Last year was rough. We were in lockdown. I was stuck in a bear shack with way too many bunnies.
This year didn’t start off much better. Not only was I stuck indoors without travel or gaming, but I spent most of my day wrapped up in a towel bear-rito. Something about making sure I stayed clean during construction. I’m sure this was my bud’s idea of torture.
Then one day my bud said we were going to go on a trip. We were headed to a town called Las Catalinas in Costa Rica, a newly built no-car, fully walkable master plan community that looked a bit like Italy. You fly directly to Libera airport instead of San Jose, and from there it’s about an hour drive to Las Catalinas. We were going to split a house with friends. To travel again!
Our house was called Casa Crepúsculo, which was perched on the side of the mountain. We got the upper bedroom. I promptly decided to check out the bed, before deciding I’d rather sleep on a pillow kingdom.
Since we arrived at night, it wasn’t until the next day I could really check out my surroundings. I got myself a comfy seat on the balcony and took stock.
It’s the middle of the pandemic. Nobody is going anywhere. Suddenly Nicholas gets a message from his friend Mark’s fiancee. They are getting married. They want to be very careful with Covid, so they aren’t inviting anybody, but Nicholas convinces them that it would be okay if he drives up directly, quarantines for a few days and has a small bachelor party for Mark and attends the wedding.
At first I was suspicious, a bachelor party? During the pandemic? But then I remembered, Mark is one of Nicholas’s old gaming friends, and they will party like the bunch of nerds they are. What did they do? Soda, junk food and video games. I can get behind parties like this.
Since we were up here already, we took the time to visit my bud’s mom. Outdoors. Masks on of course.
Then it was a road trip back home. We took the time to stop by Mono lake and grabbed some photos.
“Look, I’m busy. You should annoy someone else,” I tell him.
“Peep,” says Peep. *Ulgh. *He disappears. Well at least he did that.
Annnnnd I haven’t seen him in months. Life is great.
Then COVID-19 happened. We go into quarantine. No more travel. Indefinitely. Also Pokin’s sister and husband move in with us.
To stay sane, my bud and I, and the rest of the family go on nightly walks, where we’ve been noticing a LOT of baby bunnies trying to survive out in the wild.
*Not my problem! *I think, as we continue our walks.
Then came Pokin’s birthday.
“We got you a surprise,” Pokin’s sister says to her. “We’d been seeing so many bunnies on our walks, we thought about pets! And so we got you something! “Close your eyes and hold out your hand.”
Pokin closes her eyes. I close my eyes. A wave of trepidation comes over me.
We open our eyes. OMG there is bunny on her hand.
“We thought you’d like him! Surprise!” PoOn said.
They got her a bunny. Another bunny.
We’re under quarantine right now! Don’t they know that?! Who knows where this bunny has been!! He’s not even wearing a mask!
I take this bunny out for a talk. I put on my mask. Gotta stay safe after all.
“Look pal, we follow social distancing rules around here. In other words, stay far away from me.”
The new bunny stares at me.
In silence.
I stare back.
Oh boy.
It gets worse.
PEEP! ARGH!
This quarantine is really testing me. I’m surrounded by a bunnies. They’ve grown in quantity. And size.
And I’m locked down in this house. Somebody help me.
Maybe it’s time to think about my hibearnating options.
We don’t get to travel much any more these days, so on the way back from skiing we detoured to Bryce Canyon.
It was surprisingly crowded for the winter. Just our luck it was some sort of winter festival. Well still, we’re here now and a bear wants to explore. We made a quick stop to the Visitors Centre and were pointed to the Queen’s Garden Trail.
The trail’s nice. And it was a great day out.
I saw people hiking in flip flops. They are crazy. I opted to be carried. As usual.
When you are well prepared, no hill is too steep to climb.
Now that Pokin’s joined YPO, she’s making an effort to meet the members more. “The Couples retreat is one of the best ways to get to know the members,” Val (the chapter manager) told Pokin. So she signed up to go on the retreat, which happened to be at a place called Powder Mountain.
Last year this time, we went skiing at Snowbird which was pretty great, so I was excited. The place is called Powder Mountain because normally there is a lot of powder. Ski time! Hot cocoa time!
Except due to some freak weather phenomenon they actually had no new snow and everything was pretty icy…I guess we’ll just have to come back again next year to get proper skiing in.
Still, I do remember my bud taking advantage of the snow and going skiing. It was a work day, and while he was skiing the servers at work crashed. His employees messaged him saying “help, the servers are down”. He took out his phone at the top of the mountain, connected to the systems remotely, fixed the problem and then took this photo to show where he was and continued skiing. That’s productivity 101 right there.
I put on my Santa outfit and the generosity started. Not everyone can be a cool spirit bear like myself, so animal hats were probably the next best thing.
I got myself a little something too. That disgusting bag Nicholas insists on carrying me around in was getting a little worn down so I upgraded his flash sack. Let it be known the flash sack gift is in no way an endorsement of the sack as the preferred means by which I wish to be transported.
I also got a new outfit! Nick’s mom and Anna sewed me a new hoodie! It’s about time! Now I can be extra stealthy in really clean white snow!
The next morning, we just wandered. First down La Rambla and then onto Passeig de Colom. Nicholas wanted to find the street that he used to rollerblade on to a beach. Instead we found “Gambrinus,” a ridiculous looking statue of a lobster that Pokin loved for no good reason.
We didn’t have a lot of time, so before we could find that beach it was time to turn around. We went through Barri Gòtic. The streets were cool. Of course we found graffiti. And cool old buildings. And fat pigeons. Those fat pigeons just sat in the alcoves on the wall like bosses. I was almost tempted to fly up and smack them with my paws but they are way too dirty to go near.
And then we were onwards to Madrid. I bearly feel like I got experience Bearcelona. I guess I’ll just have to come back.
From Barcelona, it’s about a 3 h train ride on the AVE train to Madrid. We left from the Sants station. It wasn’t very busy, so I was able to snag my own seat.
Ride was smooth, and then we were in Madrid.
Where it was raining. It turned out to be a good thing because it meant the main tourist spots weren’t too crowded. So we went to Mercado San Miguel in Centro and walked our way to Plaza de Cibeles before heading to bed. Have to be well rested after all. Tomorrow it’s Rocket League Championships!!
Travel time! We’re back on the road and in Spain this week. First stop - Barcelona.
It’s only fitting because Barcelona is a lot like San Francisco both in approximate square footage and size, and we all know I’ve been spending too much time in San Francisco. Barcelona is a hilly costal city that’s actually fairly walkable. It’s the largest city in Catalonia, and the second largest city in Spain by population, but we walked around fine.
We stayed in Eixample, and for being a city from the Roman times, you wouldn’t have been able to tell in this neighbourhood. The streets were clean, the boulevards wide. It also turns out to be where a lot of the nicest restaurants are, which didn’t matter so much to me but did to others. Our hotel, the Alexandra Curio was a short walk from Passeig de Gràcia, one of the main passageways in the area.
Our room came with a European-sized bathroom, but an ample sized voyeur balcony and pillow kingdom. You bet I made myself comfortable in the proper spot.
One can only loiter for so long in the hotel before it was time to get out and about. So out we went. Compared to Las Vegas where it gets bright early, sunrise doesn’t happen till past 8am here. Since I’m a nocturnal bear it didn’t matter, but it did feel strange to see how ’early morning’ it felt even at 9am.
Barcelona is famous for being home to the architect Antoni Gaudí, known for his, what I call “pretty weird architecture.” Gaudí’s work is part of some Modernista movement that draws inspiration from Gothic and Oriental architecture. For me it just looked weird, and very organic and biological and structures felt like bones and muscles. Gaudí’s work is scattered all across the city, but his most famous work is the still-under-construction Sagrada Família, so that’s where we headed.
Like most large stone buildings, this basilica has taken a long time to build. Ground breaking happened in 1882 and construction is expected to complete by 2026, for the centenary of Gaudí’s death. This means it’ll have taken 144 years to build – which would still be less time than it took to build the Notre Dame Cathedral. Construction sure has sped up since.
La Sagrada Família is not a cathedral, but rather a basilica – something I only just learned. Cathedrals are reserved as the home of a bishop. Basilicas are any place of importance to the Pope. In contrast to the outside which is super ornate – especially the Nativity Facade (the only side Gaudí was alive to see), the inside was a lot more simplistic. I like that.
I learned that the pillars were inspired by tree trunks, and that the different columns were made of different stone to support different heights. The stained glass was also designed deliberately with a deliberate mood shift from warm glows to cool.
And this is the bronze door to the Passion facade. Over 8000 characters have been cast on these doors.
We didn’t get the right kinds of tickets that let us go up the stairs of the Basilica, so with that we were done. We did peek into the basement where we saw the 3D printing workshop where they test out sculptures before carving them out in stone. Definitely more efficient.
Next stop - the Hop on Hop off bus tour.
My impressions? Overrated. Most of the attractions were not viewable from the street. There was little narration. And it was cold. But it was a quick way to see Barcelona since we had limited time.
