A Recap of a Great Holiday

48 days; 14,700 kilometres; 17 national parks/recreation areas/monuments and 20 states equalled 1 great time!

My favorite National Park was Yellowstone.  Simply because of the diversity.  The geysers, the fumerols, the mud pots; the sulphur smells and of course… the wildlife.  Never in my life have I had buffalo walking beside my car.

The prettiest National Park is still Bryce Canyon.  The hoodoos, the spires and the colours of this place is incredible.

Our temperatures ranged from 2 celcius to 42 celcius.  I much preferred the 42.  We only bought 1 souvenir each and those were our hoodies from Yellowstone.  They were a life saver on those really cold nights and made a big difference.

The average price of gas was around the $3.80 per gallon mark.  The highest that we saw it was in Death Valley for $5.86/gallon and the cheapest that we saw it was in South Dakota and Mississippi for $3.43/gallon.

The highest that we paid for gas was in Yellowstone and since it was $4.99/gallon, we only put $20.00 in and that got us to a place that was much more reasonable.

The highest place that we were at was Rainbow Point in Bryce Canyon at 9109 feet and the lowest place was at Badwater in Death Valley, 283 feet below sea level.

We saw the biggest tree in North America - the General Sherman tree; and we also saw the tallest/biggest sand dunes in North America at the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado.

We spent more time on scenic highways than we did on the interstate and as a result of that, saw some pretty incredible sights along the way. 

We were in Red Rock Canyon twice - first time outside of Las Vegas and the second time around the Bryce area.  We were also in Las Vegas twice.  The first one was the one that we all know, Las Vegas, Nevada.  The second Las Vegas was in New Mexico and didn’t resemble the one in Nevada in any way shape or form. 

Vegas was nuts, and I still think there’s no other place like it.  Where else can you see young skinny Elvis; old fat Elvis and Michael Jackson all on the same corner.

We also got to visit with 2 of Mike’s cousins.  Pati and her boys in Phoenix, Arizona and our last night on the road with Catherine and husband David in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  Some will remember that Catherine and David visited with us last winter in Costa Rica.  It was great to visit with both.

Our goal was to have zero speeding tickets or accidents.  I’m happy to report that that goal was achieved.  However, with less than 10 hours of driving time left, on Friday while heading to Kalamazoo, we heard a stone bounce off our front windshield; and yup, you guessed it… a stone chip!  So close to home too; but that will be an easy fix.

This trip also had us in a bunch of new States… 9 new ones for me; 5 new ones for Mike.  That means that I’ve now been in 41 States and Mike in 43. 

The boarder crossing was a breeze and we arrived home by mid afternoon.  We had left our slides out and our awning up; so had less to do when we arrived.  Spent a few good hours cleaning and unpacking the car.  Finally cleaned the inside of the car the other day; but still haven’t gotten to the outside yet.  I’m sure we’ll need a little elbow grease to help get the bugs off the front.  And still haven’t done laundry.  Since the weather has been a little on the cool side since arriving home, there hasn’t been a rush to wash our shorts or tee-shirts.

Overall, we had a great time!  Thanks to all of you who take the time to read our blog and to look at our pictures.  The comments that a lot of you have sent mean a lot to both of us.  Not sure where the next adventure will take us; but stay tuned…

Please click here to take a look at our pictures.

Capital Reef to New Mexico

We left Richfield, UT on Tuesday morning and headed in the direction of Capital Reef.  It was only 70 ish miles and since we had camped there 5 years ago, we decided that driving through the Park was good enough.

Mike found us yet another scenic by-way to take and within short order of leaving Capital Reef, we were driving through the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. 

We have seen tons of rock on this drive so far; and even though it’s only rock, it’s so darned pretty.  I’m sure from the pictures being posted that you would agree with this statement. 

Next stop along the way was Natural Bridges National Monument.  We set up and took the short 13 mile loop through the park to get a closer look at the bridges.  Pretty interesting to read how the bridges are formed, mostly by water wearing through the rock to create the bridge.  Only problem is, with erosion on-going; these bridges are only temporary.  Eventually the water will erode away enough of the support base; and the whole thing will come tumbling down.

We tried out our new airbed on Tuesday night, and it was horrible!  Had built-in pillows and the angle was hard on both our necks.  Also was one of those double high beds and every time Mike moved, it felt like I was on a bouncy-castle and thought I was going to be tossed off.  Found another Walmart in Cortez, Colorado and exchanged it for a new bed.  Single high and no annoying pillow.  Much better and so far, so good…

Wednesday, we headed to the “four corners”.  This is where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah all meet.  And at one point, I had one of my limbs in each of the 4 states, at the same time.

Next stop, Mesa Verde, Colorado.  This National Park has Pithouses that date back to 600 A.D. and Cliff Dwellings that date back to 1200 A.D.  We were here 5 years ago; and were so impressed that we had to see it again.

Stayed at a private campground below the Mesa.  Asked if the hot tub worked, and was told yes.  Well it turned out the only jet was the one that keeps the water circulating and it was luke warm at best.  Also asked if the internet worked, again was told yes, but not at our site as promised and not for the first few hours that we were there. 

But it turns out that it was still a good decision to stay there.  One it was a lot warmer then it would have been at the NP campground.  And it turned out that the NP campground, with no facilities at all wanted $27.00 a night!  The private one was around the $22.00 mark.  And even though the hot tub was a complete joke, the internet finally worked long enough to do a few things; and make a few phone calls.

On Friday morning, we packed up and this time our destination was Great Sand Dunes, NP in Colorado.  What a beautiful place this was; and the campsite that we found, was probably the nicest one that we’ve had so far.

Our site had a great view of the Dunes and only 1 neighbour!  Turns out that we were at 8100 foot elevation; and thought for sure we would be in for a long cold night. 

We ended up not having a campfire; as it was really windy; so off to bed early we went.  Were woken up sometime in the middle of the night by Coyotes howling.  Apparently they had a kill; and were celebrating with howls/yips.  Guess they wanted the whole campground to know about it. 

By this time the wind had completely stopped; and much to our surprise it was warmer than expected.  Got up early this morning and New Mexico was our destination.  Again found ourselves on a scenic route.  About an hour or so into the drive; we were waved down by a man at the side of the road.

Turns out that he was a cowboy; and his herd of 53 Angus cattle were being herded up the highway, heading in our direction.  We turned off the car; and had a nice chat with Scott the cowboy.  When the herd arrived, Mike got out and took some pictures. 

We had only passed a half dozen or so cars on this quite highway, and Scott told us that he only has to stop cars once in a while.  He was a bit surprised to find out that we were Canadians, and asked in a kind way if we were “lost”.  We chuckled over that one.  We’re pretty sure that when he tells the story to his friends, it’ll be something like this… Stopped a car heading East on the 104 and can you believe it… they were from Canada… and they sounded funny!  He told us that he had been to Calgary for the Stampede and had met some really nice people… but they sounded funny to him.

We continued on to the State Park campground, but with the temps still reading in the mid 30’s at almost 5pm and hardly a tree in sight, we decided to push on. 

We are now in the Northeast corner of New Mexico; about 70 miles from Amarillo, TX.  And because of the heat; decided to spend another night at a hotel.

Please click here to look at our pictures.

Bryce Canyon National Park

On Friday night, Mike made a comment about how well our air bed was keeping the air; and what a comfortable sleep it was providing for us.  Well, the airbed leak gods must of heard him, cause on Saturday morning, we woke up on the ground.  All of the air leaked out over night.

So not only did we almost freeze our butts off, we also had a hard ground to boot!  We packed up early on Saturday morning and headed the very short drive to Bryce Canyon campground.

The first sign (at the gate) said all campgrounds were full!  What???  We had seen numerous sites that had a departure date of the 15th, and there was no way that by 10 in the morning they were all full. 

Turns out that they weren’t and the person responsible for updating the sign, hadn’t gotten to it yet.  Boy what a relief!

We picked out a nice big site and were set up shortly after.  It only takes us about 15 minutes from start to finish, including making the bed up.  Once we were done that, we headed off to find the showers.  Got back to the site, had lunch and just relaxed for a few hours.

Late in the day, we got in the car and made our way to the end of the views.  Since all of the view points are on the left side, the park recommends that you drive to the end and work your way back.  So that’s what we did.

Five years ago, we did the exact same thing, and five years ago we were wowed and bedazzled by the sheer beauty of Bryce.  And we certainly weren’t disappointed this time either.  Of all the places that I been to and seen, Bryce Canyon is still the prettiest place that I’ve ever been to.

We spent a good couples of hours, working our way down and since it was getting close to sunset, we decided to save the amphitheatre for the next day.

Had dinner and a fire.  Pumped up the airbed and off to bed we went.  Not near as cold as the night before… thank god!  And again, was on hard ground by the morning.

Sunday, we headed out to Ruby’s, which is a large complex outside of the Bryce Gates.  They sell all kinds of camping gear, supplies, etc.  But the only airbed they had was a “full” size and we knew that wasn’t going to work. 

Asked the clerk where the closest Walmart was and the answer was 90-100 miles in any direction that we picked - North, South, East or West.  Guess we would be spending one more night on this airbed.  I tried to find the leak, but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

In the afternoon, Mike decided that he was going to go for a hike into the Queens Garden.  So, while I typed the Grand Canyon/Zion blog, he started the mile plus hike from Sunset Point to Inspiration Point.

Turns out he should have done it in the other direction; as a large part of the hike was uphill.  It took him just over an hour; and by the time I was done the blog, drove over to the other parking spot, he was only another 10 minutes or so.

And so far, no aches or pains from the uphill trek… not bad for a guy who’s 61!

Today we were packed up and on our way shortly after 9:00 am.  And our destination was Richfield, UT.  We arrived here early afternoon.  Booked into a Quality Inn.  I got my hair cut while Mike got an oil change on the car.  Our computer told us a couple of days ago that one was needed.

And when we met up again, off to Walmart we went and bought ourselves a new airbed.  This one is a double high bed, and since it didn’t have a built in air pump, we bought one of those too.  Mike is under strict orders to not mention how good the air is holding…

We came back to the hotel, did some laundry, ordered a pizza for dinner and just came back from the hot tub a short time ago.

Tomorrow we’re headed on another scenic drive.  We’ll probably spend a night or two in Capital Reef NP before heading to Natural Bridge, Mesa Verde and the four corners.

It’s been 5 weeks since we left home and have put just under 10,000 kilometres on our SUV and have seen some beautiful scenery so far.

Please click here to look at our pictures.

The Grand Canyon, South Rim

Our first day in The Grand Canyon was a wet and cloudy one.  We could hardly even see the canyon.  We were hoping that the next day would clear; and our “hopes” were answered.  What a difference a day makes in the weather.

After sopping up all the water in our tent, apparently it isn’t water proof!  We headed over to the free shuttle and away we went.

We spent most of the day being wowed and bedazzled by the beauty of the Grand Canyon.  And having a shuttle to take you right to the viewing points was great.  A couple of the points were less than a half a mile apart and very flat, so we walked.  When the points got a little longer in between, we rode.  It was perfect!

And even though there were still some clouds, it was nothing compared to the day before; and as the day wore on, the clouds dissipated even more.

After dinner, we headed to the rim to see the sunset; but got there a little late.  There is lots of signage in this park, but never for where we wanted to go.  And needless to say, by the time we found a parking spot, the sun had pretty much set for the day.

The next day, we started the drive towards Zion, NP and again the beauty of this area, had us “wowing” for most of the drive.  It was pretty cool to be driving in the canyons, and looking up at the rock. 

With the time difference, by the time we arrived at Zion, the only camping sites left were in the group camping.  We “shared” our site with a couple from Austria and another from Holland.  We sat around the fire and shared stories well into the night, before heading to bed.

The next day, we again took advantage of the free shuttle and took an 80 minute return drive through the park.  When we got to the end; we headed along the trail, which parallels the river.  I gave up about 10 minutes in, but Mike continued to the end.  And took some more great shots along the way.

Next stop, Bryce Canyon.  And since it was only 60 ish miles up the road, we figured by getting there mid afternoon, we would have plenty of sites to choose from… wrong!  As we pulled into the last “open” campground, the ranger was putting up the “full” sign.  Back up the road we went to Red Rock Canyon (the second Red Rock Canyon we’ve been to on this trip - last one was outside of Vegas).

But the sites were small and most of them on a slope.  Only other option was to drive 14 miles on a dirt road to Kings Creek.  Lots of empty spaces here, thankfully!  Set up, and once again had comments/questions about our tent.

Most of the tents that we’ve seen on the trip so far, as small, domed; 1-2 person tents.  Ours looks like the Taj Mahal compared to some of them.  And so far, every campground that we’ve set up at, at least one person has come over and made comments about our tent.

But even though we have a large comfy tent to sleep in, it didn’t stop the freezing cold air from coming in.  Boy, what a long, cold night that was!  In fact, our hand soap turned to gel - not quite frozen, but pretty darn close.  Thank goodness for our hoodies!

Because of so many pictures, I’ll hold off on the Bryce pictures and story for the next blog. 

Please click here to take a look at our pictures.

Las Vegas to The Grand Canyon

When I last wrote a blog, we were getting ready to go and see Donny & Marie.  Well that never happened.  Our show got cancelled twice in a row… bummer!  So on the Thursday night we ended up going to see the Jubilee show.  It was pretty good and it was cool to see a traditional Las Vegas show.

We didn’t do quite as well at the poker table as we did in Reno; but we still had a good time.  I think I did more walking in the week in Vegas than the total trip up to this point.  It seems like every parking garage was about a mile or so (well it felt like a mile) to the casino.

When we decided to finally leave the craziness, noise, traffic, etc.  we headed to the Red Rock Canyon for a driving tour.  What a beautiful place this turned out to be.

We got as far as Kingman, AZ on Friday night; and decided on another hotel.  Sometimes when you’re trying to make some ground, it’s just easier to stay at a hotel. 

While there, we chatted with Mike’s cousin on Facebook; and decided that since we were only 3 hours to Phoenix, that we would go and visit for the weekend.

We ended up only getting to visit Pati and her boys.  Teresa got really sick on Saturday and her brothers were out of town.  We still had a great visit with Pati and her boys, and were glad that we made the detour to visit.

We left Monday morning, and decided to drive one of our favourite “scenic” roads.  We’ve been on many of “America’s prettiest roads” and this one still remains one of the prettiest that we’ve been on.

It’s the Apache Trail through the Superstition Mountains, just east of Phoenix.  We’ve already done the trail twice, both times with the truck.  And let me tell you that it was MUCH easier driving with the Escape.  The sharp tight turns and narrow road didn’t seem near as tight or curvy with just our little SUV.  I still miss our big, noisy, smelly, gas guzzling truck; but on this trip so far, I haven’t missed it at all.

You wind your way along a dirt road, with mountains to your right and Canyon Lake, Apache Lake and eventually Roosevelt Lake all on the left.  Saguaros, prickly pear cactus, and ocotilla’s intermingled with mountains, makes for this place to be absolutely breathtakingly beautiful.

Our original plan was to make it to Sedona for the night, but we got as far as Camp Verde.  Another hotel for the night.  The next morning, we drove into Sedona, and I think it’s gotta be America’s prettiest town. 

Beautiful red rock mountains surrounding the entire area.  We finally also got our first sight of “hoodoos” and “spires”.  A couple of hours later, we arrived at the South rim of the Grand Canyon, just as the skies opened up!

Whoever said it never rains in Arizona is wrong as far as we’re concerned.  We haven’t had much rain on this trip, none since Yellowstone, and it’s rained here on Friday, a bit on Saturday, and lots of rain today.

We just barely got the tent set up and the skies opened up again.  And while it poured, we took advantage and had our first afternoon nap since leaving home 4 weeks ago. 

It was still raining when we got up; and ended up at the Grand Canyon Café for dinner; and that’s where this post is coming to you from.

We did stop and take a peak at the Canyon itself; and there were tons of clouds making it difficult to see very much.  We’re keeping our fingers crossed that the rain will clear tomorrow. 

Please click here to take a look at our pictures.

Yellowstone to Las Vegas

On our way out of Yellowstone, we found the herd of Buffalo… again… took some more pictures and then made our way to Grand Tetons, NP.  There was a lot of smoke in the air; and it made it hard to see the mountains at some point.

The day after arriving there; we drove through the Park, and up and over the Grand Teton Pass, and ended up in Idaho… again.  But this time we actually drove for about 5 miles, found a gas station (used the facilities) and then headed back up and over the Tetons back into the Park.

Thankfully you can see a lot of these National Park highlights from your vehicle; as my foot is giving me lots of issues.  There are also short walks that you can do to see even more spectacular sights.

After leaving the Grand Tetons, we started to make our way further West and the next destination was Yosemite NP.  Again, we ended up in Idaho, but this time it was for roughly 30 miles, so we can now say that we were definitely there.

On our way to Yosemite, we found ourselves in Reno, Nevada.  We decided to stay for the weekend, and since there weren’t any close campgrounds, we stayed at a Vagabond Motel. 

Thanks to the dozen plus partiers on the second night there, our 2nd and 3rd night were both half price.

We also played a little poker and Mike won the tournament on the Saturday.  Roughly half an hour after that; I was in a $3-$6 cash game; and flopped a Royal Flush in clubs!  The odds of doing that are apparently 970,000 to 1.  The casino gave me a $400.00 bonus, plus a spin on the wheel netted me another $50.00; plus the pot made for a $480.00 hand.  First time in 16 years of playing poker that I got a royal flush; hopefully I won’t have to wait that long for the next one.

When we left Reno, we took “America’s Lonliest Road” to Yosemite; and was it ever lonely.  Not much to see except for mountains and sage brush.  The ride across was roughly 7 hours and we were happy to see the end of it.

Spent a few days at Yosemite; and were once again wowed and bedazzled by mother nature’s beauty.  The campsites were pretty rough; and our tent was squeezed in between 2 trees. 

Next stop was Kings Canyon and Sequoia NP.  These parks are right beside each other.  And we were able to do the drives that we wanted and to see what we wanted to within the 2 days there.

Sequoia NP has the oldest tree and the biggest tree (by volume) in it.  In order to get the whole tree in, I sometimes had to take 3 pictures.  The weather had certainly warmed up by this point; and didn’t need to sleep in our hoodies to make it through the night.

We also had a very nice large site that overlooked Fresno, CA in the valley below; and also had 2 great sunsets in a row.

Next stop was Death Valley.  And after a very long travel day (not by choice, but lack of hotels to stay at); we arrived at a lodge; which was across from the campground.  The outside temp was 41 celcius and with the wind, it felt like we had just stepped into an oven.

We found out from the lodge people that the campgrounds in Death Valley were closed because “it is too hot”!  We drove on a bit further to Beatty, NV and spent another night in an air conditioned hotel. 

The next day, we drove around Death Valley, and was surprised that the temp was only 42.  Have never seen our car reading in to the 40’s before.  At one point we were at “Badwater” which is 283 feet below sea level; and I thought for sure the temp would be higher. 

After spending the better part of the day driving around, we headed the car in the direction of Las Vegas and that’s where this blog is coming from.

We arrived here on the Saturday afternoon of the Labor Day weekend; and talk about busy!!!  We went from the serenity, peacefulness of Death Valley to the utter crazyness of Vegas inside of 3 hours.

There must have been millions (and I’m not exaggerating) of people walking along the strip.  We were lucky to find a room at all; at the Super 8; and we’re still here.  Have already noticed that things are a little quieter today.

We ended up doing a “timeshare” presentation yesterday; and no we didn’t buy anything.  But we are going to see Donny & Marie tomorrow night at the Flamingo, as a “thanks” for our time.

Please click here to take a look at our pictures.


 

Snap... and Our National Park Tour Begins

Snap your fingers and just like that we’ve been home from Costa Rica for 3 months already.  The time has passed quickly between visits with family and friends.

We were also treated to a night at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.  Mike’s cousin Mark and his wife Leslie both play for the TSO; so one night way back in June, we took my folks with us; had dinner with Mark and Leslie at the Old Spaghetti Factory and then off to Roy Thompson Hall we went to watch the TSO perform Mahler 8 - Choir of a 1000.  It was a great experience for our first time and we had a great time with Mark and Leslie.

I’m still having issues with my right heel; and after a month of physio and an ultra sound, it turns out that my bursa on my Achilles tendon is inflamed.  I’ve tried a few “home” remedies, a Strassburg sock (for 6 weeks); a ten day regime of naproxen and then a ten day regime of Advil; and nothing.  So my next step is waiting for an ultra sound guided cortizone shot (which may or may not help).  This appointment probably won’t happen till the end of the year.  If this doesn’t work, not sure what the next step is.  But it’s been a year and a half of pain and it’s not been a lot of fun.

The rest of the summer has just flown by and we started to plan our National Park Tour.  We looked into buying a pop-up camper, but our Escape can only pull small trailers and the price that people were asking for their 20 plus year old pop-ups was outrageous.  So we started looking for a tent on-line and found a great cabin tent with a screened room attached - perfect!

We decided to do a trial run, so we headed up to Powassan, near North Bay, Ontario.  Mike’s uncle used to own Wassi Lodge and a bunch of his family headed up for a few days.  Lots of reminiscing; as it had been close to 20 years since some of the family had last been there.

A few days after coming home from Wassi Lodge, we were getting ready to head into London for dinner/cards with Ken & Rosie.  Got into the Escape, turned the key… and nothing!  Tried the key again and again and still nothing!  Called Ford assist and they sent out a tow truck.  The reason we bought a brand new vehicle was to be done with tow trucks and mechanic bills.

Turned out that our starter was pooched (and we only had 19,000 km‘s on it); and it took until the following Wednesday before we had our SUV back again.  The timing for this turned out to be perfect (if you can call having your vehicle crap out on you on a Friday of a long weekend perfect).  At least we were at home and not on the road.  With any luck, our new starter will last a long time.

With all the equipment working, we loaded up our Escape and started our National Park Tour (NPT for future reference).

Monday and Tuesday we were in bee-line mode and just wanted to get across the country; so we stayed in motels.  Both had hot tubs which we used - what a great way to ease away many miles of driving.

Our first destination was the Badlands in South Dakota.  Very beautiful; and very similar to Bryce National Park - minus the reds.  It was also very windy; and the only place that we got out; had us fighting the wind.  We were holding onto each other and even then had to push through.

The next stop was Mount Rushmore.  (Please click this link to see our pictures).  That too was pretty cool to see.  We didn’t actually go into the parking lot; but we still managed to get some pretty nice pictures.

We spent 2 nights at Custer State Park; and took full advantage of the area to drive around, and be wowed and bedazzled by beautiful scenery all around. 

This is also where we stared to see the first of the wild life.  So far we’ve seen a Prairie dog colony; Big Horned Sheep; Prong Horns (Anteloupe); Deer; Wild Burros; Coyote; Elk and the best… a herd of Buffalo.

On Friday we left Custer State park and made our way to Yellowstone National Park.  We arrived at dusk on Friday night, only to find out that most of the closest campgrounds were full.  Headed back in the direction of Cody and found a campground alongside the highway.

We re-entered Yellowstone on Saturday and have been busy driving around for the past 2 and a half days.  The scenery here is absolutely beautiful and the wildlife abundant.

Sunday, we came across the Buffalo herd for the second time.  They were spread out over 3 groups; and it just kept getting better and better.

The first group, you could take some pretty nice pictures with zoom; the second group were very close to the road; and got some great pictures and the third group… the Buffalo were walking right beside our car!  There must have been a half dozen or so; and you could have reached your arm out the window and patted them as they walked by!  How cool is that!

We talked to a local woman at the second group and she told us that over 600 calves were born in the Spring… very encouraging. 

And so far, of all the geysers that we’ve seen Old Faithful was pretty impressive.  They have benches set up all around, and there must have been well over 400 people waiting to watch it erupt.  My guess is the water was 15-20 feet high; but it only lasted a minute or so.

The weather has been a lot colder than I expected, especially overnight and first thing in the morning.  In fact on Sunday morning when we woke up it was a balmy 2 degrees celcius (around 34 Fahrenheit)  BRRRR!!!!!  Ended up getting in the SUV pretty quickly, turned on the heater and started exploring again. 

We ended up buying hooded sweatshirts and both had them on when we went to bed that night.  Having our heads fully covered certainly helped, that and it only went down to around 11 during the night… much better.

This morning, we headed to West Yellowstone, Montana, and from there, went into Idaho.  Well, the whole car was in Idaho, before we u-turned and went back into Montana.  Filled up the tank; and stopped at the McDonald’s to use their free internet.  And then back into Wyoming.  So far this trip, I’ve been in 4 new States, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.  Brings the total of States that I’ve been in to 36.  With more to come.

I started writing this blog early this afternoon, and got interrupted by rain.  We had a chance to use the screened area of our tent, but it was coming in there too.  Back into the car we went, hoping to find the herd of Buffalo again.  We were successful!  After watching for almost an hour, one of the big bulls crossed the road and within a few minutes a bunch followed.  The big guy came back across the road and started grunting, within a few minutes all of the herd had crossed.  And we had a birds eye view of all of it!  Nice way to spend a rainy afternoon.

Stopped in at one of the visitors centre for supplies and ended up having dinner at an old fashioned diner… food was okay.  On the way back to our camp, we took a couple of driving tours.  On one of them, we had a big old Buffalo walking towards us… he was right in the middle of the road.   Stopped the car and just watched to see what he would do.  He just kept on walking, while Mike took a video. 

Overall it’s been an amazing NPT so far.  We leave here on Tuesday morning, and the next destination is the Grand Tetons, which you can see from Yellowstone Park.  Who knows what sights await us.

Click here to take a look at our pictures.

Goodbye Jaco, Hello Home

The last month or so of living in Jaco was pretty much the same as the month before.  Lots of bike rides; lots of walks; and spending lots of time at the beach. 

I think that will be the thing I miss the most, watching the waves.  We spent many many hours watching the waves and it was great to head over to the beach whenever we wanted.

And even though we live very close to 4 of the 5 Great Lakes, they don’t even come close to producing the great waves of the Pacific. 

We also helped our friend Eida celebrate her 50th birthday a couple of weeks ago.  She had no idea about the dinner party and was totally surprised. 

And on our second last night in Jaco, Joey and Eida had us over for a shrimp boil.  And boy oh boy was it ever tasty!  Joey had been talking about his “famous” shrimp boil for months; and with just a night to spare we finally had it.  Reminded Mike and I of our crawfish boil that we had with a local family in Louisiana.

Wednesday, we had a very long travel day, 18 hours to be exact.  We ended up with a secondary inspection at the Atlanta airport, cause we had brought home some Cuban cigars.  But, because we are Canadian and we were in transit; it turned out not to be a problem.

We arrived back at our rig in Strathroy on Thursday, and much to both of our delight; we didn’t have any issues at all opening things up.  Even our Escape started on the first try… yay!

And yesterday, we went to Blenheim to celebrate Uncle Leo’s 80th birthday.  It was him who we brought the Cuban cigars for; and we’re hoping that he enjoys them.

It was great to see so many of Mike’s family and share lots of laughs.  We even got 3 games of pepper in.  And the day ended with Uncle Leo being roasted.  Lots of laughs for sure.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Jaco again this year.  The weather was perfect (for us).  Averaged around 100 F for most of January, February and March. 

The past month the rainy season had started; and although most days started out clear and sunny; by mid to late afternoon, the clouds had moved in, followed shortly by rain, thunder and lighting.  Really cut down on our sunset time; as most nights it was so cloudy that there was nothing so see.

One night a few weeks back, it was raining sideways; and harder then either of us had ever heard.  And lots of lighting storms.  In fact, on more than one occasion, we headed out to the beach to watch a passing storm over the Pacific… Nice!

We also had 8 earthquakes (that we were aware of).  The most powerful one was a 6.1, but no damage from what we heard. 

And talk about fun!  We met so many wonderful people this year.  The Pensacola group; The Canadian Crew; Phil and his daughters; Liz our landlady; and of course the locals from last year.  Joey/Eida; Chris, Claudio, Herman, Jose. 

And then our own company, Victoria for a month, followed by her parents David and Catherine.  We really enjoyed having all 3 of you come for a visit.  And getting to share a little of Costa Rica with you.

A lot of people over the weekend have asked if we’re heading back next year; and our standard answer is “probably not”.  Even though we had a great time and a lot of fun… the world is a very big place and there’s so many other places to see; and lots of new people to meet. 

I haven’t taken many pictures lately; but there’s still a few to see.  Click here to take a look.

Tomorrow Finally Comes

How the time flies when you’re having a good time.  It’s been over a month since I wrote my last blog.  I kept on telling myself that I would write one tomorrow, but tomorrow never seemed to come.

It’s been pretty quiet around here since the last of our company left.  The past few days with Catherine and David flew by.  We toured them around the mountains of Jaco; then off to the beach.  We also showed them around Los Suenos.  Boy that’s a nice place. 

On their last day here, the four of us did the Tranopy tour.  It was a great day and saw some interesting stuff.  Not as much wildlife as last year; but the views and the company were great.

And for their last night here, we took them to Villa Chiletta’s for sunset.  A beautiful “greek” style arena to watch the sunset.  All set up with cushions to sit on.  Pretty cool place.

The last month or so, we’ve just been living.  We go for walks or bike rides almost daily, usually without a destination in mind.  We’ve stumbled across some pretty interesting neighborhoods in Jaco.  From the poorest of poor to very wealthy. 

I also bought myself a couple of sarongs and a new bag and wallet.  My zipper was kaput on the other bag, and I saw a smaller version of it with a matching wallet.  Mike also bought a couple of new bathing suits.

We also have spent a lot of time at Phil’s pool and the beach.  But unfortunately Phil left the other day; and the private pool privileges are gone, but it was sure nice while it lasted.

The dry season started here in early January, and lasted until just a few days ago.  It’s been hovering around the 100 degree (40 c) in the shade; and it’s been really hot in the sun.

But that seems to be changing.  We’ve had some pretty crazy down pours of rain in the last week or so.  Mostly in the evenings.  And last night we had a huge thunder/lightning storm.  We had dinner at Rustico’s while the worst of the rain came down.  Caught a cab and got home before it started all over again. 

About an hour later, the rain had stopped, but the lightning was still over the ocean.  So off we went.  Must have stood there for a good hour watching the storm.  Nobody else was on the beach; which has been a huge contrast from during the day.

The week of Easter is pretty crazy around Jaco.  The schools are all closed; as well as a lot of businesses.  Jaco is the closest beach town to San Jose; and a lot of the people mulling around the streets are from there.

The beach has also been packed.  1000’s of people playing in the water, surfing, tanning, playing ball, having BBQ’s, you name it.  Every direction you look there are people. 

But come tomorrow, it’ll be back to normal.  The beaches will be empty and you’ll be able to pedal a bike around town without taking your life into your hands!

And since Wednesday, we haven’t had the internet at home.  We had a bad storm that knocked it out.  So this blog is coming to you from Papas & Burgers.  Mike’s off at the store getting potatoes and mushrooms to go along with the steak that we bought for our Easter dinner.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our family, friends and blog followers a very Happy Easter!

Click here to take a look at our pictures.

Busy, Busy, Busy

After arriving home from Granada; we had a day and a half before our next company arrived.  Catherine and David are Victoria’s parents; and Catherine is Mike’s cousin. 

Catherine has been reading my blog from the beginning; and a simple comment of “you look like you guys are having a great time” lead to them coming down for a week.  They got to visit Victoria for a few days before she left. 

Victoria was at a weekend concert that was a few hours South of here; so on Monday morning, the 4 of us went and picked her up.  And then we headed to a whale park.  Unfortunately we weren’t able to see any whales; but the walk along the beach was very nice.

After lunch; we headed over to another National Park and strolled along the beach for a bit; before making our way to the water falls. 

On Monday afternoon, Victoria got the news that she had been patiently waiting for… her acceptance to the University of Western Ontario… so her mom treated us all to a delicious dinner at Lemon Zest.  Congrats Victoria and we’ll see you in the fall once you’re settled in in London.

Tuesday morning we drove back down South to Manuel Antonio National Park; and within a few minutes of entering the park we saw a 3-toed Sloth.  It wasn’t that far up in the tree; and it was just lounging… arms behind it’s head and it’s legs crossed… looked very comfy.

Spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in the calm, warm waters.  On our way out we stopped and watched a whole bunch of monkeys.  Mike had looked for them earlier; but no sign of them.  So it was nice that they were there as we were leaving. 

Found a nice place to have dinner and watch another beautiful sunset.  Wednesday morning, we were up at 4:00 am and on our way to the airport by 4:45.  It was Victoria’s last day… hard to believe that her month here was done already.  We had a great time with her and have offered for her to come and visit again. 

We stopped and had breakfast at Denny’s and then off to Poas Volcano we went.  The drive was beautiful and the scenery was lush and green.  It was very cool and windy up at the top; and for the first time since arriving here; I had long pants and a sweatshirt on : ((  Mike also needed his wind breaker.

We hiked our way to the active crater and had beautiful views all around; then off to the older crater that was now a lake.  The whole hike was roughly 2 hours. 

Down the mountain we went and into the heart of San Jose!  We were looking for the Central Avenue and after a bit, we finally found it.  Parked the car, walked along for awhile; stopped for lunch and then took the old highway back to Jaco. 

We made costillas and home made salsa for dinner.  After dinner, we headed over to David/Catherines for some euchre.  The cousins took on the out-laws and the cousins won all 3 games.  We called it a night and were in bed by 9:30.  It had been a long day.

Click here to take a look at some of our pictures.

An Interesting/Exciting Trip to Granada

When you come to Costa Rica for the winter, you’re supposed to leave before 90 days is up.  We didn’t bother to do it last year; and didn’t have any issues at the airport when leaving.  But we decided that this year, we would leave and go to Nicaragua.

So early on Tuesday morning, Joey picked up me, Mike, Phil and Jason, and our long travel day began.  Joey only took us as far as Barranca (to catch up to the bus) and then we took the Tica Bus the rest of the way.

No problems at the border; and a few hours later, we were finally close.  The bus doesn’t go into Granada on the way through, so we transferred to an old bus and bumped along the rest of the way.  The guys figured the bus was circa 1965.

We finally arrived at the bus station in Granada and started walking.  Never seen anything like this place in my life and not sure if I ever will again.  The streets were narrow; and an assortment of buses, cars, taxis, and horse drawn carts filled the streets.  That and 1000’s of people...it was insane!

Found a place to sit and have a drink and figured where to look for a hotel.  Thankfully Jason had been here before and he knew where to go.  We passed the central park; the old church and then up another street.  A few times I found myself thinking “oh Lord, where is he taking us?”.

Let me describe most of the streets in Granada, so that you’ll understand why I was feeling this way.  The streets are narrow; and sometimes there’s a sidewalk… sometimes wide enough for us to walk side by side.  Other times, it’s only a few inches across, or not at all.  Sometimes the vendors have their businesses right up to the curb.

Some people have car ramps so they can drive their cars up and park their cars behind their walls.  There are holes and cracks and it's not very friendly towards people with physical disabilities.

The buildings are all in a long row; and are all attached.  Other than doors, there isn’t much else to indicate anything being there.  But behind those walls are beautiful houses, hotels and businesses.

We arrived at the Hotel Cocibolca (ko-see-bowl-ka) and other than a small flat sign on the wall, you would never know it was a hotel.  You step into the hotel reception area with a dining room off to one side and a lounge on the other side.

Beyond that is a courtyard with the hotel rooms down the sides.  Lush greenery and flowers down the middle complete with a fountain that houses a half a dozen turtles.  The pool is at the back of the property.  Never would I have guessed that was behind the wall.

Very clean rooms and cheap… only $45 a night.  After we registered and dropped off our stuff; we headed back out to the main street.  This street is mostly closed off to vehicles and both sides are lined with restaurants, businesses and houses.  The roads are both cobble stone and flagstone. 

We were entertained by the local kids who don costumes and dance to their own music.  Walked around a bit more and then off to bed we went.

The next morning, Mike and I took a horse drawn carriage tour around town and our guide pointed out the buildings of interest.  In the afternoon, we went on a boat tour of the 365 islands, on Lake Nicaragua.  Some beautiful properties for sure.  Some of the islands were single homes and others had multiple homes.  You certainly need some money to buy a place out here.

On Thursday morning, we had some excitement.  The 4 of us were sitting in the breezeway of our hotel, which also happened to be the designated smoking area.  There was a man and his children sitting across the way and he asked me to not smoke.  I pointed out that it was the smoking area.  A few grumblings later and I was going to move (to be considerate).  Within seconds he was calling me a “f…ing ignorant a..hole”.  Really???  Sat my butt back in the chair, and continued to smoke. 

Now bare in mind, there was an empty, smoke-free dining room just around the corner; and this is where the 4 of us ate within the half hour.  Shortly after breakfast, I see this guys wife sitting in the exact same chair as I was; with their daughter less than an arms length away… and the wife is smoking a cigarette! 

Are you  kidding me!  The way he had acted earlier, I figured that they were both non-smokers.  About 10 minutes later, the man showed up; and me, not being able to keep my mouth shut (I know what a surprise!).

I say to him, “hey buddy, did you know that your wife was having a cigarette with your daughter almost in her lap?”  And what’s this a…holes reaction… “FU” he screams at me, then throws the contents of the ashtray at me, followed by the ashtray itself. 

And the next thing I know, he’s slapped/pushed me on my face.  Mike and Phil were up and in front of me by this point.  The “F” bomb was dropped numerous times and the hotel staff came to see what was happening.

This guy threatened to kill all of us; and that’s when we called the police.  But unfortunately, the police take a really long time to come and when it’s between tourists, they don’t usually get involved.  This idiot was from France and also had a run in with some American tourists the night before; because… god forbid they asked him for his help on the computer… didn’t find that out until the next day.

The guy and his family were brought back to the hotel by their tour guide and was told to apologize… he did while laughing at me/us the whole time.  That’s when I decided to press charges… maybe if anything, it would screw up his holidays. 

But no such luck; takes anywhere from 30 days to 6 months for the cops to do anything; and by then the tourists are long gone. 

On top of this, our tour guide, whom we gave a $20 deposit to the night before; never showed up and we got screwed out of a 4 hour tour of the area.  First time that that has happened; and thankfully it was only $20.

We ended up going for a massage instead; and that helped erase some of the stress of the morning. 

Friday we made our way to the bus station; and started the long ride back.  We almost didn’t make it back into Costa Rica.  The border guard that we went through was insisting that we have plane tickets showing when we leave.  Nobody had mentioned that we needed plane tickets… now what?  That’s when we talked to the other Canadians that we met and they went through the other line.  So that’s what we did; back in line we went and without further ado, we were stamped and back on the bus.

We were really happy to finally meet up with Joey in Barranca before coming back to Jaco. 

Granada was probably one of the coolest places that I’ve ever been too.  It was old, caotic, noisy, busy and exhilarating all in one.  We don’t think that it’s a place that we would want to spend a winter; as we were already getting a little bored by Friday.

Plus, I don’t know where we would buy our food from.  We walked through the “flea market” for a bit.  One stall after the next, selling their wares.  A lot of the vendors had meat, chicken etc all just sitting out in the heat.  And if you wanted something, they just cut off a piece.  Yikes! 

The amount of begging in the streets is also a problem; and kids and adults alike come up and ask you for money, pop, whatever, and it gets tiring pretty quickly.

All in all it was a great experience.  It was like taking a step back in time to a world that really hasn't changed very much.  And we're glad that we saw it.  

I was really happy to be back “home” in Jaco.  Please click here to look at our pictures.

A Trip to Orotina and A Fair

The last blog we were heading off to Manuel Antonio.  Well that never happened.  Phil and Liz came over for dinner; and then Phil and I took on Mike and Victoria in a game of euchre.  We ended up playing later than planned; and the idea of getting up at 4:30 to catch a bus for 5:40 am didn’t really appeal to any of us. 

We also learned early last week that Victoria’s parents, Catherine and David are going to come and join us for a week… so that was also part of us postponing the Manuel Antonio trip.  We'll go with them when they arrive a week from this Sunday.

So on Friday we caught a bus to a typical Costa Rica town called Orotina.  It was about an hour and a half bus ride, but we got to see lots more of the beautiful country here.

Shortly upon arriving, we found our way to a restaurant, and enjoyed a meal at a soda. 

We then started looking around.  I noticed that we were getting lots of stares, especially in the beginning.  Orotina doesn’t usually get a lot of tourists, and we stood out.

At one point we were lured into a bakery by the delicious smells coming from it.  Asked the owner what he recommended, and a huge piece of sweet bread filled with soft cheese and strawberries soon found its way into our bellies.  Boy was it ever good!

I was really impressed with Orotina.  Very clean with a very busy downtown core.  Don’t remember seeing an empty store front.  And of course all of the stores here are totally independent.

Saturday night, we headed off to our favorite burger joint, Papas & Burgers, stopped in to say hi to Joey/Eida and then off to the fair we went.  There were the “typical” fair rides… The Pirate, a roller coaster, bumper cars… etc.  And lots and lots of people.  Seemed like most of Jaco was there.

We didn’t go on any rides, as I have a little trust in the carnies that set those rides up at “home”, never mind here.  So we just walked around, watched and took pictures.

On Sunday, we road our bikes all the way to Los Suenos.  The round trip was approximately 15 kilometres and thankfully there weren't any real hills that we had to deal with.  Once arriving at the Marina, we parked our bikes and walked around. 

Then we drove our bikes back out to the main road, down to the beach for a bit; and then back home.  I can’t remember when was the last time I went on that long of a bike ride, but surprisingly, didn’t feel too sore the next day.

Our complex is being painted right now; and we treated a couple of the workers to some red liquorice.  Neither of them had ever had anything like it before, but there was lots of “good, good” and mmm coming out of their mouths.

And the other night, we had Phil and Vanessa (his daughter), and our new neighbour Jason over for lasagne.  And after dinner, Mike and I took on Victoria and Jason in euchre. 

Again, a good time is being had by all.  Please click here to look at our pictures.

The Fun Continues

These past few days have been fun filled.  We’ve had lots of parties, dinners, swims and oh yeah… an earthquake.

On Monday morning around 5:00 am the bed started shaking, followed shortly by cups/plates rattling.  Within a few seconds all of us were up.  Apparently the quake happened about an hour south of us; 15 miles off shore.

It was a 6.0 and as far as we know, there wasn’t any damage done.  And all of us were fine.  But talk about an exciting way to start the day.

On Monday night the 3 of us headed over to Papas & Burgers and played some good old fashioned Texas Hold ‘Em Poker.  There were about 18 people in total and I tripled my money!  Bought in for $4.00 and cashed out $12.00.  Mike and Victoria didn’t do so well; but I think we still came out ahead.

I ended up taking over the dealing (I know what a surprise!) and wowed and bedazzled all the other players with my poker dealing skills.  I’m in my element when I have a deck of cards in my hands.  Even tried to convinced a few of the other players that I was actually born with a deck of cards in my hands.  Some of them were a little drunk, so I may have succeeded.

We’ve been to the beach a few times; and Mike and Victoria have spent lots of time playing in the waves.  The waves here aren’t near as high or big as in Hermossa; so you don’t get tossed around quite so much.

We’ve also had lots of nights sitting around Phil’s pool with the Canadian Crew.  Even got together for their last night (which was last night) and went to Jaco Taco for dinner.  It was a lot of fun, the food was great; and Phil treated all of us.. Thanks again Phil!

Today we saw them off and have already made some plans to meet up in the Spring when we get home.

My bike had another flat tire this past week; and we have now bought tube #3, a different brand this time; and hopefully it’ll last.  Mike has become an expert in changing flat tires.  He’s also really really glad that’s it’s the front tire and not the back.

And as of today; Phil has lent Victoria one of his bikes to use for the rest of her time here.  She’ll have a much better chance of seeing all of Jaco this way.

A few days after the Canadian Crew showed up, Mike wearing his Tilley hat, looked over the wall to say hi.  When Paula looked up; she instantly was reminded of "Wilson" from the TV show Home Improvement.  His character was famous for not having the lower part of his face shown.  Ever since then, we have unofficially become "the Wilson's".  And Victoria is now "Miss Wilson".

So today, before we went over to say our goodbyes, Paula took a few pictures of us, being "the Wilson's".

And not sure how this happened; but I totally forgot to mention it in the last blog or post pictures.  But almost 2 weeks ago the bikers started arriving in Jaco for the weekend. 

Just a few showed up on Friday night and some booths were up and ready for business.  On Saturday morning, there were upwards of 1000 bikes in Jaco. 

Most of the bikes were parked around the park; which is just in front of our condo complex.  We spent a few hours wandering around and taking pictures.  At one point, I was standing on the side of the road; and about a 100 bikes or so passed.  I could feel the rumblings in my chest and the smell of gas.  It was pretty exhilarating.


Tonight, Phil is coming over for dinner and the 4 of us are going to play some euchre.  After a game or 2 maybe we'll teach them pepper, which is "the grown up" version of euchre and much more of a game.

The plan for tomorrow is to be up and out the door by 6:00 am.  We’re heading to Manuel Antonio for the day; hope the monkeys are out.

Click here to look at our pictures.