The Quest for the Quetzal

(Location: San Gerado del Doto, Costa Rica) We’re not birders. Well, I’m definitely not a birder. Andy says he’s not a birder. In any event, we found ourselves driving halfway up the Pan American highway in search of the Resplendent Quetzal. Neither of us are feeling that great at this point in the trip. Let’s […]

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Birds, birds, birds

(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 […]

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Lots of hummingbirds and one less camera

(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 […]

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The last time I saw my toenail

(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 […]

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San Jose Layover

(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 […]

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Birding in Bosque

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 […]

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“Tourist Class” in the Galapagos

(Location: The Galapagos, Equador) Simply put: a trip of a lifetime. The Galapagos has been on our list since I can remember, but for some reason this year we just decided to go for it. We shot 2.25 gig of images (28 movies and 1349 images) and 4 pathetic rolls of film (underwater). This trip […]

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Seeing the Caribbean by Ferry: A Carnival Cruise

(Location: Eastern Caribbean) Post 9/11, no one was traveling. In November, we saw a deal for a cruise at Christmas for $250 per person. We hadn’t been on a cruise, and the itinerary looked pretty good, so we figured how bad could it be?!? We flew from Raleigh to San Juan, Puerto Rico where we […]

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A Sticky Weekend in Charleston

(Location: Charleston, South Carolina) August 2001 found us in Charleston for Andy’s birthday. We got a screaming deal online and stayed at the Meeting Street Inn. Our luggage was “misplaced” and did not arrive until noon on Friday, so we walked around the first day in our “city clothes”. Quite a sight to see Andy […]

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Milan: A Pleasant Surprise

(Location: Milan, Italy) (In 2000, I was commuting from Raleigh to Austin for work most weeks. Due to corporate policies, this meant flying via Dallas or Chicago, and usually home on Thursday nights. Most weeks, flights were overbooked and the airline would ask for volunteers to take another flight in exchange for a voucher. After […]

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