Tamarindo, Costa Rica Wedding/Honeymoon/Running

Where to start?

First and foremost, I married the man of my dreams

In a beautiful place with

sand and surf

monkeys and crocs

beer and nachos

sun and rain

oh...

and a marathon mixed in for Doug and a half marathon for me.

 

We stayed at the Tamarindo Diria Beach and Golf Resort
Which was pretty amazing

There were three pools

Our room was overlooking the ocean

Beautiful grounds

Fun shopping

Open air restaurants and bars

Great surfing just steps away

 

The sun rises around 5:30 am. I loved getting up to head outside on our veranda to watch the surfers in the morning. So peaceful.

They would then come again before sunset.

 

Doug snapped some amazing sunset photos. The colors were so vibrant.

 

This is what we went to bed to every night...

 

And this is what we woke up to...

 

We went on an estuary tour that was pretty awesome. It was just the two of us and our captain.

How he spotted some of the things we saw, like this iguana, I have no idea. He was pretty amazing.

Mind you, this is not a zoo, this is wild, Costa Rican country.



 

I'm not sure Doug or I initially spotted one croc on our own. The captain was able to spot them all.

We saw 5 or 6 crocs...

 

And 2 sets of monkeys. Each with their own little family.

Look at this little fella. How stinking cute.

 

And then the howler monkeys. I loved their sound.

See the baby? Our guide said he was about 3 weeks old.

What was fun about our run is that I was able to hear the moneys as we were running. Made for a great experience.

 

Our captain and boat

 

Doug enjoying a micro brew from Volcano Brewing

 

Sitting at Witch's Rock Surf Shop, eating at Joe's, anticipating 'Nachos As Big As Your Ass!'

 They were delish.

 

The life...

 

Packet pickup

 

A preview...

 

Doug at the pool with the swim up bar

 

Taking it easy

 

We booked our trip through Marathon Tours. We've booked several trips through them and have always had a great experience.

However, this time was something special.

Jacqui was our tour manager. I can not say enough great things about how amazing this woman is.

First off, in passing, I mentioned I needed to switch races to the half. The next thing I know, there is a note under our door stating she had that taken care of. She then found out about our wedding and asked if we wanted an upgraded room. Really? Yes. We declined, as our room was amazing enough. I'm not sure if it could have gotten any better anyway!

I could not get enough of her stories.

She is too humble, in my opinion, and you had to ask and probe before she would 'fess' up.

I had mentioned I saw she did the Leadville 100, which lead into questions regarding additional ultras she had completed.

She has done this race in Alaska..a 350 MILE...yes three hundred and fifty mile race. With a SLED that weighed about 60 pounds!

Holy moly, if I had done something like that, I would have it tattooed on my forehead!

After our victory party with the group, we headed back up to our room to find this...

from Jacqui.
I can only hope that one day we'll be able to complete another tour with her!

 

One of my favorite pictures.

Yes, I stole the idea from Pinterest, but who cares?

 Certainly not me!



 

The beach was amazing...

 

It is rainy season in Costa Rica.

It rained a couple of afternoons

but it was so relaxing to sit under the covered areas, whether it be the restaurant, bar or our veranda and just watch it pour.

We even got caught in the rain while having our wedding photos taken.

More to come on that later.

It was so.much.fun!