LOL. That's not us.

But we did continue with the one-thing-a-day approach to travel. Even if some of those one-thing-a-day things were late at night or early morning.

After only minor challenges traveling (trains are hard when you live in a world of cars) we arrived in Alicante. Our cab (because nobody trusted us to take the tram to our hotel) twisted and turned through tiny streets. We were repeatedly blocked by crowds or crazy statues or the occasional dead end. Apparently Alicante is confusing for locals, too.

As soon as we dropped our bags we headed out onto the street with everyone else in Alicane. You see, we had arrived right in the middle of Hogueras de Alicante. It's a combination of the beginning of summer, religious festival (for St. John), and pyromaniacs' dream.

We had arrived at the end of the mascletā. Each day in the afternoon in the center of town a different group set off a set of explosions and firecrackers. We had been told to try to get close, but the crowds prevented that. And I'm glad because we could feel the booms in my chest.

But that wasn't it. That night at midnight a massive firework called La Palmera is launched from the Castillo de Santa Bárbara, a castle perched on a hill towering over the town and harbor. It looks like a massive palm tree as it shoots into the night sky.

But that wasn't it. Next came the bonfires. All across the city there were "sculptures" specifically designed to go up in flames. And now they were lit up. With fireworks. And the bomberos (firefighters) spraying the crowds and the protecting the buildings. Some of the bonfires were set up in such close proximity to buildings they draped the buildings in fire-protection blankets.

But wait. That wasn't it. The town would put on a fireworks show on the scale of a million-person city like Seattle. And then the next night. And the next. And the... I lost track of how many nights it went on. The displays were truly magnificent.

But wait. No. Actually, that was it. At least for the organized events. We did other things, though.

One day, Mrs. Moosefish and I climbed up to the Castillo. Beautiful. Hot. Another day we went to the beach. Relaxing. Hot. Yet another day we visited the MARQ, the archaeological museum. Educational. Air conditioned!

In between we had periodic visits from Lilly as she wrapped up her studies and bade farewell to her host family.

And when all that was done we hopped back onboard a train back north. Our trip was drawing to a close, but we were headed not to Madrid bur rather to Segovia.