Rota y Ronda

Look at me, actually continuing my trip recap.

After checking out the Roman ruins in Mérida, we pressed on to Rota Naval Air Station.
It's near Cádiz, underlined on the map.

Josh had to go there to have his annual flight physical done, and thankfully he passed. We weren't entirely sure if he would, given the way he likes to break his falls with his face.

And hand. And knee. And wrist. And shoulder.

Once his appointments were out of the way, we were free to relax.
There is a beach right on the base, which was lovely and very convenient. And the water was like taking a bath! I never knew the Atlantic got so warm.

Alex and Derek, like most kids, love the beach. And I love watching them love the beach.
They are never still for a moment-- constantly running to and from the water, building sandcastles, looking for shells, writing in the sand, more swimming, mud pies...
They leave sandy, brown, exhausted, starving, and happy.
There is just something right about kids playing on the beach. Maybe it's the freedom to be as dirty as they want. I don't know, but I like it.

We stayed 5 days in Rota, enjoying the beach and a taste of America.

Things I shall remark on:

1) When we went into the commissary (the base grocery store) the kids were blown away. "I remember these! Mom! Fruit Snacks! Pop Tarts! Capri Suns!"
And so on and so forth.
The biggest hit by far was string cheese.
I'm sure some of these things are available here if I looked hard enough, but the small market where we usually stock up does leave a few things to be desired. 

2) We saw two movies. In English. And 3-D.

Despicable Me 2 and Monster's University.
I liked the latter better, if you care to know.

3) We went bowling.

4) We ate sand at Taco Bell.

5) We were reunited with humidity. I'd forgotten what it does to my hair.
Hence, not a lot of pictures with me in them.

Madrid gets very hot, but thankfully it's a dry heat. And compared with what everyone has warned us about for summer heat, so far we've gotten off pretty easy. (Knocking on wood.)

Once we had our fill of little America, we got back on the road to head to our next destination, a stop in the beautiful city of Ronda.

 Ronda is a city built on and around gorgeous mountains and cliffs. It almost looks fake in this picture.

You'll have to take my word for how high the overlooks are, and the incredible ways they were able to build bridges across deep canyons. For I am not a good enough photographer to do it justice.

This shot only shows part of this bridge-- it just keeps going down farther.

We had another yummy Spanish lunch.

And then we got back on the road to where we were spending the next two nights-- Granada.