Awe in Caribbean, awesome in Chicago

— -- Best experience

We squatted down on the sand, silent in the dark, our eyes glued to the large hole in front of us. In it, a 400-pound green sea turtle, seemingly in a trance, was depositing her eggs. My husband and I felt like voyeurs, watching with six other tourists as a guide shone a red light on the proceedings. But we had traveled several hours by bus and boat through Costa Rica to get to Tortuguero, the largest green sea turtle nesting site in the Western Hemisphere. Still, survival means facing long odds: For every 1,000 baby turtles that hatch over a four-month season, only one makes it to adulthood. As we pondered this, the turtle shuddered. Using her flippers, she covered her nest with dirt, then dragged herself, inch by inch, back to the Caribbean Sea. Under the starlit sky, her determination seemed both timeless and miraculous.

Worst experience

For six months, I logged as many miles as any hard-core road warrior, braving the congested I-95 corridor between McLean, Va., and Philadelphia twice a week (in a fuel-devouring SUV). So as gas prices soared this summer, my heart jumped — and wallet lightened — as the cost of filling up crept higher and higher. $3.60. $3.80. $4. $4.20. When would it end? I tallied my lost cash as I stewed in traffic. (The area around White Marsh Mall outside Baltimore, with its constant construction projects, proved particularly maddening.) The commuting finally stopped in August, just as prices started to fall. No matter. My next vehicle will be a SmartCar.

Most unexpected experience

I attended college outside Chicago, and while I loved exploring the city during those four years (way) too long ago, a trip back to the Midwest doesn't register high on the excitement meter. So I was unprepared for how much fun I had rediscovering Chicago over a long summer weekend.

Using the historic InterContinental Hotel on Michigan Avenue as our base, my husband and I watched fireworks at Navy Pier, cruised the Chicago River on an architecture tour, enjoyed the view from the top of the Hancock Building, stopped in to see Seurat at the Art Museum and devoured a massive deep-dish at Geno's Pizza. On our final night, we went out in Lincoln Park, alternating between blues at B.L.U.E.S. and reggae and zydeco at Kingston Mines, capping things off with cheap tacos at 3 a.m. Definitely still my kind of town.