There's a new team in Reno. Well it's there 2nd season, but the first game for us. The Bighorns are a NBA development D League team for the Sacramento Kings and Orlando Magic.
One of Danielle's student's parents gave the school there tickets for the night. No one wanted them so Danielle, Mike Siobain and I took them. They were great seats, center court only a few rows back. I'm not a huge Basketball fan. In my opinion they foul to much, the game stops every minute if not less. We still had a great time. The Bighorns were down most of the game, but beat the Bakersfield Jam in the end.
I'd go again with some friends. It's an inexpensive night out. Tickets start at $7 not bad for a few hours of entertainment.
Two weekends ago was all about fighting. We'll not us fighting but watching fights.
We started off Friday night at the GSR for the 1st Reno Extreme Fights. There was 7 boughts 4 Boxing and 3 MMA. Most of the fights were good. There was a few knockouts that made the crowds crazy. We had a great time and hope to go again.
Saturday we went to Bully's for UFC 107. It was a night of great fights. The main event was Penn Vs Sanchez. The fight was dominated by Penn. A lot of people thought Sanchez had a chance but BJ dominated.
Tonight we are headed to the Grand Sierra Resort to watch the Reno Xtreme Fights. This fight night is a mix of boxing bouts and also MMA battles. It should be a great show. We have watched Muay Thai Boxing in Thailand, but never anything else. There are also a few local fighters representing Reno. Pics and video to follow!
Yesterday I had a meeting at Northstar with 32-Boots at 10 AM. I decided to take a few runs before it. In the Martis Valley just before Northstar my thermometer read -18. That's the coldest I've ever seen it in Truckee. I started to think I was crazy for going snowboarding, but the snow was amazing. We had just got a huge storm dropping 2-3 feet of light, fresh snow. I only had an hour and a half, but wanted to get a few runs in. I worn plenty of layers and wasn't affected by the cold. I had a fresh track my first run and nailed a few stumps along the way. This is the first big storm so there's hidden obstacles all over the place.
It started to pretty heavily last night and continued until this afternoon. They even cancelled school and scheduled a two-hour delay for tomorrow due to heavy amounts of snow and ice. I think we ended up with around 14" or so at our house, but the best is the ski resorts who ended up with around 45". This storm is perfect timing for the holidays. Let's get this winter started off right!
Sunday we started setting up for the party and headed over to the church. Taylor was absolutely adorable in her white dress. After the baptism we headed back to the house for dinner. We had a wonderful weekend hanging out with everyone. Thanks to Susan and Mando for inviting us!
Friday morning we headed over the hill (which was an adventure in it's own due to the heavy snowfall) and arrived in Turlock for a quick visit with Grandpa John and Grandma Irene. We had soup, sandwiches, and fun catching up. After about three or fours hours we headed out to our next stop, Fresno. Our friends Susan and Mando invited us down for the weekend to celebrate their baby's baptism. Our friend's Brett and Macy, Susan's parent's Judy and Joe, and her brother Steve and girlfriend Jen were already there when we arrived late Friday night. The baptism was set for Sunday, so what else was there to do on Saturday except have a mini-golf challenge and go-kart race at Blackbeard's! Steve took the mini-golf challenge with a 2 under par, but I came back like a wrecking ball to destroy the racetrack. (Sorry about the whiplash, Macy!)
Well November has come and gone and the posts have been lacking (thanks for your comments!). I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Aunt Ginger, Janet, Grandma Margaret, Brad, my Mom and Dad, Jason, and I headed over to the Atlantis for an evening of buffet heaven. After eating to our heart's content and then some, we headed over to our house to play a game of Scrabble and hang out. It was a great day and we were glad that everyone could get together.
The calm before the storm... This is a pic from the Fort Mason setup before the doors opened and mass chaos ensued. It was crazy busy and ultimately very successful. We hope the same for this weekend (14th - 15th) when the Porter's Crew will be at the Santa Clara Convention Center doing a repeat of last weekend. This will be the debut for the Silicon Valley Ski/Wine Board/Brew Fest; however Snowbomb has completed two successful San Francisco shows, so this should be no different. Let the madness begin!
This weekend (Nov. 7th & 8th) is the 2nd annual Ski & Snowboard Festival at Fort Mason, San Francisco put on by Snowbomb. We (Porters) really didn’t know what to expect when we headed down there last year as it was the 1st show. All our discounted gear was a hit and people waited in line for well over an hour just to checkout. This year we are pulling out all the stops and coming down with extra staff and product. We hope that it is as successful if not more as last year. It will be a long exhausting weekend, but well worth the end result. What's even better is that we get to do it all over again the following weekend at the Santa Clara Convention Center!
Today I took a bike ride on the Emigrant Trail in Truckee. I got a late start because I worked for several hours before. With the time change, it really gets dark early. Hopefully I can get out and ride a few more times before winter sets in.
We didn't have plans on being home for Halloween, but at the last minute our plans changed and we found ourselves home for the weekend without candy for the trick-or-treaters or costumes. We headed out on Friday to hunt for costumes so we could attend our friends Mike and Lorraine's annual Halloween party. Of course all of the stores were packed with frantic last minute shoppers. We figured we'd take the frugal route (imagine that) and try to grab something at Savers and the Goodwill. What a blast from the past it was shopping in these stores. Hammer pants and a jean vest - check...shoulder pads and way too much taffeta - check. At $6 an outfit, how could you resist? Saturday night we passed out candy to the trick-or-treaters (I think we had around 40)and then around 9pm headed to the party sporting our 80s attire.
A few weekends ago, we tore out our one shelf/one bar closets and installed organizers. We sealed up some cracks and also painted. It was a pain, but well worth the effort. Here are some before and after shots.
Tonight Marcus and Julie invited us to the UNR vs LA Tech football game. We jumped on the offer, we haven't seen Marcus and Julie much over the last year, nor had we been to a game in the last 5 years. It was a good game UNR won 37-14. Every time they scored they blasted a cannon which always made me jump. After the game we brought Marcus and Julie to me favorite Mexican Restaurant Fresh Mex on Keystone and 5th. Check it out if youv'e never been there, the foods amazing.
This is Danielle posting... I have my own login now and can post whenever I want! Maybe Jason should change the title to "Jason and Danielle's Life" or something more catchy like "DeJong Diaries". :-)
Anyway, our friends Marcus and Julie invited us to the UNR vs. LA Tech game tonight. There, 1st post complete!
This weekend, we made a quick trip to Monterey to go to Brad and Justyna's wedding. It was held at the Monterey Plaza Hotel, a beautiful spot right on the ocean. You couldn't have asked for a brighter blue sky. The fog lifted, which made for a great backdrop. After the ceremony, we had a nice dinner in one of the banquet rooms, then hit the dance floor. Congrats to Brad and Justyna!
The last two days I've been in Santa Cruz at a Surf and Skate Trade show. I always love Santa Cruz this time of year. The weather is perfect and there isn't any crowds. I was booked up yesterday and didn't even leave the show. Today I have a little more time to get outside and enjoy all Santa Cruz has to offer.
We booked our rooms on priceline and scored. We bid $75 and stayed at the Chaminade Resort and Spa. The rooms were really nice, the beds had thick down pillow tops and comforters that engulfed you. It was tough to get out of bed in the morning. We took full advantage of the pool and Spa, there's also a 14,000 sq ft gym thats nice, the equipment is a little old but it all worked well. I would highly recommended the Chaminade if you are looking for a nice getaway in The Santa Cruz Foothills a few miles from the beach.
Last night Kathy, Step, Kelly, Casey and I had a good time playing the old classic video games at the Boardwalk.
It's my last day here and going to try and get outside and enjoy it.
I know I haven't done a update in a few weeks. Sorry my life has been boring pretty much just www.porterstahoe.com tent sales. But Yesterday evening we attended a huge food fight
Yesterday was La Tomatina in Reno...you say it was what, where? The club Cal Neva in Reno along with the American Cancer Society had a great idea to have a huge tomato fight in downtown Reno to raise money for cancer research. A local grocery store donated 50,000 lbs of tomatoes and at 6 pm they tried to hold the crowd back but it became tomato warfare! Tomatoes were flying everywhere, no one was safe! I think I personally was pelted in the head like 10 times from across the tomatoey field. Soon the remaining tomatoes became soup and you were wading through it, scooping it up and flinging it at everyone. I had a blast.
This weekend I turned 29. I'm going to live my last year in my twenties to the fullest, and do a lot more traveling around the world.
I had a busy weekend. Early Saturday morning Danielle, Aunt Ginger and I drove down to Sunnyvale for the McDowell Family Reunion, it was a lot of driving there and back in a day, but it was nice to see some family. We swung by Danielle's parents on the way home, then a quick stop for dinner and we were home at 10.
Sunday we were beat and slept in. We went to the Squeeze Inn, for my free birthday breakfast and had a great omelet. After filling up we went downtown and took a walk down the river. We were going to the Aces game at five but had 3 hours to kill. I decided to go to the Nevada Museum on Art, it had been a few years since our last visit. There was a nice exhibition on California Landscapes and Lordy Rodriguez: Surface Depth exhibition based of topographic maps. After a few hours at the museum we were off to the Aces game. The Reno Aces game was at 5:05 and it was hot. It was a great game and they beat the Round Rock 5-2. Danielle wished me happy birthday on the Jumbo Tron, it was cool and caught me totally by surprise. She's the best I love her.
I just got back from our annual camping trip at at Highlands Lake. We had a mix of beautiful August weather from cold winter rain and hail. I went up to the camp on Wednesday to secure us the camp with Aunt Ginger met by Ronnie, Tony and his dad Steve. Our normal camp site was already taken, so we were forced to find a new site. At first I was bummed, but in the end I liked the new camp a lot. Wednesday the weather was a nice average summer day. We got camp set up and relaxed for the rest of the day. Thursday we were planning on going on a hike, but when we awoke the weather was below freezing with rain and hail. The five us were freezing our butts off! We played poker for a few hours, then decided to take a drive to warm up with the car heater. We had a good drive to Highland Lake, Mosquito Lake, and a small series of waterfalls. It ended up being a great day, even though the weather wasn't the best.
Friday is the day when the rest of the group arrives. In the morning Tony, Ronnie and I decided to hike to the top of Tryon Peak 9,970ft I did it solo last summer and was excited to do it again. It is a tough climb, the whole hike is steep and the top half is all big boulders that can start a rock slide if you take the wrong step. We all made it top the top with some fancy foot work, we enjoyed the summit for 20 minutes then took the steep descent down. When we returned to camp Danielle and Janet had arrived, I was excited to see them, but was bummed to hear that my Dad, John, Steph and Cece were all sick and were not going to make it up. Hope they all are felling better. Next to arrive was my cousin Cassie and her 3 year old son Markie, I haven't seen here much over the last few years and it was great to have them there. Markie is a great kid and really seemed to enjoy himself on his first camping trip. Next to arrive was Danielle's parents Dave and Diane followed by friends of Danielle, Mike and Siobain. Friday night after getting everyone settled in we had a lasagna dinner and enjoyed the night by the camp fire. My sis Ginger and boyfriend Alex were late arrivals and didn't show up until about 10pm since they had to work during the day. They were beat from the long drive and we helped them get their tent setup, so they could get some sleep.
Saturday we awoke to great weather and were all looking forward to hiking to the meadow were we spread my Grandpa Chucks ashes in 1999. All but sis Ginger, Alex, Cassie and Markie made the hike to the meadow. It's always an amazing site and there is no question why my grandpa wanted to be there. As we left the meadow Tony and I split from the group and decided to hike to the summit of Folger Peak 9720ft it looked like an easy climb from the meadow but we definitely took the tough route to the summit. In the end we got to the top and were worked after two days of climbing peaks. After we arrived back to camp all were watching some fierce Horseshoe games. Newbie Siobain was kicking butt with partner Aunt Ginger, I think she was hustling us. Tony and I teamed up and beat Dave and Diane it was a hard fought game which ended at 21-18 it was a great game. Saturday night ended with a Mexican feast and relaxing around the fire.
Sunday is always a busy day. Everyone wanted to head home early, and we were the last ones out of camp at about 11am following Aunt Ginger and Janet down the hill. Tony, his dad, Dave, and Diane headed to Hope Valley to do some fishing. I had a great time and looking forward to next year. We had a great group of people and hope my Dad, Brother and Steph and Cece can make it next year.
As I said I have a ton of video I've shot over the years that I want to start sharing. Here are two clips from our trip to Nepal in June 08. The first clip is from Everest Base Camp which is a amazing thing to think you are standing on a huge shifting glacier, the sites and sounds were amazing. The second clip is from our Sunrise climb to the top of Kala Pattar, there was amazing 360 views of Everest, Nuptse and all the surrounding peaks. I will never forget the view, who knows maybe I'll be back there again some day. If anyone is interested we trekked through www.itreknepal.com and had an amazing time with our guide Santa and Porter Binod, I would highly recommend Santa he was an amazing guide and very knowledgeable of the are and culture.
Monday morning we took the Subaru in for it's regular service of an oil change, tire rotation/balance, and alignment. Danielle got a call around 2pm with a message to call the shop back. She called and the guy said, "You car is done, but...there's been an accident." Well, that can't be good! He reassured us that it was just a small dent and that they would take care of everything. The claims department had already been called. Today, Danielle took the day off to drive around and get a few estimates. It doesn't look like much, but the damage you see in these pics is going to cost an estimated $2200 to fix. Insane!
This weekend we drove down to Lake Don Pedro to spend the weekend celebrating our friend Macy's birthday. We arrived Friday afternoon and headed out to the lake. It was really hot, so floating in the lake was the perfect cure. On Saturday, the party grew to about 30 people. There was plenty of fun to be had with food, drinks, boats, and water loungers. We headed home on Sunday to 100 degree weather in Reno - yuck! It was a great weekend hanging out with friends.
Today we did an AM surf session on Boca before work. Thanks to Chappy for bringing us out on the boat. We met Chappy, Alex and Kathy at 8am at Boca and after a short delay of not having a board on the boat we were slashing the wake. The lake was perfect and Danielle and I were excited to get our first surfing of the year in. Danielle has only surfed twice ever and never actually dropped the rope, today was the day, with a little of Alex's coaching she off and surfing without the rope. Hopefully this summer she'll get out there a few more times to get the hang of it.
The last few days we Played Softball for Porters in Tahoe City and beat the Long balls which were last years champs. Today Dustin and Jenn Waibel were in town so we meet them for lunch, it's always to catch up with friends. We also got a little time to just chill at the house which we haven't done much in the last month.
I have tons of short videos that I've shot over the years and never really used them. I'm going to start loading a clip a week. This is a clip I shot while on a rickshaw in Jaipur India, I love the sounds of the horns and am always amazed by the driving in India.
Sunday morning we started to make our way home and made a pit stop in Sacramento to jump aboard our friend Macy and Brett's new boat. It was the first time they had put it in the water, so fingers crossed all would go well. After about 10 minutes on the water, the steering started to go haywire. Luckily, Brett figured out that it just needed some WD-40. After grabbing some lube from a friends boat, we were on our way again. We motored over to Crawdad's, a restaurant on the river. Everyone cooled down inside, ate some lunch, and had a few drinks. Next, we headed toward the mouth of the American River where we were greeted by a Spring Break type scene - boats all tied together with a ton of drinking, music, and dancing. Brett and Macy dropped us back off at the dock and we headed home for Reno.
We woke up bright and early Saturday morning to head down to Danielle's cousin's wedding. The wedding was held in Felton at Danielle's Uncles' house. The property is large - 5 1/2 acres, but there is limited parking, so we had to be shuttled in via limo at the bottom of the hill. It was a beautiful wedding with the Santa Cruz hills as a backdrop. We had a great dinner, followed by dancing, and of course entertainment from those who were intoxicated.
Snoop Dogg kicked off a new summer tour with Slightly Stoopid, Stephen Marley, and Mickey Avalon. Although Reno isn't an official tour stop, Snoop and Stephen Marley stopped by the Grand Sierra to put on one hell of a performance in true Snoop fashion. The night started off surprisingly on time with Stephen Marley taking the stage around 8:15. Being the son of Bob Marley you know he knows how to bring the Rasta love. He sang a handful of his dad's hits including "Buffalo Soldier", "Jammin", and "Three Little Birds". He also sang songs from his 2007 album, "Mind Control". Stephen Marley finished up around 9:30 after coming back for an encore.
The lights came on for what seemed like might be a quick intermission since the stage crew was already swapping out equipment, but having seen Snoop before, I knew we would be in for a long wait. The bars were promoting quite of few drink specials such as Sky Vodka for $2.50, Patron for $4, and Miller for $1.50. With the screaming deals at the bar, the intoxication level of the crowd kicked into high gear. We noticed a guy stand up from his table and grab significantly smaller person around the collar and throw him on the floor. The little guy stood up, stumbled down the stairs, and found himself at a table of what looked like me to be successful crowd of pimps - large muscle bound pimps. Not a good place to be when you are acting like an idiot. Before the guy decked him, he ended up one table over, talking randomly, and managed to spill a 36oz mega-rita. He went down the row, spilling a few more drinks, before security grabbed him to cheers of the crowd and threw him out.
Around the hour mark, a guy came out on stage and told the crowd that Snoop was still driving in from Eureka, CA and would hopefully be hear soon. Soon was about another hour later when the lights dimmed and Snoop came busting out on stage with his diamond and gold plated brass knuckle style microphone. The first thing he did was apologize for being late and told a guy from his posse to pour the crowd one of his favorite drinks. The crowd was sprayed with bottles of champagne right before Snoop busted into his opening song - "Gin & Juice". He played for about an hour and 15 minutes without slowing down for one second. Snoop is a true performer, getting the crowd not just on their feet, but waving their hands in the air and at one point flipping a double bird to "187", and throwing peace signs for Tupac when he sang both "Hail Mary" and "Amerikaz Most Wanted" (AKA "Gangsta Party"). He also put his own spin on the House of Pain song, "Jump Around".
A daring long haired out of place punk kid jumped on stage and before security could get to him, jumped into the crowd, but had a rud awakening with his face and the floor when the crowd quickly parted letting him flop right on the ground. When "Sexual Seducation" came on, Snoop pulled about twenty girls out of the crowd to dance for him. One girl was getting down, when she fell over, to which Snoop said, "She done slipped and fell."
The after party continued at "210 North" with a free cover with your wristband. Local DJ Chris English was spinning hip hop hits with Snoop's DJ LT. Kenny G., Danielle and I partied until about 3am, then ate some grub. Snoop never disappoints and we were happy to have him in Reno.
Wednesday was Danielle's birthday and for about the past four years or so, we have celebrated it at Ichiban's. They give you a free birthday dinner with a local ID as long as it is your actual birthday. The food is always good and the company even better. Aunt Ginger, Janet, and our friends Mike and Siobain were there to celebrate with us.
The last few weeks since our return from Costa Rica have been busy. We really had a great trip, and enjoyed Costa Rica.
In the last two weeks we've been in the Bay Area twice once to drive back from SFO and last weekend in Felton at Danielle's cousins wedding. We had a tent sale at our Tahoe city store, thats always a lot of work. My dad came up for the 4th of July. Two Reno Aces ball games, Two Porters softball games. Danielle's B- Day, following the next day by Danielle's Gin and Juice extravagance Snoop Dogg show at GSR. Boating on the Sac river with Brett and Macy. And I'm sure I'm missing a few things, but you get it we haven't had much free time.
I'm going to get my ass in gear and start doing regular posts again, I've heard all the complaints from friends and family.
It was time to say goodbye to Tamarindo and in order to do that correctly, Danielle had to give our house dogs a treat. Dino and Gris were our "guard dogs" for the house though most of the time they were either at the school or hitting up the discos in town. After breakfast we hit the road and headed north. We really weren't sure of our destination though we had a few places in mind. Playa Flamingo was sold out of everything but suites (wow, that's convienent), so we kept going to a beach that we knew would be pretty secluded. Playa Pan de Azucar (Sugar Bread Beach) is about 3 km from a tiny town called Potero, which is surrounded by dirt roads. After leaving Potero, the road gets really bumpy and steep. The fact that you need a 4wd and that buses turn around in Potero keep most people away from this beach. There is only one hotel on this beach and it is has little villas nestled along the hillside that slopes down to the beach. The hotel has done a great job figuring out how to make the least impact on it's surroundings, unlike most of the hotels in Tamarindo. We will be here until Monday morning when we have to head back to Alajuela to return the car and catch an early Tuesday morning flight. Until then, we will be enjoying our own private beach. Today we were on the beach for at least three hours and saw only the hotel staff!
Today, Friday, Danielle and I are celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe that it has been 5 years since we were on that beach in Maui. What better way to celebrate than to be in Costa Rica! Today we hit the beach again and were greeted with a very strong sun. It rained around 10am and cleared up the skies for the afternoon. The tide was the lowest that we had seen on Playa Tamarindo so far, but we knew that high tide would quickly be coming in. A few hours after catching some sun, the clouds rolled in and cooled things off. We had a nice dinner on a 4th floor terrace that gave us a panoramic view of the ocean.
We learned after the attack of the sand bugs that even laying on a towel wouldn't stop them. Instead we paid $4 for two chair and an umbrella to keep them at bay. It was a lot more comfortable, too! After class, we headed to the beach to catch some rays and some Zzzz's. The rain came early today, which allowed us to stay on the beach until sunset. Luckily we did because it was a beautiful view.
So today after la clase de espanol, we decided to head out to check out another beach while the weather was decent. We ended up at Playa Brasilito, but the tide was so high it was reaching the top of the beach. The locals said that this was the highest tide they have ever seen. I don't know what today was at, but two days ago it was a swell of 9 feet and yesterday it was 10 1/2. We walked over to Playa Choncal, which is basically all shells. Part of the beach still has whole shells or mostly whole anyway. The rest of the beach is shells as well; however they are smaller pieces. The shells created very clear water conditions. It was really beautiful. It was also very low key because the beach is not easily accessible from the main road. There were some hotel beach chairs that were not being used, so we helped ourselves to them. We headed back later in the afternoon and checked out the sunset on Playa Tamarindo.
When the rains stopped for a day, we thought it would be a good idea to hit the beach. Wrong. The bugs in the sand combined with an already large mosquito problem attacked Danielle. These pics are just of one leg. I ended up with bites on my feet. We have been to the Farmacia twice so far to get some medicine for her. Hopefully they leave her alone!
We have been in Tamarindo since Sunday afternoon. Monday we actually had a break in the afternoon rains and we able to go to the beach. It was high tide, so a lot of the beach was swallowed up by the ocean. Today, the rains returned and kept us close to the house. We had a lot of homework to do anyway, so it worked out. Yes, I said homework on vacation. Our Spanish class continues until Friday. Hopefully we will get a few more nice afternoons here in Tamarindo.
n a While we are in Costa Rica, Danielle wanted to brush up on her Spanish, so she talked me into taking a 5 day Spanish class. She took Spanish all through High School and a few years in College, however; me on the other hand have never taken a day of Spanish. We decided to stay in their student house, which is the first pic. The house is nice, but it's run down and far from town which sucks because the roads are really muddy and by the time you get home it looks like we were mud wrestling. Danielle is in the process of trying to get us out of there, but they aren't happy. We will see what happens. The classes are great, it's just the accommodations that we feel are not up to par. We are taking classes in the morning from 8-12 and then have time to go explore the local beaches and towns in the afternoon's. The first day of class was rough for me, there was no English spoken. Now I know how people feel who come to the States with no English background.
After enduring an insanely intense and heart pounding thunderstorm last night (seriously - it sounded like the windows were going to shatter!), we stumbled out of bed and packed our bags. We left Manual Antonio, headed to Quepos for a quick breakfast, and were on our way to Playa Samara. The drive was quite pleasant other than having to pass a road bike race and their support cars on the narrow roads. We stopped at Playa Hermosa, which is world known surf spot, to check it out. It was super mellow and low key, with a handful of surfers our there trying to catch a wave. After crossing La Amistad Bridge, we were now on the Nicoya Penninsula, which is the part of Costa Rica that jets out on the south west side. Playa Samara is about halfway down the Penninsula on the Pacific Ocean side. It is a sleepy little beach village with an amazing stretch of black sand and scattered seashells. There are no highrises or even supermarkets for that matter. Just small casitas and street vendors with lush jungle in the background. The horses that you can rent to ride on the beach during the day, provide lawm mowing services for the town's soccer field at night. What a great place to just relax. After breakfast, we are headed to Playa Tamarindo and will be there for about six days.
Manual Antonio is a small village town home to a handful of beaches and a National Park. The park is small in comparison to our National Parks in the states. Although small, it is nearly impossible to see the wildlife that so carefully camouflages itself in the jungle. We were prepared to attempt it on our own if we could not find a guide at a decent price. Luckily it is the slower time, so when you walk away, the price suddenly comes down. We ended up negotiating a decent price for a guide and ended up going in with another couple. The guide didn't want to have just two people when he could make a little more money with four. The people we were with, Mark and Jo, were from Wisconsin and had traveled and even worked in many places around the world. It was nice to talk to them while we waited for animals to show their faces. Our guide, Roy, had a scope which came in handy for seeing tiny creatures or those that were way up in the trees. We saw quite a few sloths, both male and female, which I couldn't tell you the difference before. They are really slow and can even stay in the same spot for 16 hours. A few of them were eating, so we were able to see them in action (slow action). The others were just hanging out. Mostly they are high up in the branches. A group of monkeys showed us their swinging abilities and called out to each other while picking out things to eat along the way. We were lucky enough to see a toucan. It had been nesting in a tree that the guide was familiar with, so we hung around until it showed it's colorful beak. We also saw coatis, which look like giant squirrels with out tails or oversized short haired guinea pigs. Either way they were fast runners and liked to beat up on each other. Some of the smaller creatures that we would have walked right past if not for our guide were some extremely small frogs, lizards, iguanas, and bats. With your entrance fee to the park, you are also able to use the park beaches. There was actually employees sweeping the picnic areas and cleaning up litter, which made it a desirable choice over the main beach. We haven't figured out exactly where we are going to stay tomorrow, although we know that we need to be in Tamarindo by Sunday.
Today we relaxed in the Baldi Hot Springs and took a walk through the flower garden before we took off on the long road trip from La Fortuna to Manual Antonio. I think it took about 6 hours after going around Lake Arenal (scenic route) and taking a wrong turn in Puntarenas (due to the extreme lack of signs) and lunch. It is the slow time here as the rainy season is starting up. We were able to get a good deal on a room located within a 5 min walk to the park entrance. $30/night with WI-FI. Not bad considering most of the hotels usually go for at least $80 or more in this area. We are hoping the rain clears a little tomorrow to give us a good view of ocean. Hopefully tomorrow we will have some good picks of the wildlife in the area.
Today we ventured up to the Arenal Observatory Lodge to attempt to see the lava flow. Since this is the start of the rainy season and this is the cloud forest, the weather was against us. Instead, we hiked to a waterfall and also a hanging bridge. You could definitely hear the volcano rumbling, gurgling, and setting off rock slides. That was pretty interesting to hear. Arenal looks like a giant science fair project. Perfectly cone shaped and steamed coming out of the top. If it is clear in the morning, we might head up there again before venturing to our next city. When we got back to our hotel we again enjoyed the hot springs before heading off to dinner.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
We found out today that the sun comes up really early in Costa Rica. It was about 5:30 am and it was as bright as about noon would be. After eating our breakfast, our rental car was delivered. We rented a Hyndai Tucson for a really good deal. The locals pronouce it Tooxon. We threw our backpacks in the car and started our journey to La Fotuna. The drive was a total of about 125km. Costa Rica doesn't name any of their roads. There are just signs pointing to the next town. Danielle was an informative passenger. She read all of the signs to me. I think it took us about 4 hours or so with stopping for lunch. We decided to upgrade our room for the next two nights and stay at a really nice resort. The price includes access to 25 hot spring pools with 12 different temps (one is 152F - ouch), waterfalls, waterslides, tropical gardens, buffet dinner, and breakfast. It has a beautiful view of the Arenal Volcano, which is the smallest, but most actice volcano in Costa Rica. We got to see it for a little bit when the clouds parted just enough. The thunderstorms here are very intense. The thunder is so loud that it shakes the windows. At first we thought the volcano was exploding! We are going to stay here tomorrow night as well and hope to post some pics of the volcano if the weather coroperates.
