Rota, Spain; Day 30
We have spent the most consecutive days during our world tour here in Rota, Spain. The accommodations were wonderful and we will be sad to be leaving here. We chose Rota because it has a similar climate and ocean-oriented culture as our home in San Clemente. In California, our surfers paddle out to ride the…
Rota, Spain; Day 29
Today marked the last road trip Adventure from our Rota home base and it was back to Seville. We got an early start because we had a few things to do and the temperature was predicted to hit 90 degrees in the afternoon. First stop was the Setas de Sevilla which was new for Brian…
Rota, Spain; Day 28
We journeyed to the nearby town Jerez de la Frontera today to makes some purchases of convenience and to experience another fair. This Jerez Féria is not a celebration of Spring as the one in Rota is. In Jerez, the fair is titled, “Feria del Caballo” which roughly translates to the Fair of the Horses.…
Rota, Spain; Day 27
Today our 5 Adventurers did our rescheduled activity from Saturday – we went to see Africa! That was only one of the draws of our destination but it was a cool one. Our 90 minute drive this time took us to what is known as the Costa de la Luz (Coast of Light) area of…
Rota, Spain; Day 26
Did you know that if you have some pottery on a boat in the Atlantic and if it washes overboard and spins in the surf & sand off Spain’s west coast for countless years that this smoothed piece of pottery might be found on the beach by a plucky 8-year old? The Adventurers went beach…
Rota, Spain; Day 25
Our original plan for the day was to head out to another SW Spain destination for some cool Adventures. But one of the kids turned an ankle last night (CreeperPuppy) and it was still a little sore this morning so we decided to postpone that activity. So today was a day of normalcy. We sat…
Rota, Spain; Day 24
We had a few short drive Adventures today seeing some new areas of Andalucía. We dropped Tiffany off at the Chipiona post office to send a package to Cincinnati to Sister/Aunt/Grandma Tracy. The kids and Brian went back to the nice park to ride their zip line and to wait for Tiffany to return. When…
Rota, Spain; Day 23
Today our Adventurers took to the road again on a trip through the SW Spain countryside. Known as Andalucia, this area is known for many things, one of which is the Pueblos Blancos or ‘white villages’. They get their name from the whitewashed buildings that make up the towns – initially colored to keep the…
Rota, Spain; Day 22
Our hosts provided us with a helpful guide regarding the beachside apartment here in Rota. We have used several of the suggestions for places to visit and local markets to shop. Today, we walked over to the Mindundi Frutas store for two large bags of fruit and vegetables. Everything looked good and appeared fresh. Our…
Rota, Spain; Day 21
Today our Adventurers took to the road for a 90 minute drive to Seville. Since it’s somewhat close to Rota we decided the 3 Adventurers that missed it the first time would get a chance to visit. Tiffany and Suaram took advantage of the second trip to see even more. Our main activity for the…
Rota, Spain; Day 20
We enjoyed the afternoon at the park and then Brian cooked a chicken dinner for these Adventurers. The kids enjoyed their time at this park which sits only three blocks away from the apartment. If the zip-line cable wasn’t damaged then it might even be better than the park they found at Chipiona on Friday.…
Rota, Spain; Day 19
It was a beautiful sunny day in Western Spain and we decided to spend it out on the beach. It is a 3 day holiday weekend here for Labor Day and many folks also took the opportunity to relax on la playa. The nicest part about staying in an apartment located just steps from the…
Rota, Spain; Day 18
Another day of enjoying the Atlantic and relaxing in Rota. For dinner we decided to get a little exercise and did the 20 minute walk into town. Our destination was Domino’s pizza for a taste of the familiar. We walked along the beach to get there and made for a pretty unusual sight. The kids…
Rota, Spain; Day 17
Today is Flashback Friday! We really had no significant Adventures today so we wanted to flashback to a few of our previous posts which were memorable. And here is a wonderful video (7 1/2 minutes) of our experience on January 7 of this year when we visited a sanctuary for elephants in Thailand. Good times.…
Rota, Spain; Day 16
We spent most of the day in another coastal town in the Western Andulisia part of Spain called Chipiona. It lies about 10 km (6 miles) north of Rota. Our destination was the lighthouse which is the tallest in Spain. We were geared up to climb the 350 spiraling stairs. Before we got there the…
Rota, Spain; Day 15
Today’s academic activity was to take some practice tests for the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress. The kids did math and language arts. As a small homeschool our students don’t have to take the actual tests, but we figured that the practice tests would be a good way to gauge their readiness for…
Rota, Spain; Day 14
We took a trip into the “big city” of Cádiz to visit the main cathedral and to see some of the other historic sites of this ancient port. Our trip into Cádiz gave us a chance for an up close view of the magnificent bridge that we can clearly see from Rota. This is the…
Rota, Spain; Day 13
Much of our Monday was spent as normal life-type Adventures. School for the kids, administrative type work for the parents. In the evening, we ventured out to take a walk on the beach and check out the reef/tide pools just north of our apartment. At low tide we can see very defined lines of rocks…
Rota, Spain; Day 12
Today we bid a fond adios to our 6th Adventurer. After 2.5 weeks it was time for Tracy to return to her family and normal Adventures in Ohio. It was fun to have her with us for our Spanish travels and we’re sad to see her go. Her time with us sure wasn’t what we…
Rota, Spain; Day 11
Today’s weather was definitely an improvement over the blustery wind and rain of yesterday. But it was still very questionable for any significant outings with all of the Adventurers. The kids wanted to spend another day at home playing games and legos so Dad agreed to keep them company (and out of trouble) . He…
Rota, Spain; Day 10
Today was meant to be a set of Adventures crossing the Bay of Cadiz and visiting one of the oldest cities in Southern Spain. Alas, the weather didn’t cooperate. The wind blew 24 knots steady and we had gusts of 39 coming right off the water. There was some rain but it wasn’t torrential…just sideways…
Rota, Spain; Day 9
Today is our first day in two weeks with all 6 of our Adventurers out of isolation so we took the opportunity to explore Rota. We set off from our apartment for the 20 minute walk to town. We chose the boardwalk-through-the-trees route rather than the beach or street routes and it was quite pleasant…
Rota, Spain; Day 8
Brian took two of the Adventurers out to the grocery store. They stopped at the panadería for a few sweet treats. Suaram chose the piece of chocolate cake on the right and CreeperPuppy chose the cupcake on the left. Everyone appreciated getting to go for a walk and earning these calories. Tiffany cooked this evening…
Rota, Spain; Day 7
There were some pirates that were spotted here in Rota overnight. Or at least that is what the kids were told. These pirates seized two small animals from the kids’ collection and buried them in the sand on the beach. They also buried some treasure (3€) nearby. The children were sent out to investigate. They…
Rota, Spain; Day 6
Our Adventurers continue to chill at the condo by the beach. No big touring or escapades today. Brian spent the day enjoying some domestic activities – cooking some scratch pasta sauce for dinner which we paired with a nice Spanish Rioja. It’s nice to have a kitchen to cook in for a while. Tiffany taught…
Rota, Spain; Day 5
Today was Easter Sunday which is a major holy holiday here in Spain (and in the rest of the Christian world). Again we saw many folks congregating on the beach enjoying the 22°C (72°F) temperatures. The children awoke earlier than usual looking for signs of the Easter Bunny. They had been disappointed that a leprechaun…
Rota, Spain; Day 4
Suaram, CreeperKitty and CreeperPuppy were happy to be out for breakfast together at a charming local café. The kids proficiency with Spanish has allowed them to easily order their favorite European breakfast. Dad chose Croissant Con Jamón instead of Chocolate. This weekend in Rota it seems everyone in Spain was taking advantage of the three…
Rota, Spain; Day 3
Reunited and it feels so good… Our 6 Adventurers are now together in the town of Rota. It’s great to all be under one roof in the Spanish sunshine. Tiffany, Tracy and Suarum left Seville for Rota this morning by car. The car pick up and 90 minute drive was a much easier experience than…
Rota, Spain; Day 2/Seville, Spain; Day 2
Rota Adventurers The day in Rota was pretty chill. We didn’t venture out much other than onto the sun deck. Brian found the washing machine, tripped a circuit breaker and got the boys showered. Minor setbacks, minor accomplishments and minor Adventures today for our recuperating boys. Seville Adventurers Tiffany, Tracy and Suaram’s first outing of…
Rota, Spain; Day 1/Seville, Spain; Day 1
Rota Adventurers Our convalescing boys and their tireless Dad finished the long drive from Barcelona late yesterday and are settling in to our apartment in Rota. We choose this place for our 4 week ‘stay-in-one-place’ place which was scheduled to start Friday. The hosts moved some things around and were able to get us in…
Madrid, Spain; Day 3
Our three Adventurers took a day trip to the ancient city of Toledo, Spain. It is a walled city on a hill with Arab, Jewish and Christian monuments throughout. It is another UNESCO world heritage site and located on the banks of the Targas River. The same river last seen by the Adventurers flowing past…
Madrid, Spain; Day 2
The three Madrid Adventurers woke up slow this morning but to a beautiful Spring day in the City. Our location right next to the train station means there are plenty of cafes and restaurants nearby. Our choice for breakfast can only be described as a Spanish diner – complete with dishes banging, a big varied…
Madrid, Spain; Day 1
Today started with a tough goodbye as 3 Adventurers split off from the others and headed to Madrid for the next leg of the Spanish tour. We had originally planned to take the train but opted for a car instead. Tracy, Tiffany and Suaram picked up a brand new Citroen C3 and ventured on the…
Barcelona, Spain; Day 4
So the two youngest, yucky feeing Adventurers turned up positive for their at-home Covid test. Bummer. We knew Europe had a much higher Covid rate than Africa and the risk would be higher, but breakthrough infections still stink. When CreeperPuppy and CreeperKitty came down with a fever it seemed the prudent thing to do was…
Barcelona, Spain; Day 2
Today was a wandering day for the 5 6 Adventures as we explored some of the most famous streets of the city. We started with a stroll from our apartment to the Plaça de Catalunya which is where Tracy’s bus from the airport dropped her off yesterday. Widely considered the city center of Barcelona, the…
Barcelona, Spain; Day 1
We departed the Portuguese capital of Lisbon this morning for Spain. Both countries are, of course, European Union nations and share currencies, open market trading bloc objectives, and other diplomatic advantages. One of these advantages struck us soon after arriving in Barcelona. The process to proceed from the plane to our taxi outside was simple,…
5 Adventures Together 