We took a trip to Spain to hike on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.  We walked the ancient path alongside numerous other pilgrims from all over the world.  Then we took the weekend in Zarautz, Spain to spend time with our good friends the Franks, and finished up with a trip to Lourdes, France to see the famous cave where sister Bernadette saw the Virgin Mary.  It was an impressive site, and all in all a great Catholic highlight trip.
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Itinerary:

Sunday March 31: We departed the USA for a flight to Phoenix, then Seattle, then Amsterdam, then Barcelona. 
Monday April 1: Travel/flight day.  We overnighted in Barcelona.  Tera's bag did not arrive in Barcelona with our bags.
Tuesday April 2: We flew to Santiago, and left our bags in storage at the airport.  Then we took a taxi out to Sarria and began our walk, finally getting on the trail about 2:00pm.  We donned ponchos the entire afternoon/evening because of the rain.  We overnighted in Portomarin.  22km (13.75mi) in 6 hours from 2:00 - 8:00pm
Wednesday April 3: We let our jet-lagged selves sleep in, and we got on the road about 11:30am.  We hiked 25.2 km (15.75mi) to Palais de Rei in about 7 hours.
Thursday April 4: We got on the road earlier today, around 9:45am, and hiked to Melide for lunch.  Jacob felt ill, so we took a taxi to our next overnight hostel in Lavacolla.  Tera and Megan continued their hike for afternoon to Arzua, then took a taxi to meet us in Lavacolla.  The girls hiked about 29 km.
Friday April 5: The girls got up and started hiking, and Jacob and Erik walked back to the airport to pick up the rental car and get the bags.  We then drove to Santiago, and parked and walked to the Cathedral.  We meet the girls at the mid-day mass.  Then we drove to Zarautz to meet the Franks at the airbnb. (6 hour drive)
Saturday April 6: We hiked along the beach and boardwalk around the cliffs to Getaria for a nice ice-cream afternoon, then returned home along the camino.  (about 6 miles).  We went out to eat for Todd's birthday, and then we did presentation and played games that night
Sunday April 7: We watched a session of general conference and then drove over to San Sebastián for a visit to the beach and the airport (to finally collect Tera's luggage that had been lost since the beginning of our trip) and have lunch.  The weather didn't really cooperate, and we went back to our airbnb in Zarautz.
Monday April 8: We started the morning with a surfing lesson, at a great shallow spot there in Zauratz.  Linda, Myself, Megan, Jacob, and Emily all geared up for surfing.  After surfing, Tera departed with the Franks to France, and Erik, Jacob and Megan drove to Lourdes to walk the holy healing grounds.  Then we drove to our airbnb up the valley.
Tuesday April 9:  We drove up in the morning to the Gavarnie trailhead and hiked up to the cirque and back (about 4 miles).  then we drove out of France and through the pyrenees back to Ainsa, Spain.  We walked up to the charming old city, and went into the bird museum and sanctuary and had dinner.
Wednesday April 10: We drove back to Barcelona to fly Barcelona to Amsterdam to Salt Lake City. Tera remains somewhere in Europe to this day.

Highlights:
Hiking on the Camino with other Pilgrims:  Hiking the camino was a great desire of Tera, Erik and Megan, and a rather mild aversion for Jacob.  But he was a good sport and was all-in once we decided.  We hoped to hike the last 100km from Sarria to Santiago in 4 days and 3 nights.  It was a little much to bite off and chew, so we had to take a taxi to skip some miles on our 3rd day.  But all in all, it was a wonderful experience hiking.  In the future I would pre-book our nightly stays, and leave more time to enjoy the trip in a more relaxing way.  I'd want to spend a full day in Santiago.  The trail was lovely and well-marked, our fellow pilgrims were all friendly, the cities we passed through were charming.  It was a trip well worth it.

Spending the weekend with the Franks: It's always fun to spend time with Todd, Linda and Emily. We hiked and played games, and went surfing, and went out to eat, and hung around.  It's very fun to me that Emily likes to spend time with us as well.

Seeing the amazing Lourdes worship complex: Lourdes was simply amazing.  I didn't know much about the story before going, but the complex they've built up there is large and expansive, and full of pilgrims from all over Europe, coming to gain the benefits of the healing waters of the sacred spring.  I didn't know that Bernadette had allegedly seen the Madonna in multiple visions over the course of a few weeks. And that people from all over France had heard about her visions and had basically come running to be with her.  The. number of invalids in wheelchairs who were there to worship was quite inspiring.

​Being back in Europe: Europe with it's tiny villages and medieval architecture and wonderful feeling is always great to be in.

Lowlights: 
Airbnb in France: The airbnb had no sheets or linens of any kind.  The host didn't tell me until after I had booked.  And he was a bit of a jerk about it when I complained.  I reported the guy to the Helpdesk, and hopefully he will make a change to not be so visitor unfriendly.

​This was our second girl’s trip with Megan’s friends, and it was bigger, badder, better (according to some).  We spent an additional night, and did a few more things, including attending church in Hanksville.  The Ding/Dang canyon was crazy and the landscapes astonishing. 

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​Megan is in her senior year, and has developed an amazing group of girlfriends.  We had originally planned a family trip to Escalante to hike the Dry Fork Slot Canyons of Peekaboo and Spooky Gulch.  Then we saw some open beds in the Airbnb, and asked Megan to invite her friends.  She did so, and ended up in central Utah with 8 high school senior girls to hike and play and have a fantastic time.

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We ended our trip abroad by flying over the Mediterranean Sea to spend our last week in Malta and then Tunisia.  Both countries were new to us, and we loved both.

Highlights:
1. Attending church in Malta
2. A challenging hike on Maltese beaches
3. Learning about Maltese History and Culture
4. Many Tunisian Roman Ruins
5. Google Maps

Lowlights: 
1. Mdina Experience Museum - Knights of St. John - 

Our week in Spain included time in Barcelona, Sant Feliu de Guixols, and Tarragona.  Our time in Barcelona, was short, only a few hours waiting for the bus to Sant Feliu, during which time we saw the outside of the Sagrada Familia.  Our next two towns were delightful, and definitely places to return to if and when we come back. My Spanish held up in a pretty comfortable way, and this time in Spain, we only rented a car for final portion (when we discovered the train tickets from Tarragona to Madrid were all sold out!).

Highlights:
1. Sant Feliu de Guixols and the Costa Brava
2. A weekend with the Franks
3. Spanish Classes for the masses in Tarragona
4. An European amusement park visit at PortAventura

Lowlights:
​1. Mosquitos at night

The latter half of the cruise included an entire week crossing the Atlantic Ocean before stopping in Madeira, then Casablanca, then Barcelona, with some more sea says in between.

Highlights:
1. Madeira visit to see the Krause Family - 
2. Casablanca Mosque visit - 

Lowlights:
1. Death of passenger - 
​2. Continuing lousy internet service - 

We boarded the MSC Divina in Miami to embark on a 17-day Cruise across the Atlantic Ocean.  Nathan and Rachel found the cruise, and booked it, and Tera and I decided that it would be a great opportunity to travel with them, so we joined it as well.  Our ports would be in the Caribbean, Madeira, Casablanca and Barcelona, with lots of days at sea.  We were excited to be cruising again, especially given the opportunity to travel with Nathan and Rachel.

Highlights:
1. A last-minute temple trip in Puerto Rico
2. Scuba Diving in St. Maarten
3. Canyoneering in Martinique
4. Church attendance in Barbados

Lowlights:
1. Denied hiking in Puerto Rico
2. A crazy car ride in Martenique
3. Lousy internet service

The last half of our Jerusalem trip was spent back in Jerusalem and its environs, including the City of David, and the Dead Sea and Masada
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Highlights:

1. Returning, and remembering, and relearning, and learning anew
2. Gaining an appreciation of the church of the Holy Sepulchre
3. Meeting and travelling with a busload of people who we could relate to and share in life experiences
4. Lots of empty space on flights to and from Israel

Tera attended a semester at the BYU Jerusalem Center back in 1992.  I had always wanted to attend there, but my college experience included a trip to Russia for a study abroad instead, which I enjoyed, but there was always a tinge of wistfulness at having missed out on Israel.  For our 20th anniversary, Tera and I took a Bountiful Travel bus trip to Israel, and the following year, we took the family on a trip with the Hendersons back to the Holy Land.  Both trips were amazing.  And fortunately, Tera reconnected with an old friend, who happens to be the chairperson of the BYU Jerusalem Center Alumni association, and she was made aware of an alumni trip to the center, for past students, and we got invited on the trip!  The trip included a typical bus tour itinerary, AND it included staying multiple nights in the Jerusalem center proper.  A dream came true! 

We took a 10-day trip with the alumni students, with Shon Hopkins leading the tour as the faculty member, and April Giddings our fearless alumni association leader.  It was the best trip so far, and I'm sure I'll go back to Israel yet again.  It calls to those who have been.

Highlights:
1. A Jerusalem Center Experience
2. Gaining perspective and insight that has stayed with me

​Lowlights:
1. Food poisoning for the masses
​2. Airport transportation delay

Tera and Erik and Jacob and Megan took advantage of new non-stop flights from the Provo airport into Nashville and spent spring break on the Wadi Rum goat farm in Dixon, Tennessee. With Emily and Jonathan. We got see a bit into their life of work and school and farming, and helped with all the farm chores, including milking goats, feeding baby goats, collecting duck eggs, letting the chickens and ducks in and out each morning and evening, with a bit of food to boot.  Plus we put up some fence, built some goat shelters. A couple of baby goats were born while we there as well.
 
Highlights:

• Playing with new baby goats
• Building the milker and teaching the babies an better method
• Going to the Grand Ole Opry
• Lending and hand to Jonathan and Emily to ease the burden of the farm
• Tour of Vanderbilt University