apple pie for our ward Thanksgiving feast. My roommate Katie was gracious enough to share her easy recipe with me. It was my first pie ever and I must say turned out quite scrumptious. Of course, I would never presume to say so... I just know that my friends said it was quite delicious. ;) They made me go steal it from the kitchen so that everyone at our table got a piece before the rest of the tables attacked it. 
The first night was on our own dime, so we stayed in Disney's All-Star Resort...
...then moved to Disney's Contemporary Resort where our conference was being held. Do you like the room, Jess? The second picture is the view from my window.
My family has gone to Disneyland in November the last few times, so It's a Small World the and Haunted Mansion had Christmas decorations. It was nice to see the original versions again. A couple things that were different... they added Jack Sparrow to Pirates of the Caribbean and the Tiki Room was under new management, so Iago and Zazu were involved. I miss the old Tiki Room. A new thing that I liked was Mickey's Philharmagic, a 3-D interactive show. I also had my joke chosen for Mike's Laugh Floor, so they said my name!
Bethany and I had dinner in the Crystal Palace and met Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore.
That evening I was able to go to the Orlando Temple with dear Christie Peo Lambert. It was so nice to get to spend time with her and reminisce about old times. We were in the last session of the evening and the last ones to leave the Celestial room. The temple worker let us watch him turn the lights off. As the lights are dimming, the chandelier caught different colors in the room and sparkled brilliantly. 
On Thursday, we had a conference meeting most of the day... but Michelle and I managed to go to EPCOT that evening. This was my first time ever at EPCOT. 
We managed to go on most of the rides. There is a ride that you are in a Space Simulator and it feels so real... it almost really made me sick. We didn't have a lot of time to spend in the different countries, but I did make a friend in Norway.
On Friday, conference again most of the day, but we did have a fantastic party that evening. We went to China in the EPCOT center for dinner. There was a dragon dance as we came in, Mickey and Minnie joined us, and we also had a private Chinese acrobat show.
Next we headed over to Italy for a yummy dessert bar and front row seats for the firework show over the water. It was also great to see the Peo's.
On Saturday, we had just a half-day of conference and then Michelle and I headed to Hollywood Studios. I was able to go on Aerosmith Rockin' Rollercoaster... it was closed last year... and it was awesome!
There was an awesome new ride that is like an interactive video game and 3-D. You come up to different screens and get to shoot things with a slingshot. Way fun, but the line was always so long! 
My last day in Orlando, I went to Animal Kingdom... another first for me. There is an amazing tree in the center, with carved animals all over it.
My favorite ride was the Mt. Everest roller coaster. You come to the end of the track, which was torn up by the Yeti, and roll backwards to escape! One ride that scared me a little was the Dinosaur ride... I can't believe people take their kids on it. 
