What we’ve been up to (abbreviated write-up)

When we last visited our slightly less than intrepid couple (us), they had been to a festival that turned out to not be as expected with our friends Celina and Lance.

Since then we attended another festival with them that was quite fun and interesting. It was the Festa da Espiga. The literal translation of espiga is “cob”, like corn on the. The festival seemed to be a harvest celebration. There was a parade and the main things in it were tractors pulling wagons that were decked out as in “the old days”. This was in the town of Salir on May 25.

One of the tractors

Josh, Scott, Craig, Mary Ann, Robbi

View from the resort bar

On June 1st our friends from Charlotte, Craig and Mary Ann Ogle arrived along with their friend Holly and their youngest kid, Josh. They stayed at a really nice resort, the Pine Cliffs Resort at Praia da Falesia in Albufeira (praia means beach). We had a fantastic day hanging out at the resort with them. Best Port Tonica I’ve had since our river cruise in 2022.

Just a couple of days after that…. OUR STUFF ARRIVED! Hooray! We still haven’t put everything away, but we’re glad to have our things with us now.

On Friday, June 6, actually that’s the day the stuff came, Mary Ann, Craig and Holly went on to Austria and Josh came and stayed with us for the weekend before going back to Phoenix on Sunday. We tried to take him to the Chapel of the Bones, but I once again messed up the timing and HAVE STILL NOT BEEN. Sheesh.

On June 13, my longtime friend Randy McCracken came to stay with us. He had been traveling for over a month, starting in Iceland and working his way to Faro. We hadn’t seen him in quite some time. He’s been living in Alexandria, VA for several years. He stayed for a week. Hooray! We did a bunch of fun things and he cooked for us one night, too. Below is what we did.

Long time buddies

Wander about Faro    Sat June 14                   Randy cooked

Bird watching tour      Sun June 15                  Rio Formosa

Ferry to beach             Mon June 16                 Faro Beach

Flamingo search         Wed June 18                 near airport

Meet-up                         Wed June 18                 Columbus Hotel

Tia Ana Restaurant    Thurs

Bird watching: I had seen flamingos around Tavira a couple of years ago so I thought we’d see them on the birdwatching tour. The guide told us it was very unlikely due to where we were cruising around. And he was right.

Randy at Faro Beach

View at Faro Beach

Dinner by Randy

Between what the guide told us and the research Randy did we headed out to look for them on Wednesday near the airport. Somewhat to my surprise, we found them! The area/trail we were on also had 2 places with extremely nice bird blinds. It was really all fun and I was so glad to have an opportunity to do some stuff locally that Scott and I hadn’t done before.

Randy has a great SLR camera and long lens. He took this one.

Beautiful birdy

First siting of the flamingos

Really awesome bird blind

Yep. Flamingos. Near the airport.

Please come visit us!!

Otherwise, I am going through some boxes (culling again), waiting for my surgical consult next week and trying to keep Lola and Bitsy comfy. OH! AND, Austin and Megan will be here for Christmas! Now I just have to work on Alex and Jesse!

Scott is working on the cycle and meeting a number of people who can maybe help him. If you talk to him, urge him to write a blog post!

We’ve both been continuing our Portuguese lessons with Cristina and going to meet-ups.

Some of the Meet-Up Crew

Heading out to a meet-up, now. Will add photos later!