Magen's Bay, St. Thomas, USVI

After an early flight in from Puerto Rico, a group taxi ride across St. Thomas, an invigorating (and slightly frightening) dinghy ride across open water, a tour of "R Cabin" and a few minutes of unpacking, we set out in the tender toward Magen's Bay.

The ride over was gorgeous and it was fun to see all the different types of housing on St. Thomas, from shacks to multi-story mansions, dotting the hillside.

The view as we entered the mouth of the bay was picture perfect. The deep perfect blue of the ocean slowly gave way to turquoise waters rimmed by white sand beach and palm trees. 

Once we got close to shore, we all grabbed beach gear of one kind or another, jumped into the shallow water and waded in to dry land. 

We set up a day camp and then went for a swim. The water was perfectly warm and clear as a belle!!

Later, while we were enjoying our picnic lunch, we spotted several Iguanas coming right up near us. I'm sure they were hoping we packed a little extra lunch for them. 

Los Angeles

Have you ever been to Boise in January? Normally, the weather is very tolerable. A little snow here and there, gloomy days intermixed with gorgeous sunny days, and the occasional below zero temperature. January of 2013 was a completely different story. Temperatures had hovered at or below zero for weeks, snow that had fallen in late December was steadfast and gaining, and an inversion (which held a thin layer of cloud compounded by a thick layer of pollution) was holding the sun hostage and wreaking havoc on the air quality. It was time for an escape!

Friday, January 18th, we found ourselves with an open three day weekend in front of us and decided to book tickets to Los Angeles on the spur of the moment. We flew into LAX via Oakland and rented a car. We hopped on the freeway and headed south, no real plan in hand. We decided to head toward Huntington Beach and seek out a place to stay for the night. We ended up at the Shorebreak Hotel right across from the Huntington Beach Pier.

The next morning, we awoke to find the sun shining and blue skies calling our names. Pure bliss! It was a balmy 45 (in comparison to the -2 we had just left) when we headed out to breakfast. We walked to a restaurant called the Sugar Shack (yelp guaranteed it would be great) and ate our breakfast at an outside table. All the locals were wearing scarfs, gloves and hats. We got a kick out of that.

After breakfast, we walked through the Huntington Beach shops and then down the Pier. We watched all the surfers and a knee board competition. Sydney got a chocolate malt at Ruby’s at the end of the Pier. We saw giant pelicans, a sea snake (?), and three dolphins out for their morning swim.

Finally, we left the pier and walked out to the water and stuck our feet in. The water was cold, but not freezing (it was similar to the Oregon Coast in mid summer). We picked up some shells (including a whole sand dollar) and enjoyed the beach for a while. Eventually, we made our way back to hotel. We packed up, checked out and headed south to Laguna Beach.  While there, we had lunch at Ruby’s with my best high school friend, Anne, and her beautiful family. I thought it was pretty funny that we live 5 hours apart, but ending up meeting each other’s families in the middle of California.

Saw several cool cars that Sam really liked. Stopped at a Maclaren Dealership in Newport Beach. Drove north and visited Crystal Cove State Park. Walked the beach and soaked up the sun. 70+ degrees…

Hopped back in the car and headed north up the 101 past Huntington Beach and Long Beach to Hermosa Beach. Checked into the Holiday Inn Express. Went out to Paisano’s Pizza near the pier and ate delicious NY pizza by the slice. Kids had cheese. Michael and I had BBQ Chicken pizza and then split a piece of pastrami (mustard, cheese and pastrami). Then we shared a piece if NY style cheesecake. Yum! Back to the hotel for swimming and hot tub then off to bed for the night.

11/20/13
Woke up relatively early and ate breakfast at the hotel. Headed to Hollywood. Walked around and saw the walk of stars and the Graumans Chinese Theatre. Saw the stars hand prints and names. Syd and Sam got drawings of themselves done by a street artist. Sydney bought neon green sunglasses from a street vendor. Poked around in a few stores and then caught a hop on hop off bus tour through LA. Saw Korea Town, China Town, Disney Music Center, lots of cool old theatres. Ride on the freeway at 55+ on the top of a double decker!!! Drove around Beverly Hills and bought Meyer lemons and cookies from a kids lemonade stand. Went to an estate sale high up in the hills and bought a Limoges tea cup for $5. What a view from that house!! Drove down out of the hills toward Santa Monica Pier to LAX. Dropped Michael and Sam at the airport.  Headed to the Renaissance Hotel and got settled in. John and his wife picked us up and we drove to the Santa Monica Pier. We went on several rides (sea dragon, bumper cars, roller coaster), Syd had ice cream and then we went and had dinner at Marasol, a Mexican restaurant at the end of the pier. After nice conversation and dinner, we walked back down the pier and Syd got cotton candy. Then we went back to our hotel. Sydney and I went swimming in the hotel pool (it was heated to close to 100 degrees!) and then ordered cookies and milk from room service. Then off to bed so we could get up early to head to the airport in the morning.
1/21/13
Woke up, returned the rental car, shuttle to airport, Home!

Sagrada Familia

When I was in high school, I had an incredible Spanish teacher, La Senora Trueba. Her class was an immersion based full on spanish assault, and from day one, I felt like I had left tiny Mountain Home, Idaho for far off places in Spain and Mexico. Looking back, it was then and there that I developed an insatiable need to travel. Aside from language, we studied the culture, the food and the architecture of many different Spanish speaking locales. Of all the things we studied, the Sagrada Familia stood out. I was mesmerized by its soaring spires, its crazy architectural flare (grapes and corn on the top of a church?!?), and most of all, by its location in Barcelona. I had to see it!

So after several years, a few major life events, and a considerable loss of my spanish speaking skills, I decided to check it out…

On our second day in Spain, we left our apartment early in the morning and after a delicious croissant and hot chocolate outside La Perdera (another Gaudi gem, another post) we wandered down the streets of Barcelona, in search of the Sagrada Familia. We got sidetracked a number of times, coming across tiny, beautiful churches; spanish motorcycle shops, etc., but finally turned a corner, broke out of the tall buildings onto a park, and got our first glance of Antoni Gaudi’s masterpiece… La Sagrada Familia:

I was thunderstruck. It was all I had hoped it would be and more, because its construction had progressed 18 years since I had studied it. I suppose I didn’t mention that the The Sagrada Familia is a work in progress. Construction began on it in 1882, and continued steadily until Antoni Gaudi’s death in 1926 (he was struck and killed by a streetcar, in a daze from his lack of sleep and breakneck work on the project). Work on it became intermittent after that as it stuggled with funding issues, wars and all the other little things that plague greatness. Work has resumed at a steady pace in the last few years and it is estimated to be completed sometime between 2026-2035, depending on who you ask.

As we neared the cathedral, the details began to stand out and we were all spellbound.

After standing in line for a bit, and purchasing our tickets, we were on the grounds!! I was so excited!! We walked around the Passion Facade (there are currently two facades, there will be three) and then went inside.

At this point, words escaped me. I was truly unprepared for the beauty and scale of the interior. In my studies, I only ever looked at exterior pictures, which made the beauty inside all the more amazing. It was breathtaking. Once we had our fill of the interior, we walked to the entrance opposite the Passion Facade, to the Nativity Facade.

 

Unfortunately, the entire face was in the shadows, making it difficult to capture any detail. Oh well, guess we'll just have to go back. 

Here we are back in the world of Blog. Nothing much going on in our neck of the woods. Soccer is on the back burner, Halloween is over and we are gearing up for Thanksgiving and Christmas.