Dream Trip Spain: Other Things I

I've been posting images of my trip to Spain. I thought 6-4-12 would be the last day of posting because most of the stuff was with a certain theme.  There were some that just didn't fit in with the topic at hand and got left out.  But the more I looked at some of it I just felt like it should be included too.   So now this is just stuff I wanted to include because I liked it.  Also I just want include some of my favorite stuff from each day in case it was glanced over the 1st time.

While in Spain I just loved seeing the mountains.  That is something I don't get to do very often. 

One of the things I like besides seeing the mountains was seeing the terrain.  I was surprised to see so many cactus and desert type plants there.  I could understand why the Spanish liked the southwest so much.  I'm sure it reminded them of their homes when they first settled there.  It probable was easier for them to settle in the area too since they were used to surviving & thriving in that type of environment.

Here's some more views of a different mountains. 

Look at how each mountain just looks different.  I know these were taken from the buses with tinted windows and the sun was at different angles, but I just couldn't get over how different each one could look.  You could tell they were made of different materials and I wanted to get out and pound on some of those out crops so bad. This one looked like it may have been made from limestone because of its whitish appearance, and the quarrying that was going on.

 My husband was also fascinated at how the mountains came all the way down to the shoreline and frequently when we were traveling we would have to go through tunnels.   I'm sure the tunnels were built because it was cheaper than to remove all that overburden.  But it still was impressive to see.

This isn't the best picture to illustrate it but you could see the hills were all over the place and the road had to build around them. 

It was also fun to have mountains to one side and seas to the other.  I'm not used to such stark contrast in topography.  When I go to the beach its usually a very gradual incline to it. IE I'm used to it being pretty flat and there are a lot of swampy or marshy areas before you actually get to the shoreline. 

Also in looking at the homes most of them were white or very light in color.  The reason everything was so white was because the white reflects the heat and it keeps their homes cooler.  So many of the places were built before air conditioning and was needed because of the heat in the area.  The time of year we were there was nice mostly in the high 60 to low 80's but you could tell the hot weather was just right around the corner.  The other thing to keep cool was all the walls were so massive.  It was not uncommon to see something 1-2' thick. 

 I wasn't used to was all the traffic circles when two or more roads intersected.  I really liked the way they would put unique structures or flowers in the center of these traffic circles.  The one good thing about the traffic circles it sure did cut down on the number of lights that were needed, although on some really busy circles I did see some lights that controlled when you could enter the circle. 

The day we went to Morocco I was surprise when we didn't turn and go towards Gibraltar and drove by it.  When we did that I could really understand why its always been referred to as the Rock of Gibraltar.  Again this isn't the best image but its the image you normally think of when they call it the Rock.

 Here's the sign that made me realize we were going somewhere else.

 And another view of The Rock from afar

As we drove we saw some very unusual looking places like this one that I felt I should take its picture.

 We drove to Tarifa in the morning, and as we were driving you could see the mist rising from the Strait of Gibraltar giving it a mystical feel to it.  It was very pretty to see the color contrast in the area.

One of the things I thought was so different was this.   At first I thought it was an art sculpture where a hand was throwing a ball toward the sea.  But coming back I got a better view of it) but couldn't get a good photo since I was on the wrong side of the bus) and realize it was something probably totally different.

It wasn't  long before we came upon some windmills.  At first it was one here and then one there,

but then we turned a corner and saw all these windmills and I really fell to liking them.  I thought they were so picturesque and quaint.  It wasn't till I saw a whole bunch of them that I realize that this was their main sore of electric energy.   See how close they are to the water. I could understand why they were located where they were.
   I liked seeing them going green like that.  I know there is debates about putting them on the west coast of America and to me I really wouldn't have a problem with that after seeing these.  But then again I don't live on the west coast either and they wouldn't be blocking my views.  Yet in areas of where the population is sparse like it is here, I really don't see a problem.

 We thought they would all be working but it surprising to see only a select few were actually turning.  Still it was interesting to see them all lined up along the cress of a hill and how they were operating.

When I came back I was able to get some better images but because the sun was setting it was more silhouette looking than before.  The white streak is a light that was on in the bus that was reflecting off the window.  But I thought it made it look more interesting having it there - almost like a shooting star or something.  To me they were very picturesque and something to marvel at the technology of it all.

Here's some more images of the windmills that I liked.

 Did I mention I really liked Windmills?
I liked this image because of the way with two of them the arms were synchronized while the other one was out.

 And I probably took way too many photos of them.  You don't have to look at all of them but there's more to this post if you want to skip down.

 and some more windmills.

And this is the last one of a close up.

We were right in the area where the windmills were when we saw that ball and hand again and then it dawned upon me that it look like it was part of their electrical grid system.  So now I muse: was it a piece of art work or was it a part of the electrical system???  


It was interesting to see the windmills on the hill when we were returning on the ferry.  When we left I didn't notice them as much - I think it was the way the light was reflecting off of the salt on the windows and made it hard to look out of at times.
Well here's one I like that I took from the ferry.  Did I tell you the sun was setting and it made everything look like it had a purplish cast to it at one point.You could hardly notice them up on the hill from a distance.

 In fact I was having fun taking pictures on the ferry.  It amazed me how just moving the camera just ever so slightly could give you such a different picture of the same area.  I was trying to get the sun setting but when I looked too directly into the sun the picture would be nothing but white.  By trying it again it at an angle I was amazed with the differences.

 The hardest was dealing with salt crystals that had formed on the windows. See the differences in the water and the salt crystals on the window.

 This was when we were going to Morocco and the sun was shining directly on the window.  This was the main reason I didn't take too many pictures since they were all looking like this, due to the salt crystals on the window.

Salt crystals on the ferry's window blocking the view but giving it a textured look.

But I did get this one that I liked.

And here's what the area looked like when we came back to it at night.

See how it can look so different just by changing the angles slightly (plus the ferry was moving)

I tried to get some more shots of that sunset but most of them were not worth sharing, but there is two that I liked and what to include.

The sunsets were not near as spectacular as I'm used to seeing at home.  Unfortunately, the reason we have the sunsets we do is because of the particulate matter in the air.  I guess all the rain we had earlier in the week cleared most of pollen and such away from here.
   But here's another setting sun one. Now that's just not something I'm used to seeing.

 
(I'm running into some problems so instead of making one long post its been broken into a couple of posts so that I can get it done. So go look for Other things II)

There's a couple of images that I were my favorites while I was there and want to share them again and here is a good of place as any to do it.

St. Micahael's cave, Gibraltar 

The Rock of Gibraltar

The Rock of Gibraltar seen from the Mediterranean Sea

The Rock of Gibraltar seen from the Mediterranean Sea

I've always wanted to go to Paris France, here's the terminal.  This wasn't what I had in mind in going to Paris but its better than not going. 

The airport terminal in Paris France

One of the things that made this trip so incredible was the fact that we were on the water so much.  I love being on the water.  I've always loved it but now even more so.  The reason being while I'm on the water I don't have to worry about ants too much.  You see I'm highly allergic to fire ants and ants in general. I always carry epi pens but still I'm always looking out for ants.  I did see some ants in Spain but they were the very small type and are not such a nuisance to me.  It is hard living with an affliction like that and at least being on water takes that pressure off of me.  Being allergic like that kinda makes it hard to be a geologist so now all I do is look at other blogs.

I started to blog so that I could get into the Accretionary Wedge and meet other geologist types of people.  But now that I've been blogging awhile its more for me and a place to put my thoughts on things that I have done recently.  I like it better than facebook because I can write more about the picture than I can at other internet places like facebook.  Now I blog mainly for myself and sometimes my family.  I have relatives living all over the place and this allows them to see my things too without physically having to visit me.  I do occasionally get visitors from other places and I just want to welcome you here and hope you enjoy my things.  I do do this with the hope of networking with others that love geology and other things like trips to Spain as much as I do.


I owe this trip to my husband and to a company that wants to remain nameless.  I need to thank them for this wonderful extraordinary, fantastic marvelous time.  Thank you for letting me make some new friends too.  There's nothing like having shared experiences to create a bond between you and another person.  Thank you again for making this a once in a life time experience something I'll always remember..

I muse: I hope I didn't bore people too much, but then again they didn't have to look if they didn't want to- I wonder how many have stuck it out and read it to the end.