Anchors Aweigh

Ten and a half years ago at McGarvey's in Annapolis, I met a Naval Academy midshipman who was 3 days away from being commissioned as an officer in the Navy. At the time, I had no idea that was the beginning of a relationship that would ultimately lead to becoming one of the things that I swore I would never be - a military spouse. Last night, in the same place, I had beers with my husband as we celebrated his first day out of the active duty Navy. 

We're moving to...

Did you ever play that game as a kid where you spun a globe around and stopped it with your finger to see where you were going to live or go on vacation? I know I'm a map nerd, but this can't just be me. It was fun to imagine ending up in those far-away places, while singing a little chorus of "round and round it goes, where it stops nobody knows!" as the globe turned.

(Completely unrelated, but I traded my last office an old microwave for this globe, straight up. I'd say I got the better deal.)

When Graham and I discussed his transition to civilian life, we both agreed that our top priority would be to stay overseas, ideally in Europe. But applying for jobs is a bit like a grown-up version of spinning the globe and as various positions became available, we decided to get adventurous and widen our scope.

Which is how our metaphorical fingers came to land on our next home...

Carvoeiro, Portugal

How do you go about deciding where to pick up with blogging again when you have a backlog of over a year of travel? You could create a detailed posting schedule or...you could just open up your photos folder and see what pops out at you. Let's go with that. 

And that haphazard approach is appropriate here, because this long-weekend trip to Portugal came about in the same under-planned way.

Labor Day for Graham was a four-day weekend (a "96" in milspeak) and as it was approaching, we casually decided we would go somewhere in the Algarve, the southern region of Portugal, along the coast. It's only a few hours by car, we'd been before, it's generally affordable, the beaches are pretty, the food is a nice change from Spanish cuisine, and we could take the dogs with us. We let that non-specific decision hang until two days before the weekend started when we realized that we'd probably need, you know, a place to stay. Cue furious searching on booking.com.

I set my sights on popular Lagos and came up short. Expanding the search to surrounding towns, a room in I-have-never-heard-of-this-place-before Carvoeiro popped up that seemed like a steal. Click, click, booked.

Off to Carvoeiro we went! And we were happy to find that our procrastination hadn't cost us a great weekend. Our hastily booked accommodation overlooked the beach as promised and we had a giant terrace that dwarfed our somewhat tiny, but typically-sized European room. The town was charming and to top it off was celebrating their patron saint that weekend. Bustling holiday atmosphere, concerts in the town square, religious processions, quirky traditions, and fireworks commence!

Where the hell have you been?!

And what the hell are you still doing in Spain?! Two questions you might be asking, if there's anyone out there to still ask questions after my heinously long hiatus. 

To answer the first question, I've been a lot of places - Scotland, Cordoba, Champagne, Normandy, Amsterdam, Asturias, Turkey, Portugal, and most recently the States. I actually had to scroll through my instagram to remember all of those, which I realize makes me sound like a complete privileged snob/asshole. But seriously, it's been a whirlwind spring and summer of travel, as we've tried to pack in as much as we can. And in my defense, I'm still slightly jet lagged. 

The second question is a little more complicated. Graham's 3-year orders to Spain were up in May, but we're still here. And that's because...HUGE NEWS...CAPS WORTHY NEWS...

Cheeeeeese! Feria del Queso in Trujillo

I broke one of my own rules and planned a vacation during the Rota feria. But! I have two very good excuses. One, the feria dates have been thrown off this year by the lateness of Easter - Sevilla's Feria de Abril was at the beginning of May and Rota's was before Sevilla's, not to mention El Puerto's is sadly over the American Memorial Day long weekend, and I'll be traveling for most of that, as well. Both trips were planned well before the feria dates were released. 

Two, and possibly a far better reason, I missed the traditional Rota Feria de la Primavera for a feria dedicated to one of my very deepest loves - cheese! And this trip was a long time in the making. 

Flashback to two very jetlagged newlyweds, their small dog, multiple bags and a rental car full of giddy and groggy optimism as they drove from Madrid to El Puerto de Santa María nearly three years ago... 

On our very first day of living together in Spain, I sat shotgun as Graham navigated the long drive from the capital to our new town in the south. To pass the time, I followed along in our recently purchased Eyewitness Travel Spain guidebook. As we passed a medieval hilltop city, I read aloud about Trujillo - birthplace to conquistadors, site of a moorish fortress, and host to an annual cheese fair. Upon reading that last bit, I immediately proclaimed that we would one day return to Trujillo. 

And we did! Painfully aware that this year would probably be our last opportunity to go, we rallied some friends (some of the same people we went to Rome with over Thanksgiving) and rented a house in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, a pueblo just outside of Trujillo, for the long weekend of the Feria Nacional del Queso, the National Cheese Fair. 

Processions

"Do you go to the processions?" asked my Spanish-American hair stylist. "Yes, of course!" I replied from my seat in front of the mirror. And then we proceeded to talk about how much we love to go out for Semana Santa - how lively the town is, how much fun it is to join the crowds, gathering to eat and drink with friends. 

What I'm trying to say, without sounding completely irreverent, is that yes, I do love the processions. For different reasons than the deeply devout, but there is just such a palpable energy in the streets, bars, restaurants, and on the beaches that can be felt and enjoyed by everyone. Which is probably due to a combination of Catholic fervor and the majority of the population enjoying vacation days. In Andalucía, Semana Santa is like a sneak peek of what summer will bring interlaced with age old religious traditions. 

I went to downtown El Puerto several times during Semana Santa. Here are some pictures from the Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday) and Viernes Santo (Good Friday) processions. 

Domingo de Ramos

Hello, hello, hello...

I fell off the blogging horse hard. I wondered if I should even bother to get back up, but here I am. So, this is me, dusting myself off and making an attempt to write again. And maybe there are still a few of you out there reading...? 

Part of what has been holding me back is that I have such a backlog of trips and experiences that I want to share and I didn't know where to begin. There's been a lot going on in the first three months of 2014.

Within the first week of the year, I made a day trip to Morocco. Nothing like a different continent to start the year off right! That was followed by a long weekend in Madrid, a roadtrip to Galicia, and just recently I returned from a last minute, 5-day getaway to France. I know, tough life.

Throw in some quick visits to the always stunning de la Fronteras (Vejer, Jerez, Arcos) and Cádiz...