Whadya say to Tenerife?

 A note on pronunciation: Some say TEN UH REEF and some say TEN UH REE FAY. I stick with the latter (and it makes my title sort of rhyme).

At the beginning of the summer, we had a totally different plan for post-Tacoma: we were going to rent a camper van and road trip to Michigan. The more we saw news of packed national parks, noticed dirty hippies hanging around in camper vans, and followed the multiple heat waves in the northern US, the less great that idea sounded. 

So we switched it up; Spain was open, and they have some interesting islands to check out, so we said why the hell not? and changed all of our plans.

Tenerife is very different from the Azores islands that we visited a few years ago. It's more developed, has MANY more people, and has a pretty astonishing variety of landscapes, from moonscapes of barren lava to sparse pine tracts to laurel forests. One thing it did have in common with the Azores was a the lack of proper beaches...

We stayed in a nice apartment near Los Gigantes, where the windows stayed open and we spent most of our time on the balcony enjoying the view.

Beautiful water during the day with the neighboring island of La Gomera in the background (some days, the clouds made it seem like the top of the island was floating above the horizon). Gorgeous sunsets most nights, depending on the amount of sand in the air from the winds off of the Sahara. Different characters of the sunset playing off of the buildings to our East.

Panoramic view from the upper balcony.

Fancy feast!

We indulged in some really upscale dining on the island.

Step 1: La Pergola

Our quest for fanciness began at a very nice restaurant with a great ocean view that was a 5-minute walk from our home.

Delicious appetizers and entrees (pork cheeks and beef cheeks respectively; cheeks were IN while we were there), a great bottle of wine, and some scrumptious deserts.

Step 2: Aqua

OK, so we've been to "very nice" restaurants before. Time to step it up with a 8-course tasting menu with wine pairing at Restaurant Aqua, just up the hill overlooking the cliffs of Los Gigantes.

Very pretty food, and a fun experience. I liked the pre-desert (which included pop-rocks) and the desert: textures of chocolate.

Step 3: Restaurante El Rincón de Juan Carlos

So the only place to go from there is ultra-fancy Michelin-starred Juan Carlos for a 3-4 hour meal featuring the "First block" of 5 appetizers, second block of 6 main courses, and an explosion of deserts. We did a pairing of 6 wines (there was a 12-wine option, but we could barely walk to the cab as it was).

My favorites: The eel soup thing served in an ostrich egg bowl, the tomatoes, eating gold a couple of times was cool, and 

Motherfuckin' dessert tree all day, bitches!

Around the island

Second night on the island, we had just fallen asleep when all hell broke loose. Apparently, it was some religious festival (which no one could really explain to us), and Canarians do fireworks BIG TIME! This midnight fireworks show (set off what seemed like steps from our apartment) put any American display we've seen to shame.

Big Teide

Tenerife is home to the highest point in Spain: Mount Teide. It's a big-ol volcano you can see from pretty much everywhere on the island depending on the weather, surrounded by a national park with desert-brushy landscape and lava fields. We visited twice: once on our own to take the cable car to the base of the summit (hard to breathe up there!), and once on a stargazing tour, which included an amazing sunset over the cloud layer. Stargazing was pretty incredible, and Teide is home to the largest solar observatory in the world!

To the north!

Looking back at the photos, I can't believe we did this all in a day. Our harrowing road trip started through Teno natural park (on one-lane, two-way, twisty roads!) to Mirador Altos de Baracán, a wind-swept saddle point between two mountains with views down to the water. IDK if anyone remembers the most beautiful view in the world from the Azores, but this is right up there in my opinion. Then, we traveled along the northern coast to find the secluded Playa Los Patos, a black sand beach where we had to park on the side of a road, hike through a village and a vineyard and a banana plantation, and then make a 500-foot descent. I think it was worth it: fun waves and beautiful beach (Rani might have a different opinion). Then back home through a bunch of tunnels in the rain. I'm SO grateful that Rani did all the driving on this trip!

The eerie, cloudy laurel forests of the northeast were another highlight of the trip.

We spent many afternoons at Charco del Amor (puddle of love :), our local rocky beach. Great snorkeling and people-watching.

There's something about an island... Anyway, great place to relax before heading back to civilization, work, etc. I'll leave you with this:

'Rents!

 On to Michigan for a visit with my parents. It's nice when all the siblings and their masses of children are around, but this might be the first time we got to spend a significant amount of time just with us and the parents. It was very relaxing and easy.

Of course, they mostly wanted to hang out with Rani.

Rani introduced Dad to the Seek app...

And they spent the rest of the time scanning plants on their phones.

Discussing findings on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Then Mom got jealous, and took Rani out drinkin!

When they finally agreed to spend some time with me, we took a trip to South Haven.

We captured a wild Zebrelephant.

Walked along the shore.

Went on a sweet sailboat ride, where we practiced our pirate faces. The captain and mate told us tales of their time on the Draken, a Viking ship that sails around the world.

For a nice surprise, we also got to visit Bluffton, OH to see Aunts Judy and Rachel, Uncle Ivan, and cousin Mike. We also got to see the farm where my mom grew up (and where we have lots of memories of playing as children), which is now a pretty impressive organic farm/ co-op.

There is a pair of owls living around the house. Rani took us out one night on an owl hunt with flashlights, and then we saw them during the daylight later.

I can't think of a better place in the world to take a nap (although this couch is crap compared to the old one).

Tacoma worries away

Who's that?

Aww, there you are again.

Peekin' at me so majestically, ya little scamp.

One of the (many) things I love about the Seattle area is how Ranier is sort of ever present; you can just be out for a morning walk through a neighborhood and turn a corner, and there's this giant mountain peeking out of the background.

We even hiked up (just a little) that sumbitch later. It was fully snowy; who knew we'd get snow on our summer vacation?

We stayed in Tacoma in this cute little house right off of 6th Ave. this time. Cool scene in Tacoma, and much more chill than Seattle. Plus, more time with Matt and Sarah, who are from here.

Did a few trail runs around Point Defiance park. Super cool nature 5 minutes away. 

Did a whale watching tour in the sound, where we got lucky enough to see a pack of Orcas hunting down a seal.

Matt and I did a Wim Hoff course, where we listened to a lecture, did breathing exercises, and I finally got to try a full-immersion ice bath. While we did the ice, the rest of the group would do this encouraging "hoo/hah" chant, which we are here demonstrating later for the ladies.

Pure bliss.
The instructor sprinkled flowers in the ice, which I thought was a nice touch. Three minutes in here was no joke. I was supremely overconfident, and really had to struggle for much of the time. It hurts!

Rani's bro, wife, and baby just moved to Lacey, WA, and her parents stayed with them for some of the time we were here, along with the niece and nephew.

Parents took a break from all of the kids and stayed in Tacoma with us for a few days. Here's us at McMenamin's Elk's temple in Tacoma, which is a hotel, but has like 8 stories of bars to hop through, including a secret bar behind a hidden door. This McMenamin family buys up old properties in the area and turns them into interesting recreational spots. It was super cool.

Rani and Suresh chillin on the couch.

Face masks with Wendy.

For the fourth of July, we decided to America the fuck out of the weekend.

Can you say Jet Truck??!!

Airshow! (Rani was a little shocked that the jets weren't practicing social distancing)

Baseball game!!!

Fireworks!

Another baseball game, FFS!

For our second-to-last night, we decided to go out big with a 6th Avenue bar crawl, which ended up at the Boom Boom Room, which is not what the name suggests, but rather a swanky cocktail bar.

Don't remember what was in this one, or what it was called, but it was delicious.

Tacoma was totally RAD! We'll be back.

A break Whidbey nice...

 School wrapped up in early June, and we headed out for a long summer adventure.

Started off right with a sweet upgrade to business class, where I was able to pass the time by murdering copious amounts of fictional creatures.

After a long flight, and a long drive, the reward. A beautiful, remote spot on Whidbey Island in Washington.

Milady basks in nature after a heroic journey.

'Twas a tid bit nipply, as we say, in our new island refuge. We made due, and enjoyed the cozy, bright living room with a view of Camano Island across Skagit bay.

This was the view down the cliff in front of the house. Seals would play here most mornings.

We were very happy to be surrounded by nature, and the wildlife was abundant.

A family of bald eagles in our yard. Junior eats a fish while the 'rents chill in a tree, looking all regal and shit.

Deer everywhere, and super-tame. This is a problem; I don't trust them.

Quentin the California quail liked to hang around. One day he brought his wife and kids, but they were gone before I could get my phone. Rani liked to mess with him by playing quail calls from an app on her phone.

Things took a turn for the worse on a visit to Price Sculpture Forest, where Rani was carried off by a giant robot eagle.

And I was attacked by a treenosaurus.

Bennu, the heron god of the forest, healed me by granting me stone legs, which also allowed me to run away.

I shot the eagle down, saving milady from a life of servitude in his mountain kingdom, with my trusty bow Kodandam.

In the end, we made nice with the robot eagles, and all was well.

River otter fishing in Deception Pass state park.

Ellie the elephant seal

My new favorite tree.

I'm grateful for the time we spent here. It was the perfect place to unplug and rest up for the next leg of the summer.