Thursday, August 15, 2013

Traditions

Every Labor Day for as many years as I can remember our family along with the Billips family would spend one day together during Labor Day weekend.  The where and what always varied slightly, but it always included water - some years more water than others.  The majority of the years we would go tubing or canoeing but our last year together we rented a pontoon boat for the day.  Some years it was just us, other years we included other friends.

Those kinds of traditions often hit hard, so this year we took things into our own hands.  Today was a fiesta day here in Spain.  Not Labor Day, but close enough (especially since Scott will be in the states on the actual Labor Day).  We drove about 45 km to Aldeo del Fresno, a pueblo in the Madrid province.  We had been there once before and had pizza and the best garlic oiled potatoes to be found in Spain.  We had seen the river and easy access but we really had no idea what to expect.

It was great.  Now we are looking for a day to go back - really soon!  (Is tomorrow too soon?)  Next time we'll go more prepared.  We should have brought tubes - but hey, who needs tubes when there is a strong current.  It was a great break from the heat and soothing to the soul for the missed traditions that are coming.  Now if we can just convince the Billips family to spend Labor Day here one year.