May 12 of 12

Luckily for you, today was a family fun day with Señor CC's employer. We traveled to Guadalquivir River to take a ferry to a National Park. This is way more interesting than most of our Saturdays. The writing is short for now; I am off to another small get-together to test my card-playing skills. As I have none, the test should be short and sweet...

If you want to see what everyone else did today, check out Chad's site later.

8:30; La Línea; Cádiz, Spain
We began early today in order to arrive at Señor CC's worksite by 8:30. There we met up with the bus-o-fun that would carry us to our grand water adventure.

11:03; Sanlúcar; Cádiz, Spain
There was a slight detour in/around/near Jerez, a brief stop for directions (A man! He stopped! He asked for directions! He was Spanish...), but we finally made it to Sanlúcar. We were greeted by this tall piece of metallic art.

11:09; Sanlúcar; Cádiz, Spain
Let the water adventure begin! We boarded this lovely specimen of aquatic manipulation and we were off!

11:40; Guadalquivir River; Cádiz, Spain
Many people were out enjoying the lovely weather today; this is only one of the groups we saw heading down the river.

12:22; Guadalquivir River; Cádiz,, Spain

Bonus Shot: Dreamscape
Had I read Chad's instructions more thorougly when he posted his warning, I might have known that this was the bonus picture...and I most likely would have come up with a better shot. As it is, I did not, and therefore you get the classic "Walk the plank, missy!" version. ARGH!

12:24; Guadalquivir River; Cádiz, Spain
The Doñana National Park used to be inhabited. People were allowed to fish, hunt, and live in the area before it was made a national park. Once declared as such, hunting and fishing were banned and many people had to leave the park area to relocate in order to provide for themselves and their families. This is one example of what they left behind.

12:58; Doñana National Park; Cádiz, Spain
We are not actually in the national park. We are across the river from the park in what is called a natural park. The rules are less strict here. I don't know the name of this park, so I am posting my location as Doñana . I know what you are thinking: What lovely marsh bushes!

13:00; Doñana National Park; Cádiz, Spain
Also: What lovely marsh...grass-ish...ground-cover. The ladybugs like it too - do you see it?

13:04; Doñana National Park; Cádiz, Spain
This fence outlines one of the viewing areas for the flamingos and other birds in the park. The white building at the top of the photograph is used in salt production. We are only a few kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean. The river water is still very salty and the park is used to mine the salt...many many tonnes of it.

13:07; Doñana National Park; Cádiz, Spain
A weed! Blooming! Pretty!

13:08; Doñana National Park; Cádiz, Spain
The old dock where we disembarked to check out the natural park. Neat-O.

13:37; Guadalquivir River; Cádiz, Spain
This is what happens when you give Señor CC the camera and ask him to take a photo so that you can prove that you were, in fact, on the ferry and therefore on the trip. That's right, people - he takes pictures of the bottom halves of bodies only. No negative comments please. Let's be positive: what lovely colors!

17:16; Venta Antonio; Cádiz, Spain
We were taken upon our return (and we DID all walk the plank) to this lovely Venta for a very typical and very filling Spanish lunch.

There was a playground for the young ones to play on and the restaurant even provided a children's table (with more appropriate for children food), so the ride home was quite quiet. Of course, it wasn't only the children who were resting their eyes - it was all of the young at heart. Indeed.