Summer Vacation-Intro

We just returned from a three week vacation. We drove through France, Spain and Portugal with stops in the Loire Valley, Dune de Pyla along the Atlantic Coast near Bordeaux, the Picos de Europa in Northern Spain, Santiago de Compostela, Porto, Lisbon, the Algarve (here we rented an apartment and stayed a week), Valencia and Barcelona. I plan to write about our stops in more detail within the next two weeks before the kids return to school.

Although we saw a lot of Western Europe and we had a great time, this vacation was not very relaxing. I've always thought the typical European vacation of renting an apartment or house for two or three weeks and just staying put sounded boring, but now I'm thinking this may be the way to spend the holidays, especially with children. Bob and I love road trips, and before the kids were born, we would drive to Montana to visit Larissa or to Upstate New York to visit Polly when she lived there, and we would make stops along the way and see as much as we could. Even when we lived in Europe before, we were able to tour around and see more since Alex was in a backpack carrier or stroller and Philip was small enough for Bob to carry on his shoulders. But those days are gone forever.

Now, they walk but not quickly or for very long distances. They also have very strong opinions about what they want to see or do. They like museums and I like zoos, so there is quite a bit we enjoy doing together. But Bob and I like just walking around and looking at architecture and trying to find a good restaurant. The boys hate this unless we buy them toys or ice cream, and their idea of fine dining is McDonald's. And they despise driving. "Are we there yet?" and "How much longer now?" are asked at about two-minute intervals.

I think our next vacation will be European-style.