We are now counting down the days until our departure to the USA – but in between packing boxes and taking loads to the charity shop or recycling center, we still found time for a two week family vacation with the Leidingers and the Dahlkamps.   (Okay, full disclosure, before you accuse us of vacation stacking, this was planned well before the Latam trip took shape.)

The first week was spent at the Leidinger homestead and surrounding areas, and the second week largely in the Algarve region of Portugal.  Obviously it was great to have Mom and David over for the holidays, and we enjoyed showing them around Melanie’s home region, but the new part for the two of us was the exploration of Portugal, where none of us had been save David.

Germane to the main point of this blog in particular, the region of Sagres at the southwestern tip of Portugal was not only a launching point for many expeditions in the so-called Age Of Exploration, but also purportedly home to the legendary Prince Henry The Navigator’s school of…navigation.  Basically, this was the end of the world to Europeans until the new world was discovered.  And it’s a place of considerable natural beauty as well.

Of course, it was also fun to stand at the top of the massive cliff faces and fort walls and stare off into the ocean, anticipating our own explorations in the New World to come…although honestly, if I had to do it by ship, I don’t think I’d ever go anywhere.  Thank goodness for planes, trains and cars.  (And vaccinations.  Don’t forget vaccinations.)