Costa Rica: Part 1

I know this blog is about Colorado adventures, but we went to Costa Rica earlier this year and I wanted to document that trip before I forget it all.  The blog is all about adventure, so the category still fits!

We went to Costa Rica over Memorial Weekend 2012 to visit Matt's high school friend, Mason, who is in the Peace Corps down there.  We flew into San Jose, which is the capital of CR. Mason met us at the airport which was super convenient since I speak little Spanish (I can count to 8, tell you my name and order cocktails).  Matt is pretty good at Spanish but since it was 10pm we were tired and just wanted to get to the hostel.  We took a 30 minute bus ride and got off near a grocery store next to the hostel we were staying at.  I wouldn't say San Jose is completely unsafe, but you definitely need to be aware of your surroundings and I would never go anywhere alone at night (at least as a woman).  We stocked up on essentials for the 12 hours we would be at the hostel: beer, water and avocados.

We stayed at Gaudy's Backpacker Hostel which was perfect for the night.  We had plans to get up early and get the rental car so all we needed was a common room to have a few drinks, a bed and a hot cold shower.  The one thing that was unusual to us was that all of the windows in our room were open and there were no screens or windows. It was SO humid there so the windows had to be open to get some air flowing since there is no AC.  The humidity in Denver the week we left was in the single digits and it was almost 100% in CR so it was quite an adjustment.

Looking out our hostel room window, tin roof after tin roof

Friday morning the guys walked a few blocks to pick up our rental car.  It's hard to find a SUV for 5 people that also fits luggage in CR.  Thankfully we found one and had no problems with it! We started our journey out of the capital city around 9 in the morning.

We drove from San Jose to Puriscal to Zapaton.  Puriscal was the closest grocery store so we stopped there since we had a car (typically Mason has to walk and take multiple buses, which takes several hours yet it is less than 50 miles).  We stocked up on more beer, more avocados and more water.  Plus some bananas this time.

Bus Stop 

The drive was beautiful yet very uncomfortable.  CR does not have the best infrastructure.  Most of the roads we drove on were all dirt and considering the rainy season started a few weeks before we arrived, there were many mudslides from earlier in the week that made it difficult to drive on some of these roads.  There are no lanes; two sides of the road do not exist.  You just drive.  If you look on a map, Zapatón, Mason's town, doesn't even exist.  According to google maps there isn't even a road near it.  I can assure you there is a road, although it is made of dirt, is steep and has many potholes.  Improving the infrastructure in Zapatón was Mason's main goal of living in the town for 2 years with the Peace Corp.

Pulled over on the side of the road near Zapatón to take in the scenery

Mudslide in the road

Driving up to the town was such a cool experience.  Zapatón is a small indigenous town of about 700 people.  Driving up in a SUV on the dirt road was shocking to the locals.  The children were so excited to see a car in the town, they were smiling and shouting. 

We got to Mason's by mid afternoon and decided to take advantage of the few remaining hours of sunshine before the rain came.  It typically rains pretty hard from 3-4 in the afternoon until sunrise. There is a large waterfall a few miles away from the house, so we drove most of the way, parked on the side of the road then hiked/climbed down about 100 feet to the bottom of the waterfall.  It was straight out of a movie - by the time we got to the pool of water at the bottom of the waterfall, the storm rolled in and it just started pouring.  I wish we had pictures of it but since it was so wet we decided not to bring the camera with us.

Once we got back to Mason's house, I took a nice cold shower to cool off.  Since the humidity was so high, it was nearly impossible to get my hair and bathing suit to dry entirely.  I swear things must get moldy before they are totally dry!  I was completely exhausted so I decided to go to bed at 8pm (hey, we were getting up at 4am) while the guys played a board game on the ground and drank chicha.

Side note: chicha (chee-cha) is a corn based alcohol that was homemade by a guy in Zapatón   It's super thick and has a lot of natural sugar in it.  I had a glass and it was good, but almost gave me an instant headache at the same time.  I have no idea how the guys went through 2 liters that night!

Side note 2: Zapatón is also the  name of the indigenous reserve in that area of Costa Rica

Aspen Trees

Fall is always a wild card in Colorado.  I moved here on September 30th, 2011 when it was 90 degrees.   Four weeks later the metro Denver area had 6+ inches of snow.  September in the midwest was my favorite time of year but I'm slowly learning Colorado fall is a bit different.  So far this year it has been very pretty and quite warm, but we are expecting snow at the end of this week (Loveland even opened today for the ski season!).  You can never be over prepared for the weather out here! 

In mid September we decided to drive from Estes Park to Nederland along the Peak to Peak highway.  We've heard this was the best time to see the Aspen Trees in the fall.  They were all beautiful yellows and oranges scattered between the evergreens and snow capped mountains.  

We had driven parts of the highway when we hiked Ouzel Falls earlier in the year but we had never been to either of these towns.

Looking South from Lake Estes (possibly Long's Peak?)

We started with a stop to the visitors center in Estes Park (more of a potty break) which was actually impressive.  I don't think I've seen a visitor center in CO that big. We saw buses that would shuttle you to the popular hiking areas from the visitor center but we didn't try these.  We didn't stay for too long, just enough time to snap the above picture.

We started driving south on the Peak to Peak Highway (Highway 7 then Highway 72) and pulled over whenever we saw a good view to take pictures, which happened every few miles so this part of the drive took about 2-3 hours.  

I'm not a huge fan of car rides but this was so fun! Driving through the mountains is such a different, beautiful drive (in good weather, I hate mountain driving in bad weather).

We ended in Nederland and drove around to get a feel for the town.  We didn't get out because it had been a long morning.... and we had an OSU game to get back to. We definitely have our priorities right in this house.  

On our way out of Nederland we stopped by the reservoir for our last photo op of the day.  It was so refreshing to see a body of water nearby; it's something we miss so much in CO.  

We thought about grabbing lunch in Nederland but Boulder was on the way back home so we opted for a quick lunch on Pearl Street.  I'll save Boulder for another post though!

Next year's autumn to do list: another drive through the Aspen trees and hopefully a pumpkin patch!

A rainy day in Denver/Wash Park

Let's face it, rainy days in Denver are few and far between.  Of course two of those days occured when Matt's parents were in town visiting which also happened to be his birthday weekend.  

We started their visit off with a dinner at Carmine's on Penn - probably our favorite restaurant in Denver (well... that might be Fruition, but that's only for very special occasions).  Carmine's is a 5 minute walk from our apartment which is also why it is so appealing.  We always go overboard on food and let our stomachs do the talking.  We opted for the House appetizer - delicious, but I knew I would regret getting partially full on the appetizer.  Our entrees included Chicken Montana (Rosemary chicken, gorgonzola pasta with asparagus and sun dried tomatoes) and a spicy sausage pasta.  Matt and I get the Chicken Montana every time we go - we just can't resist.  The problem with these two dishes is that they each consist of one full pound of pasta! Plus the other meat/cheeses.  So Matt and I ate leftovers for a solid week after this dinner!! Seriously amazing though.

Saturday morning it was raining...again.  The forecast failed us and we never really saw the sun shining.  We originally planned to head to the mountains Saturday but a snowstorm rolled through the high country and we decided to pass.  We spent the morning at the Denver Art Museum.  What a great museum!  The architecture of the building alone could be a museum.  We stayed for about 2 hours and were hoping to walk down 16th Street Mall afterwards but the sudden drop in temperature and rainfall caused us to nix that idea.  So the next best idea?  Bloody Mary's! We ended up at Lucielle's in Wash Park - what do you know, another restaurant 5 minutes from where we live.  I'm starting to realize we need to venture out of Wash Park more.. or maybe we just live in the best neighborhood :)

Lucielle's was seriously awesome.  We had been there for breakfast before (get there before 930 or expect a long wait!) but never lunch.  We got there at 130 and had to wait about 15 minutes for a table.  They closed at 2, so the place started to clear out once we sat down.  I opted for the bulgur wheat salad, avocado and a bunch of other veggies.  It was pretty delicious but I felt guilty that it wasn't traditional Creole food.  It did come with a side of homemade cornbread though, amazing.  The Bloody's Mary's tasted fabulous as well.  Probably the best Bloody's I've had in Denver thus far!

Saturday night consisted of cocktail hour, dinner (stuffed red peppers) and an early night to bed.  We were getting up early Sunday to head to the mountains and then to Boulder! 

The future Mrs.

I've thought about documenting our engagement weekend for a few weeks now but I wasn't sure if I really wanted it to be public.  Although I would love to have it documented for the future, so here it goes! 

A last minute business trip came up and I had to head down to Phoenix the week before Labor Day.  I wasn't sure if I was going to go Mon-Wed or Wed-Fri but ultimately decided on the beginning half of the week. Thank goodness for this, that really would have impacted my labor day plans :)

I got home Wednesday night and Matt had wine waiting for me and dinner prepped.  It was exactly what I needed after a few days out of town.  He told me he had a surprise for me that weekend - we were flying to Phoenix and staying at a boutique hotel in Scottsdale for my 25th birthday.  I have been begging him to go to Scottsdale (it's a short flight from here and I love AZ) and hike Camelback mountain.  I was so excited we were finally doing it! Matt handed me a folder with information on the hotel, a variety of restaurants in the area and our potential hike on Camelback.  He had planned this trip months prior; I can't believe he kept a secret for so long.

We flew down Friday night after work.  He asked me not to look at my phone (i.e. stay off Facebook).  It only took about 1 hour for me to break that promise.  Little did I know he was trying to hide me from Facebook since my brother was proposing to his girlfriend that night and he wanted that to be a surprise for later (we didn't realize my brother was proposing that weekend, Matt found out 24 hours prior to this and I had no clue).  We got to the hotel around 9pm and went straight to bed since our alarms were set for 4:30 the next morning! We planned on getting up early and heading to Camelback on my birthday morning, hoping to be to the top by sunrise around 6:15.  We were dreaming.   We pulled up around 5:15 and it was absolutely PACKED.  There was not one parking spot remotely close to the mountain so after driving around for a while I got super frustrated and we decided to nix the idea.  The sun was rising and I was taking pictures from the side of the road - I didn't want to miss one of the few sunrises I was actually awake for.  We found a park a few miles away and we decided to watch the sun rise from there.  I didn't know this at the time, but Matt's original plan was to propose on the hike as the sun was rising, so he was scrambling after we couldn't find a parking spot.

Sunrise from the road

We got to the park and Matt was wearing his hiking socks, hiking shorts, a plaid hiking button down shirt, hiking boots and his 28L hiking backpack with a camelback inside.  Mind you this is a normal city park... that is flat. And has no hikers.  I thought it was so weird he brought the hiking backpack but I didn't want to bring it up, so I just let it go.  Never occurred to me a ring could be in there!

After talking on the bench for about 30 minutes and taking pictures of the sunrise, we decided to head out (I was getting antsy and hungry).  Of course my clumsy self dropped the camera cap on the ground so I went to pick it up... and saw Matt on his knee when I turned around!

Picture in the park right after we got engaged

I was absolutely shocked when it happened - I had NO clue it was going to happen at 6:15 in the morning in our hiking outfits. It was the perfect moment.  We asked one of the few people in the entire park to take our picture just minutes after it happened.

We went back to the hotel and I ran into the reception shouting "We just got engaged!!". I asked the receptionist  (who was just finishing the night shift and was a tad grumpy) if we could have mimosas delivered to our room but he informed me the bar didn't open for another 15 minutes, so we had to wait.  I guess asking for alcohol at 6:45 in the morning is not normal.

We called our family the rest of the morning then headed to the grocery store to get some champagne and drinks to lounge by the pool.  We had the entire pool to ourselves the whole weekend, it was absolutely incredible!  Despite the 110 degree weather, it was the best weekend of our lives :)

Pool all to ourselves!

The Hermosa Inn

Before dinner at Lon's

First 14er: Mt. Bierstadt

We finished our first 14er.  And it was awesome.

A 14er is a mountain that exceedds 14,000 feet above sea level.  There are 53 14ers in Colorado.

We decided to camp the night before our hike so we could get an early start in the morning.  Guanella Pass Campground was only a few miles from the trail head so that seemed like a great option.  There are 18 campsites and apparently half of the spots can be reserved in advance and the other half are first come first served.  We were really hoping we would make it there early enough to find a spot, but no such luck at 5:30pm on a Friday.  It actually was a blessing in disguise because those spots were a bit too close to other campers (although they did have bathrooms...that must be nice).   We pulled off the side of the road a few minutes away from the campground and marked our territory.  

Our campsite seemed so glamourous - we camped one other time this summer with a group of friends but that was hiking camping, not car camping.  Having unlimited blankets, pillows food, etc. was quite the luxury this time!

We thought if we woke up at 5:15 on Saturday morning we would have plenty of time to eat breakfast, pack the car and get to the trail head early.  We go to the Guanella Pass Trail Head at 6:45 am and there were already 100+ cars!  Apparently people leave Denver around 4 or 5 in the morning to get there bright and early.  

Our hike started at 11,669 feet, only 2,850 vertical feet to go! The sun was rising behind the mountains and since the whole hike is facing west, it was beautiful.  

About ten minutes into the hike, we passed a small lake where two moose were bathing!  Great start to a morning.  The first 1/3 of the hike (about 1.5 miles) was relatively flat (although I didn't think so at the time).  Once you reach about 12,500 feet you see the Sawtooth and the valley below it.  Stunning views, but at this point the remainder of the trail becomes quite rocky and steep.  

We were finally a few hundred feet from the summit, but it was so cold we had to get our wind breakers out. We already had on fleeces, gloves, and hats.  Probably around 45 degrees with strong winds (it was August).

 The last part to the summit is basically straight up, climbing large boulders.  It was a bit of a challenge, especially at that elevation but the adrenaline definitely kicks in! You're so close to the top; it's an exciting feeling. The hike up took about 2.5-3 hours, with several stops along the way.  

We finally made it to the top of Mt. Bierstadt.  14,060 feet! We enjoyed our PBJ lunch (it as 9:30 in the morning but felt like it was 3pm) and started our journey back down the mountain.  I was surprised how difficult the climb down was; it took us about 2 hours to get down!

Ouzel Falls - Rocky Mountain National Park

Earlier this summer we hiked Ouzel Falls in Rocky Mountain National Park.  We got up early and took our time enjoying our coffee and eating breakfast. I regret that.  We got to the Wild Basin Trailhead at 9am and we had to park 1 mile away because the main parking lot was already full.  The first few (or 6) months we lived out here we didn't realize you had to actually wake up early to go to the mountains.  Sleeping in used to be 11am, now it is 8am!  If you are heading to the mountains, you should be out of Denver by 7:30 (at the latest) to beat the traffic!

Once you pass the Wild Basin Ranger Station ($20 fee to enter the National Park, $40 for an annual pass), there are a few parking lots along the dirt road to the trail head.  There are bathrooms and a water fountain.  The trail starts and less than 10 minutes in is the first sight of the river/waterfalls.  It's beautiful and refreshing; great way to start the morning.

The trail weaved around the river and stopped along smaller falls along the way. 

Finally we reached the top and it was beautiful.  Perfect place to eat our PB&J's that we packed.  It felt good to get a little wet from the water splashing and sit in the shade for a bit.

The hike is 2.7 miles one way, but since we parked in the lot further away, it was more like 3.7 miles one way (although the first mile was flat).

Herman Lake Hike

Yesterday morning we drove about 60 minutes West of Denver to the Herman Gulch Trail head.  You take I-70 and get off at exit 218, a few miles before the tunnel.  You can see the trail head from the exit ramp, just a few hundred feet away.  This has some pros and cons:  pro that it is so easily accessible and you've probably passed it a hundred times without realizing it was there.  The biggest con is that it can get rather crowded and the first few minutes of the hike are full of noise from the interstate.

The trail head has bathrooms and plenty of parking, but don't let that fool you.  Make sure to get there early in the summer months.  We arrived at 8:15 on Saturday morning and there were about 3 dozen cars already there.  A perk of getting there early: minimal hikers at the end of the hike at Herman Lake.  

The hike starts out in the forest on a wide, rocky trail.  It steadily increases and after the first mile, opens into a meadow.

You know you're close to the lake when you see the sign for the fork in the road.  You can continue 5 miles to Jones Pass or hike another 15 minutes  West to Herman Lake.  Pettingell Peak(13,553') and Hagar Mountain (13,195') are both visible from this point.

The guys decided to jump in the lake (just to say they did ?) but I opted out of this terrible idea.  They only lasted about 5 seconds, once the picture was taken, to jump out.  The air was about 60 degrees but I'm betting the water was in the 40s!  Beautiful hike, great for out of towners visiting the area.