Around the Horn: Our Trip to Barcelona, Spain

Tanner was headed to Spain.  He was part of the Junior USA team that would compete for Gold in the Junior World Championships.  This competition would take place at the Olympic facilities in Barcelona and would include 1856 athletes from 186 nations.  Eric and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see Tanner run in such an arena.  After the Junior National Championships when we knew for sure Tanner was part of this elite team, we started looking into the possibility of joining him in Barcelona.

Montjuic Olympic Stadium Entrance

Any of you that know Eric know he enjoys the anticipation and planning of the trip just as much as the trip itself.  To put together a trip like this in less than a month was a challenge for him, but it couldn't have turned out better!  A big thank you to everyone who helped us get there.  We wouldn't have wanted to miss this opportunity.

 

The stadium was so big! There was a lot of excitement running through the arena
as preparations were being made for the races to commence.

About two days before we were to leave Portland and join Tanner in Spain, I threw my neck out.  I woke up on Monday morning, July 9th, and couldn't get out of bed.  I didn't know how I was going to get everything done to be on a plane in two days.  I couldn't have done it without my Mom and Dad.  They came to the rescue.  They ran me to doctors appointments, cleaned my house, and packed my bags.  My wonderful hairdresser, Callie, made time for me in her busy schedule so I could go with clean and styled hair because I couldn't wash it and dry it on my own.  On Wednesday morning, I was boarding a plane with some heavy meds and a prayer that I would make it through the next 18 hours.  Thankfully, the Lord was mindful of me.

The flight to Philadelphia was pretty rough.  There was a young family sitting behind us and all the other seats were full.  I tried to be patient as the child behind me kept kicking my seat, jarring my neck and my back. I couldn't get off that plane fast enough.  I was about to cry thinking of the even longer flight we had ahead of us.  Eric quickly took my mind off it as we tried to soak in some Philly culture before we left the USA.  We were able to do it all without leaving the airport:

Keri @ the Liberty Bell
an amazing replica made of Legos

What's Philly without a Philly Cheesesteak at Chickie's & Pete's?
Eric couldn't agree more - YUM!

We also took a walk down Constitution Hall - how clever!

As we boarded our second flight, I was calm (I am sure the meds helped) and prayed that all would be well on this very long flight.  We were seated in the middle of the plane on the longer row.  There was only one other lady in our row and she moved once the flight was underway.  I could lay down and rest my tired neck and back through the long flight.  The sleep we got on the plane was our night as we traveled over time zones. I was a seat hog and made Eric sleep sitting up, but he was so wonderful and didn't even mind.  He knew how much pain I was in and was willing to do anything to help me get better so we could enjoy our adventure.   We would arrive in Spain on Thursday morning and wanted to make every moment there count.

 A Tender Mercy:
An open seat was the answer to my prayers.