Three days, two nights, short and sweet. May 2015 my mom, aunt, cousin and I finally got to go to the City that Never Sleeps and that's exactly what we were going to have to do if we wanted to visit all of the places we wanted. I had this image in my mind about what NYC would be like and in some ways it was what I expected and in others it was like nothing I could've thought up in my mind.
The first day was filled with ooo's and ahh's. The skyscrapers piercing through the clouds above was like out of a dream. The sounds of the city where just what I expected. Horns honking, business men discussing their latest plans and heels clicking along the concrete and I loved it. I envisioned this sea of people like in the movies, but I was surprised to come to find that it wasn't as busy as I had thought it would be.
The most memorable moment in NYC was on the last day and we went to central park. I had been looking forward to going for so long. You just hear so many stories, see it in so many movies and it has easily become New York City's most prized possession and after just a few hours there, it was easy to see why. It's crazy to think that in the midst of a concrete jungle there's a thriving, buzzing place...with trees. We rented some bikes along with a tour guide from Guinea-Bissau who knew his stuff when it came to central park. He showed us John Lennon's apartment and place of death, it was crazy to think that a legend was standing right where I was. Then we got into the park where we saw Strawberry Fields and a memorial for Lennon. Next stop was on a brighter note, to the Friends fountain. To our disappointment it was actually blocked off due to construction. But that didn't stop us from getting a picture. Our tour guide told us to make a run for it and take a picture at the fountain. He grabs the camera and tells us to run to the fountain. Right after taking the picture a cop comes running towards us but we get away before he could take us to jail. Haha.
It was 2012 and my great grandmother was turning 80 so all my family went to Puerto Rico where she lived, to celebrate her milestone. It was the first time in awhile that I had gone on a vacation to a tropical paradise and I was incredibly excited to see my family and the miles of crystal blue waters. We stayed at ESJ towers in San Juan and spent some days at my great grandmothers. It was such a nice vacation, seeing a new culture and spending time with my family who I very rarely see but the most memorable time was when we hiked through the El Yunque rain forest. After hiking for at least an hour or two with no breaks we finally reached the waterfall. It was like we had entered a whole new world maybe because I had been sweating for 2 hours or that I had never seen anything like that before in my entire life. Small shrimp swam in the shallow parts of the water hole while bright orange and white fish swam in the deeper parts. People climbed the walls of the waterfall to jump into the narrow deep pool.
The next day we went through the rain forest again this time on four-wheelers. The tour guide had dressed us up with leaf-crowns and face paint. The experience was unreal. After riding around through the forest catching glimpse of coquís and colorful lizards, the tour guide brought us to a river. It was as if the guide moved a single branch and on the other side opened up this piece of nature that had been seemingly untouched. We swam in the river where we got to take off our face paint and cooled off. It was the perfect place for adventure.
Family friends of my family recently bought a house in Falmouth and they invited us over there to spend a couple days with them.
Upon arrival we dropped our bags off at the house and took a boat trip to the Vineyard. This was my first time going so it was a pretty big deal and I just loved it. So many of my friends and family have raved about how amazing the Vineyard is and they were right about everything. The charm, the stores, everything was out of a movie. After docking, we went shopping at the most amazing book store I have ever been to called, Bunch of Grapes. With wooden floors and shelves filled of coloring books, novels, calendars, children's books and journals I lost it. It was perfect and even Barack Obama had been there . . . just saying.
After walking the strip of shops we headed to lunch at the Blue Canoe overlooking the water. We sat across from a wall of opened french doors with the sea breeze making its way into the small but comfortable dining room. It was such a nice day, the sun was shining yet the sea was rough.
The rest of the week we had some crazy adventures. We went crabbing at midnight, snuck through people's backyards, canoed in the dark and went golfing at the cutest place ever. One day when the sun was shining and the water had calmed down we swam under the Jaws bridge and watched Jaws AFTER the fact (which was a good idea). Our friends had actually never seen the movie before. They knew what it was about but it shocked me that they had never seen it before. I remember my dad always having that movie on during the summers when I was a kid. That probably explains my deathly fear of the sea/ocean.