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!