Throwback Thursday–Costa Rican Honeymoon

Maybe because it’s “cold” here in Arizona (I feel horrible even typing that), but my honeymoon came to mind as I was sipping hot chocolate last night.

We took our honeymoon a few months after our wedding because we had just gotten the keys to our new home three days before we got married; we clearly had a lot of things going on at the time!

We chose Costa Rica as our honeymoon destination because we liked that it had a lot to offer. We could hike, swim, and do touristy stuff in the city. And we could zip line!!!

We spent 4 days there and the first day we went straight to the fun : )

Here I am getting ready…

Don't let the smile fool ya--I was scared!

Don’t let the smile fool ya–I was scared!

This is what awaited me…

um....yeah.....

um….yeah…..

The first time you do it it’s scary as all hell. But afterwards, it’s….freaking…awesome!!!

Now I'm just showing off ; )

Now I’m just showing off ; )

It’s definitely one of the craziest things I’ve ever done. Sky diving and bungee jumping have zero appeal to me and not doing them ever in my life would be totally okay. But zip lining for some reason was something that I thought was doable crazy. Like even though I knew I would be terrified, I was curious.

We chose to do the full ride which was 14 zip lines. They happen pretty quickly. After you’d do one, you’d land on a platform to the next and so forth. You get absolutely stunning views. Really though, you wouldn’t catch views like that from any where else.

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Afterward, we relaxed by taking a ride through the rain forest. This ride took us high up to the tops of the trees. Again, breathtaking.

I'm second from the left.

I’m second from the left.

At the top top top

At the top top top

The next day we went on a hike and looked at some of the cool stuff that was around.

You don't want to mess around with these guys..

You don’t want to mess around with these ..

A butterfly comes out with its full grown wings....I didn't know that

A butterfly comes out with its full grown wings….I didn’t know that

This was a huge leaf.

This was a huge leaf.

Then it was beach time!!

Insert pic of alcoholic beverage

Insert pic of alcoholic beverage

Oh, just hanging out...

Just hanging out…

Me and my new buddy.

Me and my new buddy.

Finally, we did some touristy stuff in the city:

Traffic and buildings everywhere!

Traffic and buildings everywhere!

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Like our San Francisco trip, my husband and I took full advantage of the time we had in Costa Rica; we don’t mess around! Even though we were crazy busy running around doing stuff, we had so much fun and we wouldn’t have wanted it any other way : )

–What’s your favorite vacation spot?

–Have you been to Costa Rica?

–If you could choose anywhere to travel to, where would you go? (we still want to hit up Europe!)

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running home

I went home this past weekend for my ten year high school reunion–which could be a post by itself! ja!–and every time I go home I make sure to squeeze in a run.

Running in my home town, Douglas, Az, is different than most of my runs. I rarely listen to music, instead soaking in the noise from the people bustling about. It’s a small town, so there is not a lot of traffic. As I run through the streets, I’m greeted by everyone I pass–most of whom I know personally or recognize. It’s difficult to keep running and not stop and chat. As I run, I see buildings I frequented and it’s tempting to stop and go in and see what’s changed–usually not much. As I run, I’m not only running through the streets but running through a thousand memories. I don’t think about my legs, my breathing, my pace, or even my final destination. I’m in a sort of auto pilot of thoughts.

Sometimes I venture out of the town and take a route into the rolling hills of Douglas. The scenery is captivating and you feel like you’re lost in the desert running but not knowing where and not caring.

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Douglas is on the border of Arizona and Mexico and you can actually run along the fence that divides the two countries. Sometimes when I’m there, I see children peeking through the fence. I wave but they just stare…

(photo from virtualtour.com)

(photo from virtualtour.com)

You may or may not understand this, but, there’s even a scent to my town. A scent so distinctive that when I pull into town and roll down the windows, I can breathe in deeply and know instantly that I’m home.