Before hitting the coast, we stopped in downtown Portland to pick-up a new camera. Sometime before we left for this trip our point-and-shoot decided that it would only take blurry pictures. Jennifer found a place that had the one we wanted in stock. Downtown Portland seems like an awesome city, and we decided to eat lunch there. After circling the blocks for a while, we finally realized that there was no parking to be found for something the size of old campervan. Continue reading “The Oregon Coast – Part 1”
Author: Ryan
Idaho and into Oregon
We left the Gros Ventre campground and began driving southeast with the intention of eventually working our way to the parks in Southern Utah – Zion, Bryce, etc. We drove for 1.5 hours before questioning our route, wondering if we should continue west instead. Continue reading “Idaho and into Oregon”
Grand Teton National Park
The morning of the 25th we drove out of Yellowstone’s West gate in hopes of finding cell reception. We didn’t know where we wanted to go next, and without a map, couldn’t really figure it out without Internet access. Fortunately, our phones worked just outside of the West gate, so we sat there for 45 minutes and weighed our options. We decided to drive right back into the park, all the way around to the East side and eventually out of the South gate. We were going to see the Grand Teton National Park.
Yellowstone
September 23rd was the day that we finally made it to Yellowstone. By the time we got to the East gate of the park it was nearly 4pm. We were a bit disheartened to see that all of the campgrounds that were still open (only about half) were full.
The Rest of the Midwest
As with the day before, the 20th was another long day of driving. We realized that our route would take us straight across the Southern part of Nebraska, so I reached out to my cousin, Cody, to see if he could meet us for breakfast. Cody is out in Lincoln at the University of Nebraska getting his PhD in ruminant nutrition. With our breakfast meet set for 8am the next morning, we knew that we needed to stay the night either in Lincoln or close enough that we didn’t have too far of a drive in the morning. Continue reading “The Rest of the Midwest”
Round 2 – Headed West
After being home for a few months, we knew how Willie Nelson felt when he couldn’t wait to get back on the road again. We didn’t like having the RV just sit in the backyard; not quite what we bought it for. As with the first RV trip, the packing seemed to be endless. We again missed our intended departure date, and finally pulled out of our driveway at 6pm on Wednesday. Continue reading “Round 2 – Headed West”
Costa Rica: Guanacaste (4 of 4)
After leaving the Hotel Pelicano, we decided to go check out some of the Guanacaste beach towns that we’d never been to. We also decided to again take the ferry out to the Nicoya peninsula instead of driving around. We headed to Puntarenas to try to catch the noon ferry, but missed it’s departure by 10 minutes. No biggie, another would be along in two hours.
Costa Rica: the Osa and Central Coast (3 of 4)
Once we got back from surfing Punta Banco the next morning, Jerry and Monica began the long trek back to his house. Jennifer and I contemplated staying in Pavones another night, but decided to move on and drive around to the other side of the Gulfo Dulce, to the Osa Peninsula. To say that the Osa is “wild” is a bit of an understatement. National Geographic declared it the most biologically intense place on earth. We were excited to see it for ourselves.
Continue reading “Costa Rica: the Osa and Central Coast (3 of 4)”
Costa Rica: to the End of the Road (2 of 4)
The next three days saw us hanging out at Jerry’s house and the surrounding area. We spent our time swimming in the pool, lounging in hammocks, howling at the monkeys, going to the town of Samara to eat at restaurants on the beach, swimming at Playa Carrillo, and driving down the coast to enjoy the fancy resort pool at Punta Islita. All of the usual stuff. All of it good. I was also reunited with the surfboard I keep at Jerry’s house and got to surf a few hours every morning, which is always a big part of the draw for me. After four nights at Jerry’s, we began our trek to Pavones, which is about as far south as you can go on the Pacific side before hitting Panama – the end of the road.
Continue reading “Costa Rica: to the End of the Road (2 of 4)”
Costa Rica: a Late Summer Detour (1 of 4)
After being home for few weeks, we were itching to get back out of Brandon. We planned on heading out west in the campervan in the fall, but wanted to go somewhere before then.
We toyed with the idea of renting an RV in Europe and cruising around over there for a while, but quickly ruled it out due to cost. We then strongly considered renting a home for a month or two in Spain, Italy, Argentina . . . somewhere totally different.
Continue reading “Costa Rica: a Late Summer Detour (1 of 4)”