a link to 2010 Peru trip

My mom made a really informative and interactive way to plan our 2010 vacation to Peru - you can check it out here.  Totally different kind of trip.  This one's going to have a lot less humidity, insects, and jungle, and have a lot more.. CASTLES.

How it all began

Matt's family, which is much larger than mine, is planning a "once in a lifetime" trip to Europe next summer, specifically to Spain, for all the Browns and their kids.  Some of them have been to Spain before and wanted to go back, but in a more off-the-beaten path kind of trip.  They wanted to find a small town where tourists don't usually go, and you can have a more authentic experience.  After looking around for places with large houses for rent on the Atlantic coast of Spain, they found Muros.  The purpose of the trip is to relax, spend time with the family in an incredible location, eat lots of great fresh seafood and wine, and also to explore some historic sites.  Muros is known for it's exceptional tapas.

The Browns from oldest to youngest:
Dan and his wife Stephanie, and kids Liam and Ezra.
Chris and his wife Christina, and kids Lucia and baby Edith. Chris is a Spanish teacher for middle schoolers.
Rachel and her husband Gabe
and Dominic and Matt!

Muros is a fishing town, in the area known as Galicia, just north of Portugal.  Many people there speak both Gallego and Castillian Spanish.  They aren't very used to having American tourists in Muros, but some British people go there, so I think some people there probably know some English too.  My Spanish is pretty bad. Galicia has Celtic roots, and isn't very traditionally "Spanish".  That may be why British people like to go there.

Since the largest vacation rental house in Muros isn't large enough for the whole family, we'll have to get one more rental.  Matt and I plan to rent a house or apartment with Rachel and Gabe.  We plan to be in Muros for a full week: July 29 - Aug 5.

So far that's all we know - oh, and since we are going to Europe anyway, we figured we'd visit one more country besides Spain.  We talked about it a lot and decided to go to Poland.  We'd go there first, then fly to Spain.

So this blog will be both a place to share our planning and eventually it will be where we post pictures of our trip from Europe, on the Blogger app on my iPhone.

Another big adventure we are planning, more immediately, is that my roommate is moving out on Jan 1st, a month from now.  If Matt can find a replacement for him where he lives now, he is going to move in with me.  We're pretty excited about upgrading our lifestyle by getting some nicer new furniture, having a separate office, connecting all our devices for easy media sharing, and creating a well-stocked basement pantry with emergency supplies.  If he can't find a replacement in time, then I will get a new roommate.

First trip planning meeting

We came to amnesia brewing at noon to get a pitcher of Trailhazer and brought our laptops to start trip planning.

Introduction

Yeah, hey. It's us, Matt and Katy. We're pretty cool.  

 Here's a picture of us at the Oregon Coast in summer of 2012.

We dressed up as the "20's" for Halloween this year.