Hither we go!

After church today, I counted how many Sundays Rob and I will miss before we are back in town. Seven. Good Heavens. We haven’t missed that much church since we started attending church! I’m grateful we can watch the sermons on YouTube, even though we will miss all the fun chit chat afterwards.

So where are we going for nearly 2 months? Hither and yon! It’s actually two trips with a brief return to Woodhaven in between.

Trip 1 – Hither – starts tomorrow morning, although we are spending tonight in a hotel near the Portland airport to hopefully make the long travel day a teensy bit shorter. So we have officially departed Woodhaven. I am both nervous and excited. Soooo…nervcited??

Over a year ago – long before our kitty Sarah was showing any signs of her age and therefore Tim wasn’t even on the radar – Rob and I decided to take another Wine Exploration trip with that lovely British travel agency that guided us as we drank our way through France a couple of years ago. Checking off dream trips on our Travel Bucket List, we are heading to Madrid tomorrow! Ole! And cheers! And I can't believe we're finally doing this!

It’s a two-week itinerary, starting in the northern part of Spain sipping Rioja wines and noshing on tapas, a quick couple of days in Barcelona being tourists, and then a flight to Portugal to learn about the origins of port – the delicious dessert wine that I have long loved but know very little about.

I don't want to tell you how long I spent 
creating this map. But hey, I'm retired.

Having learned a few things on our last wine trek about heavy suitcases and stairwells and a dearth of elevators and escalators in European train stations, we have significantly reduced our load. We will be toting 3 small carry-ons and 2 travel backpacks around Iberia. I already miss my washing machine.

I'm pretty sure we're still checking the 3 bags
even though we could carry them on. It's up
to Rob. He's blessedly the schlepper.

As for Tim, we are excited to see where he is at when we come home in a couple of weeks. Mel is still working on the official schedule, but last week we got the OK from the engineer about cement pilings, and the cabinets have been ordered. YAY!

We have made all the decisions we can think to make, including the orientation of outlets (landscape) and where to relocate a central vacuum outlet (breakfast nook). We have purchased an International Phone Plan so that we can stay in text/talk/FaceTime touch as needed, notwithstanding the 9 hour time difference. So, we’re as ready as we can be to walk away from a huge remodeling project and let our implicitly trusted contractor continue plugging along. Nervcited!!!

Off we go!

View through the Sunroom into the kitchen.
Two of those vertical pieces are temporary
supports. All three verticals will go away.
Eventually.