M4rt1n0v b10g

“Almost heaven, West Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River”   John Denver: Take Me Home, Country Roads Shenandoah National Park is relatively close to NYC. It was May and we already knew that we were moving to Boston at the beginning of June. We only had a couple of weeks to visit this park by car since the distance from Boston would be too ... distant. Sure, there was a lot to pack and do but the mountains simply couldn’t wait. We hit the road early in the morning on May 22nd. The visit of West Virginia was not optional. We made a stop at Harpers Ferry.  We had dinner at a restaurant along the river and of course we made a quick stop at the Appalachian Trail Visitor Center (unfortunately it was closed due to COVID). Harpers Ferry was a beautiful quintessential small town with historical landmarks. At the end of the day we built our tent in Low-Water Bridge Campground . The Shenandoah river was flowing right next to our tent but we were so tired that we did not end...

If you own Gaggia Classic Pro espresso machine and the water flows very slowly from the group head, then you might have to clean the 3 way solenoid valve. That's exatly what happened to us recently. The whole cleaning process is well documented here:   I could just stop here, since the video is sufficient to do the cleaning. However, the video does not show a real world situation since their Gaggia model is already clean. Here is what happened in out kitchen. I used these tools and products: The whole repair took me about 1:15 hour.  I opened the case: I located the 3 way solenoid valve and opened it: I used the CLR cleaning product for descaling. I descaled only few parts from the valve to minimze contact with the other parts of the espresso machine. I also used disposable gloves and old plastic bottle for cleaning.  At the end I used old tootbrush for removing residual particles. Before and after the cleaning process: I rinsed all cleaned parts several times and th...

Mia and I had hoped to spend our Thanksgiving with our families and friends, but this is 2020. First we were thinking about traveling South (e.g. Virginia), but the driving would be just too long for us. Then we thought about going North and we both agreed that the Finger Lakes region beckoned to be discovered by us. For this trip, Mia suggested bringing our road bikes and I just could not say no. We found a very affordable Airbnb in Auburn, upstate NY. Driving there was not that long (~4.5 hours) but because we were not in a hurry, we came to town in the evening - Thanksgiving evening. We naively thought that we could get dinner in town, so after we checked in our Airbnb, we drove downtown. Surprise, surprise - everything was closed. Luckily, Mia packed frozen gluten-free pizza, avocados, apples and other food so our Thanksgiving was saved! Our apartment had a stove, oven and microwave oven and we could prepare meals for the evening and for our whole stay in Auburn. Next day we chose ...

The destination of our camping trip location was long unknown, but then we decided to go to Massachusetts, a state that impressed us quite a lot last time while traveling to Maine. It is still warm in late September in the Northeast and, we wanted to be close to a sea. We picked Cape Cod. After late night celebrations of Mia’s birthday on Thursday and not that long sleep due to a very early online workshop organized by Mia, we started packing. This time we decided to pack food only for traveling to Cape Cod. The rest we will buy in stores or we will dine in local restaurants. Mia prepared delicious gluten free bagels (from Aldi), carrots and tea for the road. We took our Jeep on the I-95 and after two hours of driving or so we made a break in Rocky Neck State Park in Connecticut. It was a unexpectedly very nice and serene place. We hit the highway I-95 until Providence in Rhode Island and then switched to I-195. We arrived to Bay View Campground around sunset and built our tent right a...

August 1st, Saturday 3AM. We just finished our work. The plan for our summer vacation does not exist yet and we should leave tomorrow early morning. We woke up after a few hours of sleep, but we had to go. Quick breakfast and rapid but thorough packing. Our rental car was waiting for us in North White Plains, so we had to take a train there. Our destination for today was in Hudson, Massachusetts, where we booked AirBnb. Almost the whole time driving in Connecticut it was raining heavily. I never experienced that heavy rain which lasted for hours. And on top of that, unfortunately, I witnessed a car drifting across several lanes. It all happened in a second and I saw the whole situation in my rear-view mirrors. The AirBnB in Hudson was very cozy and the hosts took all the precautions so we felt safe and welcomed. And, the rain stopped! Among the amenities in the apartment, the coffee maker was the most appreciated one. Next morning we quickly packed and hit the road. Our next stop was P...