Glacier National park

 This summer, I went on a road trip with a friend to Glacier National park.  We started planning this trip in the summer of 2021, but because it's hard to get everything planned in a short amount a time, plus I had some other things planned for last summer, we decided to this summer.  We rented an AirBnb and got the "Going-to-the-Sun Road" pass months in advance.  But then found out a week before that the road wasn't open because of snow and that it might not be cleared before we get there.  It wasn't open for our first two days, but it opened by the third day and we were able to see everything we had planned.  However, there were lots of other places to go/see which are not on the road.

First we drove around, and saw McDonald Lake and took a boat tour of the lake.  

The second day, we went for a hike to Glacier lake.  Here are some pics along the way...

this is the view of Glacier Lake. 

The next day, the road was open, so we drove on the Going to the Sun road and these are some views...

up at the highest point, there is a visitor's center and parking lot and we walked around for bit.  We thought we could hike here, but the trails were closed because of the snow.

On the other side of the park, we stopped for this amazing scene at Wild Goose Island Viewpoint...

and on the way back we came across a field with cars parked along, who were looking at something.  So we pulled over and we saw what it was...

When we stopped we saw this bear all the way up on the hill, but it made it's way down the hill and was only a few feet away from where we were parked.  The bear was much closer than it seems in this picture.  It seems everyone goes to Glacier and wants to see a bear... just not on a trail or at a campsite. So this was the perfect way to see it.  And it did not seem the least bit interested in us, which was a good thing.  

NYC visit

 

Day one, we walked around a little while the parents were at a concert.  Here they are in front of the NY Public Library

Day two, I took my niece to see Dear Evan Hansen.  the brothers went to see other shows.  She loved the show! 

We couldn't get a good picture out front of the theater because of the scaffolding, but that's her in front.

Day three I took both nieces to see Six.  

Playing in Central Park

Lion King

I took my niece to see the Lion King last week.  First, we stopped at Serendipity for lunch.  Here she is with the giant menu. 

And here she is with their famous giant frozen hot chocolate

Since the restaurant is right by the Roosevelt Island tram, we took that over to the island and then right back again.  

And then this non-city kid walked all the way down to the theater.  

It was my first time seeing the show (which came out like 25-30 years ago and still regularly sells out).  I was never really interested in seeing it, but I can see why it has lasted.  The puppets are amazing!

 

Barcelona, part 2

The second day, I woke up early and went on a Rick Steves walking tour.  I love to download his tours on my phone and put my headphones in and just follow what he says to do.  He often tells you where to stop for a snack or a drink, but everything was closed on Sunday morning.  It was nice to have the streets mostly to myself, though. 

Here are some more buildings that were designed by Gaudi.  

I went into this apartment building to see if they had tickets to tour the building, and they did.  I decided to wait to see if Milena wanted to tour with me later in the day, but we ran out of time.  

Even the street tiles were designed by him.  

Here are some other sites around the newer portion of the city, Eixample, where we were staying.  You can also see some runners, because there was a marathon going on.  It happened to be on the same day as the NYC marathon, but many fewer people were running.  

One of the markets that Rick Steves said to stop into, but it was closed. 

After the tour, I met up with the rest of the group and we went shopping and then went to lunch.  the food was so good here. 

After a delicious lunch, I went off on my own again to tour the Cathedral of Barcelona.  

the view from the roof of the cathedral...

La Sagrada Familia

After the cathedral, I walked around the older part of town, which I quite enjoyed but didn't take any pictures.  Then I met up with the group again and we took a night train back to Valencia.  

And that's Barcelona!

Barcelona, part 1

 I'm not someone that has a "bucket list" but I do have a few places that I have always wanted to visit, and Barcelona is one of them.  So I finally got to go while I was in Spain.  Our first stop was "La Sagrada Familia" cathedral.  This cathedral has apparently been under construction for a hundred years and is still not done.   The architect, Antoni Gaudi, worked on this cathedral for 40 years and after he died, others took over and have continued to work on it.  You can see some of the scaffolding and a crane in these pictures. 

We entered on this side of the building....

Inside is supposed to resemble trees because Gaudi liked to bring nature into his work. 

On the other side of the building, these sculptures were carved into the side. 

I loved the expression on their faces