We got out of Porto much faster than we got in. It's amazing, you can get around really quickly when you're on the right road. We headed South on the Autovia, Portugal's version of the Autobahn. The official speed limit is 120 kilometers per hour (about 72 mph), but after observing the BMWs travelling at 160-180, I decided that 140 (approx. 84 mph) was not likely to attract the attention of the Policia. That meant we made pretty rapid progress, arriving at Sines in 4 hours. Sines is a rapidly-changing town. Probably 10 years ago it was a decaying fishing town, [View Full Entry]

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Leaving Salamanca for Portugal, we had good 4-lane roads most of the way. Crossing the border into Portugal, we drove over the mountains toward Lisbon, then headed North toward our destination, Porto, famous as the home of Port wine, and second largest city in the country. It was a fairly long drive (around 5 hours), but as we entered Porto, things went a little sideways for us. The city is bigger than we expected, and our knowledge of Portuguese is more limited than our understanding of Spanish, so we had more trouble reading signs. We crossed the Douro River, then became [View Full Entry]

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Toledo was a great start to our Iberian visit. We left there on Thursday morning for Salamanca. Roads so far have been pretty easy, with more 4-lane than I expected and quicker travel. Our route took us through Avila, which boasts the largest intact city wall in Europe. We chose to visit the cathedral, and it was very interesting. Although it is, stylistically, a messy hodge-podge of styles spanning 6 or 7 centuries, the intact portions dating to the 1200s provide a useful example of how lavishly decorated the Gothic cathedrals were. I can't show any photos, since cameras were forbidden, [View Full Entry]

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Hola from Toledo. After a very short week in Virginia, we were off on Monday afternoon for Spain. Unfortunately, Alec's trusty MacBook Pro went South on Sunday, rendering it unusable for the trip. Fortunately, we purchased an extended warranty from Best Buy, so we stopped there on the way to Dulles to drop it off for repair, and to purchase a new MacBook to bring on the trip. Andrew was about due for a replacement anyway, so we'll use it on the trip, then pass it along to him for the Spring semester. Our flight to Spain was via Amsterdam. I [View Full Entry]

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We left Kiawah Island Sunday morning. The general rule is that it takes three hours each in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. It usually takes a little longer, but is a full day in any case. We had hoped to stop and see my sister-in-law, Echo, in Raleigh, but we were not able to reach her before we passed the turn, so decided to continue homeward rather than risk showing up unannounced. Echo, we will definitely see you soon. It was remarkable when we crossed the state line into Virginia. We had managed to arrive at the peak of Fall [View Full Entry]

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Leaving New Orleans on Thursday morning, we knew we had a long day of driving ahead, but we were determined to make it to South Carolina for the awarding of class rings at The Citadel. One of Andrew's closest and oldest friends, Brad, will graduate next Spring, and we didn't want to miss this milestone. Further, we were eager to see Brad's family. Brad, his parents and sister are among our closest family friends, and we always enjoy our time with them. And due to our friendship with them, Kiawah Island has become a very special place for us, one where [View Full Entry]

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In the last posting, I indicated we were on our way to Texas, but a funny thing happened along the way. After we left Albuquerque, hoping to make significant progress toward Dallas by Sunday evening, we headed East on I-20. After about 50 miles, there was a loud noise and vibration--one of our rear tires was flat. We unloaded the car and jacked it up, but the wheel stubbornly refused to come off. Fortunately, I pay an auto club for road service, and now I know why. They dispatched a fellow who brought his sledgehammer to knock the wheel off, then [View Full Entry]

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We headed South into New Mexico from Colorado. It has been a welcome treat to be off the Interstates, especially since, where we have been travelling, there isn't that much traffic on the secondary roads. Our route to St. Michael's Skeet in Canones was no exception. The terrain was clearly different from Arizona or Colorado, and not like anywhere I've seen before. The color of the stone is not as flamboyant as in Utah, but lighter than Colorado, and with lots of evident layers. As we approached Canones, we saw a sign that said "Monastery," so naturally we made the turn. [View Full Entry]

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Leaving Monument Valley after breakfast, we headed North to Colorado. After driving around the enormous landform that proved to be Mesa Verde itself, we entered the National Park and drove up to the top of the mesa, then South to the area where most of the cliff dwellings are found. We checked in at the Visitors' Center and found that, in order to see the ruins up close, we would need to sign up for a tour guided by a park ranger. We chose to see the Cliff Palace, the largest of the ruins. After purchasing our tickets, we drove to [View Full Entry]

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It was a relatively short drive from Chinle to Monument Valley. As we entered the area, the numerous buttes and mesas began to exert their influence on us. While we have seen these enormous and powerful shapes all through our lives in various John Ford films, it is another matter to have them there in front of you. The various shapes loom and brood, changing from minute to minute with the passage of the sun across the sky, but always huge and solid. Monument Valley is also in the Navajo Reservation, and is operated by the Navajo Nation as a Tribal [View Full Entry]

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