30 Days And Counting ....Costa Rica Here We Come!

During the month of January, we will be trying an experiment.  Katy wants to go somewhere warm (who can blame her?) and Paul wants to keep working (perhaps we can blame him!).  So we are going to try and do both -- we are going to see if we can live for a month in Costa Rica while Paul works from there on a strong Internet backbone.  He plans to work most mornings and we plan to spend the afternoons exploring the local area and seeing if it feels like a comfortable place to live.  If it all works out, who knows ..... Here's a picture of the house we'll be renting, to whet the appetite:

At the Broadmoor

This weekend we are fortunate enough to be at the Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs.  Paul is here to participate in a conference on cyber and drones. Katy is having a relax break doing nothing but grooving on the mountains. Here are a few photos:

A day in Carmel

A great day on the shore near Carmel

The Most Amazing Jelly Ever

Has to be this fellow -- the Indonesian nettle:

The Amazing Monterey Aquarium

We are in Monterey this weekend -- Paul was teaching today at the Naval Postgraduate School -- and we are enjoying the visit.  Today we wandered around downtown Monterey and stopped in at the Aquarium.  What a fantastic place.  Here are a few great photos of some of the things we saw:

 Jellies -- are fascinating

This fellow had to say "hello"

The Burj Kahlifa in Dubai

Today I went to the observation tower in the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. The observation deck is 480 meters up -- the tallest one in the world I'm told and open air.  And it's only about 1/2 way up the whole building.  Here's one of me at the top and one of the Burj from below

Trummers on Main -- 3 Stars

We went the other day to Trummers on Main St. in "historic Clifton, Virginia."  What a fun place!  Set in an old Colonial house, the interior is crisp, clean and with a large skylight wonderfully airy.  And the food matches the decor.  If we had to describe it the key word might be "playful."

Paul had a light and airy cucumber gazpacho to start, while Katy enjoyed a light beef tartare.  For main courses, Paul had a crispy rockfish with cheese risotto and Katy had a fresh cooked Cornish Hen.  For a side they had some brocollini and some beets garnished with blue cheese.  The wine, a Dusky Goose pinot noir from Oregon matched the food well -- fresh and fruity with a nice bouquet.  Paul indulged in the dessert -- a "deconstructed apricot cobbler" with the various pieces of the cobbler pie served sort of separately.  Again alot of fun.

Of course, the real pleasure was that we got to share the meal with family, Mike, Debbie and Aaron Kunzer joined us, as did Paul's niece Jordana.  And since it was a Father's Day gift, that made it all the more special.  We'll be going back sometime soon, for sure.