You Look Better With Your Clothes On.

Ocean Day. That is what today was. The excitement comes from the fact today is our ocean day in PORTUGAL. I didn't know signing up for this deal let me experience Spain and Portugal...and a little England if you count Gibraltar. Anyways we woke up early...Morgan and I weren't quite ready for an early morning since we did get home pretty late...or should I say early? But we did get rolling, making sandwiches and packing the car. The drive was expected to be a few hours so Manda and I worked out a driving schedule..I do better in the mornings so we agreed for me to drive there and her back. Last night Jenna and Manda printed off directions and they did a good job. We got to the actual country of Portugal with no problem...(it was kind of a straight shot)...but since this country sucks as much as Spain with labeling streets and what not we got a tad bit lost in finding the ocean. The worst part was that we could see the ocean. Big, blue and beautiful calling our name from a couple miles away, but there was six million houses and resorts blocking our embrace. We cruised down streets, sniffing our way to the beach. It was then we realized that MapQuest had failed us. The people who create MapQuest probably have never been to Portugal..they just look on the satellite dish and go oh hey here are you directions. That being said they don't know that there are forty round-a-bouts within a ten minute period and the Portuguese had brains that are faster than lightning. Now that is not a fact so don't anybody quote me (<was that proper English?) I just mean that they give you a heads up you need to turn off the interstate only seconds before the turn is there, or they have signs telling you to go that way for the ocean but by the time you read them you are already five blocks away. I just don't understand their reasoning for such ridiculous ideas about mapping things out. Whew, got that one out of my system.


Now. We traveled around Portugal and it was kind of fun and we were having a good time, which is unusual of us when we get lost. Usually we are quiet, snappy and super grouchy. This time it was different. The town we were in was super touristy and you could definitely tell we were not going to be the only light haired people around. Also the shops looked to be open even though it was Sunday (unheard of in Spain!) The happiness slid away as we roamed the streets looking for some sign of a beach. There were tons of people in flippy flops and swimmies but there was no clear sign that said "Hey idiot the beach is that way!" To stubborn to ask we continued to drive up and down this one street...when suddenly...oh and I do mean suddenly someone saw a sign for the Ocean. I quickly turned into this road and BADDA BING Ocean. Clear and crystal and even more beautiful than the one in Spain. We then had another task at hand, parking. Crabby as ever we drove through the stuffed parking areas finding nothing but pedestians who liked to think they owned the road. More like people on this side of the country own this country...well that is fact-ily true but seriously, in cars they own the road and sidewalks and pedestrians have no rights, and as pedestrians they get the freedom to walk wherever they want. They just must be able to sense that I am too nice to run them over. Whatever. I was crabby. 

We found parking half a mile down the road we turned off of and decided it was in our best interest to eat our lunch before somebody had a fit. We also didn't want to carry the cooler down that far if we were going to have to park here. We sat in the car, air conditioning on, eating our sandwiches in silence. The only noise was the music, chomping of chips and the occasional "Will you pass the water". Slowly the food worked its way through our bodies sending messages to our brain that we can now be happy. Smiles returned to our faces and we once again laughed. 


Morgan, aka our mini MaryAnn, had the brilliant idea of checking with one of the stores near us to make sure we could park there. Turns out we couldn't unless we wanted to get towed and a ticket...tempting but noooo. So the trek began again. We decided to check the parking by the beach one more time and you know what? God loves us because we found many parking spots.   It was wonderful. 


The beach was absolutely gorgeous. Not to mention we sat right next to the water business that rents boats and such and the workers are tanned, abbed and handsome. We sat and soaked...and I froze hiding behind the umbrella to stay as less sunburned as possible. This ocean...which is the same ocean as the one in Spain was freeeezing. At least 40 degrees. The one in Spain? 80+ degrees. It was surprisingly refreshing though, definitely had to get used to it and made it harder to pee...guess that was too much information..but I don't feel like deleting it. While sitting and reading and creepily...oh and I do mean creepily taking photos of people for my contest I had a little porteguese girl walk up to me. Her parents were yelling at her but she sat down and pointed at my camera. She was saying things that sounded like cuss words and a chicken laying eggs...okay I don't know what that sounds like but I imagine it would be like this little girl talking. Her dad came over and asked what language I spoke and then talked to me in crystal clear English. "She loves cameras that is what (enter weird chicken word here) means - machine. But she has broken two already. So she can't stay, it worries me." He pulled her away and she screamed. Eventually running back to me to reach for my camera. I was never planning on letting her touch it but now I was keeping a big distance from her. 

I felt super creepy. I should be a paparazzi person because I got dang good at taking photos of people and them not knowing...and when they did see me I did a terrible job at faking that I wasn't taking pictures of them. It was worth it though because I got some super wonderful shots. Here I would like to say that if you have facebook go and like "MCKaercher Photography" and you will be able to experience the best of my photography. 


There came a time where we were just ready to go. We decided to go eat in town and just hang out for a little bit. Here is the sad thing. We found a American Diner...and ate there...and it was the most amazing thing I have ever tasted. It was so neat, and better than any American Diner in America. We had milkshakes that were real milkshakes not just chocolate milk named milkshake...those milkshakes brought the boys to the yard...I'm laughing at my own stupid joke. The delirium is setting in in the blog post. Anyways. The diner was super cute and our waitress was so darling I just wanted to pinch her cheeks. She wore a old fashion outfit and just was the nicest thing to walk through Portugal. Our food was d e l i c i o u s. We had onion rings, fries, mozza sticks, burgers, wraps, chicken nuggets and of course milkshakes. We ordered waters and please look at the photo to see how little the waters were that we got. We were all dying of thirst...they just don't do pitchers of water here...


We left town and you know what...we made it home in one try. We just started driving and Manda (because she is super talented behind the wheel) got us there. It was magic...or talent..or both. I fell asleep in the car but woke up in time to rap to Gangsters & Strippers and to dance to Flexin'. Jenna even said we raised her gangster bar up to zero gangster...it was in the negatives....

Ants flooded the house when we got home, and the dogs got into the bathroom trash cans (remember that "mouse" Dad....same situation) and we all are a little tender skinned. But we are happy and blessed to be here. Another wonderful, spectacular, gorgeous day..(I need new adjectives) until tomorrow. Blessings and Good tidings! :)