Costa Rica

At weddings we often get asked about our secrets to happy marriage. I try to think of clever poems or unique sayings that share the wisdom of being married (for a whole, 8 years so far). But what I actually should write every single time is travel.
Travel together.
Explore the world.
Get to know your spouse in a new setting, among new people, eating new foods.
Do it with, but also WITHOUT your children.
In fact, commit to doing it without your children.

Every time we come back from a distant vacation where I get just quality time with Drew I'm refreshed. I've had time to really relax, to really enjoy his company, and I come back happy. I come back a better momma. I come back not thinking twice about how much it cost or what we spent where, because every single penny was well invested.

In March we went to Costa Rica. Alone. For 10 days.  It was glorious. It was a forgot-you-had-anywhere-to-be kind of vacation. For a few moments in the middle I think I forgot I had a job to come back to at home. Had it not been for missing the boys, I would have convinced myself that we should just stay. For another week at least. This post is picture heavy. Consider yourself warned!

These photos (above) are from Tamarindo, a little Pacific Coast town that is laid back and fun (but sadly, is getting over-run with tourism). We didn't actually stay in the town. We stayed up in the hills at a place called los altos de eros. There are just six rooms at this place and they cater to your every whim and need. They also have the best spa in Costa Rica right out in front of you (that's the last picture before the man breathing fire), and we took full advantage of the skilled folks who run those tables. Everyday I ate like a king, smiled all day long, took naps, and read books, laid by the pool, played euchre with our new friends from Oklahoma and North Carolina. Mostly, we just enjoyed the time, without a care in the world for anything else. It felt like we were honeymooning all over again.

When we vacation we like to balance adventure with pampering, so we took days to do hikes into the rainforest, zip lining, water fall rappelling, snorkeling and hanging bridges. In the pictures above we were doing the ziplines in Tamarindo, which were tons of fun and sooooo long. This next set of photos are also from the first five or so days of our trip in Arenal. Arenal seems like a world away from Tamarindo because the climates are totally different, but really is only about three hours away.

Here I am with a great Kapok tree. One of the largest in Costa Rica. It was enormous and beautiful.

This little guy is a poisonous viper. He's pretty small, so he didn't try to strike anyone, but had he been an adult we all would have stayed far away, as he's one of the most dangerous in Costa Rica. People only usually get bit though by touching trees they are camouflaged on and not seeing them there.

These are photos from the hanging bridges in the canopy near Arenal. The views were so spectacular here. It was a rainforest, so everything was wet, but also lush and beautiful.

 

This picture is of a blood root tree. Its sap is red like blood.

 

 Here, the tiny red dot is a little tiny tree frog. They are bright red and blue on the bottom, so they are called blue jean frogs or strawberry poison dart frogs. They are very tiny, probably less than 1/2 an inch long, but are very very loud.

 I didn't take very many pictures at our resort in Arenal, but it was nothing short of amazing. It's called Nayara and right at the base of the volcano. The picture after Drew in the lobby is what we woke up to each day, the view directly out our window. It was the perfect way to wake up each day.

 

 

These pictures are taken at a local waterfall in Arenal called, La Fortuna. It was big and beautiful, and so strong you couldn't swim very close, but you can swim beyond the rocks just outside of the spray. It was cold, but refreshing on a 90 something degree day. On this day we were just off of a long hike to celeste river and my legs were sore. We had to hike way down to get to it and I could feel my muscles burning the whole way. Costa Rica was a workout too, I guess.

 While we were in Arenal we also went waterfall rapelling, which was so much fun, but I tore up my toe on a rock face. After that we went to Ecotermales, a hot spring that is fed from the Arenal volcano and soaked off the sore legs and hurt toe. It was a great end to a fantastic day.

In Arenal we spent one whole day near Chato, where we went on the Celestre river hike. The celeste river is famous because it has some chemical in it that makes the water turn a perfectly aqua, and its very milky. Nothing lives in it, because of the chemicals, but its amazing to look at. During the hike we got to see the river mouth, which is where the two rivers mix, you can see the clean clear water, mixing with the chemical, and where teh celeste river starts, as the milky aqua.

 

 

Overall, the trip, as expected was amazing. We day dream about going back because it was so lovely. But alas, there are so many other parts of the world to see, and our 10 year anniversary is just around the corner. To celebrate, we again plan to travel.  To see each other in a new light, enjoy each other's company and share in our love to explore the world.