Jeff Mentzer's Web Log: July 2008

Traveling And Celebrating

Hi Friends and Readers,

I hope everyone is having a great summer. It's been 4 years since I've spent a summer in Maryland, and I'm having fun. Writing. Sweating. Drinking National Bohemian Beer with my friends. Watching movies. Going to concerts like Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Going to parties. Eating sushi. It's good to be able to do things that I've missed in past summers: The Dyer Family Pig Party, The State College Arts Festival, Father's Day.

Summers have always been special to me. All four of my bike tours happened in the summer, and so summer feels like the season of travel. My body and mind have been programed. But this summer I'm enjoying my time in Maryland. I'm writing about my past travels, and also enjoying my daily travels. Through my journals and photographs, I've been reliving my time in Yosemite, and I plan on posting some Yosemite pictures sometime soon. Below you will see some more posts about Spain. I might add a few more later.

Now on to the celebration. Today, July 22, was a special day. My friends Travis and Mary both celebrated their birthday today. They were born 27 years ago, and we had a fine party this evening. I missed their co-birthday last summer because I was on the bike tour. And so it was good to gather with family and friends, this year, and celebrate. A warm summer night. Torches in the backyard. The sounds of conversation and laughter. 8 pizzas. 1 chocolate cake. 27 candles. Happy Birthday Travis and Mary! Thanks to Valerie and Russell, Travis's parents, for hosting the co-birthday party!

Travis just got back from Ecuador, where he was traveling for 31 days. He told us about his travels, but I still need to see his photographs.

Travis is not my only friend to use Summer 2008 as a stage for a big adventure. My friend Debbie is currently hiking the 500-mile Colorado Trail with her friend Stacey. She is almost 200 miles into her adventure. Keep up the good work Debbie! Take it easy, but take it!

My brother's good friend Kyle is currently riding his bicycle across the US, following the TransAmerica Trail. He started in Yorktown, VA, and now he's in Montana. Very nice, Kyle, very nice. Kyle's blog can be seen here.

My friends Phil and Miles just finished riding their motorcycles across the United States. They started in State College, PA, and rode west. Miles stopped riding in Portland, OR. Phil ended in San Francisco. I talked to Phil the to other night. He was all excited, the momentum of the adventure was still fresh in his mind.

My friend Hanns has traveled to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. He might still be out there traveling, but I'm not really sure. Hanns! Where are you? Are you back in Aspen?

And my friend Jake Belvin is still living and traveling in the Middle East. Jake is stationed in Baghdad. His morale seems to be good, and I've enjoyed reading about his daily adventures and travels on his blog. I look forward to Jake's homecoming and also to our future adventures.

The road is long and life is short. It feels good to get out and stretch the legs and the mind.

Travel safe, my friends, travel safe. I'll talk to you soon.

Jeff

The Pyrenees

We left Spain's East Coast and headed north. We were headed to the mountains. To the town to Torla. To see the rock and snow of the Pyrenees.

Towns on hillsides surprised and excited us.

This was one of the best maps I've ever used. One map, the whole country, lots of fold out pages for the big cities. We made a good choice at the bookstore that day.

Olive trees were a common sight while driving through the Spanish countryside.

I was the driver. Chris was the navigator. Chris also took many photos, like this one.

And this one.

This one too.

This is the town of Torla, which is where we stayed for two nights while we explored the Pyrenees.

We walked this street a lot.

The view from our room.

Chris in our room.

Buenas noches!

Our hike begins here, where the cows roamed.

Such a fine thing to drink straight from the Earth. I didn't think twice about filling my bottle. The water was cold and good, just like it has been for thousands of years.

Higher up in the Ordesa Valley we had good views of the snow-covered Pyrenees Mountains. The Ordesa Valley is in the Ordesa Y Monte Perdido National Park.

These photos are in chronological order. The light was great on the way down. Trees full of living green. Forests full of evening light.

This tree was one of Heather's favorites.

An old beech tree.

One of the longer slugs we came across.

Note to reader: This post was made while listening to Jakob Dylan's "On Up The Mountain" and "On This End Of The Telescope" on repeat.

Barcelona

We spent the day in Barcelona, walking around and looking at things. We ate some bread and took some photographs.

They like jamon (ham) in Spain. Being a vegetarian, I politely declined, but those in our group who tried it said it had a unique taste.

His name was Orlando Vasquez. He was a sit down busker on the streets of Barcelona. His voice was good and so was his guitar playing. I talked to him and bought his CD, and his music became part of our Spanish soundtrack.

Tiles on the sidewalk.

It's not everyday that you get to go into a music emporium. It was a great place. Full of old books and fine instruments. I bought a CD here, which featured the music of several Spanish composers. Definitely my favorite store in Spain.