Crandell Invasion!

The Crandell and Matt kids at Lola's in Avellanas.


A guy from the church we attend here has a huge ranch house and farm out past Liberia.
He had the whole congregation over for a picnic and rodeo.
Incredible time...zip lines, bull-riding, cliff jumping, horse-back riding...


Christine, bucking like a ram...


Reid, Sage, Jacob, and Luke at the ranch house.


Reid zip-lining across a river.


Gregg jumping off the ledge with Allison in hand!


Next stop, La Carolina Lodge and the Rio Celeste.
We went on a 5 hour hike to a waterfall and hotspring along the Rio Celeste.
Here you can see the amazing crystal blue waterfall in the background...


The waterfall at Rio Celeste


Mid-trail along the river.


Allison and Jeannie at a lookout point on the way to the hotsprings.


Lounging on the deck in a hammock back at the Lodge.


La Carolina Lodge is situated on the river within a 180 acre farm.
We went on a 2-hour horseback tour and saw but a fraction of the land.


My beautiful girls.


Dave, mid-flight in the river.


The riverside hot tub.


On the porch outside La Carolina Lodge before heading back to the coast.


Road trippin'...Griswald style.


Gettin' schooled...


Rodeo Madness!

Surf Surf Surf

Gracie's caught the surf bug :)


Dawn patrol at Avellanas.


A few good lefts...

Surfing Avellanas

Jacob's cover shot.


Driving down the line...


Another foot bigger and it's head-high.


Possibly the postcard photo of the trip thus far...


Grandpa Northrop "Bompa", dropping in on Sam.


Sammy, grabbing his rail and posing for the camera.


Sam dropping in.


Christine and her dad.


Some old bald guy.


Dinner.


Obligatory monkey photo.

Friends and Family

Ted and Janie paid us a visit last week :)


Christine and Jen.

La Carolina Lodge

We took to the road for a 3-hour excursion to the mountains of NW Costa Rica. We arrived 5-1/2 hours later and opted to stay the night at La Carolina Lodge. Little did we know what a magical 24 hours awaited us...




We stayed in this cabin, which was the first Carolina Lodge structure built many years ago.


The lodge is bordered by the Rio Celeste. You can hear the river rushing from every place in the lodge.


This deck goes out about 10 feet over the river.


Another one of the Carolina cabins.


And yet another cabin.


The outdoor natural rock spa which gathers river water and heats it in a wood-burning water furnace and spills out into the rock spa.


You can go back and forth between the hot water and the cold river water pools that form adjacent to the spa.




Caballos.


Alejandro and the crew, cleaning a fish that Grandpa caught.


We shared all of our meals at a big long table that sat 14 people.


Big pot of stew simmering in a huge iron pot.


The lodge grows its own coffee beans and roasts them underneath the wood-burning stove in the kitchen.


Before the hike!








Boyes means Oxen in the espanol.


Fuerte means strong in the espanol. Jacob, flexing his fuerte-ness.






Nathan and Juan, our hiking guide.


Lots of mud!




After the hike!