Tabacon and Arenal

After a wonderful 5 weeks in the states, visiting friends and family, skiing, skating, going to a ton of movies, riding horses (that would be Natasha) and generally having a great time, we returned to Costa Rica. We took the 12:15 am flight on Thurs. night, arriving into San Jose at 6:30 am, ugh. It is great cause it is non stop and on Frontier, which we love. It is rough cause it is only almost 6 hours and we have the Graff-need-to-get-8-hours-gene, and leaving at midnight makes for a long day. To make it longer, we decided to drive 4 hours to a hot springs on Friday. It sounded like a bit of a crazy plan, until we got to the hot springs. Those of you who know Joe is a hot springs nut, will be impressed to know that he thinks these are the nicest hot springs ever. I just think this is the prettiest place I have ever seen.

The place is called Tabacon Hot Springs, and it is made of a volcano heated river, split into pools and waterfalls. The waterfall above is the first area that you get to when you enter the springs. Behind where Natasha is sitting are small caves that you can sit in, behind the water. You can stick your neck out and receive the best massage ever! I love this pool.

The sign for Tabacon, if you are interested, I bet they have a wonderful website! I love winter, especially winter sports, but I need to say that returning to summer, and sitting in hot water for 2 days was amazing.

This is the active volcano, called Arenal, that heats the water for the hot springs. Quite often, it is covered in clouds, so we were super excited to see the top! You can see the smoke coming out of the top, and in the night, if you are lucky, you can see hot lava rocks rolling down the sides. How cool is that?

This is a photo of Lake Arenal, which is at the base of the volcano. It is so beautiful and peaceful, 34 miles around. Super popular with windsurfers, as it is quite windy on the west side. Cora, Alexander's girlfriend, and her parents have a lot along this lake and plan to move here one day.

This is a view looking up the river while you are in the hotsprings. The vegitation is mindblowing!

Sorry this is sideways, still figuring out the blog. Just a sweet pic of the volcano and us.

Another great view of the Arenal Volcano

Joe, apre-soak!

Natash and I at that amazing waterfall pool again.

There is a swimming pool, at the end of the resort, filled with hot springs water that has a great slide. I love that I caught Alexander in mid flight!

Alexander in the waterfall...

And doing his pose, in one of the other pools....

and underwater! Natasha picked the pics for this blog, so being a typical #2 kid, she picked lots of her brother!

MMMMMMMM! I can still feel the warmth and comfort of this one!

Natash and Joe enjoying a really hot pool.

Me, too!

Natash must have really loved this photo to put it in twice, and I have no idea how to remove it, so enjoy! So the town that Arenal and the Tabacon hotsprings is closest to is called La Fortuna. It is filled with really fun adventurish kind of things to do and many people from the states visit this are when they are in Costa Rica. There is rafting, horseback riding, soaking (of course) and there is the most amazing zip line ever! Joe, Alexander, Cora and I went on it. Natasha had gotten stuck on it a couple of years ago, really high up, and wasn't ready to go again! One of the guys who works on the zip line took these photos of us!

It was a great weekend, and a great way to come back. It is so green here! And summery. I feel so great being here this time. When we arrived here in July, I felt so responsible for how it would go for Natash and Alexander, that I don't think I really had the where with all to notice the beauty and tranquility of this place. Now, since I know they are doing great and it will be ups and downs here, but amazing, I am really feeling it all. It is so great to be speaking Spanish again! It truly is a dream come true for me, and I am super grateful for this opportunity.