The Growin' Hairs

Friday, June 12, 2015

Reliving the Past!

After the Parador Alarcon we drove toward Murcia where Tyler's family lived for 2 years when Tyler was 9-11 years old. Every now and then you would see this same silhouette of a bull off in the distance in different areas so I wanted a picture of it!

We made a stop at a Go Kart place where Tyler's dad took all his brothers when they lived there. The Go Karts there have barely any substance to them and no governors! So they are light and you can go as fast as you want. The track they had was really big so we had a lot of fun cruising around on it for 8 minutes!

Tyler was MORE than excited about this stop.

He definitely beat me but I gave him a small run for his money :)

Next stop was visiting his old house! They lived in government housing and since no one lives in these houses right now the yard looked a bit run down...But they were beautiful homes! Too bad we couldn't go inside and take a peek.

This is the backyard and Tyler is pointing at the tree that used to pop all their soccer balls! He said the tree is HUGE now. Wasn't that big 20 years ago!

We then walked to his elementary school. He's doing a ninja jump on the field he used to play at whenever he had a free moment. They only lived a short walk from the school so we got to walk the path he used to take!

We came on a Sunday but we got lucky because the school was open to voters for voting day!!! So we got to go inside and take a look around. Tyler found his old classroom.

This other half of the school was where Chandler and Spencer went :)

The gate was open today but he remembered having to press in a code to get inside everyday to go to school

When they first arrived in Spain they lived in this apartment while the movers brought all their stuff which was just down the road from the house. I was amazed at how much he remembered.

We then rode an elevator up to a super tall building that also used to be a castle and walked around for a bit. On our way up there were two peacocks in the tree calling to each other. It was very impressive seeing them perched on a limb. And if you can't tell, I'm pointing at the tail of one of them.

At the top taking in the view. Just beautiful! The water behind me is where Chandler was baptized. Pretty awesome!

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Parador Alarcon

After Cuenca we drove to Alarcon to stay in this beautiful castle called Parador Alarcon. Tyler had reserved the room in the highest tower! We had a couple doors we could open and walk out onto the top tower and poke our heads through the ramparts. Our bag didn't make it on our flight so this was a good place to stay the first night since they supplied all toiletries for us and it had a really cool stand alone tub.

That night we ate downstairs and the food was AMAZING!!! We had monkfish/salmon, shrimp, Iberian Jamon(thinly sliced pork) with finely grated tomato on toast, and potatoes. With a side of fresh fruit of the season. The Fruit was AMAZING! For dessert we had this fruit sorbet which is the picture above. Sour apple and orange sorbet with fresh fruit beneath.

The next morning our breakfast was tortilla espanola, scrambled eggs, fresh fruit and yogurt, toast and sweet breads GALORE! We got the freshly squeezed orange juice(BEST DRINK EVER), and then topped it off at the end with hot chocolate and churros. The hot chocolate there tastes like melted chocolate and it is super thick. I was on a MAJOR sugar high after this breakfast and went and slept it off back in our room. I was so tired from jet lag! Tyler watched some high quality soccer.

After my nap, we went out to explore the outdoors around the castle. This was the sister castle to the Alarcon that was across a river.

El Cid is the famous knight who drove away the Moors. This is his logo we found on a post on our hike. Tyler's hero! He has a replica of his short sword that he got in Spain when he lived here previously from age 9-11.

This is the view we had as we were standing by the sister castle. IT WAS AMAZING!!!! Can't you just picture the old scene with knights guarding the castle? All the castles were located on top of a hill as a defensive strategy. Tyler was pumping my brain full of cool historical facts this entire trip.

The small city of Alarcon had one place to eat lunch which had some stray cats just waiting for customers to drop their food. The food was REALLY good! For a starter I had the ensalada rusa which was a egg/mayo/potato/veggie salad, And Tyler had Gaspacho(soup).

Main dish was lamb chops and chicken on potatoes(thick fries). Oops Tyler! You blinked!

We found these huge water cisterns outside the castle. They were huge inside! Obviously, to hold a lot of water.

First Stop - Cuenca

After we got off the plane we drove to Cuenca which was just over an hour away. Cuenca is well known for it's "Hanging Houses". Houses built hanging over the edge of cliffs above a river. The first person we met was the streetsweeper Fernando. He gave me my first Spanish greeting (kissing both cheeks) and showed us this cool alleyway across from an art gallery that had crystal glass doors so you could take your picture from the reflection. If you look close you can see me jumping sideways in the air.

First pit stop was in the basement of a bar to use their restroom. I was VERY impressed with ALL public restrooms we used in Spain. Especially gas stations/grocery stores/restaurants. They were all SUPER clean! It seemed as though the owners prided themselves in keeping it clean to impress their customers.

First lunch stop was a random place we just hopped into and it HIT THE SPOT! We both ordered Kabobs. One chicken and one beef. My chicken tasted like it was right off the spit.

This is an example of the homes hanging over the cliffs edge...definitely more impressive in person but you get the idea.

Tyler's family has some home videos of them walking across this bridge so I was so excited to see it in person. It used to be a stone Roman bridge with 5 arches. The arches have now broken apart recently so they built this bridge 30 years ago.

This is the Parador. An old castle they have now converted into a tourist site and hotel. It was really nice inside.

Parador from afar.

Posing on the bridge.

Looking straight up this cliff wall to a house.

We hiked around the backside of the city and came across these small ruins...interesting artwork inspired by those under the influence I'm sure....

Holding up the ruins!

SpainBound!

I will be blogging a lot of details about our trip to Spain so I can look back and remember it. So here goes the first post! We left our kids with my sister Kara and set off on our 10 day adventure kid free!

I've never been on a long flight before-never left the country!!!-so this was my first meal on a plane! It tasted like hospital food, which to me really isn't that bad when you're hungry!

Our second meal. Lots of carbs! Even on the plane we were eating like Spaniards.

Coming in to Spain!

I got my first stamp in my passport! We made it!

We tried sleeping on the plane but only caught some snoozes here and there. We got to Spain in the morning and went to our first stop. I passed out in the car on our way and Tyler sneakily took a picture.

Just as we were leaving on our trip I grabbed a random book off our bookshelf to read and it ended up being "On the Run" by Jack Weyland. There was a note inside the book from Tyler's parents who bought the book for him and they gave it to him while they were living in Spain!!! Coincidence??? I THINK NOT!

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Random Pics

Just catching up on some random pictures. Had fun building marble tracks with the Cooks

Cody and Rosalie chillin' while I went running with her mama, Allison. She is a baby doll!!! So cute and so teensy weensy. She is 3.5 months younger than Cody.