Joshua Tree: Sunrise, Sunshine, Sunset

Looking back through these photos of Joshua Tree in the cold depths of New York January is pretty painful. That light. That silence. Those multi-colored, ever-changing skies. Watching the sun rise and set every day. Disconnected from the rest of the world. Is this real life?

Reading about the vandalism happening in Joshua Tree National Park made me even angrier and upset with the governance of this country than I am on an everyday basis. It's such a magical, wondrous, spectacular place. All Los Angelenos seem to describe it as "spiritual". And while that often winds the cynical Brit/East Coaster in me up, they're kinda right.

It's hard to describe the park itself (and the surrounding space—we stayed nearer Pioneertown), but hopefully these pictures (narrowed down from the selection of 300+ I took over 4 days) share a little bit of the otherworldly beauty.

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24 Hours in Santa Barbara

It feels like many moons ago that we went on a Californian adventure. Really it's only been 2 months (which for this blog, makes it recent news), but life has changed a lot since the morning we hopped on a plane to LAX for our big desert holiday.

The first 24 hours of our trip were a whirlwind tour of Santa Barbara. We stopped for lunch at Malibu Farm Café on the way up the coast from the airport. I'd dreamed of eating here for at least three years, and sitting on the roof, overlooking the ocean, the sun beating down, digging into a bright salad, sipping on fresh watermelon juice, and stealing mum's pancakes, was like the happiest dance for joy. Escaping New York and the stress of the previous weeks for this slice of paradise led to big, wide smiles.

M&D then gave B & I a glimpse of Santa Barbara life, which as far as I can see looks pretty perfect. The beaches were stunning, the mountains just behind majestic (if scary to drive up), the sunsets mesmerizing, the ice cream delicious, and the people we spent the evening with kind and warm. Everyone made us feel right at home.

The next morning we all headed down from the mountains for a run along the beach (is it actually people's reality that they wake up every morning and run along the beach? is that actually possible?), followed by a dream breakfast at Helena Avenue Bakery—Green Breakfast Bowls, freshly-baked bagels, toast, and cookies for the road... We weren't really ready to leave Santa B. In just 1 day I'd fallen in love. But more adventures awaited, and we weren't going to fall prisoner to that LA traffic. We needed to get to Joshua Tree. Next chapter coming soon.

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Tivoli Snapshots, Take 2

Last year we spent a beautiful long weekend in Tivoli with M&D. This year, we had B's parents visiting. They wanted to see "the fall", we wanted to get out of NYC, and we all wanted to eat wonderful food and do some good hikes, so back up to Tivoli we went.

This time, we stayed in this slightly bonkers shipping container house just outside the town. But apart from that, we behaved quite similarly.

There were morning visits to our favorite bakery, a rainy day in Hudson, stopping at all the farm stands to stock up on all the squash and apples we could eat, hikes in the Catskills and Taconic State Park, warm baths as we hid from the rain, lots of sleep, drives to watch the sunset, an attempt to use the barbecue without freezing, and everyone falling in love all over again with this part of the world.

Oh and there were leaves. Lots and lots of red, orange, gold, copper, yellow, green, brown, and all the other colors I can't name, leaves. (I was pretty happy about it.)

If you're visiting this magical area of New York state any time soon, don't miss these places:

Tivoli

Tivoli General Store: for your basics and not-so-basics. And for the best sandwiches to take on a hike.

Tivoli Bread & Baking: for breakfast and endless supplies of lemon bars.

Germantown

Gaskins: A totally fantastic restaurant in the most idyllic town. Best for a cozy dinner and lots of red wine.

Otto's Market: For pre-hike breakfasts, sandwiches and bagels to take with you, and a bigger basics and not-so-basics selection than Tivoli's General Store.

Hudson

Flowerkraut: Plants + sauerkraut. A surprisingly great combo.
Moto: For coffee, and a motorbike on the side.
Olde Hudson: Yes, it's expensive, but if you need something else to cook, you'll be able to get it here. And be sure to pick up a bag of Augie's granola. It's the best.
Talbott & Arding: Maybe my favorite food shop in the world.

Red Hook

Mercato: We had a delicious dinner here after a less delicious train ride up to Rhinecliff on Friday night. It was buzzing and the pasta was amazing.

And don't miss the farm stands: stop at every one you pass. You can never have too many apples.

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