Costa Rica

Brian and I have been so blessed to go ontwo amazing vacations this year. I already posted about Hawaii and now here are some pictures from Costa Rica. We had the best time and the trip was full of adventure and amazing sights. Brian and I have been together for over 12 years (yes, i know that is a long time!), and have never been on an official vacation with his family. So, needless to say, this was a special trip. We went to 2 places in Costa Rica. The first was the Arenal Volcano area. Here we are in front of the volcano at a pit stop during the drive there. Our hotel was actually at the base of the volcano and was absolutely beautiful. Here is what we looked at while having coffee in the morning. You could actually see steam coming from the top.

The first full day there, we took an all day tour. This tour started with hanging bridges that went all throughout the rain forest. We saw all kinds of amazing animals, butterflies and flowers.

Here is a picture of a poison dart frog that the guide pointed out for us. I swear those guides could find anything. It would have been very easy to walk around and not see a thing because everything was so hidden.

After the hanging bridges, we took a hike to this amazing waterfall. We then took a hike around the volcano and learned all about its history. Costa Rica is very humid, so we were all drenched in sweat most of the time. After the long day of hiking we were dropped off at the hot springs. This place was amazing and so relaxing! This picture is blurry because there was so much steam. Absolutely loved it! The next day we decided to go zip lining. I am pretty sure zip lining was made famous in Costa Rica, and boy did they know what they were doing! It was amazing. We basically went up the volcano and zip lined all the way down. The views were unbeatable. While hiking to the first zip, the guide pointed out this viper just hanging out. Pretty crazy! In the afternoon we went on a river float where we were suppose to see crocodiles and monkeys. We saw a ton of monkeys, but I was very disappointed not to see any crocs. My disappointment didn't last long because the next day on our drive to the second location, the driver stopped at a river known for crocs. They were everywhere!

Our next destination was the town of Jaco. It is on the Pacific coast and was recommended to us by a friend. Well... lets just say we were very disappointed in the hotel, beach, people offering us drugs on the side of the road, dirty sheets, etc...so we decided to change to a new hotel a few miles away. We did have to stay one night at this gross hotel (longest night of my life!), but now it is a funny story to laugh about. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to share. At the time I wasn't thinking that I wanted to remember what it looked like. =)

After the "longest night of my life", we went to Manuel Antonio National Park. It is suppose to have the best beaches and amazing wildlife and we were not disappointed! Here is just a taste of what we saw.

Notice the baby on the mom's back. Sloth While taking a break on the beach, Brian's dad decided he would enjoy a little snack. Well it wasn't too long before these little guys snatched his granola bar right out of his hands. He didn't even know what hit him. Too funny!

Here is one of those little guys in action sifting through someones back pack. Yes they can open zippers!

Here is the beach with all the monkeys. Notice Brian and Jeff in the right hand corner. Here we are at the end of the park tour, next to the "turtle rock". After the park tour we headed back to our new hotel, (Thank goodness!), and it was wonderful. We spent the last day relaxing on the beach, playing cards and sitting by the pool. Overall it was an amazing vacation with wonderful memories. Thanks to Brian's parents for taking us along! Oh and this is a record...the first post without a Luke picture! I promise Luke will go back to being the star in the next post. =)