Our friend Tara came to visit us in Spain (from Germany) with her son & hubby. They showed up on Thanskgiving morning, we ate a quick meal and headed out. We drove east until night fell, then found a camp ground and crashed for the night. The next morning we strolled around Ronda (pronounced with a long Oh sound), checked out the deep ravine, the more than 200 year old Puente Nuevo that spans across it, and just did some random wanderings around town. Then we decided to drive along the Costa del Sol (Sun Coast) in hopes of finding a small quaint town, fishing village, semi-remote camp spot. Instead all we found were miles and miles of high rise resorts, condos & houses. You see, this is a vacationers' spot so there's lots of expats ... read more

One of Jeff's favorite bands (AILD) was playing in Amsterdam and we managed to find a cheap flight and we were off for a fun weekend! Short synapses of our short trip: --wandered EVERYWHERE it seemed, trying to take it all in (this was my 4th time visiting but there's still something new to discover every time!) --self-toured the Heineken brewery --saw an improv comedy show at Boom Chicago --floated along the canals on a small boat tour --visited numerous coffee shops --ate at numerous scrumptious little cafes And the whole point of our trip! We saw As I Lay Dying, Protest the Hero, and Bullet For My Valentine at the Melkweg. Little did we know when we first booked our room for the weekend, but it was a hop, skip & a jump away from ... read more

The title says it all. Like the majority of our trips in Europe, we were only in Paris for a few days. Sometimes as soon as we say hello to a place we have to turn around and say goodbye. We usually take our trips on long weekends, work permitting. But even a few days in these wondrous places can seem like weeks. We always make sure to wake early, go to bed late, soak in as much of the culture & sights as possible. Our trip to Paris this month was no exception. I (Amy) had been there a couple of times before so I had an idea of the city layout, how the Metro worked, etc. We flew into the city late at night, exiting the train onto the cold, rainy sidewalks. We definitely ... read more

The first time we stumbled upon Cabo de Gata Natural Park online, all we saw were limited pictures; we hadn't heard anything about the place or knew anyone who had heard of it, let alone gone there. We're here to tell you, if you live in Spain or plan on visiting and haven't gone to this park...GO!!!! This place is great! The park is located in Andalucia in the province of Almeria, about a 4 hour drive from where we were. Here's some info pulled from www.andalucia.com : "Covering 45,663ha in the southeastern corner of Spain, Cabo de Gata-Níjar is Andalucia's largest coastal protected area, a wild and isolated landscape with some of Europe's most original geological features. The eponymous mountain range is Spain's largest volcanic rock formation with sharp peaks and crags in ochre-hues. ... read more

It had only been about a half a year since I (amy) was away from Germany and I was itching to go back! It was soooo beautiful there, the people were kind and I had so many fond memories of the place that I wanted Jeff to witness the grandeur of the country as well. So, in early April I needed to do some more training for my work in Spain and they told me to pick a base in Europe to go to. Duh! Of course I went with Germany. I knew the place. I had friends that were still there. What better place to go back to for a week. My flight was free and we just had to get Jeff a ticket which is always super cheap with the likes of airlines such ... read more