When I was a child and I visited Puerto Rico (every year) Vietnam would never ever miss the opportunity to take me to Old San Juan in the Ferry that left out of Cataño.  It was just me and him, before my brother was born, before my parents totally hated each other's guts.  Although I do remember once Vader slapped the shit out of me because Vietnam was leaving and I left with him to Old San Juan.

Anyways.

After almost going totally crazy on Friday, all day at home with nothing to do, I decided to plan an "Adventure" with Miss C.  An adventure with no cars, no guys; just two gals and feet.

So we left our car in Cataño and made our way to the ferry terminal.
After paying an exaggerated amount of $.75 cents for BOTH of us....(I have no idea why more parents don't do this with their kids instead of the HUGE amusement parks), we got on the ferry.

Miss C couldn't have been more happier.  It was an adventure, on a "Boat".

10 minutes later we were in the great "Walled City" aka Old San Juan.

We didn't have any real plans, just two gals posing as Tourists.

Our first stop: The Pigeon Park.
A beautiful area full of pigeons, where you can buy a bag full of corn for a dollar and sit and feed the birds.

I don't need to say how much the Kid got a kick out of the birds, although she was upset that the pigeons wouldn't eat out of her hands, like they ate out of mine.

Maybe it had to do with the fact that I wasn't shoving my hand up their eyeballs with corn.
Maybe.

After the Pigeon Park, we made our way up to the Plaza de Armas, where we had a light $5.67 lunch at Wendy's.

After lunch we made our way uphill to explore the differents shops, sights and visited the "Museo del Niño", Children's Museum, full of all kinds of sights and wonders: Dress Up area, Science Area with live dengue carrying Mosquitoes, Huge Ears and Organs you can touch and explore, a nice Recycled Craft area and a recreation of a Plaza in San Juan, with a miniature store and Piragua Cart.

That cost me $12.00 for both of us.

After that we decided to go to the Totem, where a fountain jolts water from the ground and tons of children go to get wet and cool off.  We didnt' get wet, but we did cool off with a Real Piragua for $2.00.

Our last stop, El Morro, The Old Spanish Fort.

Entrance: Free up until 16 years old, everybody else :$3.00.

We explored every nook and cranny, played "Hide and Go Seek" and decided that finally at 4:00pm (we had been in San Juan since 11:30am) we were pooped.

We headed back down, not without stopping at the bookstores to look at books for the Kid and having a hot dog before getting back on the Ferry.

Once back in the Car we were going to head out to the thrift store, but our legs were pooped.
We called it an afternoon.

Total tab for the afternoon:  $29.17

I'm sure it could have been equally special and cheaper, minus maybe the Fort or the Museum, but it goes to show that you don't have to go far to give your children a special day.  In the end, as we sat on the Ferry and I saw her eyes shine with delight and curiosity, I couldn't help think if my face was equally delighted with Vietnam, almost 15 years ago.

And no matter how bad we have it now, I treasure those moments with 'Nam, and I'm sure Miss C will treasure ours.