Flathead Lake and Whitefish, Montana Heading very far north in Western Montana, you pass by Flathead Lake. It was beautiful. It is the largest freshwater lake in the western US. It was hard to drive since you just wanted to look at the beautiful lake. Afterwards, we checked out Kalispell and Whitefish. Whitefish was a
Devils Tower, Wyoming Anyone who has seen Close Encounters knows Devils Tower. It was shocking how massive it was and from how far it could be seen. A really neat and strange place. From miles away:
Falls Park, Sioux Falls, South Dakota The roads to Sioux Falls, South Dakota was red. It was pretty strange, I had never seen red asphalt before. But apparently, there are a lot of reddish / pinking rocks in the area that they use in the asphalt. We stopped at Falls Park to see Sioux Falls. They were
Niagara Falls, New York With the car issues freshly resolved, we hesitantly headed up to Niagara Falls, New York. The car worked fine the entire drive. We saw at least a dozen hawks in the trees on the way. But we only know how to identify Costa Rican birds, so we haven't
Birds We've Identified in Costa Rica While in Costa Rica, Carson has been determined to identify each bird that we see. Here is a list of the unique species that we have seen: 1. Muscovy duck 2. Great kiskidee 3. Rufus collared sparrow 4. Cherrie’s tanager (passerine’s tanager) 5. Ruddy ground dove 6. Montezuma
Night Walk in our Neighborhood with Phil and Savannah Savannah, Phil, and Keith went on a night walk around our neighborhood for about an hour. We saw some pretty neat creatures. A frog hiding in this plant: A great kiskadee asleep on a branch: A spectacled caiman in the water (its eye is glowing since i have the flashlight
Rio Chollin - Natural Hot Spring River We were talking with a neighbor and he asked us if we had gone to the hot springs here. We had looked at several hot spring resorts here, but they were kind of expensive and didn't seem worth it. But he told us about the place that locals
Bogarin Trail, La Fortuna, Costa Rica Our challenge for the last few weeks was to find a Blue Jeans Frog, which is a type of Strawberry Poison Dart Frog. I had read of people seeing them at the Bogarin Trail, so when Phil and Nicole asked for suggestions of places we should go, that was at
Red Lored Amazon Parrots by our House Since returning to La Fortuna area, we have had parrots squawking and flying around near our house. But they never seemed to land where we could take a picture of them. Finally, they landed by the street, so Carson was able to capture some pictures.
Swimming at the River We went swimming and exploring at a nearby river. It wasn't the best swimming area, but we saw neat frogs, spiders, and lizards. A large spider: A neat looking lizard:
Rounding up the Calves Savannah helped some neighborhood children round up the calves that were running around in our yard. Afterwards, they came by with their puppy for us to hold and spent some time with our family.
Crocodiles in our Yard We found a good way to get out and get some exercise -- night walks in the yard. We explore, looking for bugs and animals. There is actually a small caiman (similar to a small crocodile, but less aggressive) that lives by our drive-way. We've also seen lots
Fishing at Tortuguero Island We took the opportunity while we were in Tortuguero to hire a boat to take us fishing. Our boat met us at our hotel (which was on the water) at 7:00am. But it was too windy and the waves were too large for us to go into the Caribbean,
Night Hike on Tortuguero Island, Costa Rica When we arrived at Tortuguero Island, we asked the attendant at our hotel about a tour to see the turtles (after all, Tortuguero Island means Turtle Island). He told us that that are no turtles this time of year. He said if we returned a few weeks later and looked
Tortuguero Island, Costa Rica Tortuguero Island is a small peninsula near the north-eastern corner of Costa Rica in the Caribbean Sea. Since its connection to land is so narrow and there are no roads, it is considered an island. It is accessible only by boat or airplane. There are no cars or roads
Caribbean Beach at Tortuguero Island After eating some lunch and getting settled in our hotel, we went straight for the beach. It had soft, dark grey sand. We quickly realized why no one was in the water. It was a windy, stormy day, so the waves were large and there were warning signs about the
Manuel Antonio National Park, Quepos, Costa Rica This was a super busy national park. We booked a guide, who picked us up at our house, drove us there, and helped us get through the crowds to get tickets. We got up early and got there when it opened, and it was still very crowded. Our guide had
Whale-watching, Dolphin-watching cruise in Quepos We boarded a catamaran on the pacific coast near the town of Quepos mainly to see whales, and it turned out that we ended up seeing whales and dolphins. and there were drinks served on board, andthere was swimming and snorkeling offered andthere were nets on the front of the
Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve Up with the sun to go to the Monteverde Preserve. We were there when it opened at 7am and still had to wait in a long line to buy tickets. It was very cool, cloudy and breezy that morning, which was perfect weather for birdwatching. our guide, who brought a
Monteverde Night Hike Keith, Tucker and Grandpa Knight went on a night hike in the Monteverde area to see some nocturnal creatures. Brown Jay Headlight Click Beetle Side-Striped Palm Pit Viper Orange-kneed Tarantula Nightengale Thrush
Monteverde house and Selvatura Hanging Bridges Our drive up to Monteverde looked like this; a very windy, dry, rocky road. our airb&b Really cool woodwork in this house, including this bed that has 'fractal woodburning' decorations Coatis would come to visit us in our backyard our balcony overlooked the wooded area where
Going back to La Fortuna and Volcan Arenal In La Fortuna, playing around with fallen palm fronds. Getting a picture of the volcano. We stayed a couple nights at the same house we rented in January. We went to Caño Negro and the Rio Frio near the border of Nicaragua to go on a river tour. A turtle
Savannah's Pictures These are pictures that I took -- Savannah. Slender Anole Resplendent Female Quetzal fiery billed toucan. Green lady bug. Caiman. Iguana. Humming bird. Slate- Throated Redstart . scarlet macaw. Resplendent Quetzal male. . Crested Guan.
Poas Volcano National Park Volcanologists have created a scale of 1-5 for the status of an active volcano. A 1 means that it isn't currently showing any signs of activity. A 5 is actively erupting with lava flowing. Currently, there are two volcanos in Costa Rica that are a 3 and
The Ultimate Dog Showdown As we enter and leave our neighborhood, there are always 4-5 dogs sitting in the road. One of them is bold enough that if it sees your car coming, it will walk to the middle of the lane and sit down -- a showdown. Who will flinch? We just drive
