MC Sports Report: UEFA Cup Match in Seville

Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Capacity 45,000

After attending two football matches in Madrid, I was hoping I might find one more match to attend before we left Spain. As always, I went to my "go-to" app - ESPN FC to check the schedules for our two remaining cities - Seville and Granada.

Good news! Seville was playing at home on our last night. It was a must-win match in the 2014 UEFA Europa League against a team from Croatia. As it turns out, Seville was the defending UEFA Champion after defeating Benfica (Lisbon) last year for the title. When we got to Seville I went out to the stadium a couple of days before the match and bought the cheapest ticket available - 30 Euros (or about$38 at today's exchange rate). FYI, the US Dollars has increased in value by 10% over the last 6 months which is making everything more affordable for us.

Three nights later I jumped on the C2 city bus ($1.75 one way) to the stadium for the match which started at 21:05 which converts to 9:05 pm. Seville was hosting HNK Rijeka which is one of the reasons I decided to go to this match. Back story....

In the Spring of 1999, my final year at the Northwest Marine Trade Association I got a call from someone from the Tacoma Chamber of Commerce who asked if I wanted to join a trade mission to Croatia. It was a great experience with a dozen business and civic leaders from Seattle/Tacoma under the direction of the USAID. We spent most of our time in Rijeka which sits on the Adriatic near the Italian border. It was a fascinating trip and now five years later I would have the chance to see their football team in action.

As usual, I got to the match about an hour before kick-off. I took a few pictures of fans congregating outside nearby bars (no alcohol in Spanish La Liga stadiums) so fans get their fill ahead of time. While I was wandering around and soaking up the atmosphere, I saw a half-dozen police officers having deep in conversation. I had my iPhone on camera-mode and was ready to snap a photo of them when one of the officers looked up gave me a cold stare. I could tell by his look that I had better not take that picture. I didn't and moved-on. I continued wondering for a block or  before I felt someone tapping me sharply on the shoulder. I turned around to find it was that same officer. Now he was firing questions  at me in Spanish. fOops. I only speak English.

Pre-match tailgating without a car

Good news, he spoke English, too and wanted to know if I had taken a picture of him and his colleagues. To tell you the truth, I wasn't sure if I snapped a photo or not, so he asked to see the my camera. I obviously complied and flicked through the dozen photos I had taken so far. Indeed, I had not taken a photo of the officers and the cop sent me on my way with a more friendly pat on the back. At that point, I was more that ready to find my seat.


Inside the stadium the sign says "keep going up"

Stairs, stairs and more stairs to my seat

Okay. I found Gate 18. Easily got through security and headed up the stairs. And then up a few more stairs, until a nice attendant saw me staring at my ticket with that sort of 'I hope there aren't any mores stairs' look on my face. He quickly offered to help and ushered me to my seat in section F40.

Even though I was just 20 rows from the top, the stadium was smaller that others I have been in, and my seat was virtually on the half-way line. Wow! It was the best seat I've ever had since attending my first European match in Holland 16 months ago.

View from my seat. Best ever!

People started filling in around me and by the time the match started almost every seat in my section was full. There was a very loud woman on my right who I was pretty sure did not speak English so I took the big leap of faith and turned to the young man on my left. "Do you speak English?The answer was yes! I knew then I was in for a great evening.

His name was Pablo and he was in his final year of Medical School at age 22. Great guy. Good English  so we delved into Seville's football history, La Liga, Spanish history, politics, tuition fees for college, medical school and a dozen other topics - and that was before the match got underway!

Soon to be pediatrician Dr. Pablo

I adopted FC Seville for the night and was happy to see them go ahead in the 19th minute with a goal from young 20 year-old Denis Suarez. At the half it was still 1-0 to Seville

Super Star of the future - Denis Suarez on loan from Barcelona

After the break, the match was fairly even until late in the 2nd half when Rijeka realized that they would soon be out of the tournament if they didn't score. Instead, they got three yellow cards in the last 15 minutes  - so instead of a goal, the match went to Seville who advances to the next round.

Over the years, Seville has had a great run in the 1st Division

Afterwards, I learned that Pablo's home was in the same area where we were staying so we headed to the bus stop with thousands of other fans. I was home in one piece by mid-night.

Another great sports outing for the logbook!  And as always, sitting next to someone who speaks English adds so much enjoyment to the experience. Of course it is completely random and in this case I was particularly surprised since we found fewer English speakers in Spain than we have in any of the  other twenty-six countries we have visited.

Happy New Year football fans! I'll be back with a report next time we are in a city where I can catch another match.

Michael

Thankful Nomads!

The Senior Nomads outside our airbnb apartment in Madrid

 For the first time ever I woke up at 3:00 am and asked myself "did I blog about Bilboa? What about Madrid? Seville? And now we are in Granada!"  I talked myself off the ledge and realized this blog is just as much for us as for anyone else, and hopefully you enjoy checking in from time to time.

The Blogger Breakfast of Champions. Churros and dipping chocolate!

Now that we all agree the sky is not falling - nor is the rain, in Spain, falling mainly on the plain, here are a few notes. I did cover Bilboa in the 500 Days on the Road post. But I would write it all over again because now that we have ventured further, Bilbao and nearby San Sebastian make the Senior Nomad Top Ten destinations. 

 Last spring we spent two weeks in Barcelona and we couldn't get enough of that city. It inspired us to explore more of Spain and hopefully stay ahead of the winter weather. Mission accomplished.

After Bilboa our next stop was Madrid. A rather jarring transition from the gentility of Bilbao to this sprawling metropolis. We were back in the land of snarled traffic and graffiti. But also towering cathedrals, elaborate municipal buildings, imposing royal residences, huge parks, and magnificent fountains. And lots of very, very important men (and one queen) sculpted in bronze. Most were astride rearing stallions because if you gained statue-status, your effigy should and would be on the revered caballo. If you were particularly worthy, you would be center-stage, at the pinnacle of a large fountain overlooking a congested round-about.

One of hundreds of important Spaniards astride their trusty stallions

 We found a quirky apartment in the center of Madrid's "hip" part of town in the Malasana neighborhood. The narrow streets were filled with traditional and trendy bars (there are more bars per capita here than anywhere else in the world), vintage shops, boutiques, nightclubs, and restaurants. There was a decent grocery store nearby and a lovely church where Michael attending mass on several mornings.

Best host award goes to Enrique. He's also a talented photographer.

Here's a link to the apartment: https://wwwairbnb.com/rooms/991697. Our host, Enrique was amazing. Not only did he haul our mammoth bags up 4 flights of stairs, he spent and hour pouring over the map of Madrid and then took us on a walk through the neighborhood so we could find "the good stuff". That's what makes the air bnb experience so great. 

What graffiti? I don't see any graffiti.

We were able to walk to most every major tourist site in the city - but we also used the very efficient and affordable metro. We are averaging a little over 5 miles a day of walking, so we don't try to hard to avoid the excellent beer taps and tapas! Side note - Spain offers excellent non-alcoholic beer. I wondered when I saw so many people downing little 'breakfast beers' - and I learned that in Spain, orange juice is an American preference, while 'sin' (non alcoholic beer) is the perfect accompaniment to a 'patat tortilla' in the morning. Makes sense! Also found the Sunday open-air flea market that stretched for block after block. Yet more opportunities to eat, drink and poke through a million things you really can't buy if you are a Nomad. And street performances of every kind...including:

Yes. This is a human being somehow suspended for hours above his bike.

Best of all - a great fresh market was a short walk away. Over 100 years ago, the Barcelo Mercado was the central market for all of Madrid. Over time it fell into disrepair, and lost it's luster. Over the past few years it was completed renovated and we arrived just 3 weeks after it's re-opening. Three stories of shiny market stalls kept me well occupied at least once most everyday.

My new 'Papa' Alasandro at his jamon stall

Just one corner of the Barcelo Market

We spent Thanksgiving in Madrid. Last year were were in Lisbon, and settled for a mediocre Chinese dinner - mostly due to the lack of traditional ingredients to make the meal. This time I was determined to find the fixings for a proper Thanksgiving dinner for two, even though I would be working with a tiny oven and two burners. Most everything I needed could be found at Barcelo. Of course, it wasn't going to be cheap. The turkey (a breast and a leg quarter) cost the equivalent of $30. And a lonely can of pumpkin puree at the American Grocery Store was $10. Never mind the many Euros I would spend buying ingredients to make a pie. And stuffing, etc. only to leave them behind. No sense hauling bags of flour and sugar around! It became clear that we may just have to go out for burgers.

But then Divine intervention came in to play. I had a question that needed translation at a fruit and vegetable stall and the nicest young man offered to help. His English was very good, and as usual we got into a rapid discussion about Madrid, the economy, Spanish politics, etc.

It turned out that Andres was very familiar with Seattle because he spent his junior year of high school as a foreign exchange student in Shelton, Washington. Really? Odd but true. He went on to University in Madrid to study nuclear engineering - but his momories of the Pike Place Market never left him. His heart now belongs to his family produce distribution business - which turns out is the largest in Spain. As a labor of love, he owns the stall where met.

Eventually, the topic of Thanksgiving came up.  His wife spent 15 of her formative years in St. Louis with her parents who were teaching Spanish and other courses at the University there. When they moved back to Madrid they brought Thanksgiving with them. Apparently Andres Mother-in-law lays out a full feast. Without even a hesitation I invited ourselves over for dinner. I would bring as many side dishes and beverages as I could carry! He only blinked for a few minutes before saying - sure, isn't that the spirit of Thanksgiving?! I was giddy and already thumbing through recipes in my mind.

Sad to miss son Christopher's first Thanksgiving turkey. Looks like I trained him well!

Unfortunately, Andres Mother-in-Law's elder sister took very ill and there was a change of plans. We still got together with Andres and his wife Paloma for dinner at a restaurant and it was a lovely evening. He worked hard to find a restaurant that served a semblance of Thanksgiving dinner. A prefix 6 course meal that was tasty - and had all the elements, just in small portions on large white plates. The turkey roullade was the size of a chocolate chip cookie. And dessert was a smear of pumpkin puree with a marshmallow quinnelle and a cherry size scoop of cranberry sorbet. No need to push back from this table. But the company was good and no chopsticks in sight.

And NEW to these Senior Nomads postings are Michael's Football adventures. He's attended several matches so far including two in Madrid, so follow that ball!

Michael has made some great connections at football matches. Here's Pablo!

That's it for now. I will catch you up on how the Spaniards celebrate Christmas next.

Madrid getting dressed up for the holidays!

Have a wonderful season filled with joy and blessings!

Debbie and Michael
Senior Nomads

Real Madrid - Sell Out?

Real Madrid - In Spanish, "Real" means Royal

It was our last full day in Madrid, so I decided I should at least visit the Real Madrid Stadium before we left. After all, they are the most loved football team in the world! I found out on the website that it cost $25 just to take a "self-guided" tour. 

I knew they had a home match that night - but it was not a first division league match. It was an early round match in the Copa del Rey (King’s Cup) against a small team from Barcelona called Cornella from Division 2B. Real Madrid had won the first leg 4-1 so it sounded like it would be a one-sided contest and not worth attending. But now that I knew what the tour cost, I got to thinking...

Tickets for the match started at $12.50 so why not go to the match AND see the stadium. Another factor that encouraged me to change plans was a story I had seen about Real Madrid having removed the "Christian cross" from their logo in order to accommodate a credit card sponsorship deal with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi. (More about that later). So... I decided to skip the tour and go to the match. Yea!

We had mastered the metro system and the stadium is just a few Metro stops from the center of Madrid where we were staying. In fact, when you pop out of the Metro station the huge building looms right in front of you. It was very impressive at night!

Estadio Santiago Bernabéu - Capacity 81,000

It is impossible to exaggerate how popular this team is - not just in Spain, but worldwide. Before I tell you what happened next let me share a few details about Real Madrid:

• They have 75 million likes on Facebook
• 32 League Titles
• 19 Copas del Rey Titles
• Never been relegated in 112 years
• Annual Revenues are highest in the football world - $800M
• Highest value of any team in the world - $3.4B, (Dallas Cowboys valued at $3B)
• Named by FIFA as the "Club of the 20th Century" in 2000
• Enough star players to fill-up a soccer galaxy of their own

I think you get the idea. I got to the ticket window and was told that the match was "Sold-out" which was both baffling and surprising. How could it be sold out? I knew the team was popular but a week-night match in December against a Division 2B team just didn't make sense. On top of that I saw on the team website that some of the best players would be sitting-out the match, including their Portuguese super-star Cristiano Ronaldo, arguably one of the top two players in the world.

Dumfounded I started circling the stadium going from one entrance to another thinking it must be a mistake. Surely the game could not be a sell-out. They must be selling tickets somewhere. I even tried the VIP entrance and the "Honors" Entrance.

Sorry - No tickets here either

When I realized I was getting nowhere I decided to take a few photos that I could at least use in my blog explaining how I tried to go to the match but could not get in. Here's one of the ticket takers I approached.

I thought they were giving me a friendly wave. I quickly learned, no photos allowed of stadium security.

By now I was thinking about calling it a night and heading home. But instead I decided to see if there were any scalpers (in Spanish they are called reventa.) At first they were hard to find but after awhile I started to pick out who was selling tickets. Before long I found a reventa who wanted 50 Euros for a ticket. Turns out he was from Iraq and his English was pretty good. I was nervous that I'd buy a fake so he invited a cop over to prove the ticket was authentic. I wondered if he was in on the scam...anyway the cop said it was good, so I went for it.

I decided to take the plunge - Here is my scalped ticket

We settled on 25 Euros, which is about $31. I made my way to my gate and slid the bar code under the scanner and voila! It worked. Yea! In I went. My seat was in Section 528 which was at the very top of the stadium so up I went. Up, up, up until I got to the very top. Wow.

My seat was 5 rows from the top but awesome view!

 I was totally surprised when I got to my seat to see that the stadium was about 20% full. Fortunately for me, there were two guys next to my seat in what otherwise was a pretty empty section and the one nearest me spoke good English. Efrain explained to me that a few more fans would show up before the match started but that most members would not show up for the match but their tickets were paid-for hence the match was technically a sell-out even though there would probably be 30,000 people there for the match. I was damn happy that I was one of them.

The match got underway and my suspicions about a one-sided match were confirmed pretty early on. RM was in complete control of the match until the 14th minute when Cornella somehow managed to get the ball into scoring position in the penalty box and the referee awarded them a penalty kick. Well, the Cornella player must have been a nervous wreck because somehow he managed to miss the entire goal and put the ball into the stands. Oops.

From then on it was all RM with unanswered goals in the 16th, 32nd, 33rd, 60th and 77th minute to take a 5-0 win to the locker room and advance to the Round of 16 in the Copa del Rey. Two of the goals came off the foot of Columbia's 23 year-old superstar James Rodriguez who you'll remember won the Golden Boot at the 2014 World Cup. He led all scorers in Brazil with 6 goals. So even thought I did not get to see Ronaldo play, it was cool to see James stick in two for the home team.

Columbia's James Rodriguez scored twice

As I have said before, every match I've attended has been an adventure and there always ends up being a story one way or the other. I'm so glad I went and thankful that my Iraqi scalper sold me a real ticket. Note - I learned during the match that Efrain and his buddy paid 30 Euros for their tickets so I felt pretty good about my negotiating skills.

Before I go, here is the Reader's Digest version of the credit card dust-up, and my question is did they "Sell Out?" As the story goes on the Internet, RM entered into an agreement with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi. The Bank gets to issue a RM debit card in exchange for $3M. Apparently, the Bank requested the Christian cross on the top of the RM logo be removed in order to accommodate Muslim sensitivities . The club agreed (see photo below). The cross is an integral part of the logo since it sits atop the crown of the Spanish King. Remember that "real" means royal.

The original on the left - modified version on the right

If you want to know more, here is a link to the story.

http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/11/26/appeasing-gulf-arab-sponsors-soccer-giants-real-madrid-remove-cross-from-club-logo/

Until Next time...

Michael

What does Azerbijan have to do with Spanish Football?

My first blog post as the Senior Nomad Sports Reporter

Last year I attended a dozen soccer matches in Europe. After each match, I put together an email recapping my outing along with some photos and sent it to our sons Alistair and Christopher plus a handful of friends who are international football fans. This year Debbie and I decided that instead of sending emails, I would post my stories in the blog so all of our stories and photos in would be in one place.

If you are interested, feel free to read my sports posts when they appear. You'll see I don't so write so much about what happened during the match, but rather about the "outing". Getting to and from the stadium, buying a ticket, stories about who I met along the way and cultural observations.

So here we go....

Atletico Madrid - Among the best teams in the world

We've been back in Europe for three weeks, but we were never in the right city at the right time to catch a match until yesterday here in Madrid where I was able to watch Atletico Madrid vs Malaga. As you recall, Atletico won La Liga last year and played in the final for the Champion's League but lost 2-1 to Real Madrid. Going into this weekend, Atletico was in 4th place with Malaga 2 points behind in 6th. So on paper it looked like a great match-up with Malaga having a chance to overtake Atletico with a win.

Note - In the short time we've been here, I've gotten the impression that Real Madrid is much more popular but they were playing away yesterday.

Getting to the match yesterday (Saturday) for a 4 pm start was super easy. Just a 10 minute walk from our apartment in the center of Madrid to the Metro, then 4 stops and then blending into the stream of thousands and thousands of supporters for a 10 minute walk to Vicente Calderon Stadium.

Vincente Calderone Stadium. Built 1966. Seats 55,000.

On the Metro I made friends with two young women who were headed to the match. They offered to help me find a place to buy a ticket when we got to the stadium. The lines were the shortest I've ever seen since the match was nearly sold-out. Once I got in line the scalpers sniffed fresh meat and one descended for easy-pickings offering me a ticket for just 350 Euros! He didn't want to take no for an answer so he keep pushing and lowering the price until I got to the front of the line. Sorry Mr. Scalper, but two nice guys helped translate for me and I was able to find a good seat from the official box office. As usual, I bought the cheapest ticket available which was 30 Euros or $38. [Good news - the US$ has strengthened about 10% over the last 5 months and so our dollars go farther.] My seat was on the upper- upper level and in the corner. The stadium is steeply raked so even that high up you feel close to the action.

These lovely ladies helped me find the ticket outlet

As soon as I got to my seat, I was reminded that the team is sponsored not by a corporation but by a country which I had forgotten. Since 2012 Atletico Madrid has been sponsored by the oil-rich eastern European country of Azerbijan. I am sure that you have seen their red and white stripped jerseys lots of times with the phrase "Land of Fire - Azerbijan" and maybe even wondered why. I know I did, so when I got home I did some research which I will share with you in a few minutes.

Up until match starts sign on field for promoting Azerbijan

By the time the match got underway the place was packed. There must have been 50,000 Atletico supporters. Less than 1,000 dedicated Malaga supporters were tucked up in a corner on the 300 level opposite me.

Full house. No Beer. Smoking welcomed.

Atletico got on the board in the 12th minute with a corner kick and then added another score in the 42nd minute so at the half, it was 2-0. Malaga was looking overwhelmed, but in the second half, Malaga got on the board in the 63rd minute. Unfortunately they earned a red card on the 72nd which set up a 3rd goal for Atletico and thus an easy victory. When the match ended Atletico was the winner 3-1 and collected the 3 points needed to move into 3rd place behind Real Madrid and Barcelona.

The atmosphere was good. The supporters keep up a solid effort throughout the match and the two guys in the row right behind me provided Spanish play-by-play and color commentary throughout the match. Fun outing. Stopped for a beer near the stadium on the way out to let the crowds disperse in the Metro station and made it home without incident. Thank God for the Google Map app on our phones which are tied into the public transportation system in every city, so getting from A to B has become easy even for a Senior Nomad.

Okay. Azerbijan....

Azerbijan located north of Iran on Caspian Sea

I thought I knew where it was and I was pretty much right but my knowledge of the country was very limited. I turned to Wikipedia and the World Fact Book when I got home and found that Azerbijan is a country that reflects Putin's dream for Russia. Controlled media. Limited freedom of speech. Lots of oil revenues. The President of Azerbijan passed along the presidency to his son upon his death in 2003. Then the  parliament provided a bonus for the new President and eliminated term limits so he can become President for life. Another benefit of being President is that you get to appoint the Prime Minister and Vice-Prime Minister. When the new President ran the last time he got 84% of the vote!

So many are asking why Atletico Madrid could enter into a sponsorship agreement with such a country but apparently for $15M per year, Atletico is happy with the deal.

Powerful image from "Reporters without Borders" website

In addition to the image that I found on the "Reports without Borders" website here are two comments about Azerbijan.

• Campaigners accuse the former Soviet state of suppressing opposition, restricting freedom of protest and religion and forcibly evicting thousands of families to make way for construction projects.
• Azerbijan is ranked 160th out of 180 countries in the press freedom index and its president, Ilham Aliyev, is a predator of press freedom who has eliminated almost all pluralism in his country.

So, there you have it. Spanish 1st Division Football wrapped-up in geo-politics and money.

Getting to the match was easy.  I didn't buy the 350 Euro ticket so think about how much money I saved. Great Seat. Good match. Fun first outing of the 2014-15 Season. I am hoping to see Seville play in a Europa League match when we are there in two weeks.

Stay tuned. Until next time...

Michael

Where Oh Where are The Senior Nomads?

After three months at home and more recently, two weeks in France, we are basking in Spain's Basque region in the charming city of Bilbao! 

The view from our balcony in Bilbao, Spain.

I am not sure what kept me from posting after we arrived in Seattle at the end of July. We were home for several special occasions including the wedding of our son Christopher to his lovely bride Jamie, and several other important celebrations, but I thought perhaps our day-to-day life "back home" might not be that interesting. Nor was I sure it was "Nomadic" (boy did I have that wrong).

Chris and Jamie's wedding with big brother Alistair officiating

Our four children Alistair, Chris, Kelly and Mary!

We agreed with our renters to continue the lease of our Queen Anne townhouse through next summer so we continued our quest to find spare guest rooms with friends and family - and of course, some great local airbnb options.

After flying over what truly has to be most spectacular city from the air (that would be Seattle) we settled into our home-away-from-home in the Murray-Robinson's guest house on Mercer Island.

Besides Chris's wedding we also celebrated Ryan Eastham and Teddy Picha's weddings. Three long- time family friends celebrating the same special occasion - the marriages of our sons!

In between we spent two weeks in Victoria, British Columbia. I highly recommend more than a Clipper trip and high tea next time you head up north. It's not all stuffed beavers, maple syrup,  Mounties and Ye Olde everything! Stay for a few days and enjoy great street entertainment, good food, lovely seaside walks and some of the best thrift shopping I've found anywhere. We landed a great airbnb just far away enough from the main harbor to feel like we were in a neighborhood:
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/844027.

We had a Ye Olde Good Time in Victoria

A great day trip to Sooke Harbor on Vancouver Island

Continuing our airbnb lovefest we made a three day stop on Bainbridge Island for the Picha wedding
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/678513 and then settled in for two weeks on Phinney Ridge. It was it fun to 'live' somewhere else in our own city - and give our poor friends a break.  The apartment was well designed, well decorated and filled with every amenity you could need to be comfortable: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/3238295

One of my best days home. Fishing with George Harris at dawn.

We took a quick trip to San Francisco to make the necessary personal appearance, with checkbook in hand, at the French Consulate to renew our French visas. These documents allow us  unrestricted travel throughout Europe for a year so they are worth the paperwork and expense.

While we were there we met with staff at Airbnb HQ to share our story - after all, we stayed in airbnb apartments for at least 300 nights this past year. Maybe we can help them encourage other "seniors" to give this lifestyle a try.

Posing in front of Airbnb's new logo at HQ

Then it was on to Portland,Oregon to see Alistair and Jenny and grand kids Spencer and Lucy. Theirs is a household full of love and laughter. And all that it takes to manage a 7 and 9 year old, hold down two incredible careers, and still keep everyone fed, focused and on schedule.

We all hit the road to continue family time at the Campbell Junior's shared home in Black Butte Ranch near Bend. It was a relaxing weekend filled with walks in the woods, puzzles and games, art projects and some solid college football.

Family puzzle time at Black Butte with Jenny and the kids

Time for the Nomads to break camp and head to Sun Valley, Idaho. Thanks again to the Murray-Robinson's for sharing their second home - this one in Elkhorn Village. We had three weeks of sunny days and crisp nights. We arrived just in time for the trees to change color and every day brought new waves of orange, yellow and deep reds against dark green spruce trees and mocha mountains.

The iconic red barn heading into Sun Valley

We also witnessed The Running of the Sheep - the highlight of the valley-wide Sheep Festival. This involved standing along Ketchum's Main Street for quite some time in anticipation of 1,500 sheep who would arrive when they were darn well good and ready. There were other minor distractions disguised as a parade, but really, it was all about sheep blasting and bleating past a brave pastor standing firmly in the intersection holding a crooked staff while attempting to bless these beasts er' they go to winter pastures. 

The big event! 1,500 sheep make their way down main street.

We headed back to Seattle through Baker City, Oregon where we had THE best breakfast in America at the small town classic Inland Cafe. I am going to stand by that without any facts whatever to back it up. Onward for the picturesque drive along the Columbia River Gorge for a quick stop in Portland before  two final weeks on Mercer Island before leaving for Senior Nomads Round II. 

One last top up at the genius bar!

This time we had a lot to accomplish - errands, banking, visits to the storage unit, finding a place to store the car, doctors appointments (including getting prescriptions filled for the next year), shopping for Christmas, hugs, tears, and most importantly looking after Tyler Robinson, our 13 year old Godson for ten days while his parents took a well deserved trip to Florence.

Michael and Kelly at Beethoven Lives Upstairs at Benaroya Hall

Finally, it was time to squeeze our lives back into two suitcases and two backpacks. Our motto has been "If we're still having fun, haven't run out of money, fallen out of love, or fallen over and can't get up" we'll keep traveling and enjoying being Senior Nomads one day at a time.

Here we go again!

As I mentioned at the top we are in Bilbao, Spain as I write this. More on our current whereabouts and future plans in the next post. 

Thanks for reading,

Debbie and Michael Campbell
The Senior Nomads