Julie & I did something recently that we never thought possible-we actually got the grandparents to come out and watch the kids while she flew out to meet me in Rota, Spain, during the last two months of the 2007-2008 deployment. She made it out on the 29th of December, and spent 5 fun-filled days with me, as we took in the sights of southern Spain, and even managed a spur-of-the-moment day in Gibralter that ended with us and a few friends over in Morocco for dinner and shopping. We ended up getting back to the room safely, but barely missed being part of a head-on collision, had to unfortunately ditch a few people who were slowing us down, forced to invent a parking spot in order to make it to the ferry on time, and placed our complete trust (and lives and money) into the hands of a tour guide (Larry) that showed us a WONDERFUL time in Morocco. He's the one on the right, and managed to do all the talking while walking at a pace that had us at a near-jog the entire time. Not sure how he did that while smoking, but he turned out to be quite knowledgable and ensured we had a fun time, even going so far as to put us onto the right ferry at the end of the night, in front of hundreds of others that were waiting, and stayed with us until we were safely aboard. All things that go right in our travels are now affectionally labeled as having the "Larry factor" attached.
Those days were among some of my most fond memories, for after 18 years of deployments and sea time, I actually got to share some of the liberty time with my wife, who is now my favorite liberty buddy. As Brian Ray would say, 4 is about as large as a liberty party as you want. Any more than that, and you're asking for trouble. How right he was! Anyway, I'll be posting a video of Julie getting the monkey off her back (Gibralter ape, if you want to be technically correct) when I am NOT being overcome by technology.
Here's a few shots of the whole gang on top of point Europa, which overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.
Julie & I taking a photo near Christopher Columbus' tomb.
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