Follow us as we live in Boulder, Colorado, and Barcelona, Spain and travel throughout Europe, Africa, the United States, the Caribbean, and Central America, and share our experiences with you!
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August 31 2024 Menorca

Today we started the morning off after breakfast at the public beach near the hotel. The sand was soft and not too hot, the water in the sea was WONDERFUL, and I enjoyed watching children and their families body surf and build sand castles before we packed up and went back to the hotel for an early lunch.


After lunch we drove to the Parc Natural de S'Albufera Es Grau to hike there. We walked through the estuary and the forest. About halfway through the hike we found a hidden beach, where we rested and Bruce cooled his feet off in the clear, refreshing water while I walked in up to my chest .






Then we climbed to the top of the hill to see the view from there and returned on a slightly different route to our car for the trip back to the hotel.

After showering and resting a bit Bruce drove to Ciutadella on the other side of the island for dinner Kafu Restaurant. The food was delicious, the ambiance delightful, and we celebrated once again the many happy years we have been together and all the adventures we have been fortunate to experience over those years. At this point in our lives we're lucky to actually REMEMBER so many of those adventures!

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Hidden beach in Parc Natural de S'Albufera Es Grau August 31 2024
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Entertainment at Villa Le Blanc San Tomas Menorca August 30 2024
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August 30 2024 Menorca

We spent the whole day relaxing at the pool, swimming (at least I did), reading, and eating the yummy food here. The weather has been fabulous and not too hot, so we have taken some walks along the beach path as well.


The artwork is whimsical and I especially appreciate this octopus sculpture on the pathway to the restaurant.

Our suite has a sea view with a comfy sofa so I spent some time out here reading and enjoying the sea breezes. The Mediterranean Sea is so warm and clean, at least here, and I love being this close to Nature.
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August 29 2024 Menorca

We're finally on vacation, celebrating our 45th anniversary of our first date and 32 years of marriage, which was actually on July 6th. Since Bruce broke his pelvis in a bike accident at the end of May we weren't able to go on our usual anniversary trip, so this is it! I was exhausted after caring for Bruce for several months as he healed, as well as our granddaughter, Maple every week for several days, not to mention all the other responsibilities of caring for a house, cats, plants, and helping various friends who have been sick or are in need of support.

We're staying at the Gran Melia Villa Blanca in San Tomas on Menorca. We have only been to one other of the Balearic Islands, Mallorca, many years ago, and we had heard that Menorca is also lovely, so we decided to come here for a few days of relaxation and rejuvenation.
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August 28 2024 Barcelona

Claire and I started up our French classes again, even though I'll be leaving tomorrow to go on vacation to Menorca with Bruce. This afternoon we walked around our neighborhood chatting and catching up on each other's lives.

There are many murals all over the city and we love to pose in front of them. After our class I went home and finished packing, made dinner, and dined on our terrace, watching people walking along the beach path and listening to the sounds of the city.
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Amerca's Cup qualifying race off Marbella Beach in Barcelona August 25 2024
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August 27 2024 Barcelona

William was excited to find a skulling kayak to rent yesterday so he could go out on the bay in front of our apartment and boat with other enthusiasts. Audrey spent the afternoon window shopping and actual shopping in Barri Gothic and then we made dinner together last night. This afternoon they made lunch for us before they left on their drive to the wedding in France.




We had a great time while they were here and we hope to be able to spend more time with them in the future, perhaps in Boulder when they visit their family there.

Speaking of August, I'm so happy that Katie sends us photos and videos of Maple on a regular basis so we can watch her grow even when we're away.
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August 25 2024 Barcelona

Our young friends, Audrey and William arrived yesterday and are staying with us for a few days, on their way to a wedding in France. Audrey is the middle daughter of our friends, Wendy and Brian, and we have known her all her life. She and William live and work in Hong Kong. We were sorry to miss their wedding last summer, because we were here when they got married in Boulder, so we are very excited to have them visiting us now.

They came at an exciting time because the America's Cup qualifying races are happening here now. Bruce and I have been watching the races from our terrace and the beach path and they have been fascinating and SO much fun to watch! After eating lunch at Aguaribay in Poble Nou we wandered over to the beach on our way back to our apartment and watched from the path for a while before retiring to the coolness of our apartment.


I made dinner while they rested and then we had a lovely evening chatting about their lives in Hong Kong and their many travels, as well as ours. William is a great guy, very funny and witty. He is a sailor and does a type of kayaking called skulling, which he hopes to be able to do tomorrow from the marina nearby. Audrey is just as sweet and kind as i remember her to be as a child and teenager. Both are multilingual, with William specializing in Chinese and Audrey is fluent in French and Arabic.
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Dancer at Botanic restaurant in Castell de Fells August 22 2024
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August 22 2024 Castell de Fells

We had a delicious dinner tonight at a restaurant in Castell de Fels, where our friends Carol and Xavi live. We sat outside in the garden and the ambiance was lovely. The food yummy and the highlight was the entertainment. The servers were all really good dancers! So it was dinner and a SHOW!
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August 21 2024 Barcelona and environs

It's quiet here in our second home now because August is the month when most locals go on vacation. A lot of our friends are away so we have had time to slip into a mini-vacation mode and take advantage of all that this exciting place has to offer. Today we took a bike ride along the beach north from Barcelona to Mas Nou.

It was fun to watch the families playing in the water and the people sunbathing on the beach in the sunshine. The multi-colored beach umbrellas set against the backdrop of the azure sea created images much like impressionistic paintings. Speaking of paintings, we passed this cute mural in Badalona on the way back to Barcelona.

In the last three days our niece, Aimey, and her husband, Philip, celebrated both their birthdays and their anniversary back in Colorado. I had sent gifts to them before I left Boulder and I sent romantic e-cards to them this morning. They were married on August 20th, 2015 at the amphitheater on the top of Flagstaff mountain. This is their ninth wedding anniversary, which they celebrated after Philip got home from work.
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August 15 2024 Boulder

My dear friend and Spanish teacher for the last 24 years, Camila, pictured here next to me at the memorial service for her late husband, Charley, with some of her other students, is considering selling her house and moving into a residential retirement community. We have been visiting quite a few of them during these last few months and haven't yet found one that resonates with her. I hope while I'm gone to Spain that other friends will keep helping her look so that she can make the move as soon as possible, before she changes her mind. Many of her family and friends feel that it would be the safest and most comfortable place for her to be because a widow living alone can be lonely and vulnerable.

After all the time and effort I put into planting and maintaining the potted flowers on the decks and patios, I hope they are still blooming when I return from Spain in in late October. Beverly and her husband, Sidney, who will be living in our house to care for it, the plants, and the cats, will hopefully enjoy the ambiance while they are here.







After watering and fertilizing the potted plants one more time, taking the "kittens" to the groomers to have their nails trimmed, cleaning out the refrigerator and making sure there were clean sheets on all the beds, I finished packing. Bruce was making his own final touches on projects he would need to attend to differently from abroad. We prepared, as we do several times a year, to leave our life here behind for a while and head towards our other life in Barcelona.
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