After spending time in the hot springs, zip lining, exploring the volcano and swimming in the waterfalls we headed off to Monte Verde Cloud Forest. But not without first saying goodbye to our little green friends.

We went to Monteverde via jeep-boat-jeep. As it turned out, just as we were leaving Mount Arenal was somewhat clear for the first time since we had been in Costa Rica.

After a four hour journey we arrived in Monteverde and headed to the Cloud Forest. Walking through the forest we followed the path which took us across about eight hanging bridges that run along the top of the canopy and give you a birds eye view of the park. I still can't believe how green it was.

Walking through the forest the light would spill in where there was a break in the canopy. The light was beautiful.

The next day we rode back around the lake. Poor Charlie wasn't exactly used to riding and ended up with a pretty good saddle sore. Next time he will probably choose not to wear shorts.

Yes, there is a ton of wildlife in Costa Rica. But I have to say, the cows were some of my favorite. They are mostly brahman and have the cutest ears and dewlap.

Charlie was a good sport and let me stop the car so I could get a few shots. Look at that face. How could you NOT love her?

So, I ate chicken for most of the trip.

This was our last night in La Fortuna. Next Stop.... Tortuguero.

After taking a red eye flight to Costa Rica and driving through beautiful mountains we arrived at our first destination, La Fortuna. La Fortuna is a little town that sits at the base of Mount Arenal where you can see lava flowing pretty regularly. We previously booked a room at El Buho Cabinas which turned out to be just fine for what we needed and couldn't really be better for $20 per night.

It must be said, the best part of our accommodation were the neighbors. There were a ton of iguanas in the tree right outside our room, and they were not the least bit camera shy.

Unfortunately, due to the rain and the nature of the activities that we were taking part in, much of the time I was unable to take many photographs. As it turns out, things like zip lining aren't so conducive to photography. However, I was able to take the camera along on our hikes. This was a great sign we walked past on our first day in Arenal Volcano Park.

The thing about places like Costa Rica is that you spend most of your time with your face turned up looking for interesting creatures. Much of the time those creatures are pretty elusive, but it is amazing the beauty that you can find when you are so observant on the trail.

The greenness of Costa Rica is breath taking. It is truly a photographers playground.

We were lucky to find a couple of spider monkeys playing in the tree tops. They were so much fun to watch. The acrobatics that they can pull off with those tails of theirs is hilarious.

From the Arenal Observatory Lodge you can actually get a pretty decent view of the lava. Unfortunately for us the cloud cover was such that you could just see a few red lumps at the bottom of the clouds. It was fine though, I was happy enough with the sunset.

Our trip began. We gathered all of our bags bid the kids goodbye and drove to the airport with Uncle Bill. He bid us farewell and we made our way to the terminal. We flew the first leg (a rather bumpy ride actually) and had to wait in Colorado for SIX HOURS. It is amazing the amount of time we spent just waiting in the airport on this trip. In fact, I spent more time waiting around in the airport than I actually spent flying. One perk: Charlie has superman status with United. This basically means that we get access to the United lounge between flights. So, we sat around and drank our free coffee and ate our free snacks. That's right, you two can have cookies from a bag if you rack up 100,000 miles with a single airline.