Picos de Europa

In my next life I wanna be a goat. But not just any goat. Especially not the Naval Academy’s goat, “Bill.” Lord knows what those college kids would do to me.

I wanna be a wild mountain goat that lives off the kindness of hikers in the Picos de Europa mountains in Northern Spain. It is perhaps … nay … it IS the most beautiful spot that we’ve visited since we’ve been here in Europe. Period. And as you know we travel quite a lot. 

First off, it was Spain, where el Sol makes more appearances than he does here in Germany. Here’s a view of Frankfurt as we left.

And here’s Santander from the air. Doesn’t that just seem more pleasant?

Next there were mountains. Not only the neatly formed snowcapped kind you’d find in Switzerland that amateur hikers like Kate and I can only look at. But the rugged, scrubby kind that we could actually climb if we wanted.

Then there’s the interesting topography formed by different levels of rock solubility. Technically (according to google), this is “karstification.” I don’t care what it is, I just think it’s beautiful.

And for those seeking baby photos, yes, Elizabeth came along too.

We made sure she came, even if we had to smuggle her in the back of our rental car. (Attention crazy people: We didn’t really do this. This is a photo of me changing her while in the mountains. The options were the trunk or the ground. We’re not cruel parents. We swear.)

It was her first of hopefully many trips outside Germany and her first flight and she did exceedingly well. And although they no longer require passports for travel in most of Western Europe, Kate and I consider her passport “stamped.”

Also here’s a picture of Kate practicing one-upmanship after hearing about Selma Hayek breastfeeding a starving baby in Sierra Leone. After hearing about the dramatic population decline of the only native wild bear population north of the Alps, Kate decided it was best to donate her milk to a poor cub.

Hmmm… maybe I ought to rethink this whole goat thing. If my neighbors were starving bears than I would be ... lunch?

Oh, and to show you what I mean about living off the kindness of hikers, here's a video that should illustrate my point: