It feels great to get out of the city. While I love taking in the sights and eating diverse foods only found in populated cities, these trips where I’m out in nature and going at a different pace really feels rejuvenating. The plan today was to run to the grocery store to get some fresh bread and anything else that we felt were missed during our Costco run.

It was 1am and Luke pointed out that the heavy cloud cover cleared up and that the stars and moon were out. We decided this would be a great time to get a few star photos and see the mountains surrounding the Hotel Aliva since visibility was so low when we arrived earlier in the afternoon.

I set an early alarm to get up before dark to get another time lapse attempt going. This time I promised myself I’d be a bit more patient than yesterday so I could get a bit more of the sunrise going. We planned on hiking back to the gondola this morning and heading back down the mountain and start our way back towards the direction of Madrid and the beginning of the end of my Spain trip 🙁

It was too bad that we didn’t get much time to explore the town of Sepulveda. Walking around last night and this morning it felt very empty. My hypothesis was that the young people have left to the city for new opportunities and only come back to see family for holidays. My co worker Ivan recommended that we stayed in Sepulveda as the Duratón River was nearby and is popular for kayakers as it runs through a gorge.

One cool aspect of my job is that I have team members all over the world: New York, Connecticut, Florida, Spain, Mexico, India, and the Philippines. I’ve been super lucky to have gone to Connecticut and India earlier this year for working sessions and on this trip I was able to meet Maria in Grenada and now two of my front end developers, Ivan and Ricardo in Segovia.