Costa Rica

I finally have time to sit down and write about our Costa Rica trip and what a vacation it was. There were nine of us that met up in Costa Rica (you were very missed Bonnie). There was us, The Hardie's, The Boerem's, The Mulcock's, and John Clowney. We started the trip off in Quepos which was about a three hour drive from the airport. There were a lot of windy roads and some questionable bridges but we all made it there in one piece. We did stop to see some gators on the way.

Right when we got there we had to take a walk to the beach and get some food. The beach was just amazing at sunset and the food was the same every where but we did all have our favorites.

Every morning the guys (and Becca) would wake up early and go surfing. Caitlin would go running, I would speed walk, Andrea would read, and we would take sexy pictures of ourselves on the beach.

We went hiking through the rain forest and saw many of Costa Rica's wild life. We were able to climb around and find some private beaches. This is where we swam, practiced our synchronized diving, took naps, and watched a raccoon steal our cookies.

The next day we rented some boats and did some kayaking to another spot where we snorkeled. We saw mostly puffer fish but it was col anyway. Carl and Becca did some scuba diving and they were able to see a lot more. John was mostly fascinated with the storm that was brewing over us...it was pretty incredible. It rained but we were in a rain forest and we were getting wet anyway.

It got dark about 5:30pm so our nights were mostly us playing games, watching the Olympics, eating, and going to bed early. We had to get our beauty sleep and the sun had you up at 5:30 in the morning.

The next day we did some mountain biking. This was a challenge for me because it was tough and these were not easy rodes or hills, but I did it!! The reward was hiking down to a waterfall and swimming. This was one of the highlights from the whole trip for me.

The local surfers kept telling Doug that we needed to go try out this "perfect spot" to surf so we decided to make a day of it. The surfing was desirable but what was more fun was the off-roading that we had to do to get there. Seriously, I have not idea how we made it there and we had four wheeled drive. There are no street signs in Costa Rica so all the directions that we got were "go there and take a right". Very interesting indeed. I enjoyed seeing the monkey's and finding beautiful sea shells.

The next day we went left Quepos and went to Arenal. On the way we stopped at two more waterfalls that we had to hike down to. Well worth it, and the men gave us a scare by trying to swim right under the falls but good thing they weren't strong enough.

Yep, this is where we stayed. It had a great view of an active Volcano. At night we could see the lava coming down, way cool.

The next day we did a hike around the base of the volcano.

We then did the Zip Line. Pretty scary at first but by the eighth one you were hooping and hollering. This was another highlight for me.

Here is our guide going down the half mile run, we all followed after. This will give you an idea about how high we were and how amazingly beautiful everything was.

To end the trip on a perfect note, we went to the hot springs. We were there for about four hours, had an incredible meal, then back in. We could have stayed all night. After such an adventurous week, it was so nice to relax.

The trip was a success and just what was needed after all the stress of packing and moving. I hope to make it back one day but this trip will be hard to top.

For more pictures, click here.