The last part of our US trip - almost a whole week in Brooklyn, wandering and cycling through Manhattan streets, meeting old friends and sightseeing again (we both visited NYC before), - ohhh this all feels likes a dream right now, while on lockdown..! I'm actually having such a good time right now writing this post and going through all those photos & memories :)

Here's a little piece of it, at the legendary Miss Bradshaw' apartment on Perry St. (the link will open in a new window) :

And here's some more of Carrie and Sarah Jessica Parker who I love dearly and who's been my inspiration and salvation of some sort, for many, many years... no matter how sad you are, that girl with her friends and 'her' city will always make you feel a little better. :) 

We kept driving back towards Los Angeles in order to catch a plane that evening, and found this real looking piece of desert on the way, so had to stop and take some photos! You can find some HERE , too (scroll down for Death Valley part).

In the end we made it, of course thanks to  my genious directions  Edu's smart driving (there were a few times when he didn't listen to me and was right. Rather an exception tho, of course..)) and super nice staff of SIXT car rental company, so we came back to New York in time, safe and sound, although very stressed out and completely exhausted... but New York had almost a WEEK of relax waiting for us, so we were just really very happy that we made it to the flight in time. Xx

Hey-hey, sorry didn't post this yesterday as promised, was super busy!!. Nah, just a simple procrastination.. But there's a bonus part in the end that I wasn't mentioning before ;)

So, - Yosemite here "broadcasting" from Tenerife, -  how're y'all doin' today??! Hehe I know you're just as fed up as me with the lockdown. Hopefully less than me though. Canary islands and particularly Tenerife is having a negative trend in numbers of COVID-19 infected, yet we are still following the same damn rules as the rest of Spain... We as me& Edu find it very unfair, and we as Canary islands' residents are very much hoping for an earlier salida of the entire lockdown!!! For at least an hour or two per day, EVEN if you're not 12yo or younger, or don't have a dog.. 

Anyway. Enough negativity, let's travel a bit back in time now shall we?? October 2019, Yosemite here we come! The. Most. Beautiful (nature wise) thing I've ever seen in that part of the world and on the other side of Atlantic. Even more so: it was the end of fall season.. <3 

Arrived late (I was driving..))) the night before from Sequoia national park to Yosemite, and woke up with crispy cold air and ice covered land around Wawona Hotel ( LINK to open in a new window), a Victorian style lodging with beautiful terraces and squeaky, old wooden floors where we stayed for 2 nights before going to Nevada and then back to California again. The hotel is located practically inside the park, so you won't have to drive for too long till you see its main attraction: the majestic El Capitan mountain.

Now here's a small eyesight test for you: can you spot the crazy little mofos  very brave climbers on this zoom-in?? If not, here's a hint:

Two love birds and a veeeery overexposed El Capitan in the background :)

Finished the mountains part, did the lakes & creeks and then came back to the car (which took us a long time since there were lots of visitors with vehicles), and drove further to a waterfall called Bridal Veil ( Wiki link ):

Edu was more brave and less tired than me since he nearly went all the way up - see him? That was taken in the middle of his climb)))

Meantime I just waited down; took this short video (Edu was already out of sight at that time, more up...)

Next morning woke up in the sunshine and slightly warmer temperatures - what a great way to start another adventure, another long drive to the legendary Death Valley?! 

I hope this bonus together with the large amount of photos have compensated the absence yesterday. YOu are welcome to read about this beautiful lake here, if you'd like: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenaya_Lake  (it'll open in a new window). 

Next stop: Death Valley and crossing California border to Nevada! Xx

Good morning / day / night (wherever you are and whatever mood you're in, during these times of the lockdown..) ! Here's some outdoor inspiration from Sequoia National Park  in October where we went straight after spending one night at the fantastic The River Inn motel (oh I fell in looove with American motels after this trip, lol, - they're so romantic)):

The park was established in the end of the XIX century in the Giant Forest in California (4,000m above sea level), and it's famous by the largest by volume, single stem living tree on Earth, which even has a name - General Sherman Tree. It's almost 84 m high above the base and it's diameter reaches 11 m with 31 m circumference at ground. Just imagine!!! Quite impressive isn't it.

A quick kiss from Edu, and we're moving further towards Yosemite and our next stay :)

This gas station has a little story to tell. We were running out of fuel after leaving Sequoia park and heading to Yosemite, and miscalculated the distance between gas stations (thought we had a few on the way, but turned out we didn't.. thanks Google maps *not)), - and this station was nearly missed since Edu was very nervous and wanted to keep driving to the hotel, and I tried to insist on making a longer way to pass by this station that was also on the map. He thought its another trick and we won't find anything, but after some  screaming and shouting  thoughtful re-consideration, we went AND found it. Of course. 

Next stop: a lot of Yosemite national park and a little bit of our grand, Victorian style hotel inside the park - stay tuned I'll try to post it already tomorrow! :) xx

Good morning :) How's your quarantine going? Yesterday we just saw on TV that it'll be extended till 12th of April here in Tenerife/ Spain, and it starts feeling a tad bit depressive in this isolation.. On the other hand, at least we've got Internet, movies and popcorn, and the streets are free of zombies (started watching The Walking Dead recently + all those apocalypse movies like '28 days later', 'World War Z', 'Contagion'...) - so isn't it just a reason to be positive after all?.. ;) 

Here're some snaps from Los Angeles/ Venice beach that I've finally got my hands onto. From Canon cam and mobile. Our jetlag was so horrible after all those early wakeups and looong flights (Tenerife - Madrid - New York - (in 2 days) Los Angeles..), that all we could do is find the car that we rented from Tenerife, get some fast food into our jetlagged stomachs (you know that feeling when you think you're hungry but bloated at the same, and feeling full after eating only a small amount of food ??), find our beautiful apartment stones away from Venice and get to Wallmart (wow, impressive!.) for some grocery shopping.  

Both Edu and I haven't seen Pacific ocean ever before, so, even feeling extremely jet-lagged, we still managed to get to it, and Edu even had a quick swim !!! Felt so nice, re-charging and magical in some way, it's amazing how water can easily take out all the stress and fatigue. I went in knee-deep and already felt much, much better. Well, at least it was enough for a small paseo on the boardwalk and later on the pier, to see the sunset :) 

One of the most beautiful sunsets - thanks Los Angeles &Venice beach, - first time visit, first evening, and such a good luck!!! Loved the haughty-naughty seagulls too :)

Enjoyed it till last minute and then went to meet a friend of Edu who's just moved to Los Angeles from Tenerife. We were really curious to hear about life in LA from a person who is in the same field of work as us, also from Tenerife (..after being here for 9 years I think I might have the right already to call it home!)))) and who wasn't hesitant to do a big change for himself and his family, - quite similar to us, too. 

The next morning we went to have breakfast at the Sidewalk Cafe (Google map) , pay another visit to the beautiful but freezing Pacific ocean, and went back to our apmt to start packing for the National Parks - see next post soon ;) Xx

***

And here's some positivity for you guys. I know how it feels to be on this Coronavirus #LOCKDOWN , but we have to be grateful it's not something worse! We have food, Internet, we 're spending more time with our pets and beloved ones (or can video chat with them, in case if some of you live alone); we have another good cause to call our parents to see how they are, and to be reminded once again that life is such a precious, fragile thing. Health is what's important. And love to each other. As I saw in Instagram a few days ago, "Our grandparents were called to a war. We're called to stay home and wash our hands." You can still work from home; do projects; read books; play games; draw; think-write-cook-sleep-play music-dance-sing-...

Let's all be patient. In the end, again at least there're no zombies running around, lol, and we can clearly see how our Mother Nature reacts already on the whole planet: Shanghai has a clear, blue sky after long, long time; Venice canals in Italy never had such clear, transparent water, even dolphins were seen very close to the city! And I personally can feel the changes just by looking outside the window:  big, dramatic, beautiful clouds bringing more rain and clarity with the wind, which makes everything more green and ALIVE. How amazing. 

Stay healthy, strong and always positive in your spirit! Xx

Hello loves! As said before, it's being a long time but now we're all on quarantine mode, so when would be really a better moment for some life updates, if not now?? :) 

We've been to a lot of places like Lisbon, Moraira (mainland Spain), went to the US to see friends in NYC, visit some national parks and have a chill time in LA; we saw The Chemical Brothers at NOS Alive music festival (apart from many other amazing bands); been to Madrid a few times, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, and had a lot of fun getting prepared for the Barcelona marathon (my first one, ever!), which was supposed to be this weekend on the 15th of March but got cancelled due to COVID-19 virus.. what a shame, but of course nothing is more important than our health and of our beloved ones, besides, since the beginning of my training I've ran 9 times distances between 21 and 30km, so that makes me feel a bit better while waiting for the new marathon date on 25th October 2020 ;)  Anyways.. Here are some shots from our first days in NYC back in October 2019 =) 

We walked/ sightsaw around 12km each day around the city; didn't have much time on our first visit since we had plans going to California & Nevada, but second time when we came back for nearly a week, we actually were lucky to fully enjoy New York and its crazy life rhythm <3  

Been to Brooklyn, Soho, Manhattan, Chinatown; cycled the whole Manhattan in one day (see part 2 later!); spent half a day at Barnes & Noble; ate in the most delicious (and not..)) places from fast food to top-notch restos; felt cold and super tired at times, but always excited and very happy to be able to share such a great experience between each other, since we both visited New York before but this was our first time seeing it together <3 <3

It was even more cool and def very creepy since Halloween was just around the corner... =)

We saw our friends and had a fantastic time with them including this beautiful sunset at Battery Park and countless dinners at Mexican & Chinese (missing you guys so much already.. whyyyy everything good comes to an end?!)  But we were super excited to keep on moving and to go to LA - not only together for the first time but also in general, we've never been there before, either of us..  Stay tuned for some pics from there too, guys!! :) Xx

Hey guys, happy Monday aka 'humpday' (even although usually that lovely nickname goes for Wednesday I think it totally belongs to Monday)))

Here's Part 2 of Moraira-Calpe trip with some of Valencia photos where we drove one day with Edu to meet one of his friends =) 

Above photo is from a super nice and relaxing Cala Baladrar where we went swimming a couple of days... 

Then we drove to Valencia that was only 100ish km away, to meet with a friend of Edu who's moved there from Madrid. Valencia is a nice city with a lot of history and beautiful architecture esp the old town, but the traffic and the heat were IN-sane, so I'd love to come back some time during winter to see the difference and decide whether I like it or not.. :)

Back in Moraira, and the last morning before leaving we decided to follow friend's advice and go to Cala del Moraig (map HERE) to have a look and to swim there. 

That's it for now :) Hope you've had a great, relaxed weekend and are ready for the week! Soon I'll post about our amazing Lisbon trip and NOS Alive festival we were so lucky to visit back in July.. Hugs!!! Xx