Costa Rica: Part 4

Last one, I promise.

So our final adventure was an all day trip which drove us 3 1/2 hours across the beautiful, mountainous countryside--through the dry forest, the cloud forest and the rain forest. Believe me, we know more than I ever thought possible about the differences in forests--and monkeys, birds, reptiles, volcanoes, Murphy's law, you name it--due to our very knowledgeable tour guide. How do some people store that much information in their brains?

At the end of the drive we turned on to the bumpiest (and steepest) dirt road I've ever been on, to get to the nicest resort I have ever been to. It's this place called the Springs which has only been open for 7 months (translation: everything is really new, really nice, really modern, and really luxurious) and it's on the side of a mountain overlooking one of the largest volcanoes in the country.

The resort itself has everything from spa services, a gym, game room, four types of restaurants and some very expensive hotel rooms (which we did not stay in). Since it's so new they only have 20 rooms completed, out of 150, so there was hardly anybody there. The best part about this place, and the reason we went, was the incredible natural hot springs (hence the name Springs). They have 19 different pools ranging in temperature. Some flow into each other, some have waterfalls, one has seats with a wet bar and one has a really fun slide. Half of them are known as the lost springs because you have to walk down twisting forest lined steps to get to the next one. It felt so exotic and secluded.The view: a little cloudy to see the volcano, but it didn't rain. The weather was perfect! Apparently the owner actually designed the whole place. Really, who needs an architect anyway? (oh yes, our tour guide told us that tidbit of information too)We spent hours soaking in the luxurious pools and had so much fun discovering what the each one would be like, and playing in them like we were 12.

Having fun on the slide. Isn't this gorgeous?Me about to plow into Jared.
Ahhhh!Look at that form. When are the next summer Olympics?

Honestly, the pictures and my description do no do this place justice. It is absolutely fabulous. We had such a fun and relaxing day. Check out the website for really good pictures. I highly recommend Costa Rica to anyone. It was truly one of the best vacations of my life, and yes, I will stop talking about it soon.

We did get first class again going home (great, I'm way too used to it now), but the flight back from Atlanta was another crapshoot. They actually put us on the cleared list but what do you know, mistake! (oooh, Atlanta....) Then they called all the standby people by name and said "go ahead and take any available seat in coach." Does this sound good to anyone? Not us either. But you would think if they sent 6 people on the plane that there would be 6 seats available, right? You'd be wrong though, there was only 5 and Jared was number 6. I watched as he almost walked off the plane and then this other standby lady stood up to get off (I guess she had a lower priority than Jared-phew).

You know, there really is something kind of neat about buying a ticket and expecting there to be a seat for you when you show up. Call me crazy. You do have to be flexible, and a bit insane to do standby, but it has been such a great opportunity for our family and we will miss it (unless those DGS people come to their senses and reinstate the program, dangit!). We would probably have not taken any of the 5 trips we took since November. Good times, good times.