COSTA RICA

This post is late in coming....almost two months late.  I have been lazy and have not taken the time to post but better late than never:)

In January after our visit to Tampa Bay we flew out to Costa Rica for a week's adventure.  And an adventure it was!  This was our FIFTH time to CR.  We love it so much, so when different countries started opening up for tourists again (with Covid rules set in place) we saw that Costa Rica was relatively easy to get into.  I say easy for me because Rick did all the legwork.  We had to make sure we had sufficient insurance, a health form filled out and of course, not be sick, to get into the country.  

Just a few days before leaving, the US decided to mandate all families traveling out of the country to have a Covid test before getting back in.  While that could have caused a hiccup in our trip, I am happy to say that it was relatively easy to get, albeit a little extra money to get back home.

Anyhoo, on to memories of our little trip.

We stayed in the Los Suenos Marriott, which we have stayed at the two other times we have stayed in his area.  This time though we were upgraded to a better room...a "swim-up room".  This room made our trip from fantastic to SPECTACULAR!  

Our room had a walkout deck into a beautiful pool!  It is funny how something so simple elevated our trip so much but it certainly did!  We loved getting into the pool every day just for relaxation.  For the most part it was pretty private, and it felt like the pool was just for us!  Another a huge bonus to having this room were the macaws that we could see fly by into the trees just adjacent to our room.  One day while we were enjoying the pool we saw a toucan land in a tree.  So cool!  Especially since toucans are my favorite bird!  After this trip macaws have become a close second, though!  They were so loud and beautiful!

Our room had a fun hammock just next to the slider door.

Our first day was a Sunday so after spending most of the day in with meetings and studying and such we headed off for a little drive.  We stopped at a picturesque place to snap a photo with Jaco in the distance.

 We ate number of meals in the hotel's restaurant.  The passion fruit smoothies were the best!

We had a lot of this....(chips, guac, and pico)

and this....(shrimp ceviche) while in CR.

Another hammock shot.

 Rick started Pathways schooling at the beginning of January, and he was so DILIGENT getting up every morning at 5:30 to get his studies and work in so it didn't interrupt our play time.  He's so amazing!

            I love that when he sets his mind to something he goes for it ALL. THE. WAY.

This was the continental breakfast served everyday.  I always upgraded to add some eggs and rice and beans.  It was always a great breakfast eating al fresco while watching the iguanas and birds.

One of our days we got to take a 4 wheel adventure tour.  We were able to ride up into the jungle and swim in a waterfall.  Rick also did a little snorkeling and saw the elusive crawdads.  The jungle was amazing, and the 4 wheel ride was super fun as we got to drive into the river many times getting ourselves pretty dirty!  The natural pools helped to clean us off.

Another day we got to take a riverboat ride on the Tarcoles River.  This has been a favorite each time we have come.  The crocs are HUGE, and we got to be entertained by the boat's captain as he hand-fed two of the crocs we came across.  He got super close to them!  Pretty crazy!  We also got to see lots of indigenous birds from the area.

The sunsets were beautiful!  This particular one was taken from the Hotel's restaurant.

Another highlight of our trip was our day trip into Manuel Antonio National Park.  Our guide was very knowledgeable about the flora and fauna of the park.  We saw a lot of wonderful wildlife...

There is also a renowned beach within the park with monkeys all over the place.

After getting out of the park we stopped and had a wonderful lunch across from the beach.  We had planned to spend the day on the sand and in the water until....

I noticed that I forgot my swimsuit:(

It worked out well though, because we just went back to the hotel and enjoyed our pool:)

My limeade smoothie was a welcome treat from our hike in the park.

More ceviche for Rick:)

This was our last night in the Jaco area, and we were hoping to have pizza on the beach as the sun set, but unfortunately the pizza place didn't open till later, so we watched the sunset and then had pizza.

                                                      They were both fabulous!

One afternoon we took a drive up into the mountains and just really enjoyed the sights.  We were up on a ridge and could see down on both sides of the valley.  So beautiful!

I saved these last two pictures for last.  Rick found this macaw shirt and had to have it.  

We bought it in honor of the over THIRTY macaws we saw on this trip!

              We LOVE Costa Rica!  It is one of our favorite places on the planet!

                            Until we meet again CR...Pura Vida!

TAMPA BAY

In mid-January Rick and I took a trip to Tampa Bay Florida for some sunshine with Brad and Ruth.

The weather stayed mostly in the 50's and 60's the whole time which was a nice change from the 20's and 30's.  We flew in on a Saturday evening and drove to Ruskin, about twenty five minutes from Tampa Bay, where we would be staying for the week.  We had a three bedroom condo.  Brad and Ruth upstairs and Rick and I on the main floor.  While it was a fairly small place it worked out well because each couple had their own space.  Darrell and DeeAnn were supposed to come along but they both got terribly sick with Covid, and then Darrell got pneumonia on top of that!  We sure did miss them and wished they could have been with us but, we're glad that Darrell could take that time at home to get better.

After arriving and getting settled in our condo we went out to grab some food from the grocery store to stock up for our Sunday meal and breakfasts and snacks.  Then we went back and enjoyed visiting around a platter of meat and cheese:)

The next day was Sunday, and we enjoyed some downtime.  After zooming in on our respective Sacrament Meetings we enjoyed sitting around the front room with Brad and Ruth reminiscing about our younger years and how we each courted and married.  That was fun reminiscing on those special years.   After an hour or so of that Brad and Ruth put together a nice dinner for us.  We had roast, potatoes, carrots and salad.  Dinner turned out very nice:)  Afterwards Rick and I took a walk out past the harbor next to the condos with all of the cool boats and then over to the beach which was just a five minute walk.

The next morning we all got into one car and drove over the Sunshine Bridge over to the barrier island beaches.    We first stopped at Fort De Soto.  We looked thru the old fort and took a few pictures but the real fun was when we discovered the beach just behind it.  We walked out over a sand dune covered in beach grass and down to the beach where a few people were combing the seashore for shells.

This beach was absolutely COVERED with shells!   It was super fun finding all of the sea stuff that had washed ashore.  A local lady that was there beach combing said that a lot of the sea life was coming in because of the cold water.  I thought that was interesting.  We had a lot of fun finding shells and videoing our finds to send back home to the kiddos.  We decided to come back at a later date to collect shells to take home to them:)  (Which we did on Friday before we left)

After exploring Fort DeSoto we drove over to the Don Cesar Hotel for a yummy lunch and then enjoyed exploring around the hotel grounds.  The Don Cesar is a boutique Hotel that has been around since 1928.  The grounds were beautiful, and the beach was gorgeous.

After exploring the Hotel we drove over to St. Petersburg to see a house that Ruth's brother used to live in.  Then we drove back to Treasure Island beach to watch the sunset.

Here is a picture of Rick, Brad and Ruth face timing with DeeAnn on the phone and letting her see the beautiful view.

The next day Brad and Ruth took off for a night down towards Miami and the Keys.

Rick and I drove into downtown Tampa and took an hour boat ride to see what was around the area.  We rode past boat docks, mansion waterfront homes and the town's business district.  It was all very interesting, and our captain guide shared lots of cool facts about the area.  One thing that captured my attention was a beautiful Turn of the Century Hotel called the Tampa Bay Hotel.  It was built back in the Gilded Age for the wealthy to come a visit.  It had a very East European look about it, and I had read that it was the home of the Henry B. Plant Museum so that was our next stop.

The hotel was built in 1891 and was a destination place for the rich and famous.  While most of it is now used of the University of Tampa Bay, a small wing is used as the museum.  This little museum was a highlight of the trip for me.  We only had an hour (because we stopped and had a really fun al fresco truck stop lunch) to explore the museum, but we made the most of it:)  We downloaded an app that explained the opulence of the hotel and the different artifacts we were seeing and some facts about the different activities for the guests back intros days.  It was great.  Just outside the museum was a beautiful park adjacent to the river so we enjoyed a walk in the park where we met a young student from Indiana who was there to become a marine biologist.  It was a neat experience.

A small glimpse of the Tampa Bay Hotel behind us.

It was getting dark so we headed back toward the condo to have dinner at the Sunset Grill Restaurant which had fabulous food.  I ended the evening watching a fun show on Netflix while Rick did some homework.

The next day was our 32nd ANNIVERSARY!

We knew we wanted to head over to Clearwater Beach so we headed that direction.  I had read about a cute town called Dunedin so we went North of the beach to visit.  We found a fun pizza by the slice place and had a bite and then grabbed some ice-cream at Strachans and then did a little window shopping in some of the cute shops.

Next was Clearwater.  We parked the car and took a half hour nap and then walked out to the beach.  We passed a ParaSail kiosk and I said, "We should go Parasailing."  Of course, Rick thought that was a wonderful idea but little did I know what I was getting myself into.  I had been parasailing before.  Twice actually, and I thought it would be a nice thing that Rick would like.  Well he did but I DID NOT!  

The other two times I had been parasailing were quite beautiful and calming at about 150 above the boat.  I did not realize that this adventure was going to be FIVE TO SIX HUNDRED FEET ABOVE THE BOAT!  We just kept going higher and higher and I was paralyzed!  I could not let go of the harness holding on for dear life.  Rick was enjoying the scenery and trying to help keep me calm the whole time!  I tried to look over at the beautiful beaches and hotels but I could not believe how high we were up in the sky.  At one point he reached over and touched my foot with his and I screamed, "Don't touch me!"  I was so afraid that I was going to fall.  Oh my goodness,  truly I wanted to bawl and tears actually came falling down but I held it in for the most part and waited it out.  My first words after getting back to the boat were, "I don't EVER want to do that again!"  Anyhoo....Happy Anniversary to us!  We sure made it memorable!

 

See that smile?  I was ecstatic to be back on the boat:)

We had some time before dinner so we walked down the Clearwater Pier.  This beach is so pretty.  The sand is so soft on the feet and the water was truly beautiful.  While at the pier we each bought a new shirt.  Rick a water shirt and me a new Clearwater Beach hoodie.  I was glad to have it because the nights got chilly.

                                                           Our new shirts:)

We had our anniversary dinner at the Rockaway Grill watching the sun going down into the Gulf.

It was a very nice way to end the day:)

The next day we drove down towards the everglades to find an airboat ride.  Brad and Ruth had found one the day before, and Rick was chomping at the bit to see some 'gators so we went looking for them.

It was a three hour drive to the south where we found Corey Billie's airboat rides.  

We donned some headgear and off we went with a local as our guide.  

And he found us some.....

One 'gator was so curious he came right up to our boat!

We also saw lots of water birds....herons, egret, etc....

After our airboat ride we got to do some hands on learning about the alligators in the area by another friendly local.  Here's a picture of Rick and his alligator friend!

And here's Rick again EATING an alligator friend!

Gator nuggets!  A Florida Specialty.

We got to see quite a few pretty sunsets.

Our Tampa Bay area trip was a very nice and memorable one!