The Journey Begins!

 The big day has finally arrived! Our bags are packed, my face is shaved, all seven seasons of The Sopranos have been downloaded onto the iPad Mini we panicked and bought at the last minute… it’s time to hit the road, saying our last goodbye to Mt. Rainier for the better part of a year.
 

 Our first, brief stop was in shockingly cold Houston, Texas, where we had a delicious Tex-Mex dinner with my sister and then headed directly back to the airport because it was freezing and we did not pack for that.
 
 At Houston Airport, we easily found our way to gate C-42 for our flight to Costa Rica.

 I realize this is not a very interesting picture, but stick with me through the explanation of the next picture, because departing 1 minute later, from the next gate, was a different flight to a different San Jose.
 

 I never realized that people actually listened to all the boarding announcements and details until I saw 200 or so people all milling around, trying to figure out if they were going to the right San Jose and why the gate agent couldn’t get her story straight.
 
 Our first day in San Jose was pretty uneventful, as it is not the world’s most exciting city. We did learn an important lesson about ordering one Combination Plate #2 to share (“Uno de Dos! No, Dos! Uno… you know what, here’s some money, do what you have to do”), which led to a pretty excessive snack:

 Before we knew it, we had reached Beer O’Clock, and we enjoyed an evening on Parque Central with Costa Rica’s finest Imperial lager.
 

 As we hope will become a tradition, I will end this update with a photo of a cat from all over the world (this one from San Jose’s Mercado Central):
 

 – Phil

Location:Costa Rica