Fred & Wilma Lovestone in The Canyons: Part 1

Of course, our roadtrip would not be a roadtrip without visiting some of the amazingly beautiful national parks. Here an overview of the parks we have visited in the last few days.

Grand Canyon

Lake Powell: The Horse Shoe Bend & The Antilope Canyon

We stayed at Waheap Marina in a room with this lake view

The pictures of Bryce Canyon, Zion Canyon and Death Valley are following soon...

Route 66 - Williams

Hello! Update on the trip!

After the cool cool Palm Springs, we went to Williams, a cute little town on the way to the Grand Canyon. And this little town stole my heart, right there on the Historic Route 66.

Here some pictures...

Palm Springs: I love the 50'ties

Palm Springs: I love the 50'ties

The first thing that struck me when I started reading about Palm Springs, was the beautiful architecture, the so-called 'desert modernism'.Palm Springs has the largest concentration of mid-century modern architecture.Since the 1920’s, visionary modernist architects have designed sleek, modern homes that have embraced the desert environment. The dramatic geographic surroundings of the Coachella Valley inspired a design aesthetic in the middle of the 20th Century now called Desert Modernism.Talented architects were drawn to the desert by chance and opportunity.

 They created notable buildings of every type: residential, commercial, civic, religious, hotels, schools, cultural, etc.

It really makes me dream of the hot desert and nice cool pools and houses.So I figured that what we need after a long long long trip is a hotel with a little Mad Men flair to get a feel of the good old times.

In our search for a hotel, we wanted to stay in a hotel that really breaths the desert modernism.

A 1952 William Cody design has been brought back to life with a big dose of 21st century hotel-style thrown into the mix. 

Truman Capote used to hide out there in the old days and Marilyn Monroe & Betty Grable could be found poolside.

The Horizon Hotel

 Mad men Lisa

Mad Men Laurent

Travel preparations

We are getting ready for our trip!

Some things to do:

1. Preparing & studying the road map (Google maps is our best friend)

2. I have done some research on how making the very long flight somewhat more comfortable ( if that is possible without flying business or first)

You can do a few things: You can try to find the best seat in the airplane using the seatexpert website.You fill out the airline, the flight number and the date and the application tells you what the best seats are. Since most airlines have an online check in, you can then choose that seat. Clever no?

So at least now we can stretch our legs and not be bothered with smelly neighbours! Another tip to survive the flight: take a sleeping pill, 8 hours fly by before you know it! :-)

3. Food on the airplane can be pretty bad - I sometimes feel a bit weird after eating those meals. So before you book of after, you can consult a review website on airline meals, and when it seems to be -not so appetising-you can always buy something in the airport that will keep you going during the flight. Reviews on airline meals can be found here: airlinemeals.net

 

4. Avoiding a jet lag. Just a few rules to follow

• Drink a lot on the aircraft, stay hydrated
• Move around in the cabin
• Don't eat too much
• Sleep when you feel like sleeping on the aircraft, but don't force yourself
• Reset your clock at the destination time zone immediately, so your mind thinks that nothing is wrong.
• Don't do naps the day of arrival
• Stay awake until 11 PM local time for 2 consecutive nights, after you will be fine

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” –Henry Miller
 

“Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.” – Paul Theroux

“Not all those who wander are lost.” – JRR Tolkien

"Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.” – Seneca

“I love to travel, but hate to arrive.” – Albert Einstein

 

WANDERLUST

 

Garden Love: Garden Style

Hello Garden Lovers!

Here is a new episode of the Garden Love.

Although the weather has been really bad here in Belgium this summer, the garden is blooming!

Lisa the little garden princess...

...with the pink boots & gloves!

Last week we had an overload of rucola (roquette) salad, so we decided to do something clever with it: rucola pesto to freeze...

Rucola, basilicum, olive oil,some pinenuts in the blender

 And then you put them in an ice cube tray so you can use them in individual portions.

We also had an abundance of tomatoes in the fridge so we decided to make some real tomato sauce with nothing but tomatoes, onion, garlic and basilicum, also to freeze. Njam and very healthy.

We also celebrated the eating of the first courgette (zucchini) from our own garden. Well, the green monsters are taking over the whole vegetable garden, so we will have hundreds of them very soon.

And of course we made some nice dishes this weekend, with herbs and vegetables from the garden.

Here are some other stars of our garden!