Costa Rica - March 2020

Costa Rica, the country we have always wanted to go back to.  A tropical paradise, one of the only countries without a military, active volcanos, and warmth.

Adrian and Todd needed a vacation this year and had some airline tickets to use, so they invited us to go to Costa Rica with them.  Adrian worked very hard for weeks getting us places to stay and planning our itinerary.  She did a perfect job!!!  Everything turned out just right.  We flew from St. George to Salt Lake to LAX to San Jose, Costa Rica.  Adrian and Todd flew from Salt Lake to Orlando to San Jose, Costa Rica.  We arrived first, picked up the rental car and met them at the airport.  After finally figuring out how to exit the airport parking garage - some thing to do with paying for the parking first - we headed right out for Tabacon.
 Tabacon is a resort at the base of the Arenal Volcano that has developed a hot water river into luscious hot water pools, streams and falls.  They are now a 5-star resort, when we were there 12 or so years ago they were just getting started.  We stayed there one night and had access to all the pools that night and the next day.  The drive is not easy - through mountain passes, narrow roads and slow driving - but we made it late afternoon.

Take a look at these pictures and see us enjoy the warmth (103 degrees) of the water and the beauty of the jungle surrounding us.

After Tabacon, Theron, Adrian and Todd went on a zip line adventure, then we hiked the hanging bridges and then hiked around the Arenal volcano.  We stayed in a little bungalow that was quite inexpensive and very clean.  By day three however I was getting a little tired of rice, beans, chicken.  I could never get tired of the fruit we had there.

These guys went to seven different zip stations.  I just wasn't brave enough to hang from a wire, miles (well maybe several thousand feet) above the jungle floor.

 Arenal volcano, this was the best view we had all week.

 See how sweet our little bungalow looks.

 The last half of the week, we traveled to the Pacific Ocean coast side.  Todd tried a little surfing, we played in the water, sat on the sandy beach and watched monkeys from our VRBO house porch.  The airplane is an old Contra plane from Nicaragua and has been made into one of the best restaurants we ate at.

Sad to leave such a wonderful paradise.  Thanks for the memories Todd and Adrian.  It is so good to be able to travel with our kids and have a wonderful time.