Items

• 
  2021-03

  First Time Traveling after COVID-19

  At the end of March 2021, I took a trip to the Idyllwild Mountains in Southern California. Getting to the base of Idyllwild Mountains was a 15-minute drive from where I lived. I rented an Airbnb with my family to enjoy the upcoming snow. Having multiple members in my family with compromised immune systems, we were still taking self-isolating and social distancing very seriously. During this period in California, Disneyland reopened, and restrictions eased around the state. Right before the trip, California leaders announced that anyone over 16 would be eligible to receive the vaccine the following month. While I wanted to go out and make happy memories, like enjoying Disneyland again with my family, I remember the anxiety of even staying in the Airbnb with my family and the worry that we would catch the virus. However, because of the cleaning policies and the relative isolation of the location, it felt like a safe way to travel while still being able to take enough precautions to limit exposure. While there are excellent restaurants in Idywild, we brought groceries to our rented cabin. We felt this was safer because we were still uncomfortable dining out then. Although we only stayed on the rental cabin property, it was still such an enjoyable experience. I got to watch the snowfall with my niece and nephew. We made snow angels, played board games, and ate homemade chili. It was a magical experience after prolonged stress, fear, and worry. While we were still socially distant and isolated during the trip, it was such a memorable experience, and I will forever treasure the memories we made together during our first time traveling after the start of COVID-19.
• 2020-09-07

  Pandemics & Wildfires

  The year 2020 was challenging for me in a couple ways. Like so many others, the pandemic lockdown kept me home for several months. I continued school online with my local university and waited for it all to be over. As summer rolled around, my family had decided that if we were going to be isolated from others, we might as well do it somewhere we love. We spent the better part of our summer at my great grandfather’s cabin at Huntington Lake in the High Sierras. It was a fairly quiet season at the lake considering California was still under many restrictions. Shortly after our last visit, the Creek Fire started. The fire burned nearly 380,000 acres of the Sierra National Forest for about four months. Within a week of the beginning of the fire, we lost our family cabin and the historic general store, Cressman’s, that our cousins had just taken over. Our family was devastated, and it is still a very painful memory. I am, however, incredibly grateful for the last summer we got to spend there. In a strange way, the COVID-19 pandemic offered our family a small blessing in disguise. Since the lockdown required many to reduce work hours, a number of friends and family members had the opportunity to visit the cabin one last time. This photograph is a reminder of a very bittersweet summer. Although 2020 proved to be an especially challenging year, the pandemic allowed my family to make its final memories of our second home before it was gone.
• 
  2020-08

  Memories are Like Waterfalls; a Post-COVID-19 Recovery Vacation

  As a survivor of COVID-19 with long-lasting damage, this memory still brings feelings of anger and fear to the surface. It takes place at a family cabin that was the epicenter of many happy memories all the way from childhood through becoming a parent myself. That first trip back forced me to see all that COVID-19 had stolen from me and would continue to steal from me for the rest of my life.
• 
  2020-04-16

  Ciudadana Puñena pasa bailando por cabina de desinfección de COVID-19. La buena actitud ante todo :)

  Bailando por cabina de desinfección de COVID-19