What's a good birthday? First, celebrating it. Secondly, having around you the people truly important in your life and being able to create memories together. - This is how I decided to begin my post from last year where I shared my experience while celebrating my b-day in the woods, which has already been a tradition for almost 10 years.

As you might have guessed, this post couldn't be missing from this year's Birthday party which brought me the 27th rotation around the Sun, so in case you are interested in what the one from last year looked like, you can read more about it by clicking here.

While various things have changed, a thing remained the same - the way I began both this post and the one from the last year.
Sadly, this year it was a bit more difficult to have everyone around for various reasons and we were still not in the complete formula which I'm hoping to achieve next year, but at least we managed to have our cousin with us which last year was in the UK where he is making a living.
In case you are confused as to why I mention everything as 'we' it's because as some of you might know, I have a twin. Therefore, this birthday celebration always happens to both of us.

However, another different thing in 2024 compared with 2023 is that this year we decided to celebrate not only our b-days but also that of my cousin and my boyfriend who are both born in September as well. And we are already making plans for next year and to make this another sort of tradition.

Cedar Crest, Râşnov TOUR

A thing that we try to achieve through our one-of-a-kind ways of celebrating our birthday, is to always have a different place to call home for a weekend or more, where to write down lots of memories and from where to begin new activities and experiences that will count more into being stored in our hearts and brains.

What we picked for this year was a duplex house from a town that we crossed countless times during our trips and even explored most of what it could offer to the tourists.

Two memorable trips we had in Rasnov are Canionul 7 Scări (7 Stairs Canyon) and Canionul Tamina (Tamina Canyon) which we also thought about having as activities during our stay that was extended on 4 days this year instead of 3 as it usually happens.

However, things went really wild with the population of bears from Romania which is well known as having the largest population of bears and wolves from Eastern Europe but where the animals started having a very weird behaviour lately after so much illegal deforestation. Based on those aspects, we had to give up on these hikes for now, but still managed to find activities to enjoy. Until we get there, here is the tour of the duplex house we called home last weekend when we celebrated our b-days.

^{The back view of the house with everything built in the mirror - two tiny houses and their terraces}

^{The view inside with an open space kitchen and the living room}

^{The kitchen}

^{The bedroom - there were 4 of these but all looked alike}

^{The bathroom}

^{The terrace}

^{The firepit which was surrounded by beanbags and swings}

^{The pool but way too small for adults}

^{The wood tub}

^{Some flowers from the garden - so many flowers in there!}

^{The view to the garden including the wood tub and the firepit}

^{A lovely view over an artificial lake for growing trout and other species of fish}

I think the images speak for themselves and there is no need to add any more details now, but I am really happy to have found this place to book at the last moment as the options we had at first didn't seem too close to our tastes.

At first I wanted to make it again into an A-Frame Cabin as last year, or at least a wooden chalet as it seems like belonging to the woods a bit more. But then I figured out that the memories we create are the ones that matter the most and these can be built in more places even if there is not a chalet as part of the landscape.

...And with such a view, who really needs a cabin anyway? Just imagine waking up to this every morning. It already feels more important than a lot of things out there, isn't it?

Click on the images to see them in full resolution

As there is no party without snacks and drinks, that was pretty much the first thing we took care of, even before changing our clothes or unpacking our luggage. Don't worry, we also had food but that was all in the other house where the adults stayed, while we kept the fun part in our house! 😜

And yes, that's a Pinata. I knew about its existence and have seen countless times how they are used but never really considered we should have one at our b-days as they seem for kids and not adults. However, my sister insisted on having one and now looking back at it, I'm really happy this happened, as we had lots of fun breaking it.

Pinata Party!

Sadly, I only have a before and after image of it because everything happened quite fast and there was no time to properly take pictures, but hitting it once by each of us was enough to take it down.

And BOOM! lots of sweets that even gathered the kids of the owners around the table craving for some of these. And I'm happy this happened as there were way too many for us.

Cuibul de Lemn

As I follow quite a few pages on Instagram with unique places from Romania, there was this day when I got my attention caught by this chalet which stirred so much curiosity through the way it was designed, having a face on one of its sides.
What I didn't know then was that it's a complete resort with around 3 or 4 constructions like these and it's very expensive to book a night there, so I sort of gave up on the thought of ever seeing it in person.
However, its name, Cuibul de Lemn remained in my head and the biggest surprise came when I saw a road sign leading the way to it just 10 meters before reaching our home for the weekend.
So on one of the days spent there, I got my boyfriend, my cousin and my father and took a quick 4-minute walk until reaching it and saw it in person.
It's true, the place looks a lot better than in pictures, and I am so grateful for seeing it even if I didn't book a night at that place. But based on this experience I am not sure how many tourists are interested in booking a night if the yard is open to everyone and have access to enter and take a picture and then leave, as we did. Because yes, this house can't be seen from the road but only if you enter the parking lot.

Click on the images to see them in full resolution

As you can see, there are some really large constructions in there, one of them also being the restaurant of the resort booked with 4*. Even if not all sides have this specific face which brings so many people to take a picture of, the design is really unique and interesting. I can only dream of how this looks on the inside if the outside is so cool!

Late movie nights & Early sunrise seekers

Some things that weren't missing during our stay, were the movie nights on the terrace where even if it was unexpectedly cold, we still had lots of fun. We also ended up catching the morning sunrises that one day happened from the car.

This took place on Saturday when me and my cousin drove to the nearest train station to pick up my boyfriend who couldn't be with us the whole time but still made the effort to come for two days. And God bless that sunrise, it's been a long while since I've last seen such a beautiful one!

Pendulum Swing, Horse Riding or Silly Tan?

Now here comes the interesting part of the trip.

My sister and cousin had a very spontaneous idea to enjoy one of those extreme sports one day before leaving home where they hike all the way up to a mountain and then jump from there while hanging in a rope and enjoy a giant swing or the so-called "Pendulum Swing".

As my mood wasn't the best for various reasons, I had to skip this idea, thinking that it was a bit too risky for my taste anyway. I do have on my to-do list to enjoy a parachute jump at least once and some other activities filled with adrenaline, but none Pendulum or Bungee Jumping were on the list, at least for now.

Click on the images to see them in full resolution

From there, they said they would try the hike to Tamina Canyon mentioned at the beginning of this post but wasn't a certainty because of the reasons already confessed. However, as plans made home rarely match with those from the fair, they ended up having a quick stop for horse riding on the way home.

Click on the images to see them in full resolution

Horse riding was always on my to-do list. Even from an early age. However, this wasn't planned from the start and that's why you can't see me in the pictures because I remained at Cedar Crest during this whole time.

But as unplanned things are usually the best experiences in life, I bet they had a good time out there and no doubt I'll cut this off my list soon as well.

Click on the images to see them in full resolution

So you are wondering where I've been this whole time? Well, I enjoyed some relaxing moments that I've never had before.

If you know me for a while, you will be aware that I'll always prefer mountains and hikes over beaches and getting a tan, but somehow, that day, it felt so good to only lay down, get that sun kiss, read, and enjoy cold drinks.

And say no more! These memories are going to last for a while as I got some serious burns for not using sun cream that I can still feel even today. 🤣

If I'm still here, I'll take the moment to introduce you to my new friends, one Golden Retriever and four cats, but which I didn't manage to take a picture of all of them. However, they were very loyal and stayed by my side even during that tan session.

I know this might seem like not too much compared with my previous experiences of celebrating my birthday in the past, but based on how most people celebrate their birthday by having a dinner outside or going to the club, I'll always prefer these moments rather than those.

As always, don't get me wrong for that mention, as there is really no problem with it and sometimes I feel the need for one of the two as well. But starting with my 18th Birthday celebration, I figured out that parties and dinners outside are more fun with friends while I prefer to have around me my family and my boyfriend when it comes to outdoor birthday celebrations, as we obviously enjoy life in a different way than most of the people do.

Is anyone else curious what the next year will bring? I've already started to count down the days! 😍

^{Gabriela Travels is the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences. At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe. Additionally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (300+ articles written on this field), but also approaching other topics as well, like game reviews, lets plays, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 700+ blog posts. Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, owning a YouTube channel for each of the two.}

~ @GabrielaTravels ~

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