travel

  • outdoors,  travel

    Travel Day: GPS and Costa Rica

    Ah, the joys of traveling using GPS in a foreign country! After this particular day’s adventure and a conversation with a local person, we now understand the struggle and harships we encountered! We traveled from Manuel Antonio to La Fortuna for the second part of our trip. We used the app Maps.me, a map system that uses your phone satellite location instead of wifi to travel since we did not want to pay international fees. At the car rental, we were encouraged to use Waze instead of Google but from what I understood, all apps would have probably ended up with the same detours. We departed from Quepos before 9…

  • outdoors,  travel

    Costa Rica: The Beaches On the Pacific Ocean

    Just like on  our past trip to Costa Rica, we only visited beaches on the Pacific side of the country on this trip too. We actually stopped exactly where we had last year on our way to Quepos and the only new beach to us was the one in Manuel Antonio National Park. I love the beaches in Costa Rica as they seem wild with their grey sand, rocks and wild vegetation. On our way to Quepos The drive to our resort from the airport was about 3h30 so we made a couple stops for pictures with the children. One was a scenic picture overlooking the tourist town of Jaco.…

  • outdoors,  travel

    Costa Rica: the Animal Life

    One of the main reason I wanted to take the boys on a trip to Costa Rica was because of the wonderful wildlife. We knew from staying in Tulemar Resort last year, that there would be opportunity to see animals on the property and in the trees and from the ride there, that there would be animals to see from the road too. We’ve always enjoyed visiting zoo but seeing animals free, in the wild in their own environment is just amazing. On the way south to Quepos and the Manuel Antonio National Park (where these pictures are from), we saw some crocodiles, many macaws and hermit crabs. On the…

  • outdoors,  travel

    Costa Rica: the Pools

    One of our favorite ways to relax on this past vacation to Costa Rica was to take advantage of the beautiful pools where we stayed. Our favorite by far was the family pool at Tulemar Resort and we spent at least 2 to 3 hours daily enjoying it the two full days we spent there. Tulemar Resort The resort boasts 4 pools including a pretty infinity pool by the restaurant (it was being worked on while we were there), a jungle pool (hubby and I used that one last year as it was by our room), a family and an adult pool. We did not use the adult pool, but…

  • food,  travel

    Our food in Costa Rica: 2023 Fall Break

    Yum! The food was delicious in Costa Rica, and we ate very well as you will see from the pictures I took. Even though I paid cash for the food at the local sodas (small restaurants) and we went grocery shopping for several meals,  the food at the resorts added up quickly for a family of 6 (that will show up on our credit card bill). Our favorite was the food from the sodas and we made sure to pick ones that local people went to and they did not disappoint. The Sodas The natural fruit juices were wonderful. I think we had about 5 different kinds and here are…

  • mom,  outdoors,  travel

    Countryside Bike Ride

    Last Wednesday, I joined two of my running friends for a bike ride through the countryside about 30 minutes from my house. I’ve always liked to bike having learned to ride in our little village in France. We usually rent bikes at the beach in Florida for a day or more and I just love combining exercise with a fun sight seeing adventure. I enjoy biking more than running as it is more of a leisure activity and you can cover more ground so I was excited to join my friends. We bought some nice bikes a few years ago and have enjoyed them mostly in the fall when it…

  • outdoors,  travel

    Fun at a Small Airport: Dekalb Peachtree Airport

    A couple of weekends, ago, we were invited to a birthday party at the Dekalb Peachtree Aiport in Atlanta. I use to meet up with friends there when I lived in Stone Mountain, but it had been years since I had been. I took the 2 youngest as I knew they would enjoy the birthday party (for a 5 year old) and the location. I wasn’t sure whether there would be a few or many planes since it was a Sunday afternoon and boy, were we surprised and impressed by the number and variety of airplanes landing and taking off. This little airport is a great location for a party…

  • outdoors

    Water, Sky and Reflections

    I have asked my oldest to share some of his pictures for a couple blog posts this month and gave him a deadline so I am hoping to share those with you this month. For today, though I am sharing some shots from a walk/run last week while my son was at soccer practice. While I do not enjoy soccer practice time, I do enjoy the opportunity to walk around the 2.5 mile trail as it offers pretty views and some exercise. On this particular day, it has just rained so the sky and the puddles (large puddles) drew my eye. This is my favorite shot of the evening! Look…

  • historic,  outdoors,  travel

    The Advantages of Living in a Small Town

    We’ve lived in our town for almost 6 years and I have loved living here. From past blog posts, you know that we are within 15-20 minutes of different places where we can hike, there are some historical places to visit and there are pretty spots for blog pictures. The park, the Indian mounds, a couple ponds are some of the spots I like to take pictures when I do not want to use my house and backyard as a backdrop. I’ve taken pictures a few times downtown but now as often as I should (it is only a 10 minute drive). So earlier this week, I took about 2o…

  • historic,  museum,  travel

    Summer fun: Visiting a House Museum

    A few weeks ago, we didn’t feel like going to the pool, but it was hot and humid so we decided to visit this house near our library. I looked up the tour hours and we called ahead of time to make sure there would not be a group. Of course, I didn’t check the types of payments accepted and when we got there, I realized that it was cash only. I typically do not carry cash but the tour guide was nice enough to allow us to do the tour and I went to the bank right after to return with our payment. The house is called the Rose…