February in the Canaries

The kids had the first week of February off from school so we headed to the warmest place we could get to easily. We left Thursday night and took a train to Basel. We stayed overnight in Basel because our flight left terribly early the next morning. We stayed in a Formula One hotel, which my nieces had talked about with Kelly and scared her for life about staying in one. It was a little scary. Bathroom down the hall, two twin mattresses on the floor with little room for your suitcases. Poor Kelly, my little princess, was not amused.

 We woke up and had to walk to the airport at 5:00 AM in -10 degree C because even though the taxi driver the night before had said we could get a taxi early, we couldn't. This time, none of us were amused, except Keith who thinks we are all a bunch of pansies. We dragged our suitcases in the snow behind us and at times had to walk in the street because there were either no sidewalks, or there was too much snow to tell where they were. The flight was almost five hours, and took us to Tenerife which is one of the Canary Islands. We rented a car and were in our condo by noon. 

The weather was beautiful, the pool nice, the beach quiet, and as long as you didn't mind being surrounded by 70 year olds from Great Britain,(which we didn't), it was a great place to be. The only time we did mind being surrounded by 70 year olds was at the beach where even they sunbathe like the rest of the Europeans.  That we minded. 

 (remind me to never go topless after thirty, twenty, never go topless)

Every day was pretty much the same. Breakfast in the room. Actually, the first few days we ate breakfast out. But what they call "English Breakfast"  which includes "blood pudding" was not our favorite. So after the first two days, Keith cooked us pancakes. Then out to the pool for a few hours, an ice cream bar, lunch by the pool, a lot of reading, another ice cream bar, off to the beach for the afternoon, back to the pool until the sun set, and then out to our favorite Chinese Buffet for only 6.50 Euros per person. Sure beats the prices in Switzerland. The only real variation from that was a few days Keith and Josh explored the island while Kelly and I shopped. And a few days we were so full from hamburgers and ice cream at the pool that we skipped dinner altogether. 

It was a wonderful week but there was a part of me that couldn't completely enjoy it as I thought about what was going on at home. Two people I loved dearly had just been murdered http://www.glennalawrenceshapiro.com/  and another friend from high school has a son that fell while skiing and she is in the hospital waiting to find out if he will ever walk again.  www.wjgb.blogspot.com

Life is Fragile.