Tenerife

As you can see, we're getting behind on posting lately.  Sorry about that.

Last week, Nick had a conference on the island of Tenerife which is part of the Canary Islands which is part of Spain.  I had no idea where it was at first and my impression is that most Americans would not know about the Canaries either.  However, it is a hot tourist destination for European travellers so a lot of my British friends/family knew exactly where it is or have been there.  Tenerife is a volcanic island, boasting the world's third largest volcano, El Teide.  So in other words, the island is REALLY hilly.

Calvin learning about hot sand

Anyway, like I said, Nick had to work all week while Cal and I enjoyed the sun and the beach.  Luckily, he was able to take off one afternoon and one morning to travel to beaches with us and we had another full day after the conference was over.  We spent most of the time at beaches but managed to get a half day at the volcano national park and experience the alien-like landscape that are old lava flows.

Parque Nacional del Teide

So, things we learned on this trip:
- The south part of Tenerife, where we stayed, feels like a little Britain
- Volcanos are cool (when they're not active)
- Cal really likes going into the ocean
- Cal really likes ice cream cones, not necessarily the ice cream
- Never, I repeat, never drive mountainous terrain with less than a 1/4 tank of gas
- Nick is amazing at running across motorways to get to gas stations

More pictures are here.