We weren't always in the car but sometimes it seemed like it. I am so fond of our first two weeks in Madrid as we were settled in one apartment; we could see a museum or go to the park and then come home, shop for dinner and sometimes eat a vegetable. But we didn't want to stay in one place the whole time and our nomadic time was often when we were happiest--impressed by the beauty around us and delighted by the interesting differences in what we saw, heard, and experienced. Or just playing games in the car together. One of my goals of the sabbatical was to get closer together as a family. It's a gift for any family to get this much uninterrupted time together and we're very grateful for our journey and what we learned about each other.
Another goal was to expand our minds without making the kids miserable. If anything, I had to rejigger my expectations higher as the trip progressed as the boys were so much more interested in art and history than I originally anticipated. I was happy enough if we just lived in Spain and as I noted in my blog description "saw one new thing each day." But we did so much more than we expected and the boys soaked up all kinds of fascinating history.
Mostly we had a good time--cheering on Spain in FIFA 2010, tasting tapas, sampling sidra, cava, and rioja (and so much Fanta for the boys), climbing castles and towers, exploring fortresses and palaces, sword-fighting, searching museums for our new favorite artists, wandering cathedrals and parks, decompressing on the beach, singing loudly to Lady Gaga and Madonna and Village People on the car radio, hiking and swimming and skipping stones, and so much more. Oh yes, and blogging. I should note that Frommers and Fodor's and Rick Steves were all extremely helpful on our trip and what we learned and then relayed in the blog was deeply enriched by these great guides.
Many thanks from the Stackler*Williams Family to Chronicle Books (and to Tyrrell and the amazing Bus Dev team) for making this break possible. A sabbatical is a time to refresh, learn something, and come back with a new perspective--I'll try to live up to this incredible opportunity.
Finally, this blog has been fun--and a surprising amount of work--props to those who do it without the easy and rich daily topics I had at my fingertips. But it's time to say Hasta Luego. Please forgive the typos and horrible grammar. Some days Ed edited me and some days he didn't. I'm pretty sure it's obvious which posts were lacking his keen skill. Maybe we'll get a puppy sometime soon and we'll blog about that!
But for now thanks to Ed, Ben, and Nate for helping me remember and post our trip's best details for our family and friends.
As the Spanish say (combining "hasta" and "luego" into one semi-audiable combo), "Halago!" Spain, you were very, very good to us. : ) -- Ed (one of my three 'follower' identities!)
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