Costa Rica - First Day

I have so many pictures to post from our trip to Costa Rica that it's taken me a little time to weed through them all and decide which ones to post. There's some great pictures taken and some not so great pictures and in the end I'm posting more that I probably should because of my lovely younger sisters. Since they lived there for a few years, I think I'll be posting more than originally planned to help them with their nostalgia for the country, and if I didn't say before, it's a beautiful country. So, sit back and enjoy the first of many blogs about our trip. This blog just happens to be our FIRST day. :-)

Ok, so this is a silly picture from our bus window of a street corner in Alejuela. I took this picture because the street sign is pointing to Pizza Hut, which reminds me of my visit to Costa Rica when my family lived there and their excitement to eat at Pizza Hut and of course reminds me of their yummy cheese.








Here's a view of the park in Alejuela from our bus window. Unfortunately, we didn't get to stop so had to get some pictures as we drove through the town.











Another view of the park in Alejuela.











Beautiful view of the Alejuela valley taken on our drive to the Poas volcano.












Cool pic of the Poas volcano crater, which is considered an active volcano.















Todd and I at the volcano. It was surprisingly cold at the volcano, a very high altitude.
















Another cool Poas volcano pic.
















Had to take this picture because I think somewhere in my vast archive of pictures I have Spencer standing in front of this sign when he was just a little kid.
















Very cool plants growing on the volcano called Umbrella plants, not to be confused with the scientific name for the plant which I have no idea what it is. They are called this for a reason, the leaves grow as large as an umbrella and bigger.














Beautiful flowers found on the Poas volcano hike.
















































At the base of the Poas volcano, there was a visitor center along with a art shop displaying some very cool carved pieces. This is an example of one of the pieces on display.















Here's the model used to create this piece of art. :-) My handsome husband Todd (just kidding on the model part... don't you agree there's a slight likeness?)
















Another awesome view from our bus window. This is on our drive down for the Poas volcano.















We stopped to view a gorgeous waterfall on our way down from the volcano.









































While viewing the waterfall, we had to take a picture of this newly built bridge. One thing we quickly discovered traveling through Costa Rica that all bridges were one lane bridges and we thought this was funny that it was a brand new bridge


















Last but not least, the fun wildlife in Costa Rica. Our guide found this little frog and held it for us all to see. It's very poisonous apparently, but very cute!


Another cool looking frog.



Well that's our first day in Costa Rica. Whew! So much fun and each day after was just as amazing.