Spain - day #5

Travel day! Yesterday we picked up brekkie foods since we had to leave Aviles by 6:30 this morning. Matt has told me about these bow-jee-cows forever - it’s kind of like a hot dog bun with Nutella filling and super yummy!

We had an easy drive and filled up the half tank of gas that we used and dropped off the rental car no problem. Blessings of a perfect rental experience after our last semi-fiasco. 

We were all pretty tired. 

So we quickly got comfy. 

And then we all fell asleep. 

Zoink. 

Even Matt and I. 

The train got up to 250 km/hour! It didn’t feel like it, but we were trucking. 

We packed as lightly as possible, but the problem is it’s summer in Spain and like spring time in the UK, so we had to bring a variety of clothes. Anyway, we’ve got 4 backpacks and 3 suitcases and everyone dropped them all with me to go to the bathroom. It looks like a lot. 🤷‍♀️

We walked a kilometer then caught a metro then walked another few blocks to the temple where we’re staying in the old MTC apartments. We dropped our bags and went in search of food since we were all starving. We found the best little lunch!

We got a big platter of fries (and little weenies) with 6 salsas (sauces) to share and we were so hungry we killed it so fast. 

I got fillete de pollo complete with ensalada, huevo, and potatas. Chefs kiss. 

Quick pic of the temple on our way back up to our room. 

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We had a baptistery appointment this evening and Delaney just stayed in our room right across the lawn, pretty sweet. 

We had a sweet experience at the temple with a sister who’s mom passed away in May. We also met a 14 year old named Christina who joined our family for baptisms and confirmations, then 18-year-old Luke from Brazil who is working to get Spanish citizenship and came up to Madrid by himself for the weekend. Such amazing kids! It’s so wonderful to work in unity with the Spanish saints, everyone has been so kind to us. 

And finally, I have always wondered about staying at the temple, so even though we exploded into our room, here we are. 

The 4 girls are on the family floor in a room for 4, and then Matt is in the men’s section, also in a room for 4, but by himself. There are 4 lockers like the ones on the right. They gave us 4 keys, each one opens the apartment door and opens their own locker and in the locker are sheets and towels.

We made our beds, then tomorrow we’ll strip the beds, vacuum, and wipe everything down. 

These apartments are utilitarian, but super inexpensive and super convenient. Also, we have use of the cafeteria downstairs where, when we got here several families were making full on dinners and eating them in their big dining areas. It’s a giant, full kitchen with everything you could need. So grateful and happy to be here!

Spain - day 4

We’re on a better sleep schedule - hooray! We were up and out by 9:00. 

First stop - Faro de Candás. I love looking down at a lighthouse!

The girls love reenacting Titanic. I reminded Adi to include the boat in the pic for next time. 

Action shot!

This reminds me of some of the new temples in California and Latin America. So beautiful. 

Then we took one of Spain’s amazing trails for a little stroll.  

I would kill for a path like this. Running every day would never be a chore if I could run right by the water. Ok, it would still be hard, but so much more enjoyable!

We’d have loved to go down and check out the tide pools, but the trail didn’t go down there. 

More lighthouse love because there can never be enough. 

This was about the 6th different angle/shot Adi did. I’ve taught her never to shoot a person with the camera pointed up, remind people to suck it in and otherwise make sure they’re not being weird, and not to have lighthouses coming out of heads. Shes getting better! 

Several times a day Matt and I look at each other and just can’t even believe we’re here. What is life, it is so beautiful and the girls are being so fun and it’s just perfect. 

We wanted to get Matt a Spanish tie, so we went shopping at Courte de Ingles and Matt tried on a top hat. Just don’t look at me and my chins. 🤷‍♀️ where’s Adi when you need her. 

We picked Matt an awesome Spanish made tie and I got a new RS notebook and the girls got new pencil pouches and we called it a day for shopping. 

Next we went looking for a beach to swim. We went to Gijon and explored and then found the beach. I had swimmers ear in my left ear before trek and in my right ear now, so I knew I couldn’t really get in because I love diving under waves. So I went in search of treasure and found a handful of cool shells. 

Unfortunately this crew wasn’t able to go in past their ankles either, so they waded and built sand castles. There have been grey stormy skies and very stormy seas, which we don’t know if it’s normal or not, but I’m thinking not and that’s why there’s no swimming? 🤷‍♀️

We walked around downtown and D got a little cray. 

We were all hungry, so we checked out a few restaurants but most were very seafood heavy and we’re not super into very authentic Spanish seafood, and the one place we did really like had already closed their kitchen. So we ate the snacks we’d brought and decided to check out one more beach before heading home. 

We drove through the windy hills out to Nora Beach which is a teeny tiny and very stormy beach with 2 little restaurants right on it. We choose one and ate a very Spanish shared meal - huge salad, fried cod, colequetas de jamon (fried balls with some kind of puréed ham - not my fav), and French fries with ketchup, Mayo, and a bleu cheese sauce. 

Then we went for a hike amongst the eucalyptus trees. 

We had no idea how far it went, we kind of thought it just went to this first lookout point, but it kept going and going. 

The leaves made the path a little slippery so we took off our shoes for some grounding. 

Swirly white sea. Every beach we went to was wild. 

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traveling can be stressful but we’re rocking it. And this is another adi shot. 

That beach path took us to the cutest little neighbor beach where we used the facilities and stayed dry from the rain. 

Look at this cutest hotel! Hotel on the left, restaurant with gorgeous views on the right. So many hidden treasures out here!

Little squall passed through. 

We would have loved to continued on the trail, but we were already at 17,000+ steps and we had an early morning, so we headed back. Eucalyptus trees are Matt’s fav, so he was in heaven!

And back to Nora Beach and our weird little restaurant right on the beach. I think they owners live on the top floor and then the middle is restaurant and the bottoms is ?

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To remember. 

We got all packed and showered up and into bed by 11:00 with 21,485 beautiful steps. 

We have loved our time up north and tomorrow morning it’s onto Madrid! (again)