Pura Vida- Costa Rica

After 10 days away from home it's kind of bitter sweet to be back. We had a blast in Costa Rica and were able to see some incredible sights! We flew out of Denver and therefore had to enjoy a lovely 8 hour drive to Colorado before we started our actual vacation. Once we arrived in San Jose the hot humid air quickly engulfed us and we ditched our jackets right off the bat. Since we arrived on a Sunday we thought it would be appropriate to find the temple and walk around. Little did we know it would take us over 2 hours to find it and about 10 people to give us directions. But it was completely worth it and Matt even sweet talked the guard to let us walk around the grounds.

We stopped to eat at the Denver Hard Rock Cafe the night before we left. This is us in front of a Steven Tyler (Aerosmith) outfit....I was trying to imitate him.

The beautiful small San Jose Temple

To officially start off our spring break we decided to do a little white-water river rafting. The other couple we went with (Bryson and Kristy) are way into rafting and were determined to do nothing less than class 5 rapids. Needless to say I thought I would pee my pants but the river wasn't too bad and the water was pretty warm!

Bryson, Kristy, me, Matt

This is the river that we faced...

Our guide named Rambo showed us Costa Rica's "tattoo plant"

One of our guides had this snack table set up when we were done

Part II

After river rafting we hit the beach for the next 3 days. We spent hours and hours boogie boarding on some awesome waves. After those 3 days were up we were glad to move on to a more cloudy area...our sunburns kicked in on about the second day. On our way from one beach to another we came across the famous bridge that is home to many alligators. We fed them my left over roll, but decided to get some real food. After a quick stop to the store we came back with some ham. But little did we know that some tour guide would already be there lowering chicken down... the alligators when wild!

My adventurous hubby ending the day after being in the water too long.

The famous Crocks...we counted at least 24 on our side of the bridge!

We took our rental car for a little off-roading up a hillside to over look the ocean. As you can tell Costa Rica is in its "dry" season.

Costa Rican sunset at our favorite beach

Our next stop was in La Fortuna, home of the Arenal Volcano. We enjoyed hiking down to La Fortuna waterfall and exploring the dense jungle. We also joined some locals down under a bridge where some awesome hot springs are found. To end our journey in Costa Rica we headed over to Monteverde and experienced our very first canopy tour. This included 15 zip-lines, rappelling, and a gigantic Tarzan swing.

The incredible La Fortuna waterfall

Local Hot Springs....amazing!

Arenal Volcano

Tree House Cafe. Way sweet restaurant that has a tree in the center and you sit up in the branches.

Our lovely zip-line attire. Our canopy tour was amazing and we had some incredible views as we zipped over jungle valleys.

Update

So much has happened this last week I don't know where to start. First off I finally have an adorable nephew! My sister had little Ian on February 10, and I can't wait to go down and see him.

On Tuesday night Matt and I had the opportunity to go the the Jazz game and watch it from the Wasatch Property luxury suite. We had a blast and enjoyed the free food and drinks! Matt is doing an internship at Wasatch and his department was the lucky winner of the suite tickets. It was an eventful night that lasted just under 8 hours...the drive down there was a little rough and we passed at least 5 cars that had slid off the freeway.

Now the next item of business has to do with a little bit of spring fever that crept into Matt and I. For the past 3 months Matt and I have been wanting to go to Costa Rica and checking airline tickets at least once a week. Then late last Thursday night as I was heading down to bed Matt called me upstairs. Like a little boy caught with his hand in the candy jar Matt announced that we could fly to Costs Rica for $498.00 total (yes total, for the both of us, with tax!) As Matt stood on the fence on whether or not to buy the tickets I gave up and went to bed. The next morning as I was checking my email I came across our flight itinerary....wahoo! I was so excited and knew right away that Matt was trying to surprise me or else he would have announced it that night. But little did he know that he was using my airline account so as soon he booked our flight I got an email.

I felt bad for ruining his valentines surprise, but am extremely excited to get out of this FREEZING cold weather in Logan and enjoy some good old sunshine and humidity. We got another couple to go with us to enjoy some beaches, rafting, canopy tours (gigantic zip-lines), canyoning (rappelling down waterfalls), and volcanos. So two weeks from Sunday we'll be basking in the sun!