Back from Spain

Well, we're back. Now we just need a vacation from our vacation. :) Thailand was very low key, easy going and we only moved our luggage three times, from Bangkok to Khon Kaen to Krabi.

Spain was a little different. We stayed in Madrid three nights but after that it was one or two nights and on the road again.

Here's where we went:
Madrid (3 nights)
Train to Seville (2 nights)
Rental car the rest of the trip to:
Cadiz (one hour)
Jerez (Andalusian Horse Show - 2 hours)
Tarifa (2 nights)
30 min. ferry ride to Morrocco for 6 hours
Nerja (one night)
Granada (2 nights)
Alicante (lunch)
Valencia (two nights - visited the Lladro factory)
Cuenca - one hour
Madrid (one night)

I've finally put the 500 pictures I took on my computer and picked out the ones I want to share. I haven't gone back and tried to remember all of the names of the places where the pictures were taken yet though. That will be done soon.

Chris took one small carry-on bag and his backpack (neither one very full) down to Utah but brought back up three stuffed bags including one big suitcase and a backpacking backpack. What did we have with us after Spain? Not a bunch of souvenirs, his hunting gear. He headed out this last week to Eastern Washington but didn't see any turkeys on public land. Lots and lots on private land, but none on public. So he's going to go try again next week probably.

Titles are above the pictures.

Madrid

Toledo Another Toledo

Segovia - Aqueduct built by the Romans. See the cars down there - this thing is huge!

Bullfighting Ring in Seville

Flamenco dancer in Seville

We rode a camel in Tangier, Morocco

Chris with the baby camels and a goofy hat.

Us at the Rock of Gibraltar.Me and Ape at the top of the Rock of Gibraltar. He put his hand on my shoulder when I went to stand by him to take a picture. Ahhhhh. Chris swimming in the Mediterranean. It was SO cold that he was the only one who did.
Us in front of the Alhambra in Granada.

Update

I have so many more pictures to post it's ridiculous. I have about 10 of Trea (my niece) that I want to put on. But there are some other things first.

It is very difficult to adjust coming back from Thailand with the time change. Going there I had very little difficulty. I was a little tired by the end of the first day but had slept 8 hours on the plane (it was practically empty so I laid out across 3 seats). I had also taken all the advice I got before I left and worked out every day the week before, took an aspirin before getting on and took off my shoes during the flight. I have no idea what helped and what didn't but I know I was sleeping nights there within a day. Chris only slept about four hours on the plane so he was much more tired the first day but we both agree that coming back has been a nightmare.

We arrived Wednesday at 12:30pm and I IMed my boss to see if he needed me. Thank goodness he said no because Chris and I were both out cold by 4pm to about 7:30. At 4pm in Seattle, it was 2am in Bangkok. We shouldn't have slept as long as we did but oh well. Thursday morning Chris woke up at 4am and I don't know if he woke me up or I just woke up on my own. There was no going back to sleep after that though. So I went in to work about 7:30am and ended up staying until 7:30pm. Then Friday I woke up at 5am, in to work at 7am and did not leave until 9pm. It's end of quarter and a million things are going on. So they were a long two days but went very quickly. Then Saturday morning I woke up at 4:30am. I was really hoping to get some sleep that night because I had the GMAT (Graduate in Management Admissions Test - test you take to apply for a MBA program) from 8-12. Do you want to know my score?

First you have to know a little background. I'd been thinking about going back to school for awhile and just couldn't get myself to spend the $250 on the test. Finally I decided to just take it. I took a practice test about 6 weeks ago and scored a 610. Then studied for awhile and took another practice exam the day before we left for Thailand and got a 610. Then I took my book to Thailand, studied on the plane rides, by the pool, at night, whenever I found the time. I took the test this morning and got - a 610. !!!!!!!!! I guess I was destined for that score. It is out of 800 and a 610 is the 73rd percentile. It will get me into most of the graduate schools I am interested in. Since my goal is not to become a CEO by the time I'm 30, a top ranked business school isn't appealing to me even if I had gotten a 750. I'm not interested in the competitive atmosphere anymore that permeated BYU. I only want to learn in a relaxed environment and preferably, a smaller class. So we'll see where Chris ends up and if I can make any kind of deadline or talk my way into a program for the fall. If not, then maybe next year.
Now Chris leaves tomorrow to go to Utah early and I follow on Tuesday night. Work will probably be just as crazy Monday and Tuesday so hopefully I will post more pictures tomorrow.

Thailand Pictures (first set)

We went swimming in what they call a Crystal Pond. The water is perfectly clear. Only problems are that it is freezing compared to the ocean, which in the afternoon is like bath water, and there are lots of huge rocks on the bottom that you have to keep dodging. It was fun but we didn't stay very long.
This is me studying for the GMAT by the pool at our hotel. If the rooftop wasn't in the way, the view would have been too amazing for me to concentrate.

Chris with "Bond" the monkey that jumped on our kayak.

Me by the Mangrove trees we went through.

Mommy monkey with her baby. There were LOTS of babies.

Back from Thailand

I'll post pictures soon but wanted to give a short post on our trip. It was amazing, fun, relaxing, and we loved it. Seeing Kristen, John and Chantrea and going to the beach were the highlights. Even if the new baby came a day after we left. Trea is adorable. I taught her colors in Spanish and she picked them up in one night! It was awesome. Then I started teaching her other words like pointing to John and saying Papa, Kristen - Mama, Chris - chico, etc. with Trea repeating everything back to me. Then Chris points to me and says "Loca" and Trea responds "Mai Chai!" which means "No! That's wrong!" in Thai. I wish I had caught it on video.
At the beach we saw lots and lots of monkeys, some even climbed on our sea kayak with us, rode an elephant, saw a giant lizard, lots of geckos, and went snorkeling in water filled with coral and fish. I'd never been snorkeling and I LOVED it. Sea Kayaking through mangroves is definitely up there on the list too.
We flew from Seattle to Taipei and found massage chairs in the airport that are free! After a 14 hour flight, it was wonderful. We also got lots of massages in Thailand. Lots and lots of massages. There are less than $10 each. From Taipei to Bangkok is 4 hours. Going home though the flights "only" took 3.5 and 11 hours because of the trade winds. That was a welcome surprise.
There's so much about the trip that I will probably write more than one more post about it. It's nice to be home though.