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January 2008 entries

17 January 2008

Katie and Matt's Wedding

Katie Carlin and Matt Scherer had a wonderful wedding with a ceremony at that beautiful church at the top of the steps on Nicolette Island. You've probably seen it if you've been there, with its tall spire just above the building that houses Kikagawa. Our Lady of the Lourdes is actually one of the oldest churches in the Twin Cities, and inside it feel more like a Quaker meeting hall than a Catholic Church. But it was all decked out for the holidays, and everything glowed with warm light and truly loving families. Matt and Katie held their reception at the absolutely over the top Loring Pasta Bar near the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. There is one cool spot, theatrically decked out by Jason McLean, who worked at Children's Theater. A description of the place says the design was "a massive undertaking: removing almost an entire floor and buttressing the building with 40 ton of exposed flying steel beams and trusses 35 feet in the air. Tens of thousands of recycled Chicago bricks were laid-up to improbable curves which twist and knot, reel and stumble through the rooms like a drunken mason on a bender." That about says it all! Katie's father and mother gave a moving and hilarious toast, as did best man Kellly Gallagher (holding a giant long-winded speech in his hands that briefly struck terror in everyone's hearts). Katie and her dad Mike pulled off a father-daughter dance worthy of Vaudeville with his top hat and her red boa. This probably is a wedding people will be talking about for some time. Almost everyone was dancing when we said goodnight.
Click on any image to open larger. Leave a message for Katie, Matt, Nick or me! Thanks!
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11 January 2008

Costa Rica!

La pura vida (the pure life) is Costa Rica's slogan, and that's what we experienced this past week. A country full of life and beauty, carefully preserving its rain forests and wildlife habitats. As ecotourists, my daughter Miranda, son Sam and I visited the Selva Bananito Lodge, deep in the rainforest in southeastern Costa Rica. The lodge has no electricity, recycles its "gray" water into marshes, and composts its wastes. We took an exciting tour of the rainforest to discover iguanas, tree frogs, toucans, bats and caimans, rode horses through an organic banana plantation, saw sloths, monkeys, even a boa constrictor at the Manzanillo Wildlife Sanctuary near Puerto Viejo. The highlight of the trip was whitewater rafting down the Pacquare River on Class III-IV rapids. If you love the outdoors and want to see what a country can do to make "green" profitable, I recommend you visit this amazing country.

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Flying in - Costa Rican rain forest from the air

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A perfect crescent-shaped beach, a scene in Jurassic Park
was filmed here, Puerto Viejo,
Manzanilla Wildlife Refuge.

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Miranda and me

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The beach at Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean side of the country

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A poisonous tree frog - Jose was used to the
venom in the critter's skin!

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Our tourguide from Selva Bananito Lodge, Jose, with Sam and Miranda

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The view of the rainforest from our cabin deck

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Sam and Miranda climb a giant kapok tree. I admire their work
safely from the ground. ; )

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Ah, la pura vida!

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I forget the name of this lizard, but it's cute!

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Writing in my journal. It was a wonderful trip!