travel

10 Days in Costa Rica – Our Itinerary

/ Adventure This Life / Leave a comment

It’s been a week since we got back from our most epic family vacation yet. Not adept to traveling internationally, I had lots of anxiety about what I felt might be a bit of an ambitious trip for our not-well-traveled family. Turns out, everything turned out great. We had a blast visiting three different villages/towns during our 10-day stay in beautiful Costa Rica: Samara, Monteverde, and La Fortuna.

The highest high and lowest low

Incidentally, the highest high and lowest low of the entire trip for me, was the driving. It was stressful and death-defying terrifying, not to mention, made Townes terribly car sick, and one of my favorite parts of the entire trip. Maybe it was because I wasn’t the one doing the actual driving or the one who felt they might puke. Poor Nick and poor Townes.

The scariest part of driving was our 2.5-hour (roughly 81 miles) drive from Samara to Monteverde. As we wound our way up a mountain-side on a single-lane, narrow, gravel-semblance of a nauseating, pot-hole ridden, winding road void of barriers or much visibility to oncoming cars, trucks, and motorbikes blind-siding us around every hairpin corner, I felt a terror straight out of nightmares looking over the steep drop off the mountain that ended in rolling green pastures. Surely this wasn’t the worst way to die.

The views on our way to Monteverde were more beautiful than anything I had ever seen up to that point. Then 2 days later we drove from Monteverde to La Fortuna where the scenery changed from rolling pastures and farms to 100-foot walls of lush green vines and fica and palm trees forming open-sky tunnels along the now beautifully-paved two-lane road. And then Lake Arenal came into view with the Arenal volcano in the background and I felt transported. The entire time there was a beautiful fog or haze hovering over the top of the volcano creating the most picture-perfect picture. Though ironically, I couldn’t get a perfect picture.

Samara – “The Beach” x 5 days

Samara was a quaint, yet hopping, little beach town. Located about 2.5 hours from the Liberia International airport. We didn’t need a car here, so opted to hire a driver to drive us from the airport to our Airbnb. And we’re so glad we did. Townes ended up with a sinus infection after landing. On our way, our fabulous driver, Jose, brought us to a pharmacy and served as our translator. Less than 10 minutes and $12.50 later, Townes had a Z-pak and was feeling up for a full day at the beach the next day.

Samara was a great relaxing way to start our vacation. I was enthralled by the abundance of free-roaming animals. Friendly horses grazing along the side of the road and well-behaved dogs acting as patrons at all the same places as us (the beach, grocery stores, shops, restaurants – you name it).

Where we stayed: Beach house on Airbnb – $1,704.92 total ($249/night)

Our first stay was at a gorgeous beach house about a 10-minute walk from the beach and about as close as you could get to the beach without staying at a resort. It had a private pool, gate, balcony, and gorgeous outdoor space with a trampoline for the kids. 10 out of 10 I’d stay here again.

Favorite activity: Surf lessons – $200 total for 2 hours for a family of 4

There are several small surf “schools” along the beach as Samara is known as a great beach to learn to surf due to the small waves. We found one that was $50/person for two hours. We did so well on our lessons, we ambitiously rented boards two days later. Turns out the width of the board is really important for stability. If you’re new to surfing, make sure you get a beginner board.

Least favorite activity: Surf-board rental – $15/hour/person

We loved our surf lessons so much and did so dang well, we thought we could handle it all on our own. We were wrong. The boards were narrower than the ones we had during our lessons and the waves were MUCH bigger. Ryker, who was easily a natural during our surf lessons, “rage quit” after about 15 minutes. I didn’t do much better. Nick and Townes struggled to get up on the board as well, despite us all feeling like naturals two days before. Size DOES matter when it comes to your surf board.

Favorite places to eat:

  • Best breakfast & coffee: Bohemia Cafe – everything is organic, fresh, and homemade.
  • Best dinner (for food): Mar Y Fuego – the absolute best meal for all of us. Really good presentation, wood-fired pizzas, and seafood.
  • Best dinner (for ambience and entertainment): La Dolce Vita – the food was okay, quite pricey, and they only accept cash or PayPal. But the restaurant was on the beach under a giant tree with lit-up hanging lanterns, live music, and fire dancers. This was hands-down the best experience. Yummy cocktails too.

For the second half of our trip, we rented a car in Samara and dropped it off five days later in Liberia. I think we could have gone without a car in Monteverde, but not sure if they had a place to rent there for our drive to La Fortuna, where we definitely needed a car.

  • Car rental: Alamo – $812 for 5 days (we paid extra to pick up and drop off at different locations and pre-paid for gas.)

Monteverde – “The Cloud Rainforest” x 2 days

Monteverde was about a 3-hour drive from Samara and is a trendy little town nestled near the top of the mountain with beautiful views, lush surroundings, and an abundance of wildlife and delicious-looking restaurants. We were only here for two days, but that felt like enough for us to do all the things we wanted to: a night-time rainforest hike, zip lining, and hiking swinging-bridges over the rainforest.

Where we stayed: A-frame home in the cloud rainforest on Airbnb – $453.05 ($154/night)

This house was picturesque with huge windows, beautiful woodwork, a wraparound balcony looking out over the rainforest, and a lovely trail that sloped down towards a river in a sort-of ravine. The worst part were the two scorpions we found. One in the bathroom and another just minutes later hiding in the crease of a floor mattress I pulled out from the closet. That one had about two dozen baby scorpions on her back. Ick! Needless to say, we didn’t sleep well that night. But thankfully, that was the only sighting during our stay.

Favorite activity: Selvatura Park – $437 total (for a family of 4)

We purchased the gold pass, which included 13 zip lines, a Tarzan swing, and countless swinging bridges. We spent a majority of our day here. This ended up being Ryker’s favorite activity of the entire trip. We all had a blast, and the views were breathtaking as we zip lined at terrifying heights above the rainforest. During our last zip line of about .6 miles, we all got stuck hanging about 250 feet above the forest floor. I think this was in large part to the wind acting as a break. Guides came out to rescue us. It makes for a good story, but Nick was SCARED.

Least favorite moment: the scorpions and wind

The scorpions make for a great story too, but the fear of more deciding to crawl in bed with us, along with some pretty angry wind, kept us up most of the night.

Favorite places to eat:

  • Best breakfast (and my favorite of our entire stay in Costa Rica): Choco Cafe
  • Best ambience, price, and convenience: The Bel Mar Beer Garden – this was such a great vibe, food was good, and really well priced. It was also within walking distance to our Airbnb, so easily accessible for us.

La Fortuna “The Hot Springs” x 3 days

Next up on our itinerary, La Fortuna! This was probably our favorite place of the three and just under a 3-hour drive from Monteverde. The views were unparalleled with the Arenal volcano and Lake Arenal. We wished we had an extra day here to do a bit more exploring as our two full days were spent at the hot springs at The Springs Resort. The hot springs were Townes’ favorite of the entire trip. It actually rained both days we were there, but being rained on while bathing in hot natural springs in the rainforest was exactly the magical experience we didn’t know we needed. It was pure enchantment. La Fortuna was also probably one of the most touristy of all the places we visited.

Where we stayed: Enchanted cottage on a majestic hobby farm on Airbnb – $351.48 ($105/night)

Believe me when I say the pictures don’t do this place justice and may have been my personal favorite of the three stays. We stayed in 1 of the 4 cottages on Leonardo’s family home property. Three of the cottages had a similar design, all with a private front yard courtesy of a fence of lush greenery. One of the cottages was a hobbit house with a private hot tub. EVERYTHING, the grounds, the cottages, the animals, were impeccably cared for. You could tell this place was a passion project. The only downside, is it was located about 15-20 minutes outside of Fortuna where the restaurants and shops were. Though it was so busy in town, maybe that’s an upside. This place was a little piece of paradise.

Favorite (& only activity): 2-day pass at The Springs Resort & Spa – $499.80 total (for a family of 4)

This place was epic and has played host to the Bachelor franchise. The cheapest room going for $1,000/night. Since it wasn’t yet considered high season, our pass was good for 2-days. In high-season the same price will get you just a one-day pass. They also offer other activities for an additional cost: a small zoo, river tubing or kayaking, horseback riding, ATVing, and wall climbing. The boys did the wall climb.

Least favorite moment – aside from leaving to go home

The first night we got there we were all tired and crabby. I started to boil water on the stove in the cottage when we all decided to go into town and eat. It was about an hour later when I remembered I left the stove on – on high! I thought for sure I’d burn down the very cottage Nick and I were just admiring an hour before. I messaged the host (since he lives on the property), but he was also out to dinner. He got there first. And thankfully everything was okay. No fire, nothing got burned or ruined, but I felt mortified and terrible that I ruined Leonardo’s dinner plans.

Where we ate

We ate lunch both days at the Tree Top restaurant at The Springs resort and then ate breakfast and dinner at our cottage after picking up a few groceries in town.

A beautiful trip with even better memories to last a lifetime

We absolutely loved our trip and felt we could have used at least 1-2 more days to feel truly satiated. The country was beautiful, the people were kind, the water was drinkable, and we felt safer than in most U.S. cities.

Did you know Nicoya, Costa Rica is a Blue Zone? Check it out!

2020 Boundary Waters Family Adventure: Day 2 — “Portaging & Canoeing”

/ Adventure This Life / 4 Comments

Would you believe that four days later I’m still doing laundry from our trip? Aw…I suppose if you knew me, you would 100% believe it. It would likely be harder for you to believe if I had all the laundry done by now. But let me say, my washer and dryer has been going non stop since we got home. I mean, you can only fit one sleeping bag in the machine at a time. So…yeah.

Before you read any further. If you haven’t already, you may want to read the first post of Day 1.

Day 2 of our adventure started early, though maybe not as early as Nick would have liked. (This time of year it’s a race to get a campsite, especially considering the BWCAW is seeing a 100% increase in permit purchases this year.) We woke up around 6 a.m., packed up and headed out to our next stop, Tuscarora Lodge and Canoe Outfitters, stopping at the Rockwood Lodge and Outfitters office on our way out to square up. At which point we watched the owner’s two adorable English Setters obsess over an itty bitty chipmunk that kept eluding them up a tree or under a bush. Also, the owner gave us each an awesome Rockwood sticker — you know, the kind you tattoo all over your laptop or other such things.

Anyway, I’d say we pulled into Tuscarora Lodge and Canoe Outfitters sometime around 7 or 7:30 a.m. It was just a few miles up the road from Rockwood. This is where we rented our canoe from. We have a canoe, but it won’t fit all four of us plus our gear, so the last two years we’ve been renting a four-person kevlar canoe from Tuscarora. It’s great, they load it up and bring it to the entrance point for you.

This is Ryker hanging at the end of our second portage waiting for us to make it back with the rest of the gear.

When we pulled up at Tuscarora, it was teaming with teenage boys. I can only guess it was a Boy Scouts’ trip, but not 100% sure. I did appreciate how one of the boys had a pink Nalgene water bottle and wore a fanny pack. I think I may need both of those for our 2021 trip.

After paying for the canoe, we drove to our final destination, Point #50, where we loaded all of our excessively heavy gear into the canoe, parked our van, and paddled our way through Cross River. This is a very short paddle and a stunning river!

Paddle & Portage #1: Cross River

As soon as we got in the canoe, despite our advice to be silent so we wouldn’t scare off wildlife, Ryker decided to test out his echo — loudly and consistently — throughout our paddle. We still got to see the most adorable family of otters though. A mom, dad, and four babies. They were swimming right toward us with their little heads bobbing above the water, before they dove under at the sight of our canoe coming toward them.

This was right after we saw the family of otters on Cross River.

We reached our first portage within about five + minutes. It really was a short paddle. Nick and I have paddled for hours on just one lake in the BWCAW in the past (mostly because of the wind). Thankfully, the day was partly cloudy, warm, and windless, making canoeing super enjoyable.

Nick pulling the canoe out of the water at our first portage.

The first portage was at the base of some rapids and was a giant pile of rocks with a few sharp edges to keep you on your toes. We all piled out, our feet getting soaked immediately, slipping across wet rock, and Nick handed me all the gear: Three packs, the largest weighing about 80 lbs, one tent pack, weighing about 30 lbs, two paddles, two Nalgene water bottles, maps, three fishing rods, and a leech caddy. We loaded the boys up with the fishing rods, water bottles, paddles, maps, and leech caddy, and sent them ahead down the first portage, which was 66 rods of uphill, muddy, narrow, and rocky terrain. (Quick side note: rods are how they measure the distance of portages. 320 rods = 1 mile. So the first portage was about .2 miles.) We were able to do this portage in just two trips (three passes). Nick followed shortly with the canoe hoisted above his head and then I came with the first and heaviest pack. Once we got to the end of the portage, Nick set the canoe partially in the water and tasked Townes with holding it while he, Ryker, and I went back to get the rest of the gear. When all was said and done we walked the portage three times for a total of 198 rods, or .6 miles.

This is the first portage, third pass.

Paddle & Portage #2: Cross Bay Lake

Next up was our paddle across Cross Bay Lake, which was about a 20-minute paddle. (Quick side note: we chose this trip, short portages and paddles, to keep the trip fun and light for the kids — and I guess us too.) Our next portage was just 30 rods, half the distance of the first and was a much wider and flatter trail, making it loads easier to trek across. And so we unloaded, carried all our gear across, and reloaded, again in just three passes, totaling 90 rods or .3 miles. Portaging for a total of about 1 mile the first day, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but when you’re carrying heavy gear on your back across ankle twisting terrain, it feels like A LOT. This was our last portage into Ham Lake, where we would stay for the next two nights — hopefully.

Carrying the tent on my front and a pack on my back for the second portage.

Paddle #3: Ham Lake

Next we reached the lake we’d be staying on, Ham Lake, assuming there were campsites available. Despite it being 119 acres, there are only three campsites on the entire lake. It’s not an overly huge lake, nothing compared to Brule, with about 17 campsites, or even Cherokee Lake that’s 880 acres, but large enough for our purposes.

Townes looking out at Ham Lake from a cliff.

We really hoped to stay at the same campsite as last year. It was the first campsite on our way into Ham Lake. It’s not much to look at, and we were actually pretty bummed when all the other sites were full last year and we were stuck with this one. It was small without much of a view or a place to hang a tarp over the fire, or even a hammock, but we quickly discovered it was perfect for fishing, on account of the small channel it was located on, and a great place for the kids to go swimming.

This was our campsite from last year. Not much, but the kids loved it!

Alas, much to the disappointment of the kiddos, this site was taken, though it looked rather empty aside from a handful of clothes drying on a line, and a teeny tent or tarp in a small space between a few trees. It reminded me of how my uncle David would camp, with not much at all.

Ham Lake.

So we paddled into the open water heading to the next campsite to see if it too was taken. On our way, we saw four other canoes heading in from what looked like one of the larger campsites located on a point in the middle of the lake. So, we headed that way, and sure enough, they were leaving. Watching one, then two, then three, four, and then five canoes leave from one site reminded me a bit of watching dozens of clowns piling out of a tiny clown car at the circus. Where did they all fit?

Townes and Ryker exploring a sandy beach off a trail from a campsite.

So we parked our canoe, hopped out, and started exploring the now abandoned campsite. And, despite the absolutely stunning 360-degree views, the sweet little sandy beach, and the absolutely fabulous fire pit, we were hesitant to start unpacking. We were worried the kids wouldn’t enjoy it as much since there wasn’t a rock to jump off into the water safely, nor a guaranteed fishing spot. So, we unloaded, but didn’t unpack, and set out to canoe the rest of the lake in search for a “better” site. What we wouldn’t realize until the next day, however, was this campsite was by far the best site we could have asked for given the impending rain. But that’s for another post.

The campsite.

To be Continued…

2020 Boundary Waters Family Adventure: Day 1 — “On the Road”

/ Adventure This Life / 2 Comments

It’s Sunday, late morning, the boys are at Grandma and Papa’s at a sleepover. I’m relaxing in my rocking chair, feet up on my favorite footstool my dad secretly fixed (thanks, Dad!), coffee nearby in my favorite mug, and Taylor Swift’s new album, folklore, playing in the background — all while I balance my laptop on my fleece-covered lap. This, all coming on the heels of my new kitties destroying my house plants, getting dirt all over the carpet, and my older kitty having none of it — meowing and hissing for 1.5 hours straight until the rain stopped and he could go back outside.

Moving on…

We Went to the Boundary Waters

Four days ago we got back from a three-ish-day, impromptu, trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). Though Nick and I have gone several times before/without the kiddos, this was our second time going with our twin boys, who are now eight years old.

Townes and Ryker loved their first trip to the BWCAW so much last year, we decided to do the same trip this year, changing it up slightly with a stay in a bunkhouse the first night.

This photo is from the boys’ first trip to the BWCAW last year. Here they’re jumping off a rock right at our campsite on Ham Lake.

Hitting the Road

Sunday afternoon, we loaded up all of our camping/backpacking gear into our crappy mini van (with no air) and hit the road around 3 PM, just an hour after our intended departure. On a time crunch, and with very few options, and hungry bellies, we hit the drive through at McDonald’s in Spooner, WI.

Just an hour into our trip, with loads of daylight left, Nick started nodding off. So…we pulled off in Superior, WI and I hopped in the driver seat. Then we were off again. Me, listening to the Office Ladies podcast, Nick, trying to get a few minutes (hours) of rest while the boys peppered him with a million questions about anything and everything. (Side note: As annoying as it is, don’t you kind of wish as adults we were in the habit of asking more questions?)

Just a few minutes later, Nick, with eyes clenched, most likely, I couldn’t know for sure because I was watching the road, breath held, door handle gripped, we past over the MASSIVE bridge from Superior, WI, to Duluth, MN. (Nick hates bridges, and though I know he was actually starting to fall asleep, I think a major incentive for switching to the passenger seat is so he didn’t have to look while going over that bridge.)

Four hours later…

About four hours after leaving the house, we drove into a Holiday station in Grand Marais to load up on leaches, sandwiches for the bunkhouse, and a couple of kid ponchos. 45 minutes after that, around 8:30 p.m., we pulled into Rockwood Lodge and Outfitters off the Gunflint Trail. We stayed the night in a bunkhouse so we could get an early start the next morning. We ended the day, all in lower bunks, with me reading a chapter out of “Little House on the Prairie.” The night was a bit sleepless for me, but I think Nick got some much-needed rest.

A Sleepless Night

Right as I was starting to drift off into what would be a “wakeful night,” Townes asked if he could sleep with me. So, he shuffled in the dark from his lower bunk to mine and shimmied into the same sleeping back as me on a tiny single bed.

Then, about “who-knows-what-time” in the night, Ryker found his way over to my bunk saying he was scared. So I stumbled my way from one crowded lower bunk to another, and fumbled my way into Ryker’s sleeping bag. From that time, every time I started to drift into some variation of sleep, Ryker would reach out for me saying “Mama, where are you?” Proceeding to rest one limb or another on some part of my body to ensure I didn’t evaporate into the bed itself.

And that’s how I spent my first night on our adventure. With very little sleep, but lots of excitement and optimism for what the day would bring tomorrow.

To Be Continued…