SURF COSTA RICA

Embracing my inner surfer in Costa Rica my virtual vacation

I was looking to master the surf no further than Costa Rica. I'm talkin' sun-basked beaches, warm waters, un-crowded breaks and some world-class waves. But first, I meet with Daize Shayne and Malia Jones - two hot surfer chicks from California. I'm hooking up with them to teach me everything I need to know about surfing from eskimo rolling to hanging ten. Cutting to the chase, they're really quite something! Over seven days I allow them to show me the ropes, introduce me to the hippest hangouts, and find the best rips in town.


I began my surfing adventure in the paradise-delicious hot spot Jaco. It's the place in Costa Rica where surfers come to play, sun-seekers set up camp, and nightlife never quite sleeps. The waves are legendary and truly spectacular. With a fantastic coastal climate and warm temperatures, Jaco has some of the longest rides in the world. An unstoppable surfer's paradise, the great waves come from magnificent storms just off the Mexican coast, and the swells that accompany them are pretty much unrivalled. Whether you're a surfing pro, or a surf-rookie, Daize and Malia will help you. Avoiding the crowds, they took me off-the-beaten track to Jaco's best-kept surf's secret. Catch me riding the waves in style... check out my virtual pics.


Now that I've conquered the surf of Jaco, it's off to Santa Teresa for the next three days. With its white sand palm lined beaches, this is the perfect setting for me to sit back and unwind into Costa Rica's leisurely paced culture. And to truly settle in they have daily siesta sessions scheduled in with some Licuados (also called batidos) - it's an unusually flavored, locally favored milkshake drink. Delish! While enjoying the spectacular sunsets on the beach, I re-aligned my zen with a body melting massage to hit those sore spots. 

I'll be back on the surf in no time!

your always affected by your first love,

if you fall in love with the ocean the smell the sound, 

the story peaks 

and your pumping heart 

as you fall head over heels

 on your first attempt 

to catch a wave, 

you are gone.

Then all you need 

are some tasty waves 

and the warm sun in your face.

APEX SKI RESORT - BEST KEPT SECRET IN BC CANADA

Day 1- When in doubt... JUST DO IT!!! and so we drove, straight to BC Canada. Well not exactly. We detoured over and up to Seattle to renew my passport before passing GO. So what should've been an 8 hour road trip turned into 18 hours. Ugh!
Over the river and up route 5
to Seattle Washington we go.
Passport, then Pike's Place and Portage Bay Cafe
are all the places we know.
Hey! 
So we made it to our destination...  better late then never. Woke up the next morning to this hidden little gem of a ski village - over 1000 acres of skiable terrain and groomed cross-country near by. I can NOT tell you where - I was sworn to secrecy, and I will uphold my promise and keep their names anonymous... so you can't hunt them down and use chinese water torture to extract the secret of the BEST SMALL DESTINATION RESORT. Not gonna happen!
Well so I folded in my title - seriously wasn't suppose to tell - but key words trump secrets. Sorry Wilma and Fred (cover names, you understand).


Day 2 - The four of us ski'd right from the condo to the slopes. Our first run was freshly groomed, a little crunchy in some areas but mostly soft without slush. Where most people like slightly sketchy and difficult terrain that gives you an adrenaline rush... well not gonna lie, that's not me. Fare-weather kinda gal, SUNSHINE, groomers and no crowds - just the way my cold hiney likes it. Not that I don't mind a challenge... I've been known to accidentally get my ass into runs I have noooo right to be. In which case I'm yard-saling at high speeds cheering for mercy and peeps to get out of my way. Sad I know. So then I discover there's TWO lifts YES! (well three, but only two were open). Considering I'm always behind, lost or usually detour the complete opposite way of everyone - well doesn't matter. Two was the magic number that day... 50/50. How hard can it be to find my peeps. Coin toss. As the day gets better, run after run after run... we popped in The Edge Bistro had hot chocolates and home-made pastries and sandwiches... moving on, we buzzed around the mountain - generally just having a blast. Finally, maximizing our enjoyment we had an ice cold beer at the Gunbarrel Saloon. While visiting the pub you have to knock a nail into a tree trunk w the smaller end of a hammer after drinking a beer and before leaving (refer to video). Next.... hot tub! Then we cleaned up only to go get down and dirty w a bunch of crazy fun Canadians. All I'm gonna disclose is they have this game called SLOTS....eh! Awkward! (video! actually....)


Day 3 - Ooo, a small mythical ice skating rink wrapped around the condo where we stayed. Sweeeet. Wilma and I go ice skating after sipping COFFEEEEE for too long. After two hours of ice skating round and round and round you tend to get crazy creative. First, we did an ice dance and had to hum for each other the Blue Danube Waltz by Strauss... impressive I know. Really! (don't believe me? video!) Then we decided when the guys get back from skiing we'll play ice tag, with specific rules of course. The deal was they could only skate in one direction and we could skate both ways - when it was our turn, we only had to tag one of them, where they had to tag both of us, still only going in one direction. Sounds fair. never happened. It dumped that day so the guys stayed out shredding it up. good for them. they knew better. On a side note - the moon was shining so bright that day. hmm.... Next, XC ski'd on this blissful scenic groomed trail made for classic and skate. Nickel Plate Nordic Centre. that's all I'm sayin'. Afterwards, martini hour w Vicki and Chuck & his sis across the way - then steaks, grilled shrimp and late night dominos. It got brutal.


Day 4 - Remarkable, another amazing day, sunshine again! Woke up - Fred made delicious breakfast sandwiches... devoured them... buckled up, strapped on the ski's and headed for the slopes - one last time before take off. It was another EPIC day (silliness, not skiing). Most headed for the bumps. Fred and Alex tried to convince me to do the Toiletbowl run... only to get FLUSHED. No thx boys. pass. In spite, they cleaned it right up. My objective was to carve turns on some smooth groomers. We were having too much fun - owning the mountain mid-week. Finally we headed for our traditional happy hour at the Gunbarrel Saloon guzzling down a Canadian beer called Kokanee. God that was delish! Grabbed a couple road treats at our favorite deli - The Edge Bistro... and headed off in tears. Wilma chasing our car down to stay longer. Until we meet again! 


WILMAAAA!!!!!!
CooCoo CooCoo....

(Video will be uploaded in the next day or two on youtube and here!)

EAT LIKE YOU GIVE A DAMN Portage Bay Cafe Seattle WA

Portage Bay Cafe Seattle Washington 

SPREADING MY WINGS AT THE NEW AMAZON OFFICES

Pike's Place Market

Pike's Place Market

View of Seattle from Pikes Place Market

WILMA, ME, ALEX & FRED

APEX SKI RESORT BC CANADA

APEX SKI RESORT BC CANADA

HOT TUB + HAPPY HOUR = SILLINESS

US W CRAZY CANADIANS

CHUCK & VICKI 

Nickel Plate Nordic Centre

APEX SKI RESORT BC CANADA

WILMA, ME & LISA 

Nickel Plate Nordic Centre

GUNBARREL SALOON

APEX SKI RESORT BC CANADA

INSITU: TUNA TRACKER? OTHER FISH TO CATCH...

UAV'S STARTED AS TUNA TRACKER??

I found this interesting as I've recently had the privilege to chat with Andy von Flotow and Guillermo Fisch who explained to me their idea about unmanned aircraft and Tuna Tracking.

In the beginning, 1998, a couple of engineers who formed Insitu, Andy von Flotow and Tad McGeer set out to build better UAV's (unmanned aerial vehicle)... and they did just that. They developed the SeaScan- launched by a catapult and caught with a hook when it got back to the ship.

Guillermo Fisch, an Argentinean-born naval architect and engineer, in the 1990's, helped big fishing companies improve their standard approach to finding tuna — roaming the ocean by helicopter from a fishing ship. Guillermo paired up with InSitu to help with the idea and development of this Tuna Tracking system.

Engineer, Tad McGeer, who was developing the UAV's, intended to have the unmanned vehicles fly over the deep ocean, find schools of tuna and stream back meteorological data. This is a Tuna Tracker - or Tuna Searcher- as Andy puts it. The goal is to monitor the fish when they're feeding.

Boeing was interested with the technology and potential of UAV's, and acquired InSitu in 2008 for $400 million. InSitu operates as a separate subsidiary under Boeing.

The pursuit and development of the Tuna Tracker was laid to rest, as the price ticket was much to high for fishing companies. There were "other fish to catch".

Today, UAVs are becoming a staple of modern military operations. Drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) have several other (good) purposes as well, including patrolling small areas of the nation’s borders, flying over areas to assess damage after hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, forest fires, weather patterns, etc.