Scott's first trip to Europe!

European Vacation in April and May!  Portugal, Spain, and France

This month we flew to Boston for 2 nights - first time for both of us and we enjoyed it a lot.  We walked a lot and stayed in a great little Airbnb room downtown.

From Boston we flew to meet the "Larry" group (including my life-long friend Kirin and her husband Matt) in the Azores for hiking in the town of Ponta Delgada on Sao Miguel island.
The Azores are not very commercial yet and what struck me about Ponta Delgada is the use of volcanic rock (black and white) to pave roads and sidewalks in beautiful patterns.  All our hikes were beautiful on somewhat marked trails.  Luckily we had a fabulous guide named Matt.  Sao Miguel has a few other small towns that we visited and is lush, green, tropical, and very beautiful. 

Every street and sidewalk in the Azores islands is hand made with colored volcanic rock in various patterns.  

Next we flew to the small island of Pico and the capital, Madalena.  This island is very stark, all black volcanic rock but interesting.  Scott and I did a whale watch trip on a small boat and saw many whales on a sunny morning.  Loved it!

We took a ferry to the otwn of Horta on the Island of Faial which was also tropical.  By now we were all comparing these islands to Hawaii.  Cheaper to get to and stay on and just as beautiful.

Huge hot springs resort in the Furnas area of San Miguel island in the Azores.  The water was colored by minerals and the grounds were amazingly beautiful like a rainforest.  

Next stop - Portugal mainland after a short flight.  We hiked from Lisbon south along the coast for 5 hikes and loved these hikes also. Some towns we stayed in were Sintra, Setubal, Milfontes.  Lots of beautiful hikes, good fish & potatoes (and few veggies or salad), and great people to travel with.

A volcano created all that new land in just over a week!  On one of the 9 Azores islands.  

Kirin, Matt, Scott, and I took a bus into Spain for 4 days.  We spent 2 days in Salamanca then drove a rental car up to Bayone, just over the border into France.  It's a very old and interesting town on two rivers and it was a holiday (Europe day) so everything was closed.

Amaing view of a coastal town on one of our hikes. 

 Scott and I left Kirin and Matt by train to get to Avignon in Provence, the south of France for our bike and barge trip with my college friends Heather, and Paul (who live in California).  
We had two extra days in Avignon before that trip and at Scott's request, we bought commitment rings - so we are offically committed for life.  xoxo
Loved the beautiful old Roman walls of Avignon, the Pope's Palace, the many town squares, and so much more.

the town of Bayonne, just over the border of Portugal and into France.  We just had one quick day and night there on their national holiday so things were closed.  But it was very cool.  

The bike and barge trip - clean but small barge with tiny tiny little rooms with a tiny tiny little porthole.  We saw beautiful sights and had great rides after the mistral wind died down. 
 No riding on Day 1 because of wind, but we rode and bravely fought wind on Days 2 and 3.  On the last day we rode into Aigues Mortes in the rain.  The weather did not cooperate.

Some of our friends from the "Larry group" that we met up with in the Azores.  What a great hiking trip!

Highlights - the Pont de Gard (Roman aqueduct), the Van Gogh show in the stone quarry in Les Baux de Provence, palaces, city walls, and trying to pronounce French correctly with the help of the 16 Belgian riders who were also on our boat.

And we have some AirBnb renters paying us to stay in our house in Longmont.  Life is so good. 

Our 2 night stay in Boston on our way to the Azores - island group that is part of Portugal but halfway between Boston and mainland Portugal.  

At Pont du Garde in France with Heather & Paul on our week of bike and boat.  Despite high winds it was a great trip.

The Van Gogh exhibit in the stone quarry was amazing!  His paintings scrolled on the walls and moved constantly with music playing.  What a show!  

Inside the city walls of Salamanca with Scott and Kirin and Matt.  Loved that city. 

The rebuilt Roman amphitheatre in the town of Arles.  A concert happened inside of it while we were there.  We heard the music and saw the light show but didn't have tickets to get in.  

After being home 4 days we ran the Bolder Boulder and didn't do too bad given that we were jet lagged and just back from sea level for 5 weeks.  The weather was chilly so we did not hang out in the stands with our friends afterwards.  But we did hang out with them at Steph's annual BB dinner the night before and it was great to see everyone.