Sunday Hikes

Written by Elle

Two weeks ago we started the tradition of going on a hike every Sunday (Okay, I’m aware that two weeks hardly makes it a tradition–but I think it’ll stick!). That first Sunday, Karrie and I met up with another auxiliar we’d met at the “30 and over Wine Down”, a get together put on by another auxiliar who thought it would be nice to spend some “adult time” with other auxiliares who are over 30 (we’re not the only ones!), since many of our peers are straight out of college: young, fresh, and ready to party. It was so wonderful to connect with other “oldies” and share thoughts about previous careers, what led us to take this path, mutual experiences, outlooks on life, and other “grown-up” things that allowed for lovely and genuine conversation.

Suffice it to say, we made a few great connections that night and are hoping to not only maintain the acquaintances, but morph them into meaningful friendships!

So this first hike with one of our new friends was more of an extended walk. There aren’t many hills around Logroño, and we opted to avoid the few we saw and stick to the park trails and follow the river. This allowed for less sweating and more chatting! Our aux friend brought a teacher from her school who has lived in La Rioja her entire life and talking to her really enriched our conversation (not to mention helped us not get too lost wandering around!).

Karrie and I loved the heavy dose of fresh air and the true pleasure of discovering new parts of our newly adopted home so much that we decided it would be fun to continue this every Sunday.

Not being one to turn down a chance for a hike, I quickly hopped online and found an appealing hike for last Sunday that looked perfect. It was 5 miles round trip, started in the city and wound around the North side of the river and up a to a large plateau. B, Karrie and I headed out around 2pm (Mike was in creative-mode and elected to stay home and work on writing). We spent two sun-filled hours hiking our way out of the city, along part of the famous Camino de Santiago, and up a small hill (as a born and raised Pacific North-Westerner I refuse to call anything around here a “mountain”) that came to a large plateau with breathtaking views of the city below, a strong breeze to cool our backs, and a 50-acre vineyard on top! It was pure delight and the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.