Quirigua, Guatemala

Scott shows off the height of these stela.  The
highest is 35 feet.

We left Costa Rica on 12/28 and after one night in Guatemala City, took the bus down to the Rio Dulce and our boat, Scott Free. For the last four years we've kept it in the water at Tortugal Marina. More on our time there in another post - but for now, I'll cover our land trip to Quirigua and Copan (in my next post) January 17 to 19, 2017.
Dennis and Doris from "Magic" joined us for the 3 day excursion. Otto Archila (otitoursplus@gmail.com) drove us to Copan, Honduras and back. On the way there we stopped at Quirigua in Guatemala and on the way back, at the Maxi Dispensa Supermarket in Morales. It was about a 4.5 hour drive with a border crossing between Guatemala and Honduras.
Quirigua was a trading hub during the Mayan Classic Period (200 - 900 AD). It's biggest success story was the capture and beheading of the greatest Copan King (whose name is translated as 18 Rabbits). The elaborately carved stelae are among the largest in the New World.
After crossing into Honduras, the Hotel Camino Maya Hotel was our home for two nights and it was very nice. We found it on TripAdvisor and Booking.com - $74 a night with a full breakfast. Our room was very attractively decorated with a large private tiled bathroom. The rooms surrounded a courtyard and balconies overlooked the central plaza.
That night we had dinner across the Plaza with views from the second floor at Twisted. Our meal was excellent and a great deal. We had the special that night which included soup or salad and dessert for the price of the entree alone. It was pork roast with potatoes and veggies. Everything was delicious and beautifully presented (I've included pictures!). Two for one drinks from 5 to 6 pm too.
My next posting will continue the trip to the Mayan ruins of Copan.

Looking down the large main plaza at Quirigua

The Mayan Kings had portraits of themselves
carved into huge blocks of stone with
heiroglyphics detailing their reign.

Lovely shaded walks led throughout the site.

Restored stairs lead up to a raised court 

Doris is a weaver and artist. She had a long
conversation with this weaver from Lake
Atilan region and hopes to connect with her
later in the season.

Scott relaxes after our walk around the Park

These gorgeous flowers in all shades of blue and white
caught my eye.

As did the skirt fabric that Doris bought at the weaver's shop.

The streets of Copan Ruinus were busy with Tuk tuks

Our rooms at the Maya Camino Hotel had views of the
main plaza.

Doris enjoying her Happy Hour  Marguerita at Twisted

Scott's Salad

And brownie ala mode 

The sun lit interior courtyard at our hotel

The main entrance at the Maya Camino Hotel in Copan Ruinus

Visitamos nos Nietos en Costa Rica

The night we arrived was Shira's birthday. Cookie and Maya
made this wonderful cake.

We flew to Costa Rica on 12/20 for a week with our oldest son Josh's family. They have been living in Costa Rica for the past year and the kids have been attending a Spanish speaking school. This is their third language as they were bilingual in English and Hebrew before.
We rented a condo at Reserva Conchal on the Pacific Coast just north of Tamarindo. It is a beautiful gated complex with many condo developments (and a Westin Hotel) sharing a Beach Club.
After one night at their home in San Jose, we drove down to Conchal for six nights. We pretty much hung out at the beach and pool there although we did go into Tamarindo and enjoyed Playa Grande one afternoon (big waves!).
After one more night with them in San Jose, we flew to Guatemala to rejoin Scott Free. The next day Michal and the kids moved out of their condo in San Jose and flew back to Tulsa. They are all moving to Dallas, Texas on January 3.

Which we devoured! It was so good.

The Harry Potter "adult" coloring book we gave Maya was so
much fun that I joined her and Cookie working on it.

This and the next shot were taken from our "living room"
balconey. What a view.

The beach at Tamarindo. 

Daniel jumps over a small stream.

Shira enjoyed some ice cream.

As did Maya and Cookie.

My oldest grandson Daniel - now 14!

Michal and Shira

These beautiful birds made the railing of our balcony
their home whenever we ate out there hoping for handouts

We're a board game family. Generally Daniel wins - here at
Carcassone.

Lighting the Hanukah candles

One morning Maya and Shira joined us for an early breakfast
at the Beach Club,

A view of the pools

the jacuzzi at our condo was a popular
place after returning from the beach!
Here Jonathan "Uzi" gets to enjoy it by
himself (for a change).

Our last night in San Jose was Daniel's birthday!

Cinco Nietos!

Our last night Hanukah candle lighting

Happy Hanukah!

Thanksgiving 2016

My last post started with this same shot from our front porch but with fall colors. This is what it looked like from Thanksgiving through our departure on 12/16.  Notice the depth of the snow on the pumpkin!

This year Gail, Colin, Leslie and Rob joined us for Thanksgiving Day. James, Sean and Will came up for most of the week. Sadly Morgen can't leave work Thanksgiving weekend due to her work at Anthropologie. Larry and Christine were in Morocco so they and Luke weren't with us this year. Vermont was blessed with lots of snow this year - happily for us! A month of cold snowy days was just perfect before flying south on 12/20 for the winter. After Thanksgiving Larry and Christine returned from Morocco and joined us for a few days. We did lots of hiking in the snow and at night they serenaded us on their guitar and fiddle. We left Vermont on the 16th and celebrated Scott's birthday and Bill Fonvielle's with friends at Pinxto Pincho Tapas Bar in Woburn - great night. Then had our Annual Holiday Open House at the Wolfs in Concord - a record number attended and it was perfect. Our next stop was a week's vacation with our oldest son Josh and his family in Costa Rica - covered in my next post.

The Smiths brought this beautiful Antipasto plate for
 Thanksgiving appetizers.

James & Scott relax with a drink before the meal and after
a good long walk in the snow on the AT

Colin enjoyed the first volume of my new
books on our Adventures on Scott Free.

Sean and Gail

Colin, Will, Rob, Leslie, Sean and James

Scott prepares to spatchcock the turkey.

The result was amazing - crisp skin and moist meat in half
the time!

Our dinner is mainly traditional to my family; turkey, stuffing
with onions, celery and apples, mashed potatoes, butternut
squash puree, turnip puree, plain & giblet gravy, two kinds of
cranberry sauce (homemade of course), sweet potatoes, and this
 year, roasted Brussels sprouts with walnuts & grapes. Growing up
we didn't have a green vegetable but scalloped oysters and
creamed baby onions.

Sean and I in the kitchen

And Sean with Leslie

James made the Brussels Sprouts

My pecan and apple pies (we always had pumpkin and mince as
well as apple - but these are now our families' favorites)

Gail and Colin (and the back of Heather's head)

Sean was our mixologist - yummy
specialty drinks were concocted.

One night for dinner I made Salmon Caprese in Puff Pastry for
dinner for Larry and Suzanne,

They provided some excellent music for us.

Christine was a revelation for us - we hadn't
realized she was an excellent musician.

Larry has always played the guitar and sang but now he's with
a local group in Essex and playing a lot.