Costa Rica

Firstly, I had a blast this weekend at the North Texas game. Our defense looked nothing short of awful so that has me worried for the Auburn game, but at least our running game doesn't appear to have too much of a falloff. Can't wait to play Presbyterian next week - let's see if they have any more trick plays like the one they ran against Wake!

But on to the more important story, my week long adventure in Costa Rica. There's too much to share on here so I will try to keep it as short as possible.

We landed in San Jose on the 21st and had private transportation to the Arenal Volcano - the third most active volcano. Our room had a private porch with rocking chairs so you could sit outside and enjoy the view. If there aren't clouds around the top of the volcano at night, you can even see magma come shooting out the top of it. While there we visited La Fortuna Falls (which you can go swimming in - although the water is quite cold), did a hike in the Arenal National Park, and went whitewater rafting. All along the way we saw wildlife, had great local food, and had amazing tour guides. If you ever plan on going to Costa Rica, a stop at Arenal and La Fortuna is an absolute must.

I was then transported from Arenal to Playa Flamingo on the Pacific coast. This is one of the many hotel resorts you can stay at in Costa Rica (we choose the Pacific because it seemed to be a little bit safer than the Caribbean). The resort we stayed at was gorgeous and had all drinks included. You know I loved that! But around the pool you could constantly see iguanas and many indigenous birds, which was a nice reminder that you weren't just at some resort in Florida. While at the beach we went zipling on a canopy tour (which is worth the trip to Costa Rica by itself) and had an ATV tour along the beach, which was incredibly fun.

We then went back to San Jose for a day to do a coffee plantation tour at the Doka Coffee Estate. It was actually quite interesting to see the process they use to pick which coffee beans meet their high quality standards. We sampled a lot of coffee, had a bunch of chocolate covered coffee beans and bought a bunch of bags of coffee to bring back for friends. We then stayed the night at a wonderful 5 star hotel (we had been slumming it in 4 star hotels until that point), and woke up the next day to fly back home.

All in all, it was probably the best trip I've ever been on. When you factor in the total cost of the trip, I don't know if I'm going to find a better "bang for your buck" trip than Costa Rica. I highly recommend you go find out for yourself! If you're interested, I've included links below to the companies we used on our trip.

All of my pictures are on Facebook (posted by my friend Kris), so make sure to take a look when you get a moment!

And finally, it appears that work may bring me to Rhode Island at the end of this month or the beginning of October. I'll make sure to post more details when I have them.

As always, safe travels!

~G4

Links from the trip:
The company who booked everything for us (I can't thank them enough!): http://www.mapcr.com/
The resort we stayed at near Volcan Arenal: http://arenalspringshotel.com/
The company that did all our tours/transportation around Arenal: http://www.desafiocostarica.com/
The resort we stayed at on the beach: http://www.resortflamingobeach.com/index.cfm
The hotel we stayed at in downtown San Jose: http://www.mybeaconescazu.com/

Long Time No Type

It's been a while since I've updated. I've been so busy traveling that I haven't really had the chance to update the blow with pictures. Here's a quick summary of what we've missed since my last post:

- I visited Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia for the first time over July 4th weekend. Saw many beautiful sights, visited a brewery and a vineyard, and managed to get to a friend's renewal of vows in Frostburg, MD. Also had some pints at Dante's in Frostburg - I highly recommend you drop by if you're ever in town!
- I then flew to California (another first) with my friend Justin. It was my first trip where someone volunteered to bring me along (since I was shipped to Ethiopia with Christen years ago). We got to see San Diego and some of the sights in Los Angeles. What a trip!
- Upon arriving back from California, I then joined a group of Clemson graduates on their Annual Beer Trip. We drove around North Carolina visiting many breweries, bars and restaurants. Needless to say, while many mornings we didn't feel the best we still had a heck of a time. Among the places I would recommend, I'd say that Raleigh was by far the best city of the trip. With places like Big Boss, LoneRider, and The Pit BBQ we had ourselves filled with pork and beer. The Highland Brewing tour in Asheville was also a trip (if you go, make sure to check out the Big Ass Fans that they have on the ceiling - they are unreal). And of course we stopped at Foothills in Winston-Salem, which has long been a favorite of mine. I'm just waiting for the day that they release a shirt for my favorite beer they make - People's Porter.

Since then, I've been preparing for my trip to Costa Rica next weekend. I'm getting very anxious for this - can't wait to share all my stories with you upon my return! Hopefully it won't take me more than a month to update next time. :)

Up until now I've posted all of my pictures both to Facebook and Google Photos. Instead of using both, I'm just going to be uploading to Facebook from here on out. So whenever you want to see pictures from my latest trips, head over to the FBook or check out my Google Map.

Well, that should be enough of an update for now. As always, safe travels!

~G4

Upcoming Trips to Maryland and California

On Friday I am heading out of town to go to Frostburg, Maryland for a family friend's renewal of vows. While en route we'll hopefully get to see some of the area, and just maybe I'll get to stop by Dante's (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/17830) for a pint or two of brew. Can't wait!

But in bigger news, one of my facebook friends has invited me to go on a trip with him! Justin and his family are apparently traveling to California for the week of July 12-18 and he will be bringing me along. We'll be going to Anaheim, San Diego, Los Angeles and Hollywood to take in all the sights and all the experiences southern California has to offer. Should be a really great time.

This is all adding up to a very busy July, as at the end of the month I also have my beer trip to North Carolina. After a mostly uneventful beginning of the year, I can honestly say I'm ready to hit the road - it's going to be a blast. :)

Safe travels!

~G4

St. Pete Beach

Last weekend I took a trip to St. Pete Beach in Florida, and wow did I have a blast! Unfortunately, on Saturday we had a heat index of 110 degrees, so it was sweltering outside. But we still made the most of it - enjoyed a cabana on the beach, laid in a hammock in the afternoon and evening, and got to spend a lot of quality time with family and friends. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a fun place to go (we stayed at the Tradewinds, which is a massive complex - it seemed to keep going on and on and on and...).

Only news to report is that some friends of mine may have snagged some tickets to the Auburn football game. I'm not adding it to the calendar until things are set in stone, but it looks promising! Can't wait for football season, especially now that the baseball season is almost over (also can't wait for us to kick some Sun Devil ass tomorrow in Omaha).

Well, here are the best pictures of me from my trip - hope you enjoy them!

~G4

From Florida

Auburn football game

Unfortunately, it looks as though it is going to be far more difficult for me to get tickets to the Auburn football game this year. Single game tickets aren't available, and since gnomes aren't made of money I may be SOL. We are still going to do our best to make it happen...but I'm not holding my breath. Darn shame.

Next weekend, however, I will be heading to the oily beaches of Florida's gulf coast. I'm really looking forward to see in person whether Florida's advertisements of having clean beaches is really true or not.

And before I sign off, best of luck to the Clemson golf and baseball teams! Golf is in the hunt at the national championship tournament up in Chattanooga, while the baseball team begins regional play against Southern Miss in Auburn on Friday. Should be an interesting baseball game - especially since Brett Favre told the Southern Miss baseball team that he'd return to the Vikings if they return to Omaha.

Go Tigers!

~G4

Mother's Day in Charleston

On Mother's Day I headed down to the battery park in Charleston for a picnic. 7 red ant bites aside, it was a wonderful time! Great food, sneaking booze, and beautiful weather - what more could anyone ask for? Just wish I'd had time to take more pictures around the park! Hopefully I can change that later this summer.

Safe travels!

~G4

From South Carolina

Trip to Athens

Back at the beginning of May, I made a trip with some friends up to Athens, GA. At first we stopped at the Terrapin Brewery, which was a blast. It's hard to beat the deal they have there - you pay $10, get to hang out and listen to music, get a free pint glass, and get enough pours for you to have a good time (I think by the end of it I had 3+ pints worth of beer). The atmosphere there is awesome, so if you have the chance to visit Athens, doing a tour at Terrapin is a must.

From there we headed out to dinner at Cali N Tito's, a BYOB Mexican establishment. I recommend the enchiladas - exquisite. While there we also dropped off my brother to hang out there for a while. So if you stop in, see if you can spot a Clemson gnome in the establishment - he should be there somewhere. :)

I'll post a short update about my trip to Charleston after this. In the meantime, check out the pictures from Athens!

As always, safe travels - and if you need any company on a future trip, you know who to call!

~G4

From Georgia

Mayfield Dairy

This past weekend I went on a short excursion to Braselton to check out the Mayfield Dairy. Had some great ice cream, and got to hang out with the largest (and only) cow there.

But surprisingly, that's all I really have to report for the past few weeks. I'll be going to the Clemson/GT baseball game on Saturday here in Atlanta, so perhaps I'll snap a photo or two there.

As always, safe travels!

~PG

From Georgia

St. Petersburg, FL

I'm in the final stages of planning my trip to Costa Rica (looks like I'm going to have a heck of a time), but I also just found that I'll be traveling to St. Petersburg, FL for a long weekend in June. It'll be my first trip to that area since losing to Georgia Tech in the ACC Championship Game, so we'll see what I can do to keep from getting misty-eyed while down there.

I'm also flying to Charleston the weekend of the 24th...up until then I don't really have any travel plans, but hopefully I can find a weekend adventure to go on...

As always, safe travels!

~PG

Costa Rica and free Thrashers tickets!

Firstly, I've planned my first TRUE international adventure to Costa Rica! Still need to book everything, but it looks like I'll be leaving the last week in August. I'll be going on canopy tours, hiking volcanos, white water rafting...and that's just the first 3 days! I'll post more details as I have them.

Also, I just won a free pair of tickets to the Thrashers/Bruins game tomorrow. It's the biggest game the team has had in probably 2 years, as this determines who owns 8th place in the playoff race. Thanks to The Blueland Chronicle for the tickets. I'll hopefully have pictures after the game tomorrow!

~PG