Trip to Costa Rica!

This year, Colin and I celebrated our third anniversary.  We knew we wanted to go somewhere to celebrate.  To help narrow down the options, I told him that I wanted to be gone on our actual anniversary this year (instead of celebrating over a long weekend), and I wanted to be on a beach.  Since our anniversary was on Wednesday, we planned to take the whole week off.  After many, many hours of research (mostly by Colin), we decided on Costa Rica! 

We relaxed all week by the pool and watched the waves crash on beach.  We usually got to the pool in the morning, so we had a beautiful view of the infinity edge pool AND the beach.  Heaven.  We got a little sun each day, took a dip (or two) in the pool, and then read our books under the comfort of our umbrella.

{View from our lounge chairs; part of the pool at the resort; sunset by the pool}

We ate some of our meals at the resort we were staying at, but we mostly went out and explored.  We usually had dinner on the beach in the nearby town, Tamarindo!  

{Lunch at Lola's on the Beach}

 

 {Anniversary Dinner on the Beach at La Palapa}

We knew we would have at least one excursion to zip-line, but we found a tour that did a little of everything, all in one day.  We rode on 10 zip-lines, slid (at about 100 mph, it seemed) down a 400 meter water slide, and took a break for a beautiful Costa Rican lunch (fish, rice, beans, pasta, fresh fruit, and some root chips - delicious!).  While we were in the rainforest, we saw about seven howler monkeys above us!  They got a little rowdy with their howls, and even the guides told us we better keep it down and get out of their way!

{In our gear; Colin zip-lining; me zip-lining upside down; howler monkey above us}

After lunch, we went on a not-so-relaxing horseback ride.  We may be from Texas, y'all, but we are NOT horseback riders.  Every time I THOUGHT I had control of my horse and we were walking along at a leisurely pace, the guides would start making kissing noises so the horses would speed up.  Colin had a more subdued horse, so I lost him in the shuffle.  Luckily, I did get some pics before we got separated.  We were all relieved when we got to the end of the ride and got to relax in the steam room, have a volcanic mud bath, and sat in the hot springs (all of which were at varying temperatures).  It was peaceful - and a great end to the day.

 {Colin and his relaxed horse; volcanic mud we used for our bath; in front of the hot springs}

It was a beautiful vacation filled with relaxation and adventures!  If you are looking for a fun getaway, I highly recommend Costa Rica!