i walked 5K

(finish line)

(coffee and number 9) 

(swag)

when we signed up for a run/walk last weekend, we figured i would just walk a few k. i get out of breath these days after a stroll to the grocery store, which is about 50 feet from our apartment. but when we got to the race, the weather was so cool and drizzly, perfect for me. and the mayor of the little town of appleton decided to walk with the pregnant lady. he gave me a history of the town while we walked, and we stopped for a quick chat with lots of volunteers along the way.

i finished dead last, and j finished way, way ahead of me, even though he had run double the distance (he came in third in the 10 k). it felt really good though. we talked about how cool it will be to jog with the stroller in these kind of community runs next year. we are so excited for this baby we get to meet in about 8 weeks!

after the run (walk) i totally ate a ton of french toast with syrup, ice cream, chocolate, etc. perfect sunday.

a weekend in st john's

(sweet road trip food, i think)

 (tons of snow in st john's)

(mural at the hummus hut in st john's)

 (my view while snowshoeing through pippy park)

(i don't think uggs are meant for snowshoeing) 

(coffees and treats at our fav, fixed)

i can't even explain how great our weekend away was. we ate lots of good food, including lots of fast food. i have rediscovered a love of fast food burgers. can't get enough. for the record, i ate at A&W, Mcdonalds, and Wendys, all this weekend. no biggie. we also swam a lot at the hotel, had coffee with a friend, and did a bunch of shopping. and snowshoeing was super fun in pippy park. snowshoeing is such a workout. i totally needed a burger right after. 

Things to do in Happy Adventure, NL

 (biking around the dock...note superstylish bike gloves)

(super white sand at sandy cove beach) 

(hanging out at eastport beach) 

(chilling after a little hike up the high tide trails) 

(crazy herbaceous (i think) teeth at the beaches heritage centre) 

(enjoying the view and a beer) 

 (the view from the lookout at the salvage trails)

things to do in happy adventure:

1. bike around. it is a little hilly, but with really bike-friendly roads

2. hike the high tide trails in eastport

3. eat some fresh cod at chucky's restaurant

4. chill at sandy cove beach (beautiful)

5. enjoy some newfoundland beer at your hotel

6. check out the heritage centre (they have local artist works and also shows sometimes)

7. hike the trails in salvage 

other things: the season is winding down right now, so we weren't able to go kayaking or take a fishing boat tour. but i bet that would be awesome in summer. 

things to do in monteverde, costa rica

(on a guided nighttime hike)

(cool butterfly)

(this tree strangled a tree that was inside it. true)

(beers at belmar)

(just a little something on the side of the road)

things to do in monteverde (aka, the most magical place):

-guided night walk to see nighttime creatures. $20 each i think. we saw a sloth, a tarantula, a bunch of cool insects

-guided morning hike through the cloud forest. $55 each. we saw all these cool birds. and spider monkeys, snakes, insects. one of the best 4 hours we spent. we feel like we know roberto, our tour guide. we practically miss him. 

-bungee jumping. $60. i did not do this, but j did. it looked absolutely crazy!! you can also do ziplining, or walk on suspension bridges. 

-eat at the treehouse restaurant. there is a giant tree in it, which is cool. we ate here, and it was normal pricing and good food. 

-other things which we did not do since we were loving chilling in our suite: visit the cheese/ice cream factory. visit the coffee/chocolate factory.

notes on monteverde: most of the schools were started by quakers from alabama, who are pretty passive and calm people that fit right in with the costa ricans. when a kid starts to go to school, they have meditation for ten minutes every day. by the time you get to high school, you are doing over an hour of silence a day at school. there are no janitors in schools. the kids have chores, and clean the school themselves. pretty cool

and don't worry, i'll probably be done writing about the honeymoon soon. 

things to do in nosara, costa rica

1. search for howler monkeys at one of the area's many reserves
2. surf or chill at playa guiones
3. hang out at your hotel's pool
4. take a guided tour at night to see the sea turtles doing their thing (no flash photos allowed)
5. have lunch or drinks at casa tucan restaurant (we ate there at least 3 times) at the beach.
6. have smoothies at robin's cafe or harmony hotel juice bar
7. yoga
8. surf 'til you are sore
also, the zip-lining seemed popular

things to do on Fogo Island

we visited Fogo island on the weekend, and loved it. it is definitely the off season, so there are a lot of businesses closed, but we still found lots to do:

1. take the ferry: you actually have to take the ferry to get to Fogo, so this is a given, but is was pretty fun. i recommend bringing snacks and games. it takes around an hour. it was around $25.

2. go see a film: this is a pretty new thing in Fogo. it was free and they served popcorn. they show a lot of documentaries. we watched one about what Fogo was like in the sixties. i really enjoyed it

3. check out the beach: there is this really beautiful sandy white beach called Sandy Cove. it was cold, but we still enjoyed the beauty of it. and we could see an iceberg, which was a plus.

4. visit the town of Tilting: it is this tiny town of mostly Irish decent. there are awesome trails you can walk on among the many sheep.

5. check out the artist's residences: this is really new to Fogo too. there are a few really cool residences for artists to create in. they look so incredible against the landscape of Fogo. we checked out a few, and i think there are more.

6. bike around: there are lots of bike friendly trails, and the main roads are paved. there was not much traffic this time of year.

7. Nicole's Cafe: this was such a great restaurant. we went there for 3 meals in 24 hours. the servers were so friendly. the food was pretty fancy, but reasonably priced. my favourite was the pork tenderloin with fancy potatoes, and the marinated turbot fish. i think our bill was around $75 for supper with desserts and an appetizer.

other things: it was raining for a lot of our visit, so we missed out on a few things we had planned to do, like hiking brimstone head, and picking partridgeberries.