Spain: Getting our Bearings

We arrived in Spain late last night.   We found our rental car after some ado and headed toward Alhama, where we are spending the week.  The boys quickly fell asleep in the car and Jim drove into the darkness.   The first hour of the car ride was what we expected driving along the coast of southern Spain, but then we began to head up a mountain.  Serpentine curves that doubled back on themselves continually went up.  I don't suppose we looked a topographical map when we planned this trip.  We knew we were going to the hills, but this was incredible.  And I was all of a sudden wondering if I had packed warm enough clothing.  We were coming to Spain to get some sun, but were we climbing into the cold?  

We awoke this morning to sunshine and I breathed a sigh of relief - it was warm.  Oh, it isn't what some of you would call warm (thats why it is off-season and affordable for a student family), but compared to the temperature I've been keeping our house at, the outside temperature is several degrees higher (high 60s), so it feels super warm.  And the sun, I could go on and on about how good it feels to have the sun beating down.  I napped on the roof terrace this afternoon so I could soak it in.  

We have some adventures planned for the week, but today we found the supermarkets, had dinner on our terrace, spent time watching the cars go by from the balcony, hiked a little way down the gorge by Alhama and took siestas (wow, Jonah was so excited about taking a siesta - amazing what a change of name can do for a daily practice).  And the lovely thing is that even these simple thing are an adventure for all of us.  My rusty Spanish is getting us by and we're finding new foods and even some new dinosaurs (Jonah finds lots of dinosaurs everywhere these days).

Alhama de Granada

Tajo - the gorge where we went hiking

Daddy: Jonah do you want a cracker?
Jonah: NO, I don't want a cracker.  I want ADVENTURE!