Hunkerin' Down

Fall is here and the rainy season has officially begun here in Portland. We are trying to embrace the change; we tried out our fireplace and bought some rainboots this weekend.

We'll definitely be excited come Christmas to see the sun when we visit Scott's parents in Arizona for the holidays.

Espana!

Ever since we were engaged, we have talked about our dream vacation to Spain. This is where Scott served a mission, and we've thought it would be wonderful to experience this amazing place together. It was quite the adventure in the end, but it was incredible. We experienced many tender mercies along the way, which we were so grateful for, and it was perfect to have the time with just the two of us.

Scott served in the Malaga mission, which is in Southern Spain, so we were able to explore Madrid and Barcelona for the first time together, and then we headed to Scott's old stomping grounds in the South. We think that Granada was probably our favorite...but that is tough to say because all were remarkable. We loved finding fun spots to eat where we had a cool view and lots of yummy grub. The weather was perfect the entire trip which was much needed after our finicky "Summer" in Portland.

Here are some pictures and highlights of our trip.

Madrid

We were able to visit the Temple in Madrid and participate in a session in Spanish. Scott even ran into a couple people that he knew from his mission. It was fun to see him interacting with the Spanish people.

This "mini milk" actually tastes just like milk...not vanilla ice cream.

We ate our little dessert at this park, Parque del Retiro.

 A lot of cities have these cloth sombrillas strung up between buildings to help keep the streets cool.

These are part of the Plaza de Oriente.

Our first meal in Spain was paella and tortilla de patata.

We ate in the Plaza Mayor as the sun was going down...so romantic.

We were excited to find this chucheria to get some of our favorite Spanish candy.

The train station in Madrid... we took an all-night train to Barcelona later that night.

Barcelona

Barcelona has a lot of architecture by Antoni Gaudi. This is the Sagrada Familia.

We hiked up to the Park Guell, another Gaudi attraction.

We took a siesta at the park and drank some Bi Fruita...

and ate a cana.

Everywhere we went we saw street performers. Barcelona had some pretty fun ones.

La Rambla is a popular spot in Barcelona to shop and eat.

We found a fun spot for lunch and had some olives as an appetizer...

and a delicious pizza.

Parc de la Ciutadella

We saw this little shop and thought of Grandpa Layton.

This is what a public restroom looks like in Spain. You have to pay to use them...we saved our money.

The narrow streets everywhere were kind of fun.

We ate dinner just outside the Sagrada Familia...this was the best of 5 pictures our waiter took of us.

Granada

This is the Alhambra, one of the things we were most excited about seeing in Spain.

Everything was covered in these hand-carved details.

A view of the Albaicin from the Alhambra.

Most of the roads in Spain are cobblestone. This is some of the fancier bit we walked on.

Scott took us to a spot he remembered from his mission and we ate these yummy schwarmas.

Our sweet ride with the suicide doors. Driving in Spain was an adventure in and of itself...

We thought of Mat and Jen when we found my bar...

We watched the sun set on the Alhambra from the Albaicin...

and ate dinner...so romantic.

Malaga

Plaza del Toros (Bull Fighting Ring)

Scott had fun at the castle in Malaga.

A lot of fun.

Alcazaba

Roman Theatre

Ronda

Puente Nuevo

Gibraltar

We found a cute little beach on the way to Gibraltar. We dipped our feet in the Mediterranean.

This is the rock of Gibraltar. It is a peninsula connected to Spain but is actually a British territory. Scott served in this area for a short time.

We ate a traditional British lunch, fish and chips.

We rode up the cable car to the top of the rock and chilled with the Rock Apes.

Cadiz

Puerta de la Tierra

We watched the sun set at the beach in Cadiz.

Another great shot taken by our waiter... we ate dinner in front of the cathedral.

We had a lamb and cheese bocadillo. The drinks were awesome (sin alcohol of course).

Jerez

We stayed the night in Jerez, a city Scott lived in for a while.

We had churros and chocolate for breakfast...so delicious.

Scott thoroughly enjoyed drinking the leftover chocolate.

Sevilla

Torre del Oro

This is the Plaza de la Encarnacion. There was a cool view of the city from the top.

This is close to what our transportation looked like after we were married...

Plaza Espana...there was one in every city, but this was one of Trisha's favorite plazas.

We had been looking for Pollo Asado and finally found some in Sevilla.

We ate one of these whole chickens with some fries covered in the drippings for lunch... a well-balanced meal.

Cordoba

Inside the Mesquita in Cordoba, all the arches were really fun.

Roman Bridge

We stopped at the local grocery store on our way out of town. It was fun to see all the everyday Spanish items. We picked up some candy and drinks for the road.

We ordered room service (a first for us), and the burger was one of the best we've had. The Mosto Scott picked out was just as delicious as he remembered.