Tag Archives: costa rica

Costa Rica, Photography, Travel

Happy New Year!

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OK, I’m a little late – but hey, I’m in Costa Rica 🙂

Day 2… New Year’s Eve. We spent most the day at home relaxing. Except for Jen who cooked more authentic Costa Rican food for me to try. Here she is bringing me a plate of patacones – which are fried green plantains.

We dipped them in a black bean puree with Lizano sauce mixed in. Lizano is a staple condiment here – and I’m going to have to pick up a bottle to take home. Quite delicious.

We took some photos, read some books and blogs, meditated, listened to music, worked on Emily’s mermaid curtain craft.

My hair is a lions main needing to be tamed… the flat iron I brought is pretty much pointless though in this climate.

But do you like my new glasses?

Isn’t Brandon handsome?

I’m really liking his new beard.

We headed to town for a potential dinner out, but most everything was closed for the holiday.

The town was sure bustling, though. Looked like they had something big planned in the town center (park).

But we don’t really like crowds, so headed back home to enjoy the evening.

After a delicious burrito dinner, we gathered around on the floor to play our first game of Rory’s Story Cubes.

What a riot! I recommend this game for anyone who enjoys fun and creative play. Basic idea is you roll dice with pictures on them and make up stories based on what you roll. We were laughing ourselves silly, and only stopped because it was time for a movie… much to Marie’s chagrin, we opted for The Incredible Mr. Limpet. (She wanted to watch Robots)

Marie went to bed, but Emily wanted to stay up to watch the fireworks and ring in the new year with us. And ring it in we did. From the veranda, we have a panoramic view of a huge valley. It encompasses several cities – the largest of which is San Jose.

At midnight it began – and was an amazing spectacle. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many fireworks at one time in my entire life. Even though we were far away from the action, we were awed at the sheer number of sparkling explosions which lasted for a good 30+ minutes.

I shot some video and have edited it down to a little over a minute for you. Please note that this video is only of the San Jose portion (and only part of San Jose) – I didn’t have a wide enough angled lens to capture the entire valley. Enjoy!

How did you ring in the new year?

Costa Rica, Family/Friends, Travel

Hey, I’m in Costa Rica!

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Ahhhh, Costa Rica.

I left this scene on Wednesday morning.

After a very full day of travel involving 6 hour layovers, conversations with interesting strangers (now friends), and very little sleep, I arrived at 6:30am CT on Thursday to this:

I’m here for a three week visit with my son, Brandon, and his family who have lived here for a year. I’ll have to do a little work while here, but I plan on enjoying a lot of vacation and relaxation time. If you’d like to know how and why they moved to Costa Rica, visit his blog.

Ashley & family will be coming down for a week vacation and be here the last 4 days of mine. Really looking forward to having all of us together again – and in such a beautiful place.

Brandon met me at the airport and we made our way through the lovely countryside to their home in Grecia. They actually live about 15 minutes outside of town on the side of a volcano.  The drive was lovely. I’ve arrived about a month after the end of the rainy season so it’s still pretty green, but not too hot. Though we did enjoy a light rainfall while in town late afternoon.

Here are Brandon & Emily on their front porch.

Marie is looking so much like her mom. I love her sun-kissed freckles.

After taking a long tour of the beautiful gardens (photos later) we all enjoyed a traditional Costa Rican breakfast – gallo pinto with eggs, fruit and juice.

Can I mention here how delightful it is to have someone cooking for me? I’m going to eat more nutritiously in the next three weeks than I have in a long time, I’m sure. And it’s so delicious!

Thanks, Jen – you’re a fabulous cook!

After the opening of the Christmas gifts, I took a much needed 3 hour nap in the guest cottage. I drifted off to sleep to lovely birdsong.

Speaking of birds… Costa Rica is known as a bird watcher’s paradise. I’ve seen quite a few interesting varieties – but was especially thrilled to have seen the beautiful and exotic Blue Crowned Motmot – on my first day here! Isn’t he gorgeous?

We headed into town to do a little shopping, stopped for an ice cream cone, and were treated to this beautiful purple sky as we headed back to the car.

The drive back up the mountain was very foggy – we could hardly see the road. I love fog, but it was a tad scary…

Brandon was disappointed that we wouldn’t be able to see the city lights from the veranda. But an hour later, the fog had all lifted, and this was the view (one direction).

These are the lights of San Jose. Simply stunning.

All in all, a fabulous first day. I was exhausted again by 7:30pm. But after a good night’s sleep, and enjoying the company, hospitality, food and incredible view – I think I can say I’m really going to enjoy this vacation.

As my final treat for you today, here is a video I shot just before I started writing this. Same veranda from where I took the city nights photo.

I really should learn to not talk while I’m shooting video. Next video you can look forward to a musical background.

In the Garden, Politics / Social Issues, Whatever

January Musings

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January CalendarWell, January is nearing an end. It’s been an eventful month filled with dozens of things to blog about, and yet… no blogging has occurred.

So here is a summary of all the things I considered blogging about but didn’t.

1. My son, Brandon, and his family became “location independent” and moved to Costa Rica this month. It’s been fun reading about their adventures on Brandon’s blog. And my 6 1/2 year old granddaughter just started her own blog this week – EmilyInTheJungle.com.

2. Crazy Sarah Palin’s *shocking* (sarcasm) announcement that she’ll be a political commentator on Fox News. I burst out laughing when I heard her say how proud she is to be with the network that is ‘fair and balanced.’ Actually, hearing anyone refer to Fox that way makes me laugh. The not funny thing about this is how many Americans will actually tune in an listen to this idiot. WHY????

3. The earthquake in Haiti. Make a donation to the humanitarian organization of your choice.

I gave to Save The Children.

4. Pat Roberston’s idiotic comments about Haiti – Kristin handled this one quite nicely.

Purple primrose5. I still love living in the northwest.

In the middle of January I was outside doing gardening. Primrose in bloom, daffodils and tulips several inches tall, and buds forming on many of my spring and summer plants.

6. Both Project Runway and Psych are back!

7. The Supreme Court’s radical decision to throw out 100 years of precedent and allow corporations to spend as much as they want on political ads really made me mad. Go ahead, hand America’s elections over to the drug companies, insurance companies, big banks and other wealthy corporations. Certainly they’ll have the public’s best interests at heart. Morons. Something else to thank GWBush for.

Words With Friends8. Ashley introduced me to my latest addiction – iPhone app Words With Friends. If you have an iPhone and like to play scrabble, look me up and let’s play. My game name is allihays.

9. My trusty old 1996 Camry had a melt down. Heater broke, then engine light came on… running very hot. Thought I’d have to replace her. But happily found a good mechanic who replaced her broken radiator and thermostat without trying to sell me on a single unneeded repair.

10. Obama’s State of the Union address. He inspired me again. You can watch it here.

So, how has your January been?

Family/Friends, Photography, Travel

Christmas in Salt Lake

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Christmas morning with Marie and EmilySanta delivered me to Salt Lake on his sleigh this year.

At least I think that’s what happened – I went to bed in Seattle and woke up Christmas morning in Salt Lake.

A bow on the door led Emily and Marie to open it and see what Santa had brought. It made for a fun surprise.

The camera is not my friend first thing in the morning.

Jennifer prepared a fabulous meal (I have no idea how she keeps the kitchen totally clean the entire time she prepares the meal… I’m thinking it must be magic.)

Brandon expressed his anticipation for his move to Costa Rica by donning a tropical shirt. They are becoming ‘Location Independent‘ and moving there in less than a week – you can read about why and how they are doing it on his blog.

jen-meal Brandon is ready to go to Costa Rica

Ashley and family joined us for dinner and visiting for the rest of the day (and I didn’t take any pics!). But the girls had a blast together. And I got nauseous when I attempted to play Mario Cart with them.

Kennedy on Christmas DayI joined Ashley and family for the next couple of days. Kennedy opened her gifts from me on Christmas night. Justin had to work a graveyard shift at the hospital, so after Kennedy went to bed, Ashley and I stayed up for hours and played on their new Wii. I suck at Super Mario Brothers, but at least I didn’t get nauseous. And I bowled pretty good…. Wii is fun.

Oh – did I mention that it’s been FREEZING here? Not as cold as forecast (3 degrees at night) but still pretty damn cold. These are the frost crystals that form on Ashley’s kitchen window. Cool, huh?

A frosty window

Cool Frost CrystalsIt snowed a bit and I slid all over the road – even in a 4 wheel drive Tahoe. OK, not all over the road – just down the hill, but even so I did NOT enjoy it. But I had to venture out to have a meal at Cafe Rio…

And the Salt Lake Valley inversion has been horrible. I am finally seeing a little sunshine today! I hope it lasts…

But the frost crystals – very cool.

And to finish up, a few more pics of the granddaughters….
Marie the snow angelEmily hugs her snowman

cousins-xmas_6061

Tonight, I’ll be helping out with Ashley and Justin’s New Years Eve party.

How was your Christmas? What are you doing for New years?