Costa Rica- May 2012

We figure this is the modern-age scrap book so we'll use this blog to document our trip to Costa Rica in May 2012. This is a work in progress. Right now it's mostly just some photos and captions. Here's the story: 

The Cloud Forest

I left work early on Friday to pick Laura up at the hotel and headed for the Cloud Forest.

Amazing view on the road to the Cloud Forest, Monteverde

The Hotel 

Like everything else in the Cloud Forest, our hotel was magnificent. We had a room with two walls of windows overlooking forests, clouds, and wilderness. Here are a couple pictures that don't do it justice:

Open the door

King size bed

Lollypop enjoying a glass of water by the bay windows

Private balcony overlooking the front lawns. The rocking chairs, made of wood and leather, might have been the best part.

The Proposal - Friday June 1st

After dropping our gear off in the room we headed back to the main chalet for dinner. Laura and I ordered a couple caipirinhas and sat down at the dining room balcony to enjoy the sunset. I figured this was as good a time as any, so I insisted Laura see to some trifling issue with the receptionist while I talk to the bar tender about something or other. Not sure exactly how I worded all of this. I really did go talk to the bar tender but I passed him my camera and asked him to record the event. As Laura was walking back, I dropped the knee and presented her the ring that had been burning a hole in my pocket for the past three weeks. I neglected the whole, "Will you marry me?" part but managed to choke out "For you, loll!". Laura, equally confused and flustered, agreed when I finally asked, "Well, what do you say?". Haha, not too smooth, but hey, it worked! 

The happy couple, minutes after the proposal.

After the caipirinhas (which were on the house!), we settled down for an amazing dinner. We don't have anything to show for it except this empty bottle of champagne:

Empty bottle of champagne

The next morning, we headed back to the restaurant for some breakfast before our big day. Here's a picture of a happy Loll enjoying her morning coffee.

Laura drinking coffee on Saturday morning

We had an hour or so to kill before zip-lining so I took some pictures of my pretty fiance 

Laura doing some hand modeling

Patiently waiting for the zip-line

Zip Lining 

Zip lining is pretty simple. There are a couple platforms separated by a couple thousand feet, hundreds of feet in the air with a cable running between the two. The objective is to slide from one platform to the other. For example:

Laura taking off on her first zipline

On the other side...

Yeah, ziplining is pretty bad ass. You go pretty fast and you also get to see some good views. Check it:

The view from a zip line platform 

 Laura and I on a ziplining platform. 

Coffee

Zip-lining is surprisingly exhausting so we had to get a couple cappuccinos before we could move on with our day. We heard good things about Common Cup Coffee in Santa Elena, the name of the town our hotel was in, so we headed there next.

Enjoying some fantastic coffee at Common Cup Coffee in Santa Elena, Monteverde

Two cappuccinos and a bag of coffee wasn't enough so the next stop was a coffee plantation tour.

 Baby Arabica coffee plants.

The End

The weekend had been spectacular but we reluctantly packed our bags to catch our flight. Loaded up on a fantastic breakfast and lots of coffee we set off for San Jose to catch our flight to Austin. While making our way down the mountain we took a couple great pics. Here's our favorite. 

View leaving the Cloud Forest on Sunday Morning