Juniper River Run - Mark, Simone, Richard
January 1st, 2010
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Road Trip!!!!! Yucatan, November 2009
December 7th, 2009
temple-of-the-magician-uxmal
El Castillo, Chichen Itza
Tulum
Richard Joined Simone and me for this most excellent adventure into the Land of the Maya.
Puenta del Sur, Cozumel, ROO, Mexico
Simone 11/26/09, Mayacoba Banyan Tree, Playa Del Carmen, Roo, Mexico
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Upper Mississippi Scenes
November 29th, 2009
Day after turkey day (Saturday this year). Relaxing and enjoying the late afternoon light and clouds reflected on the river. Took several photos including a 270° panorama. Update: I did not like the “smokey” quality in some of these photos, so I rendered them again with both tone compression and detail enhancement. I left a few of the first batch for comparison.
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Rioja
November 27th, 2009
Our First View
We left the kids and took a couple of days in the Rioja wine region, part of which is in Basque country. The rain stayed away, the autumn color was at its peak, and we had the place mostly to ourselves. I never imagined it would be this beautiful.
LAGUARDIA
Underground Cellars
We stayed at a medieval town called Laguardia, a walled town on a hill with only four gates. Beneath the town is a maze of tunnels used as cellars and, back in the day, as a hiding place when the town was under seige. No cars are allowed to drive in town, for obvious reasons! These tunnels used to connect but have been bricked up into individual cellars now. We visited La Fabulista, one of the few wineries operating in town. They still stomp on the grapes there!
Surreal Vista
MARQUES DE RISCAL WINERY
We also visited one of the grand old wineries in the area, Marques de Riscal, which has been operating since 1858. We took a tour of the old cellars and the new, tasted and bought some rioja and rueda verdeja, and took a look at the adjacent Frank Gehry-designed hotel, which is now part of the marketing scheme called the “City of Wine.” Rioja is starting to fill up with these “Star-chitect”-designed buildings and spas.
We visited a huge wine museum, Dinastia Vivanco Museo de la Cultura del Vino (another vanity project by a winery), which was terrific (no photos allowed, though). Impressive building layout, all manner of historical presses and machinery, an eclectic but too-scattered collection of modern and ancient wine-related art, and 3000 corkscrews. The only problem was the quite obvious snubbing of the U.S. wine regions in the world exhibits. Harrumph!
Speaking of the U.S., another small town had something surprising–a statue of liberty. It was dedicated in 1897 to those killed in one of the Spanish civil wars.
A relatively new feature to the Spanish (and French and Portuguese) landscape is the wind farm. It seems like every hill is covered with turbines (and the plains are filled with solar panels). But this new technology sometimes doesn’t fit so well with the old; got stuck waiting as a driver negotiated the narrow medieval streets of this small town. He’s hauling a single turbine blade.
All photos copyright 2009 Diana Rathe Pray
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FRANCE
November 18th, 2009
The journey began on S.’s birthday after school. Here she is with her birthday “cake,” a selection of 12 pastries she sampled into the night. Long but pleasant drive to Paris.
Stopped by Chartres on the way, which was undergoing a top-to-bottom cleaning, including the windows. Can’t imagine how amazing it will be when everything is gleaming. Saw “La Boheme” at the Bastille Opera House–fantastic!
Walked out of our hotel to the Sunday Bastille Farmer’s Market–100 stalls of seafood, produce, cheese, and bread–unbelievable. Bought our breakfast and lunch materials for the next two days. Doug made us wild mushroom omelettes! Onion bread–mmmmmm.
Had a very rainy day at Versailles, but it was intriguing to see the place off-season. The weather didn’t deter the crowds much, at least inside.
Stopped by the Eiffel Tower on the way back. The top was closed due to weather, but we were able to go to the second level. No crowds! Wonderful views. Went to the Louvre the next day–again, very few people, given it was a Monday holiday with no other museums open. Saw the classic must-sees.
Drove through Bordeaux country and stopped at Saint Emilion, a classic old town surrounded by chateaux and vineyards. T. decided to sample the remainders–delicious!
Stopped by Hossegor, a little surfing town in French Basque country where the continental shelf is near shore. The waves are crazy.
All photos copyright 2009 Diana Rathe Pray
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Mark and Austin, 49ers v. Titans, 11/8/09
November 10th, 2009
Austin
Frank Gore
Vince Young
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MORE SPAIN & A LITTLE PORTUGAL
November 9th, 2009
THE ATLANTIC BOTANICAL GARDENS IN GIJON
400-year-old oaks, pokeberry, hips, and Laboral University view.
SALAMANCA, SPAIN
Lively city between Madrid and Portugal. Massive square where the city once held bullfights, beautiful old sandstone buildings, and a 13th century university.
NORTHERN PORTUGAL
Porto church and pier; Viana do Castelo with a modern basilica on the hill–impressive view and Sophia’s dream car; lots of old and crumbling buildings.
SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, SPAIN
Many pilgrims walking the Way of St. James in the countryside and arriving at the cathedral; gorgeous lighting.
LUGO, SPAIN
Complete Roman wall around a crumbling city in Spanish hills.
BAIONA, SPAIN
Little town north of Portuguese border where the Pinta returned in 1493 to deliver news of the New World. Below is a replica of the Pinta–hardly more than a tub with sails. It happened to be Columbus Day when we were there, hence the traffic jam.
All photos copyright 2009 Diana Rathe Pray
Gijon, Playa de Silencio
October 7th, 2009
We live next to a park that has a lot of fun playground equipment and an aviary with emus and other birds.
Playa de Silencio is a great beach near here. Kind of hard to get to, so it isn’t crowded, especially during off-season. We had the place mostly to ourselves. The tidal pools were really fun. Theron was thrilled to find his favorite sea creature, an octopus waiting for the tide to come in. He even touched it, and it grabbed him with its tentacle.
Lots of little villages here, and gigantic hydrangea bushes everywhere (Mom would like that!).
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- Sunday in the Park
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- Fun Park Apparati
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- Gijon Old Town
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- Playa de Silencio
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- Off the Beaten Path
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- Cold and Stony
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- You First!
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- Mommy, Too!
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- Tidal Pools
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- Shrimp
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- Lookie What I Found!
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- Octopus!
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- Pretty Big One
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- Sun Setting on Silencio
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- Hydrangea Everywhere!
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- Quiet Street, Quiet Village
Copyright 2009 Diana Rathe Pray
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Picos de Europa
October 7th, 2009
We drove to the nearby mountain range. Passed Covadonga, where the Christians successfully fought off the Moors in the 8th century.
The Asturian landscape and the Picos are gorgeous. The traditional farms have these plantation-like raised structures for drying crops (see the blue house picture, which sports the Asturian cross).
On the way back we happened upon a little 12th C. church, S. Juan de Amandi.
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- Covadonga
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- Asturian Farmhouse
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- Farmhouse
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- Hillside Outside Gijon
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- Nearing Picos de Europa
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- Happy Cow
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- They Own the Road
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- Mountain Goats
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- More Happy Cows
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- Picos Lake
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- Looking for Blackberries
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- Picos Mt. Road
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- Sheep Dog
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- S. Juan de Amandi
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- View from Church
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- View from Side
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- Church Cemetary
Copyright 2009 Diana Rathe Pray
Categories: Diana | Tags: travel | No Comments
