Costa Rica

Officially booked my trip to Costa Rica! 

I'll be traveling with my good friend/co-worker Sharlene. I think choosing a travel buddy is a difficult task. First of all, it is not easy to find someone who has the time and money to travel. It is almost impossible to find someone who has the time, money, similar interests AND won't drive you crazy (or bore you to death) after spending days together. 

 

Introducing Sharlene, my 2014 adventure buddy

Sharlene's friend is a AAA travel agent and she helped us plan this trip. It was a great luxury having an expert that we trust do all the research and planning. I would highly recommend working with a travel agent if you're a busy working woman like us! Her expertise saved us so much time researching flights, hotels and activities. 

Adventure Fund: Costa Rica 2014

I'm planning on going to Costa Rica this summer with a friend. Luckily, one of her good friends is a travel agent so she has really helped us with the planning. We're looking forward to staying at an all inclusive resort near the beach.

The trip should cost us somewhere around $2000. Since I'm a visual person, I made myself an "Adventure Fund" jar to keep in my room so that I can have something tangible to track my progress. I have enough in my savings to pay for the trip, but maybe I can stash away enough cash in my jar so that I don't have to tap in to my savings.

    

DIY Adventure Fund Jar:

• Glass jar
• Masking tape
• Krylon chalkboard paint
• Craft Smart chalk marker

Current Savings: $338.25

Target: $2000

Progress: 17%

I also made an Oregon 2014 Adventure Fund jar to give to JR for Valentine's Day. Since it was a gift, I didn't really want it to smell like pickles so I bought a mason jar and a lid with a coin slot (purchased on etsy). To add to the gift, I purchased a gift cards to a beer tasting tour and to VooDoo Doughnut.

Next Weekend

JR has next weekend off so we're trying to decide what to do. We were thinking of going to San Diego. It has been years since either of us has been and we've never been there together. I asked my friend (she used to live in SD) for suggestions on what to do and where to eat. She suggested Balboa Park, Hillcrest, and Little Italy. I've also heard people suggest the Gaslamp Quarter.

For the past four years I've been living with my parents rent-free. This isn't the ideal situation for someone in her mid-twenties but I've put up with it because I'd rather spend my money on exploring the world and experiencing new things than paying rent.

But.... I feel like the time has come for me to start thinking about a grown-up life. A life where I have to pay rent, pay bills, and be responsible for myself financially. So, my New Years resolution is going to be to cut back on traveling! Wahhhhh!!

Vegetarian Camp Food

This past weekend, JR and I went camping at Lake Casitas to celebrate his 25th birthday! This was my first time going camping as vegetarian. Normally, I bring cheeseburgers for one night and chicken breast for the second night. This time I had to get a little bit creative. I wanted something easy (I only bring foil, a pan, and a spatula), budget friendly, savory, and filling (because JR is a meat eater). So, I bought a 10 lb bag of potatoes.

The first night we had baked potatoes. I poked little holes in the potatoes, wrapped them in foil and threw them on the grill! Talk about cheap, easy, and filling! We topped our potatoes with cheese, salsa, sour cream, green onions and butter. Yumm.

We saved one potato for breakfast. We chopped it up, and mixed it with soy chorizo and eggs. We turned this into breakfast burritos using the salsa, cheese, and sour cream. I highly recommend soy chorizo from Trader Joes.

My sister met up with us for the day. For lunch, we had sandwiches. Since JR and Kelsey are meat-eaters, I really wanted to prove that giving up meat doesn't mean you're stuck eating flat and boring grilled cheese sandwiches all the time. Eating like a vegetarian is delicious! I wanted our sandwiches to be special. I wanted the ingredients to be piled high. I bought some cheese rolls and croissants for the bread. Inside, we put spicy hummus, tomatoes, onions, spinach, lettuce, mushrooms, cheese and tons of avocado. Avocado is important because it really turns the sandwich into something special.

The second night we feasted on sauteed veggies. They came out delicious and definitely filling. We had zucchini, squash, red onions, white onions, green onions, green beans, mushrooms, carrots, garlic, and one slice of jalapeno. I had sliced and seasoned (salt and pepper) everything before we went camping so all we had to do was dump the veggies into the pan with butter and mix it around.

For dessert, we had s'mores made with Reese's.

Overall, I found that planning a vegetarian menu while camping makes my life a thousand times easier. For one, I don't have to worry about food contamination (did the chicken juices leak onto other foods while in the ice chest?). Also, I didn't have to worry about keeping the ice chest super super cold. One bag of ice lasted the entire weekend because I didn't have to worry about keeping meats cold. And finally, vegetables are cheap. I bought all my food for under $45.

Do you have any other ideas on simple vegetarian meals that I could make while camping?

My Dream Road Trip

This is my dream road trip. I've been wanting to go to Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington for such a long time! I thought I'd just add Vancouver in there since it is so close.

What are some popular/fun/budget friendly things I could do in these cities? Any ideas where we should camp along the way?