The Greek Festival

All Labor Day weekend, the Greek Festival in Belmont was happening. Somehow Saturday and Sunday just slipped by so on Monday Brett & I made sure to carve out some time to check out the festival.

There were tents set up outside with all kinds of meats being cooked and sold, Gyros and lamb kebabs had the longest lines. There were various jewelery, clothes and souvenirs being sold as well as traditional Greek dancers performing.

We also were able to get inside the church and learn about the history of Greek Orthodox and admire the beautiful ceiling and wall decor that has recently been done.

There was a theater set up behind the church with plays happening throughout the day, performed by children & teens on Ancient Greek history.

A lot of what we saw and smelled reminded us of our travels last year to the Greek Islands {read about it; here, here, here and here} and how we wished we were back there soaking up the sun, lying on the sand and swimming in crystal clear waters.

X x

a few from labor day weekend

I hope everyone had a great three day weekend! As you know, I had my first camping experience this weekend to celebrate the holiday and it really was a lot of fun. It was different than what I was expecting but for the most part we were completely prepared and weren't going "ohhh, I wish I had brought that" which is very good.

On Saturday, our first day, we spent almost the entire day just out on the lake. We had a little bit of trouble as the plastic oars from my parents old little raft had all cracked and failed on us while out in the water. There was a general store with a restaurant on site so luckily they had one oar to purchase. We used that and it was a bit better but still it was a little difficult to get around on the small raft. Brett gave it his all fishing off the boat and caught three fish! They weren't that big but we still brought them back to BBQ and eat with our dinner.

Sunday we drove out to Columbia where they have kept the town and have shops and business's open as if it were 1850. These towns were developed when the rush for gold started and everyone came out west to strike it rich! I had been there once on a school trip and I have wanted to go back and see it again for awhile. There is a stagecoach tour that you can take, visit any of the old general stores, ice cream parlor, blacksmith, bar's and saloons and of course panning for gold. It is definitely worth a visit if you are ever in California and interested.

X x

mykonos never sleeps, no seriously

Mykonos is one of the hottest summer destinations for people from all over the world who want to relax on white sandy beaches and party until the sunrises. This place puts Vegas to shame, but more on that later.

We took another ferry from Paros to Mykonos, it was only about 45 minutes because the islands are so close together. We were staying on the southern end of the island, about 15 minutes from the port and main town. Our hotel was adorable with an all white exterior and little blue doors. It was the perfect "Mediterranean style" I was hoping for! Also, it was only steps from the beach and a few restaurants.

First of all, we were so overwhelmed when we arrived into Mykonos. It was much busier than Paros, there were people walking and driving all over the place on these little windy roads. Luckily our hotel had a shuttle and picked us up so we didn't have to figure it out on our own. We spent our first day and night there just looking at maps and walking around everywhere to figure out what our surroundings were. There was a bus that would come every 15 minutes to take you into town. There were also taxi boats that would ferry you around all the coves from one beach to the other; it was perfect. We spent most of our time during the days on the beach and playing in the water.

The nightlife just exploded from there, everything revolved around the night - eating, drinking, shopping and clubbing took place all night and into the early morning. Restaurants and shops were packed from 10pm until about 1am, it was such a strange feeling to be in a restaurant eating a full dinner at midnight, but at the same time it felt so right. Makes sense, doesn't it? Anyway the three most famous and biggest clubs in Mykonos are: Space, Scandanavian Bar and any of the three clubs in Paradise Beach. Of course we went to all three. :] However, no one actually came to the clubs until about 4am, seriously. We tried, we really did to keep up.. but by 4am I was just so tired {Brett too} that we had to just get back to our hotel and crawl into bed. I really don't know how they can do it, I mean honestly what do you do until 4am anyways?! It beats me, but basically Mykonos won this time.

Of course not everything was party, beach, party, beach, repeat. We spent a little time walking through the town in the afternoon, while there was no one else around and I was able to get some great pictures. Mykonos is also known for a couple of other things, one being their windmills. There are 5 of them grouped together in the main town up on a little hill and they are beautiful. They can be seen from pretty much any point in the town and from the harbor. There is also a local "celebrity" of the town. His name is Petros and he is a pelican. He is beloved by his town and he is extremely friendly. You can easily find him just wandering through the town because there is a group of people chasing after him with their cameras. He even let me pet him one afternoon. :] I also could not get enough of the beautiful bright white buildings with its deep blue roof. I think when a lot of people image the Greek Islands, that is what they picture {because that's what I pictured} but those beautiful little buildings are all small churches and they have them almost every couple hundred feet! I even read somewhere that there are 365 churches on the islands of Mykonos alone. That is a pretty huge number for such a tiny little island, don't you think?

 We also lucked out and while we were wandering through the town there were tables set up with local Greek food that had just been cooked by the local women, selling them for a euro or two a piece. It was perfect! We were able to try homemade treats cooked by these women who were selling them to raise some money for a cause. My favorite, of course was baklava, which is a very sweet, flaky pastry. Oh it was so good to have it fresh & homemade. 

Mykonos definitely had a completely different style and vibe from Paros, so we had no idea what to expect for our quick day visit to Santorini, but we were ready to move on. It was great while we were there, but I think if I were to do it again, I would choose to stay on a different side of the island. By the time we had to checkout all we wanted to do was sleep. The hotel shuttle took us back to the port where we waited for the ferry to take us to our next destination. Let the adventures continue.

X x

taco tuesday

The other night, I decided it was going to be taco night for dinner {okay, we didn't actually eat these on taco tuesday...} I bought some "beefless ground beef" from the grocery store awhile ago but never seemed to be in the mood or too tired to get everything prepared and ready. But for some reason, this night was the night. So I went to the store to get some fixin's and then came home to prepare it all. I was a little intimidated about the "beef" because I have never had tofu in this form before. And the instructions merely said "just heat and serve" - like it's that easy. But actually, I put it in a skillet with some olive oil and herbs and seasonings and stirred it around for about 6 or 7 minutes and presto, it was done. Then I had the usual, lettuce, corn, cheese, brown rice, and some chips and salsa on hand as well. I also decided to be a little unconventional and get some corn tortillas instead of my usual love for flour ones. I thought that they were all cooked and ready to just warm up, but they in fact were not. Lucky for me, boy was near by and quickly took over and showed me what to do. We put them in another little skillet with oil and cooked them on either side for just a few minutes. They turned out even better than I could have imagined. Everything was so fabulous and incredible I feel like I am eating it all over again right now. I would absolutely recommend making this meal and I can not wait to make it again! I am sure most of you would much prefer the real deal but I have to say.. the "beefless ground beef" really held it's own. Oh and all these fabulous ingredients came from Trader Joes. Every single one of them.

X x

going off the grid

Tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn {okay, 6.30am} Brett and I are heading off to Yosemite for Memorial Day Weekend! We have been looking forward and preparing for this all week. I haven only been to Yosemite once in my life and I was very little with my family so I don't remember much. But today is crunch time so I am grocery shopping, finishing up laundry, packing up, charging; cameras, cell phone's, ipad's you name it.

We have a big all day hike planned for Sunday so this week I have been trying to load up on protein, also I haven't had any soda {ok, I cheated once at lunch} lots and lots of water and keeping the exercise pretty light this week as I don't want to be sore before I even get there. We also have a 2 hour horseback ride booked on Monday that I am really looking forward to because it is something I always loved and used to do when I was younger. Unfortunately, the weather report says rain on Saturday when we arrive so we are just going to play it by ear for what we want to do. Also, we cleaned out Brett's explorer with shock vac and all because if there is one crumb of food in there a bear will smell it and rip the car apart to get to it. {no seriously} There have been so many stories about this happening, I even heard a bear ripped open a car because there was gum on the floor - yikes! At least we took care of that earlier in the week. All that is left today is the finishing touches.

Here are some of my pictures as I am still finishing up packing. I hope you all have a wonderful 3-day weekend with your family and friends. This weekend... we are going off the grid and I will see you when I am back to civilization!

X x