Última Despedida/Hasta Luego (Last Goodbye/See You Later)

I was fortunate to wake up at 4:40 to enjoy some alone time and catch my last sunrise in Puerto Rico. While I admit that this was tinged with a little sadness, I was excited for the final day’s adventures and filled with anticipation for our return.

I can’t say enough how much we enjoyed our stay at Palmas Del Mar in Humacao. My wife booked our condo, so that it faced the ocean. This is why each morning, I was greeted with those pastel sunrises. I can remember the sounds of Caribbean waves still resonating in my eardrums. I am sure that those images and sounds from that balcony will remain in my inventory of happy places.

Once that my family woke up, we took our son to the kids’ pool for one last dip. This was perhaps his most perfect, most enjoyable hour of the trip. The multicolored dragon marked it, so that there was no mistaking it for the adults’ pool.

It was curious to see the difference between what happiness was for me versus for my son. For him, it was putting a foam noodle under his arms and swimming. For me, happiness was taking in the sunrises. As I recall, I never did watch a sunset. Maybe, I never did want those days to end.

Ride To The Airport

Our strategy of packing as little as possible came in handy with preparing for our return. We made it a point of leaving our things in specific areas. I am pretty sure that we had already finished most of our packing and left out only what we needed to get ready. On my East Coast trip, I forgot my FitBit charger and had to call the hotel to have it shipped back. Not this time!

As we drove to Charlie Car Rental in Carolina, I have to admit that it felt less of a goodbye than hasta luego (see you later) to the places that we visited and the people that we had met. God wiling, we will return to Puerto Rico.

I don’t remember talking very much with the shuttle driver, who took us to Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport. I do remember that he was drumming on the steering wheel to a Taylor Swift song, which made me think of the girl in the Luquillo gift shop, who sang along to a song on the radio. I swear that it seemed like everything in Puerto Rico had an internal soundtrack, an unseen rhythm.

Airport Dinner

After the Southwest flight from San Juan, we landed in Baltimore/Washington International Airport. It was slightly unsettling to realize that we were that much closer to the cold Michigan weather.

We had a reasonable layover, which gave us some time to eat. Our main parameter for picking a restaurant was that it had to have grilled cheese for our son. We chose Silver Diner, which had a cute ‘50’s vibe. At our table, there was one of those mini-jukeboxes. Per their website, they use grass fed, grain finished beef in their burgers and I could taste the difference. Very flavorful burgers indeed!

Welcome To Detroit

We landed at Detroit-Metro just after 9:30PM. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be too much activity. By the time that we arrived at the luggage carousel, it didn’t take long to pick up our suitcase. After a short shuttle ride to our parking lot, it was just after 10.

When I looked out the window, the change from the 80 something tropical heat to the winter temps barely above freezing was apparent. As it turned out, we would be greeted a few days later by some light snow.

As much as I would have loved, at that moment, to return to Puerto Rico, I was glad to be home. It may have treated us great, but I’m a Detroit boy through and through and there’s nowhere else that I would want to be.

BE IT EVER SO HUMBLE, THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME.