March 25

I can't remember anything about this beach....anyone?


Field full of beehives.



Isn't this the same beach where we took the Christmas tree picture? Just looking from the beach toward the road you came down to get to the beach? I remember it being one of the closest beaches to our home, and I remember that you approached it from up on the cliff and had to kind of hairpin your way down to the actual beach. (Jenny)


I remember the little island at the beach close to home and that there was some kind of army outpost on the cliff on the Cartagena side of the beach. (Jacob)

The Christmas Tree beach was the one closest to Cartagena. The other beach, with the steep hike to the road, and really rocky, was one that we would go to out on La Manga. I seem to recall it was all the way east, before the sleeve starts to go North. (Mark)

I think that Mark is right and the other beach was out at La Manga. My friend Patricia's father had a restaurant out there and I spent several Saturdays there with her family. (Maggie)





Beach in Spain- memories?


Now I think this is the same beach as the first two, from another angle, right? I seem to recall that this was one of those beaches we had to travel further to get to. And it was the one that made Mommy realize that she was so glad that the furgoneta was so bare-bones, because it made it so much easier to get all of the sand out of it after we went to the beach. (Jenny)

I'm not sure, but I think that the first two pictures are of a beach that someone in the ward raved about and convinced us to go. We went, but weren't that impressed as it was further away from home and not much nicer. I think we only went once or twice. (Jacob)


Christmas tree on the beach. They didn't have Christmas trees in Spain, but our friend MariCarmen from the ward had one stored away for years that someone had given her, so one day at her apartment about a block from my school she gave it to me so we could use it for Christmas and I carried it home on the bus (many strange looks) and we decorated it using tissue paper, suckers, the foil from some chocolate or something, and some red paper. We were really proud. It wasn't warm on Christmas morning and we didn't have any competition for the beach when we went and had this pictures taken. (Jenny)

I remember "our" beach (the one with the Christmas Tree). It was always a big goal to be able to swim out to the rock. The older kids did it all the time, but it was harder than it looked. I also remember snorkelling out to the left of the beach. (Maggie)




Mom...Dad...? I don't know what this is.

The Dry rid-looking picture. I remember Mommy taking some pictures of things and places that reminded her of Utah, so that she could take them back and show the people in Spring City that Spain was not all THAT different. I remember a sheep herder with his sheep, but with the similarities this one has to southern Utah, it may have been one of those. (Maggie)

The dry arid looking picture was of a part of Andalucia where some of the Hollywood westerns were filmed to take advantage of "American" looking scenery and lower costs. Dad


Barranca del Feo- Branch activity. I remember the branch members telling us about this "park" we were going to for a branch activity, and how beautiful. I guess I was thinking "Versailles" or something, because I remember getting there and thinking "THIS is beautiful?!?!?!" Now I look at it and think it's beautiful. It was one of those activities where a few people had pans of stuff and everyone brought something to eat and we all put it together for a big meal? (Jenny)

I just remembered a bit more about one of our ward outings (I'm not sure if it was Barranca del Feo or not). I think it was potluck paella and I remember we Maggie and I were exploring with David and Juan Antonio when they suddenly started yelling something and told me to go get help. I walked back to where the grown-ups were and asked daddy what 'serpiente' means. By the time anyone got there it was long gone and Juan Antonio was telling all of us what he would have done to protect Maggie from the snake. (Jacob)

I remember that out in Barranca del Feo we would often have Paella. I remember the way the ward members would share a two liter bottle of Fanta Naranja by pouring the soda down their throats without ever touching their mouths. We always tried to do the same, but could never get it to work, not even with water. (Maggie)

I remember that too, now! Everyone in Spain drank like that. And they left their mouths open while they swallowed- that's the part I could never get... (Jenny)



Barranca del Feo