Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category

Portugal, Day 4 – Rainy Day

Sunday, September 23rd, 2012

Clare With Luna - A Lively Portuguese Pup
Me With Luna (Portuguese Water Dog Puppy), Guardian of Uchas Country House!

Uchas Country House Owners and Outdoor Oven
Octavio & Jess (Uchas Country House Owners!) and Clare & Dennis
We are standing in front of their huge outdoor oven. I want one!

It rained all day, so we lingered around Uchas Country House. We caught up on email and spent time reading books in the cozy main house. In between storms, we took a tour of the farm. Jess showed us how the eggs are collected from the hen house and how various veggies are harvested.

I loved Jess’ tour of farm life. Having spent a good portion of my youth living on a mini-farm, it was nothing new to me. However, for Dennis, I think it was interesting and helped to bring perspective into my adolescence. It’s one thing for me to say I woke up at 6:30am to milk the goats and when I got home from school, I brought in the eggs. It’s another thing entirely, to walk around the farm and actually see somebody doing those things!

It was also cool to see what sorts of vegetables they can grow in that part of Portugal. We noted a lot of the same fall veggies as we have; squash, cauliflower, broccoli, and beans. They had already harvested the potato and the corn, which was stored for fall and winter.

Later in the afternoon, Octavio and Jess shared a video with adventures offered by Nomades. The video was awesome! Nomades takes people canyoneering, rafting, and rock climbing. They also offer team building activities to corporate clients. It is a separate business than the Uchas Country House, but some of their Uchas clients who come for a “get away” weekend, to be treated to the bed & breakfast may also want a little adventure!
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Portugal, Day 3 – Canyoneering

Saturday, September 22nd, 2012

Clare Rappeling a Waterfall

Clare and Dennis Floating

Our adventure tour started with wet canyoneering on a beginner’s section of the local creek. Octavio at Nomadas.pt was the lead guide and Pedro was our assistant. We spent the morning rappelling down slick rock precipices and waterfalls, jumping and sliding off of mossy rock walls, and swimming through pools of water.

Octavio once said canyoneering is like an adult version of the playground and I think he’s right. Once we got used to maneuvering the creek in our wetsuits, we had a blast. The many pictures following prove the point, canyoneering is fun!

Pedro and Clare in Goat Village, Covas do Monte
Pedro and Clare marveling at the goats in the streets!

In the afternoon, Pedro took us to a small mountain village called Covas Do Montas. It is a Nationally Protected mountain town; it’s population is dwindling but there is a very important history which must be preserved for future generations.

The village is full of goats and since I love goats, Octavio thought I should go check it out. It was a fun little half day afternoon adventure thanks to Pedro’s expert navigation of the windy mountain roads! I hadn’t seen that many goats in one place since the California State Fair in 1992!

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Portugal – Day 2, Lisbon to Porto

Friday, September 21st, 2012

Oriente Train Station - Train Tracks
Oriente Train Station

Bridges of Porto
Bridges of Porto

Uchas Country House - Room With A View
Uchas Country House

On our second day in Portugal, we took a high speed train (not nearly as fast as Shinkansen!) to Porto. We were excited to meet our Adventure Tour guide, Pedro, and get started on our tour. The plan was to take a walking tour of Porto and then drive to Uchas Country House.

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Portugal – Day 1, Lisbon

Thursday, September 20th, 2012

Clare & Dennis at Fountain in Rossio Square, Lisbon

We celebrated our 10th anniversary by travelling to Portugal. We were looking forward to a long vacation and had heard nothing but good things about Portugal. Before the trip I read several really amazing books about the Portuguese history as well as their famous explorers. I’m glad I did because the homework really paid off!

Rossio Square Fountain - on Praca Dom Pedro IV in Lisbon
Rossio Square Fountain on Praca Dom Pedro IV

In any event, we flew from Denver to London Heathrow and then had a quick flight to Lisbon. Our travels went smooth and before we knew it, we had arrived at our destination.

For our first night in country, we decided to try a vegetarian buffet restaurant, Paladar Zen.

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O’Callaghan Tilman Memorial Bridge, Hoover Dam, Nevada

Sunday, January 15th, 2012

Clare at the Memorial Bridge
Climbergirl All too excited to see the Dam…

Ron and Rachel at the Memorial Bridge
Ron & Rachel

Foot Dangle, A long Way Down to the Hoover Dam Facilities
Foot Dangle

Hoover Dam from Memorial Bridge
Dam!

Rachel, Ron, and I took a nice drive to see the Hoover Dam from the new Mike O’Callaghan and Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. We walked across the bridge and I got this really nice foot dangle shot (Thanks to Rachel for taking the picture from above!). (more…)