How Do You Define the American Dream?

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Your American Dream: A Great Car?

I'm focusing on the U.S. again.  In this and future blogs, I'll talk about the American Dream we are all caught up in some way, since we are steeped in it from birth. 

To kick off my return to the U.S., let me give you one definition of the American Dream.  This is part of Wikipedia's definition, and I hope it gives you perspective on your personal American Dream:

          Historian James Truslow Adams popularized the phrase "American Dream" in his 1931 book Epic of America:

But there has been also the American dream, that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.

His definition is one of many.  What is your definition of the American Dream?  Some people define it as freedom of speech or religion.  There are as many definitions as there are people.  Comment below with your definition. 

Owning a motor car is part of the American Dream for many people.  Some exceptional ones can be seen  Friday nights from Memorial Day to Labor Day in Somerville, New Jersey (warning: not all models are made in America): 

A Triumph.

Austin Healey, maybe '63 or '64.

A vintage Thunderbird.

Love those T-Birds.

This is a Victory motorcycle engine.

Beaches, Nighttime Frogs

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My Upcoming American Dream: Finding the Exceptional Near Home

Here you'll see my last day in Costa Rica.  

Up next in my blog:  great photos from the Mid-Atlantic states and tiny bits from my book-in-progress, "Quest: In Search of the American Dream."  Each person I interview defines the American Dream differently.  Stay tuned and learn what your fellow Americans aspire to.

The beach at Manuel Antonio.  White-faced monkeys and raccoons are a constant threat to swimmers' backpacks, if left unattended on the sand.

We took a jungle tour at night.  Saw alligators' eyes gleaming in the beam of a flashlight, saw moths, lizards, a huge spider that could walk on water, and this frog.  I can't recall now whether this is a gladiator frog or not.  Does anybody know?  Please comment.

Here I am, neat and tidy after a swim in the Pacific.  My compadres are Marta and Milton, who are the parents of my son's girlfriend and who take good care of my son, who has emigrated to Costa Rica.

Pacific Coast of Costa Rica

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American Dreams Come with the Night

Nighttime in Costa Rica was dreamy and wildly exotic.  To be able to go there was a dream come true.

The sunset over the Pacific Ocean from the beach at Manuel Antonio.

Another sunset scene.

The next day, we took a nature hike in the Manuel Antonio national forest with a guide who spotted wildlife for us.  He took pictures with our cameras through his telescope, mounted on a tripod.  This picture is of the Jesus Christ lizard, I believe, so named because it can run across water.

In the center is a three-toed sloth and its baby.  Sloths move so slowly, moss begins to grow in its fur, making a greenish cast.

White-faced monkeys take tourists' knapsacks off the beach and high into the trees, where they taste each item and throw it down if it isn't edible.  After a hot hike in the forest, we luxuriated in the Pacific waters of the adjacent beach, with one person remaining on the sand as designated knapsack-watcher.  Costa Rican raccoons were another threat to our snacks.

American Dream: An Inexpensive Hotel in a Gorgeous Spot

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One of my fans wanted more pics of the Monteverde Inn.  I highly recommend it (http://www.monteverdeinfo.com/maps/monteverde.htm#monteverde-inn).  

It was difficult to find at night, because our GPS didn't have the inn in its database (it kept sending us to the Monteverde Lodge, unfortunately).  I nearly had a meltdown, I was so tired from driving all evening on unpaved roads.

But our  travails to find it--driving down rocky, one-lane roads at night in the cloud forest--were worth it.  The inn had a tremendous view of the Gulf and Peninsula of Nicoya (see previous post).  One of the best things about it was the manager, Anthony, a cheerful, helpful host.

Anthony outside the office, which had internet access.

The building our rooms were in.  We were on the edge of a cloud forest (see previous post with me in the center of a fig tree, and a tree covered with epiphytes).

Anthony helping my son with his iPhone.

Outside the breakfast room, a strange creature lurked.  We never were quite sure what it's name was.  It seemed related to raccoons.  

Last Views of the Cloud Forest at Monte Verde

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Our last hours in the Monte Verde cloud forest were spent admiring hummingbirds and epiphytes, plants that thrive in air, not soil.

I liked the epiphytes (a plant, such as an orchid or stag horn fern, that grows on another plant, upon which it depends for mechanical support but not for nutrients).

We visited a hummingbird station.  There's a dark blue one just to the left of the feeder.

A sculpture, I think of Don Quixote, at the hummingbird center.

A Funny Little Hotel in the Forest

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American Dream: A Zipline thru a Cloud Forest, a Simple Hotel to Recover In

The Monte Verde Cloud Forest was beautiful.  We saw Arenal, the volcano, from the zipline, but my camera didn't capture it.  It was too focused on the zipline I was about to force it to take.

Would you trust these two wires to hold you up as you flew 75 feet above the treetops?  Not to mention the treetops are probably 100 feet above the ground.  One, two, three and you're off!

A banana tree grew on the grounds of our little hotel in Monte Verde.  The purple thing is part of the banana plant.  Looks like a plum line.

The view from the grounds of our hotel in Monte Verde.  The pink and grey clouds are hiding the Gulf and Peninsula of Nicoya and the Pacific beyond.

The hotel office.  I told you it was a little place!  Rustic and simple, deep in the cloud forest, almost impossible to find at night (we learned that the hard way), but it got the job done.

Monte Verde Canopy Crawl & Zipline

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The American Dream: Adventure and Fun

The Monte Verde canopy crawl and zip line was a very fun day.  Why can't all days be that fun?  I can't help asking that question; I think adventure and fun is what we were created for.  On a work-a-day sort of day, it's an adventure to think of ways to make people laugh.

More exotic foliage and flowers on the canopy crawl.

Me, left front, with my family on one of the canopy bridges.  We were happy to see miniature orchids and tons of weird-looking growth.

Getting ready for the zipline.

The view from the zipline tower.  I'm glad I did it once, but I have no interest in doing it again.  It's off my bucket list.