Carara National Park, Costa Rica

One morning of our trip we spent hiking in Carara National Park. Even though we didn't see all the exotic birds we'd have liked to have seen, it was an incredibly beautiful hike.

One of the first things we saw was the chains of cutter ants that had established "highways" where they'd cross the trails with their leaf cuttings to take to their homes.

If I've done my online research correctly this is an agouti. We actually saw a pair first...one of which ran away before I saw it and this one who seemed to think itself invisible.

Then this one crossed the trail in front of us before pausing for photos a short distance off.

Okay, not the best shot in the world as it's tricky to get the telephoto to zoom on the right spot, but this is one of the howler monkeys we saw way up in the trees!

A cute little lizard we spotted.

Trips

I've been awfully busy of late with some new projects, not the least of which is related to a career change. I'll tell you all about that soon...and fill you in on the summer trip to Boston that I took...but jumping ahead, I'm going to start sharing pix from last week's dream vacation with LoML. We went to Costa Rica! He's been wanting to surf there for a long time and we finally got a chance to go. I fully intend to share details, but for this evening I'm just going to start you off with a few pix:

The view from our back patio at the resort

Just a view from the side of the road along the way to Playa Jaco & Playa Hermosa

Playa Hermosa above and below.

Sunset at the resort

 This iguana was sunning in the middle of a little side street and had no intention of moving.

I'll tell you all about the crocodiles soon.

Back at the resort

Hard Rock Atlanta

Before I tell you about my second July trip I'll close Atlanta with a few pix from the Hard Rock cafe. We ate lunch there one day. It was fun looking at all the memorabilia.

The man in black:

Atlanta part two

Some more shots from my Atlanta trip...

Atlanta part one

I don't do a great deal of traveling, but have been on two trips in July. The first was to Atlanta. Met up with friends and had a fabulous time. This was the view from our hotel balcony:

The view straight down:

Looking about, still from the balcony...

This is a shot straight up from the inside atrium in the hotel...it was quite spectacular. That's one of the glassed-in elevators heading up that you see in the lower left of the photo.

Sights

Just sharing a few pix from a recent trip to the mountains of NC. Lovely trip.

 

Eastern Shore

Last week I went on a bit of a vacation...had the opportunity to go visit with the UK rellies on this side of the pond. They were up on the eastern shore of Maryland. Sadly LoML had work responsibilities and couldn't go. I tried to soak up all the niece & nephew time I could (they're 7 and 9 and growing up fast!). And I took lots of pictures!

One of the things we did was go to a maritime museum....that's where I took a lot of fun shots like those I posted on Saturday, and these:

Show...

...and tell....well, the tell will have to wait. I'm in the midst of a bit of adventure but will save the telling for a bit later.

Tijuana Flats

So, LoML and I have this regular trip we do to Raleigh, NC to see friends. We usually go every January...sometimes other times of year too. That's when we stay at one of the Hilton's there and Gwyn gets to go do her greyhound ambassador duties :D A year or so ago we discovered Tijuana Flats. It's a fabulous tex-mex restaurant, and it's become a must-do on our list of places to eat while there. The link takes you to their "about" page...the story behind the restaurant is pretty interesting to me.

Just one of the many murals in there...it's a feast for the eyes as well as the tummy!

 They're famous (?) for their sauces...there's a whole hot sauce bar. They rate each sauce with various smiley (or not-so-smiley) faces to let you know how spicy a particular sauce is. I don't tend to use any sauces...I like my food just with LOTS of guac' and usually some pico de gallo sauce. But I had to take a picture of this sauce:

Yes, it's called what you think it's called! I edited the photo to protect the more delicate sensibilities in the audience. I had to take this for my friend, whose name is Sally :D Love ya'!!!! We'll take you there next time you're out this way...and if that's not incentive, I don't know what is!