Back in the USA!

It has been 5 months since we were in the Guanacaste Mountains... and subsequently since our last blog. Throughout this time, our whirlwind adventure continued, but landed us back in Seattle, although a bit unexpectedly. Here's a quick summary (mostly in pictures):

After riding along the North side of Lago Arenal, we headed South into the capital city, San Jose via Fortuna and San Ramon. We encountered volcanoes, rainforest, lots of clouds and fog, a rope swing, and the inevitable long climb and descent over the cordillera into the Central Valley where San Jose is located.

In San Jose, we met back up with our friend Enrique, who was actually transferred to a position in San Jose shortly after we left him in Managua, Nicaragua. Enrique is from Costa Rica and his family lives in Santa Ana, just outside of San Jose. We spent the next two weeks with the Castegnaros, bumming around Santa Ana and San Jose.

Then we hopped on a plane back to the States! So, how did this big change in plans occur? A couple of months prior while we were in Managua, we found out about a few events scheduled back in the States that we wanted to be there for: 1) David's cousin Dallas's wedding, 2) David's childhood friend Rhett's wedding, 3) The Gibbs family reunion, and 4) The opportunity to see my parents who would be in the continental US around the same time. After contemplating the cost of the ticket (which didn't take too long thanks to a Frontier Airlines special), we bought two tickets back to Salt Lake City for one month. Well, one month turned into almost five and we visited not only Utah, but also Colorado, California, Washington, and Oregon to see family and friends.  We were obviously excited to see family, but also craving a bit of familiarity and regularity. Sleeping in a bed and showering daily, communicating with others without getting a headache, and eating home cooked meals were all things we really wanted to enjoy for a bit.

We entered the states in July and have had a cram packed 5 months while we have been here, Here is a short description and photos of some of our events:

We went to Volcan Turrialba with our local guide Enrique

The Gibbs family reunion, with the water fight as one of the highlights

A family reunion of sorts in California with Leah's dad's side


A family reunion of sorts in Vail, Colorado with my mom and Leah's aunt & sister

Some kick ass times with our biker gang in Salt lake City
Hanging out with Uncle Dave & family on Orcas Island

Sweet bike ride to wineries and brewery followed by a drunken ride home and skinny dipping in chilly Lake Washington

A couple of backpacking trips - one to Mount Rainier National Park and one to Goldmyer hotsprings

Moving in with some awesome roommates to a house in awesome Greenwood

Hiking Kendall Catwalk in the Cascades

Climbing and camping in Vantage, Washington

Panhandling at freeway offramps and getting picked up by the police (and donating my proceeds ~$26)

Volunteering with Bikes For Ghana

Hiking to Mason Lake in the snow and going for a dip

Attending my cousin's most memorable Halloween dress-up wedding in Connecticut

Going to Washington, DC for my first time and being there for the most memorable election ever, not to mention hanging out with Jamie & Ryan

Canoeing on the Potomac River at Hard Bargain Farm with three aweome co-pilots (you can't see Ralph the dog)

Relief caretaking at Goldmyer Hotsprings and getting the full-time job of caretaking in the spring (April - July)

A most memorable visit with my good friend Steevasaurus in San Fran

An unbeleivable family reunion with my mom's side of the family - 34 of us total - all but one cousin, OUTSTANDING! (Here is Sarah after going over the handlebars on a bike ride - The other two sisters taking good care of her)

Hanging with the family

The standard ultimate frisbee game on Thanksgiving day

Sweet family biker gang

We are now going back Costa Rica to meet up with Blackie and Pete, our trusty steeds. We are really excited to meet up with Enrique again too. We plan to bike around some in Costa Rica along with doing some backpacking . We are also planning to go to Panama, but, if you know anything about us plans tend to go to the wayside pretty regularly. We will be flying back to LA on January 21 and will proceed to bike up the west coast to Seattle. We plan to arrive in Seattle in mid-March to prepare for our upcoming caretaking stint at Goldmyer Hotsprings. Our caretaking stint goes from April 1 to the end of July or August.  It is something we are very excited about, but it is still in the distant future. We plan to keep up the blog on our travels so we hope you enjoy!