Chicago and Grand Canyon Trip Advice

One of my favorite parts of blogging is interacting with all of you.  It’s fun sharing knowledge (or lack there of).
Nate and I are currently planning two trips.  We are going to Chicago for a long week-end with some dear friends of ours.  We are also looking at heading to the Grand Canyon in August-ish.
Here’s where we need you…
What are Chicago favorites?  Favorite restaurants? Places? Shopping? etc.  Nate and I have been to Chicago a handful of times but our friends haven’t.  Nate and I have have done a lot of the touristy stuff but feel free to share all of our wisdom.  Who knows what we’ve missed!  I’d also love recommendations of thrift stores/unique shops. 

Next up: the Grand Canyon.  Flights to Phoenix from our local airport are ridiculously cheap right now.  Our plan is to fly into Phoenix and start our adventure from there.  We would like to spend a few days hiking in the Grand Canyon.  What are your favorite things to do in Arizona? Restaurants?  Suggestions on where to stay to fully enjoy the Grand Canyon?  Any other awesome things to do/see in Arizona?

via AAPG

Thanks in advance for your help! Bring on those suggestions!

I Want to Go To Riu

I mentioned on Monday that Nate and I stayed at the Riu Guanacaste in Costa Rica.

The reviews on Trip Advisor for this resort are very….interesting.  It must be one of those love or hate it kind of places.  Also, the things some people complain about make me laugh.

Nate and I enjoyed our stay at the Riu.  It’s not a five star resort….but we also did not pay a five star price.

Our room was nice. A little smaller than most American hotel rooms but definitely big enough.  It was clean.  The fridge was fully stocked with various beverages.  The air conditioning worked.  No complaints from us.

They are building a new hotel next door.  I had read reviews about how awful the construction noise is and you should request to be moved right away.  We always travel with a small fan for noise. Nate slept until 9:30-10:00am most mornings (as I bonded with my Kindle). The noise wasn’t really a problem for us.  It was more the construction workers who spent the majority of their day scanning the balconies for tourists.  We could have asked to move but actually enjoyed the ocean view…and we were only in our room to sleep so it wasn’t a problem.

The grounds at the hotel are beautiful.  All of the spaces were very clean and well cared for.

There were reviews about people complaining about the lack of air conditioning in common spaces.  It’s called open air people.  And it’s fabulous.  No cardigans on this vacation!

On Monday, we mentioned that the beach totally received our approval.

The pool at the Riu is also beautiful.  And giant. And we didn’t take photos of it.  Oops. We are more beach people than pool people.  (We can enjoy pools in Iowa.  Beaches are a little harder to come by.)  We did enjoy the pool at the Riu and would end our day with a swim in the pool because it was usually shaded in the later afternoon.  Our poor pale skin loved the break.  There were a lot of complaints about not being able to find beach chairs and pool chairs.  We had no problems the entire week we were there.

So far I’ve given this place a glowing review.  We both had one complaint about the place….the food.  Bleh.  It was buffet three times per day.  We both enjoyed the breakfast buffet (it’s really hard to screw up bacon and eggs).  The lunch and evening buffets weren’t so hot.  I ate a lot of fresh fruit and ice cream.  The following photo sums up my food experience at the Riu.  Ice cream and Coca Cola Light.  I should Photoshop in a plate of pineapple and watermelon.

Eh, ice cream and Diet Coke aren’t all bad, right?

Would we stay at the Riu again?  Yes and no.  Yes, if I had a money tree. I would totally go back for a nice and relaxing getaway.  It was perfect for enjoying the beach and the pool.  No, because we would like to explore other parts of Costa Rica.  The Riu’s location is farther away from some of Costa Rica’s more popular destinations.

Have you stayed at a Riu?  Are you one of those annoying reviewers on TripAdvisor that complains because the combo hair/body soap in the shower isn’t very good? Wait, don’t tell me. I don’t want to dislike you.  Are you a beach or a pool person?

Crocodiles, Iguanas, and Monkeys

Warning.  This post contains photos of monkeys. Super cute ones at that.  Consider yourself warned.

Nate and I weren’t super adventurous travelers in Costa Rica.  Weak, I know.  We were more into getting a little R&R on this vacation.  We did go on a half day “Jungle River Cruise.”  It was a totally good use of our time.

The excursion included an hour bus ride.   The tour guide filled us in on some local Costa Rican info.  Home prices, flooding, festivals.  The good stuff.

We stopped and had a photo op at this tree.  Some type of fig tree.  I’m bad at paying attention…unless there were monkeys involved.  (The tour guide obviously needs to improve his photo taking skills…or crocodiles got our feet.  I’ll let you decide.)

Across from the giant tree was a sugar cane field.  This is what most of the hour long bus ride looked like.  I didn’t complain!

We then boarded a covered boat on the Tempisque river. 

A good blogger would have a picture of the boat.  A good blogger wouldn’t rely on her husband to take photos.  A good blogger’s husband, however, should keep her blog posts in mind.  So just envision a small covered boat, mkay?  We were told to keep all body parts in the boat.  The river was supposedly full of crocodiles.  I was picturing them circling the boat.  That never happened but I wasn’t really into proving points that day so I kept all body parts well within safe limits. 

The blogger’s husband did get some great animal shots though so we’ll forgive him for the lack of boat photo, mkay?  I don’t remember the names of any of the following other than bird or iguana or crocodile.  I really only paid attention to the monkey talk.

I’m still not sure this crocodile was real.  I think it was a prop.  Again, I wasn’t into proving points that day so I let it be and played along.  (Crocodiles open their mouths like this to let heat escape.  I did listen…a little.)

And now what you have all been waiting for…..monkeys!!

We saw two types of monkeys while in Costa Rica.  The first type was the Howler monkey.  They are big ol’ lazy monkeys that hang out in one spot and protect their territory.  They have the coolest howl. 

The second type of monkey we saw were the White-faced Capuchin monkeys.  The tour guide whistled as we floated down the river and before long, monkeys were on our boat.  Hanging out.  Wanting banana.

Nate is smarter than I am.  He was a little startled at a wild animal crawling all over him.  He thought at one point the monkey’s tail was trying to choke him.  An assassin monkey.

We were instructed to only give them tiny amounts of banana.  The monkeys obviously know the tour boats and know there is food involved. The people of Costa Rica, obviously, don’t want the monkeys to become reliant on tourists for their food.  Once the banana was gone, the monkeys were gone.

After seeing this picture, I should have maybe been a little more cautious but I’m totally living on the wild side lately.

They stack on top of one another to appear bigger to predators.  Look at my knowledge.  I’ll be writing for National Geographic in no time.

Who wants to see another picture of me and a cute monkey?  I thought so.

Any other monkey fans out there?  Totally worth the risk of rabies vaccinations, right?  Right?