(Location: San Vito, Costa Rica) From Pavones, we drove (well, were driven) two hours back to Golfito, and then another very hilly, windy hour to Las Cruces Biological Station. There is one reason to go here: birds. We were only here for one night, and had the whole place to ourselves. We did a two […]
(Location: Pavones, Costa Rica) No one had heard of this place. We were pretty close to Panama. There were small planes that seemed to land and take off in the middle of the night. Where the heck were we ?? From the Osa Peninsula, we took a private ferry to the other side of the […]
(Location: Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica) Getting to the Osa Peninsula isn’t easy. It was a very bumpy flight, in a very small plane, from San Jose to Puerto Jiminez. There was a bit of confusion at the airplane landing place (not really an airport, per se) – the lodge had arranged transportation but none of […]
(Location: San Jose, Costa Rica) The last time we were in Costa Rica was in 2004. On that trip, our flight was canceled making for a day of stress and difficult connections to our remote lodge. This time we would do it differently. We planned a “safety day” at the beginning of the trip. No […]
Location: Socorro, New Mexico Bosque del Apache – unless you’re a birder, you’ve probably never heard of it. I don’t remember how we became aware of this National Wildlife Refuge located an hour and a half south of Albuquerque. The best time of the year to visit is from early November to mid-February, so it […]
In August of 2010, we headed to Holbox, Mexico to (hopefully) swim with whalesharks. Holbox, pronounced OL-bosh, is a small island off the coast of the North coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. The island is about 40k (26 miles) long, 1.5 kilometres (under a mile) wide, and has no paved roads. Holbox is about a […]
For Christmas 2009, we traveled to Japan with two targets: snow monkeys and red crowned cranes. I’ll leave the birds for a separate post. We flew from Chicago to Tokyo on JAL, and got a screaming deal of first class tickets with points. It was Christmas day and the airport was deserted. We were the […]
In November of 2008, we traveled to Churchill, Canada hoping to see polar bears. We traveled with Frontiers North, and spent 5 days at their Tundra Buggy Lodge. Getting to Churchill from Chicago is pretty easy. We flew direct to Winnipeg, overnighted at the airport Sheraton, and then continued on the 1.5 hour charter flight […]
In July 2007 we visited the Alaska for one reason: bears. We wanted to go in 2006, but when we inquired in late February, they were already booked so we reserved a year and a half in advance. The six hour flight from Chicago to Anchorage did not provide a meal or snack, but the […]
In May 2007 we visited the Cinque Terre region of Italy. We flew into Genoa and took a local train about 2 hours down the coast. Cinque terre, which means “five lands”, is a bit off the usual tourist circuit. All trains don’t stop in all of the villages so you need to do a […]