I'm off to Spain and Morocco

The time has come for my next journey. In just three short days I will be en route to Spain. As with Africa, I have planned an elaborate itinerary. I’m a planner, what can I say. So, jumping right in…here’s a map and brief summary of what’s to come:


(1) I spend all of February at a Spanish school in Madrid, where I will attend five hours of classes on weekdays, and have afternoons and weekends free to explore the area and attempt to use my newly-acquired Spanish. While in Madrid, I will live in a shared apartment in the center of town (with my own room and bathroom).

I’m too cheap to pay for an airport pick-up, so I’ll need to find my own way to my apartment upon arrival. Figuring it’s better try to find it electronically now rather than while lugging two big bags on minimal sleep, I typed the street name into Google Earth, and…WOW! The location is FANTASTIC. I am right in the heart of Madrid’s historic center,

within a five minute stroll from Madrid’s two main squares—Plaza Mayor and Puerta del Sol. I am about 10 minutes walk from the Prado and countless other must-see sights. Needless to say, I am thrilled.

(2) After Madrid, I spend most of March at a Spanish school in Seville. My stay there will coincide with Seville's “Semana Santa”--a week of elaborate and dramatic processions and floats to commemorate the Easter event. Semana Santa is common throughout Spanish-speaking Catholic regions, but it’s at its most Catholically extravagant in Seville. It's a very serious affair, full of pomp and glory, and has long been on my Must See list.

The events take place in the late afternoon and evening, so I will go to classes in the morning, then wander around the festivities after school. In Seville I stay with a local family. I'll have my own room and bathroom, but I'm not sure if I am going to like this set up. We'll see.

(3) After Seville, I travel in Southern Spain and Morocco for about a month on two separate tours, plus a week on my own in Marrakech. This time I am traveling with “Explore”, a UK-based company that gives small group tours using local transportation and small, locally owned accommodation. These types of tours work well for me because they give me flexibility and a relative degree of cultural immersion, with the added comfort of not having to do it all alone.

(4) After Morocco, I go to my last Spanish school, in Granada this time. I will be here for a month, making almost three months total of Spanish study. Hopefully this will be enough study time to remember all the Spanish I learned in high school and college, but have since forgotten. I am currently planning on another homestay in Granada (since they are better for language acquisition), but if I don’t end up liking the homestay option in Seville, I will switch to a shared apartment.

(5) My last portion of the journey will be to hike the medieval pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostella. Since the 9th century, pilgrims have been making their way to Santiago de Compostela to see the tomb of Saint James, which according to the legend is located in the cathedral. I am going with a tour, and we are only hiking segments, not the entire route (which starts in France and goes to the far west of Spain.) Should be great exercise and a fantastic experience.

And that’s it. I fly home on June 4. After that, who knows.

Weekend Get-Together in McCall, Idaho

January 18-21, 2008

When I am not traveling abroad, I housesit for my parents in their home just outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. It’s a great arrangement for me because (a) it’s free, and (b) my sister Cindy lives just five minutes away with her family. We have a great time together, and I am now very tempted to settle in this area once my travel bug has subsided.

Our other sister, Virginia, lives in McCall, Idaho, with her husband and four daughters. I had never been to Virginia’s house, so Cindy and I decided to fly up one weekend for a short visit. It was great to spend time with Virginia again, learn about her life in small town McCall, and see the incredible beauty of the area.

And we had such a great time with my nieces—four beautiful young women who are so talented and smart, it’s actually…inspiring (which feels somewhat odd to say about people a third of my age). That's what made it such a sweet vacay--hanging with the chicas and their cool ‘rents. We got the 411 about who they’re crushin’on, met Kassie’s off the hook BF, and watched some tight High School Musical II. OMG!

Among other activities, we attended the high school basketball game to see Kassie cheer her team on to…um, well, cheer for her team.

We also went cross-country skiing, my first time. Fun!

And one night I was treated to some songs by the family band—Kassie on drums, Ben on guitar, and Brooke as the lead singer. They are so fantastic! They actually play gigs around town…they are that good!

Surprise Mom & Dad! I'm here for TWO whole weeks.

December 5-19, 2007

So the problem with just showing up on someone’s doorstep is that it prevents proper visitor etiquette. Without the benefit of that all-important dialogue regarding the length of the visit, I was forced to make an educated guess on how long my parents would actually want me to stay. Since I am the highlight of their existence (he he), I decided to stay for TWO WEEKS! They seemed to be okay with that.

It was a fun visit--they are just fun people!--and such a beautiful area. Aside from movies and dinners and talks and drives, we also...

Rode the commuter train
I thought I'd start with this one since it's so non-momentous. My parents live right near the commuter train's Menlo Park station, so--like the four year old that I really am at heart--I made them ride the train with me to nowhere in particular, get off at some random point, then ride the train back to where we started. What can I say, I love trains.

John Muir National Monument
One afternoon we visited the John Muir National Monument, home to one of the last old-growth coastal redwood forests on the planet and chock-a-block full of these TALLEST OF ALL LIVING THINGS ON EARTH!

No kidding, these are BIG trees. The tallest coastal redwood at Muir Woods is about 258 feet. You can see a human-to-tree comparison in the picture below. It would take more than 45 Coreen Bousfields, placed end to end, to reach the top of one coastal redwood. That’s high! Further north, coastal redwoods get even taller, reaching as high as 379 feet.

And they are OLD. The average tree age at Muir Woods is between 600 to 800 years. The oldest is at least 1200. But actually redwoods can live up to 2200 years, so the trees here at Muir Woods are really still just youngin’s.

It’s a magical place. In fact, when John Muir heard about the establishment of the Muir Woods, he said “This is the best tree-lover’s monument that could possibly be found in all the forests of the world.” If you are in San Francisco, it’s worth a visit. And if you’re old like my parents, you get in for free! (he he)


Point Reyes National Seashore
About an hour north of John Muir is another member of the National Park System—the Point Reyes National Seashore. This one’s not a dazzler. I’m kind of at a loss to describe it even. It was set aside as a National Seashore in order to ensure that at least some small remnant of California’s natural coastline does not fall prey to developers. That’s good. Yep, that’s a very good idea.

But, truthfully, Point Reyes doesn’t have that “this is so spectacular,” wow-factor that most National Park System sites have. It makes for a nice drive, but not really worth a special trip in my opinion.

But, if you are going to ignore my advice and go there anyway, please log off now. Just kidding. If you’re in the area and want to check it out, there are some cool aspects of Point Reyes.

(1) Elk: It’s a great place to see large herds of tule elk in the wild, although they aren’t indigenous to the area. In the mid-1800s, tule elk were hunted to the brink of extinction. In 1874, the last surviving elk were discovered in Central California and were protected. Then, in 1978, ten tule elk were introduced into Point Reyes, where they have grown into one of California's largest populations, numbering about 400.

Unfortunately we didn’t have any interesting close encounters with the elk. Dad kept urging me to get out of the car, since it has become evident that I give off some bizarre animal vibe (or scent….eeuuu!) that makes any wild animal within a mile radius charge in my direction. I passed on his suggestion, but gee…that was so sweet of him. Always looking out for me.


2) Faultline:
If you are a Californian, you may be interested in seeing the dreaded San Andreas fault! The fault runs the length of Point Reyes, and you can even take a short hike out to see an old fence that was displaced 20 FEET during the 1906 earthquake. In the picture at right, that big gap demonstrates how much the earth shifted in just 42 seconds.

No wonder this quake still ranks as California's deadliest natural disaster.




The Winchester Mystery Mansion
The goofiest thing we did while I was visiting was to tour the Winchester Mystery Mansion—-the enormous but bizarre personal residence of Sarah Winchester, widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester.

Why’d she build mansion that is so odd that it's been turned into a tourist attraction? Apparently, a medium convinced her that evil spirits of those that had been killed by the Winchester Rifle had caused the untimely deaths of her daughter and husband, and that the only way to appease the evil spirits would be to continuously build on her house. Trusting in the medium, she poured her millions and her energy into the task, obsessed with keeping the carpenters' hammers pounding 24 hours a day for 38 years, until her death at 82 years old.

Visitors must participate in guided tours through 110 of the 160 rooms. It was a bit long, but worth it because the guide did a great job of sharing the history of the mansion and pointing out all kinds of bizarre aspects, like staircases leading to nowhere, a window built into the floor, doors that open onto blank walls, and room after room after room--all pointless.

And--of course, of course--the mansion is said to be haunted. Spooky. Hmmm...I did catch an 'orb' in one of my pictures below, right in front of the guide as he stood by a photograph of the house. Maybe it’s Mrs. Winchester herself. Or maybe it’s Warren. Someone actually told me to look for orbs in my photos in Africa—as proof that Warren is traveling with me. Trust me, if Warren could show up as an orb in a picture, he wouldn’t do it out of spite, considering what he thought of the whole thing when he was alive.

[For those who are asking "What's an orb?"...Some people think those circles caused by refractions of light on the camera lens are actually "souls trapped in this world and unable to move on." Ghost hunters often go to cemeteries to capture these circular trapped spirits on film. And to be clear--because sometimes I think people don't know when I am just kidding--I am not part of "some people". I don't believe in orbs. I was just making a little joke.]

I drove my parents crazy by singing "Winchester Cathedral" the entire time. I couldn’t help it. Just my little way of repaying them for their warm hospitality during my stay. :)