You wrote: The island of Puerto Rico has state owned Paradors which are
guest houses.  I have stayed in quite a few and loved them all.  The
island of Vieques where I own a home is a small island off the mainland
of Puerto Rico. It is undeveloped, beautiful and politically incorrect.
 It is where American military does it bombing practice.  Because of
that it is also relatively unspoiled and very old fashioned.  If you go
to Puerto Rico I recommend you go to the mountains of the mainland of
PR and use the paradors and go to Vieques and stay at the parador or
rent a platform for camping from New Dawn.  Good luck I took my
daughter around the world for 6 months and it was a wonderful
adventure.

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>
>Twenty years ago, when I was a teenager, my mother, father, brother
and I
>spent a year working our way through the fifty states during the
>bicentennial year, traveling in of all things, a VW beetle. ('Course
we
>flew to Hawaii! Or actually the plane did). My mother, a naturalized
>citizen and native of Bogota, Colombia, wanted us to appreciate our
>country and share her patriotism. Our family financed the journey by
>working as fruit pickers, migrant workers, restaurant help, etc.
Although
>we started our adventure very quietly, not sure if we would be able to
>complete it, before it was over we were featured in many newspapers
and
>television shows. I wrote about the adventure in Seventeen magazine.
It
>was an amazing time ...
>
>I grew up to be a television journalist and publisher of small
regional
>newspapers. Now I plan to repeat the adventure with my own family   my
>husband, three-year-old son, and 11-year-old daughter. Because of the
>children's ages, we probably won't be able to work ... but have to be
>extremely frugal on the road. We too want our youngsters to appreciate
>their country ... learn its history and geography first-hand ... and
share
>what they learn with other youngsters. We will home school our
daughter on
>the road.
>
>We plan to document this trip in print and through video ... and as we
>prepare for our July 4th departure (for a July 4 return) we are busily
>researching the country.
>
>The reason for this mega-note is to ask for your help. We want to know
the
>best places to go ... especially those with minimal or no cost
involved.
>Tell us about your cities and towns! We especially look forward to
hearing
>about America's little known jewels. We'll probably be camping out a
lot
>also, or sleeping in our vehicle, so we'll also want to know your
favorite
>places for overnight stays ... especially the free ones. We're not
>picky...we just want to be successful at experiencing all of America
in
>one year. We also hope to make this a cybertrip ... visiting the
places
>and people we learn about through the internet.
>
>Any and all help would be appreciated! Reply here ... or e-mail
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>
>Marlene
>