Sunny San Diego

Wow. Where did August go? We just returned from a week-long trip visiting our relatives in San Diego. It was pretty laid back and relaxing. Base-camp was setup at the Sand Pebbles resort in Solona Beach. From there we made hiked down to the beach, explored the USS Midway, and visited Seaworld. Throw in some visits from oft-seen relatives and friends (and some Frisbee golf) and that pretty much sums it up. Check out my picasa gallery if you're interested in the pictures.

Around Oregon

We just finished up a "tour de Oregon", this summer's family vacation. It all started at Depoe Bay, moved down south to Roseburg, and finished up in beautiful Crater Lake. Some of the trip's highlights:

* Watching wales outside our condo in Depoe Bay.
* Chasing the kids around the Newport Aquarium.
* Sampling the various tasty brews at the Rogue Brewery in Newport.
* Exploring the Sea Lion Caves near Florence.
* Driving through the Wildlife Safari in Winston.
* Sunset vistas on the rim at Crater Lake National Park.

This was the first, real opportunity to put our new Canon T2i DSLR camera to work. All I can say is "wow", but you be the judge.

Albuquerque Bound

We're heading down to Albuquerque (hard to spell that one) to spend Christmas with Bill, Deb, and Josh. I haven't been to New Mexico in ages, so I'm actually looking forward to some new scenery - not to mention snowboarding at Taos.

This is Xander's 2nd, and Arabella's 1st Christmas... it should be fun. Oh yeah, we might even get to visit with Aunt Nola. Of course, that depends on the weather - which as of right now, it's snowing.

Steamboat Springs revisted

After visiting Steamboat Springs last summer, we vowed to get back there in the winter. Chelle, Xander, and I spent last weekend up there snowboarding with our friends. The pow was pretty good and we spent a lot of time in the back-side bowls. I managed to drop off a 20 ft. cliff (didn't see it coming) but landed unscathed. The trip home today was another story - it took us six hours to drive home in a blizzard!

Costa Rica

We just got back from a family vacation to Costa Rica. We had a great time hanging out with PoPa, MoMa, and Josh. Travelogue:

Day 1: We hopped on a flight from Denver to Houston, and then finally landed in San Jose. After a long day of travel we headed over to our hotel and crashed out.

Day 2: We got in our rental car and decided to check out Poas National Park, or more specifically the active volcano therein. Unfortunately, the weather (hucking down rain) and lack of time made us turn back at the entrance. The drive up gave us a taste of what traveling around Costa Rica would be like - bad roads, sketchy drivers, and pedestrians walking nonchelantly down the middle of the road. It's not suprising that Costa Rica has one of the highest vehicle accident rates in the world. Eventually we made it to down to our bungalow in Playa Hermosa and unpacked and settled in.

Day 3: Wanting to check out some local stuff, we drove around the countryside near Jaco. We stopped at a bridge overlooking the Tarcoles River to watch the crocodiles sunbathe. After that drove into the foothills to see a local fauna zoo. Xander wasn't to sure about the snakes and frogs, but everyone loved the monkeys.

Day 4: Josh, Rochelle and I decided to hike into Carara National Park for a few hours. It was really pouring but the jungle was thick with a dense canopy. There were some really cool plants and tress, but not many animals on display. We did a 10km loop, ate some lunch, and headed home pretty soaked.

Day 5: The whole group loaded up and drove south down to Quepos to check out Manuel Antonio National Park. None of had bothered to read up before we left, so of course when we arrived the park was closed - for cleaning. It was like that scene where the Griswalds get to WallyWorld and it was closed. Major bummer! Anyhow, it was a beautiful day so we hit la playa and had a great time. Xander had a great time playing in the surf with PoPa.

Day 6: The zip-lines were calling us (well Josh and I) so we dragged Rochelle up into the mountains to take a canopy tour. It was definately one of the trip's highlights. There were about 13 segments with one that was around 700 meters - all crazy fast and high. After Chelle stopped shaking she actually started to enjoy herself (somewhere around the fourth segment). =)

Day 7: It was back to Quepos to explore Manuel Antonio N.P and let me tell you, it did not dissapoint. We hiked in through the entrance and not a mile in we saw sloths and boas high up in the trees. We didn't stand a chance locating the animals in the dense foilage by ourselves so we poached tour groups. It was simple, if you saw a group of gringos looking up into the canopy with cameras in hand, there was a good chance you were going to see something cool. We spent a few more hours in the park walking around the trail systems that went from thick jungle to pristine beaches.

Day 8: Back to Quepos (yet again) for a catamaran tour. The boat took us around some smaller offshore islands. Eventually we stopped in a small bay to do some snorkeling. The water was your typical Pacific murky but we did spot a few colorful fish. The crew served us an awesome meal and we imbibed tasty rum drinks in the sun. Fun and relaxing indeed.

Day 9: We basically just chilled around the bungalow and played on the beaches. That evening we threw Xander a pre-birthday party. It was a nice way to end the trip.

Day 10: Packed everything up and drove back to San Jose on a different, but definately "entertaining" road. Eventually we got home and crashed hard after a long day of travel.

Pictures
Gallery 1 - Gallery 2 - Gallery 3 - Gallery 4

Video

Tarcoles River Crocs


Playa Quepos


B on a Zip Line

Steamboat Springs Part II

After a long and eventful evening with Xander, we needed some R&R. So we went hiking - to Fish Creek Falls. After that, we took the gondola up to the top of Mt. Werner for brunch. The food was excellent and the views were sweet. =)

Steamboat Springs Part I

We decided to head up to Steamboat Springs for Rochelle's birthday. I wanted to tweak the route in to include Rocky Mountain National Park, and I'm so glad we did! The park was absolutely beautiful. We stopped many times along the way to get some small hikes in when Xander was feeling up to it. He did really well and we eventually made it to our hotel and chilled. Here's some pictures from the first part of the trip:







As we approached the continental divide we encountered a large herd of Rocky Mountain elk. With so many people pulled over to watch them, all we could manage was this drive-by (shaky cam) capture:

Mt. Evans

Today we bagged our first Colorado 14'er, the 14,240 ft. Mt Evans. Of course, by bagging I mean driving up the 14 mile road and then hiking the last 1/4 mile. =) It was pretty hazy so the views suffered a bit, but I got a chance to break-in the new HD Cam and hiking boots.



Mt. Evans - North Side


Mt. Evans - South Side


Rochelle & Xander


Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep

Tailgating

On Saturday, Rochelle and I attended an UO Ducks game at Autzen Stadium. We had a lot of fun, and I'm sure that it helped that Oregon completely trounced Washington State. Sitting beside us was a really interesting older lady. Ducks fans are renowned for being fanatics, and she definitely fit the bill. During the game we were treated with many of her colorful expressions, most unfortunately are unfit to post here. ;)

Depoe Bay, OR

Chelle and I spent a few days at the Oregon coast last week.

Here's a few pictures from our trip.

Heceta Head Lighthouse


The Beacon (our condo)