Barceloneta Beaches and La Boqueria

Ten minute walk from our hostel



Fresh produce at La Boqueria


In Barcelona you are never far from anything interesting. The buildings are beautiful, the people are plentiful yet friendly, kababs are amazing, and the beach is just around the corner.

We went to market la Boqueria yesterday where you can find everything from tapas, to freshly squeezed fruit juice (I bought kiwi juice for only 2 euro) to entire pigs legs (hooves and all.)

At the beach in Barcelona we notice the sand left our skin really dirty, and our clothes and flip-flops covered in a layer of dust. Today on our walking tour we learned that the sand is so different because it isnt actually beach sand. It is sand that was shipped in from the Sahara Desert.

Congrats to Barcelona

We accidently landed in Barcelona at the perfect time. The whole city is celebrating for their soccer team, and we get to see it all. This city has been incredible. I will try up load pictures of our time here a soon a possible.

All about Ibiza

Ibiza is the Cancun of Spain. It is a small island with a huge capacity for night clubs and partylife. Many Brits come to this part of Spain for Holiday. We spent most of our time walking the town and laying on the beach. Ibiza is the first beach to introduce me to "Clothing Optional". We opted to keep our clothes on...for the most part.

Now in Ibiza

We have had a slight change of plans. We are now staying in Ibiza for a short time since Rico has a cousin with an empty apartment, we quickly decided it was worth it. I´ll keep you all up to date as best I can.

Across the Atlantic

Finally out of the US and in London. Our first night we took the tube to the SoHo district, and went to Piccidilly Circus. We got home late that night, yet had to wake up early the next day to check out Hyde Park Hostel, and make it on time to the walking tour. We were completely impressed with the guide on the free walking tour, and really felt like we got to see/learn a lot about Royal London in a short amount of time. As you can tell by the picture above the tourism in London is insane. Our tour guide Buckingham Palace as, "The most highly overrated place on the planet."

New York: For about a Minute

We finally met up with Rico in NYC, and so we decided to catch the subway and venture to Time Square for the duration of our 12 hour layover. We actually accomplished a lot in our New York minute. We shopped in Time Square, vistited ground zero, and relaxed in Central Park.

Other Adventures

If I lived in the Fairbanks family I would be in amazing shape. Jodi took us on two hikes in one day, eight miles in total. One was all uphill in the snow. (but did lead to a nude hot springs) The other took us halfway up a waterfall. The next day Jodi's dad took us on a 10 mile bike ride, and rock climbing. My arms and butt are still sore.

Seeing Seattle

We met up with Matt (who we worked with at Starbucks) at the rail jam, and then hang out around Seattle with him. We didn't witness anyone throwing fish, but we did see a huge octopus tossed onto the ice. Matt and I also went to the first Starbucks. Later that night we visited Jodi's little brother at his frat house at UW. He was excited to introduce Jodi to his frat brothers. It was cute.

Rail Jam on Pier 56

Believe it or not but the snow followed us to Seattle. Well kinda.  A local radio station sponsored a rail jam on pier 56 in Seattle, and brought in snow.  I don't think I've seen Jodi this excited since we left Denver.  The rail jam only consisted of two small rails, and if Jodi competed she would have been the only girl.  She could possibly win it next year.  

Portland

We met up with Jodi's friend Hannah in Portland for an afternoon.  We worked with Hannah's older sister Lauren in Keystone, and they look and sound exactly alike.  We spent most of our time walking around the city, and shopping because they don't have sales tax in Oregon which we greatly appreciated.  

Could Dayo escape Alcatraz Island?

The Fisherman's Wharf was delicious. I ate the whole thing. Jodi purchased fresh crab. delicious. I purchased fresh sour dough bread. delicious. Unfortunately, Dayo's soy chai was not up to three ex-baristas standards, it was more of a soy chai extra extra dry cappuccino. In a nutshell we saw some more seals, became increasingly jealous of their lifestyle, saw a lot of shellfish, paid way to much for parking, but most importantly got to inhale the aroma of fresh sourdough.

Redwoods: Turns out... not so red

In the morning we headed to see the famous Redwoods.  This trees, believe it or not, were large enough to house the entire Bodelson family. (cousins and all) We enjoyed this leisure walk in the Redwoods as Dayo read the trail guide in a pirate accent. The tree trunks were so large in circumference that Dayo and Jodi decided to race around them like mature adults.  They even attracted an unexpected crowd.  After an early morning walk and race we head back to San Fran.   

Haight Street

Austin who I haven't seen in about 2 1/2 years was nice enough to let us crash at his place in San Francisco. Sleeping on Haight street we definitely felt like we met some locals.  Austin also took us to his roof top where we got a great view of the city. As you can tell by the wind and by the bone-chilling look on Dayo's face, we definitely were in Southern California anymore. Dayo later explained to Jodi that is was "balls cold."   

Highway 1, "The 1"

Our drive out of LA was obviously eventful, especially considering I'm still learning how to drive manual.  We drove most of the coast on highway 1, which is right along the coast and extremely curvy.  Gas on highway 1 was super pricey so we filled up as minimum as possible, but the gas station was pretty adorable.  Along the drive we stop a couple of times, once to see the elephant seals and once to take scenic pictures of the sunset.  Since we were as far west as a person could be in the US, we were just about the last people to see that sunset.   

The Real O.C aka The Beach of 1,000 steps

After Hollywood Jeep take us and Michelle to Laguna Beach. We had to climb down what felt like 1,000 steps and army crawl under a trench to get to the beach of Jeep's choice, but I guess it was worth it. The beach was beautiful, and it was like every homeowner on that beach had their own private staircase or trolly to get them to the secluded beach. I also actually got in the water this time. Later that night Jeep took us to a friends surprise party where we were absolutely the only people the birthday boy didn't know, but there was free food and drinks and everyone there seemed to like us.

In and Out burger, Santa Monica, Hollywood

We met up with Michelle, Dayo's old sorority sister in LA, and she finally took us to an In and Out burger. After we were fed and rested we went out that night in Santa Monica to an Irish pub. The next day we drove to Hollywood, and were pretty much disappointed. The fog in LA was so terrible that we couldn't even see the Hollywood sign, and after we saw Britney Spears star there was nothing else to look forward to expect leaving.

Welcome to Orange County

Our first day in Southern California our friend Jeep from Breckenridge took as surfing in Mission Viejo. Dayo saw fins in the ocean ...which were dolphins... she ruled them out as sharks...so she bailed. We were the only ones at the beach without wet suits... so I bailed. There fore Jodi was the only one besides Jeep to actually get in the water.

A Night in Vegas

The Vegas trip was short but complete. The night started with margaritas by the pool, but after I got thrown in by Nolan and Jodi we decided to start getting ready to go down town. Tucker got us into Lavo, where he ended up taking are of us for the rest of the night. I manged to only gamble away $20 on quarter slots, and wake up fairly early in the morning to begin our drive to LA.

Crossing the Dam

We decided to make the Hoover dam our first stop on the road trip, so we had to document it. To me crossing into Nevada meant we were that much closer to Vegas. It was so blazing hot out, I'm surprised we were able to stay out of the air conditioned car longer enough to take a picture. (I'm not sure why I didn't put my sunglasses down, I obviously couldn't even open my eyes.)

Leaving Santa Fe for Vegas

Dayo's parents were great to us during our time in Santa Fe, but its time to pack our bags and hit the dusty trail. Vegas is next up, and its going to be hot, first stop: In and Out Burger.

Santa Fe

Jodi, Dayo, and I arrived in Santa Fe friday, where her parents had a steak dinner ready for us. Yesterday we down and ate lunch by the Pecos river, then went out later that night with Dayos cousin Caroline.  Outside the cowgirls bar a balloon guy who went to high school with Dayos parents made us a happy bear and a swine flu pig. It was pretty hilarious.