Willow and Juanjo's SplashBlot

Un día esplendido. Ya empieze el verano de SF, ahora en Septiembre y Octubre.

Pasamos el cumpleaños de Juanjo en Pt. Reyes, con Alberto y Andrea. Estuvo muy bien! Comemos fenomenal, caminamos por la Bahia de Tomales, y disfrutamos del buen tiempo de la primavera aqui. Tambien jugamos tenis en la casa que alquilé, y fuimos andando al pueblo para cenar. Fue muy bonito el fin de semana!

We had a fabulous weekend hiking at the Grand Canyon North Rim. Pictures and stories to come this week, including an encounter with a herd of wild buffalo!

People always talk about how one of the great things about San Francisco is how close to nature you are. In less than 20 minutes you can be at the beach, state parks, wetlands, or mountains. Turns out people love Barcelona for that reason too, and one of the nicest places is Montserrat, a monastery and natural park.

We drove there, but you can also take a train. Both leave you at the base of the mountain, where we took a hanging yellow cable car up to the monastery complex and start of the hiking trails.

The monastery is old, but visited often and now has other buildings around it, including a couple stores and restaurants. Judging by the number of buses that can fit in the parking lot, it gets busy. But we were there on a cold afternoon in January, and saw only a few families and young hikers.

After visiting the Montserrat Virgin (which makes this place one of Spain’s most popular pilgrimage destinations), we went for a bit of hiking up behind the monastery. The sun was already behind the mountain when we got there, and as the shadows got longer, the temperature dropped. This made for amazing silhouette pictures, but it also made us really glad we both had hats, scarves and gloves!

We plan to go back another day, getting there early so we can hear a boy’s choir sing at mass, and then take a longer hike into the mountains. Can’t wait!

Waterfalls around every corner. Fall leaves rushing over mossy rocks. Late afternoon light and mild, warm weather. Reflections of red mountainsides in pools of water. Jumping trout. And a monastery built in the 12th century, nestled into the hillside.

Yesterday we drove from Barcelona to Toledo, and stopped halfway to visit the Monasterio de Piedra, a park and monastery in the province of Aragon. Our lungs filled with clean fall air as we hiked past waterfalls and over rocks. What a spectacular afternoon.

Thank you to Tino, Juanjo’s dad, who gave us the idea for the trip; we loved it!