The Final Post- Home At Last

The flight home was long, three different flights. We first flew from Granada to Barcelona and had a two hour lay-over. The next leg was Barcelona to Toronto and after two movies, two meals, and some sleep we arrived. How ironic it was we had to stop here! As we sat waiting for our flight to Seattle, we looked across the runways to downtown, guess what was occurring there? Game One of the World Series between the Blue Jays and the Dodgers. To say the least it brought us down a bit. Our Seattle Mariners were so close, eight outs to be exact. But as Baseball Fans say, there is always next year. After our 4 hour lay over here, the two very tired pilgrims boarded our last leg and headed home. We arrived to our doorstep and 1:00 AM Seattle time, after departing our hotel in Granada at 7:00 AM Spain time, fifteen hours of travelling.

As we awoke and figured out where we were we smiled and begun our day of unpacking, and of course, walking the garden. An atmospheric river had arrived the day before and there was heavy rain all day. But the beauty of the Pacific Northwest is the rain which creates the beautiful colors of our landscape and the fall colors made us happy. We can’t wait to get back in the garden and rake the leaves, cut back the perennials, and make it look perfect again.

Our trip to Spain was amazing. The highlights are easy: the tour of the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia in Barcelona; our Candlelight Procession in Lourdes; staying at the beautiful Hotel Alfonzo XIII in Seville; and our 4 1/2 hour walk around the Alhambra in Granada. But the last fifty days were not about these “add-ons” as Chris likes to call them. It was about our Pilgrimage across Spain on the Camino de Santiago.

The Camino was everything we had hoped for and more. It was thirty-eight days of extremely hard work where every moment, even the painful moments, were shear heaven. Chris and John have never pushed ourselves to this degree and we accomplished it with flying colors. We are stronger physically, emotionally, and spiritually than we have ever been. Thank you St James and the Camino for keeping us safe, without any injuries, with beautiful warm dry walking weather, and for providing us the grace to walk the Way.