Vuh-vuh-vuh

Yesterday we rushed down to the beach to watch the sunset over the ocean with LS, just after her afternoon nap (which ends at 8:30PM Portugal-time). We cut it close, but it's about a 3 minute drive, so we made it. Barely.

We got out along the walkway that's elevated somewhat from the beach, but not quite as high as the nearby cliffs. From there we saw the last half of the sunset. Very nice.

There's a common type of bird here in Portugal that seems to fly like dolphins swim. They dart here and there, gliding then swooping down with their wings tucked to their sides - always making progress by rising up and diving down. LS got a few looks at those and was delighted. But the best was yet to come.

Apparently at sunset the seagulls like to make their way up the coast northward. So soon after the sunset, and in the darkening sky, seagulls would come flying by in groups of three or four, left to right. Since we were elevated they weren't that far overhead. They were also flying into the wind, so their progress past us was nice and leisurely.

Now this delighted LS greatly. We would point them out and their name in Portuguese, "gaivota" (guy-voh'-tuh), and she would shriek in delight - kicking her legs and wiggling around in the process.

Unfortunately we had run out of batteries in the camera the day before, so no pictures or little movies.

As we would say gaivota, LS would then say, approximately, "vuh-vuh-vuh". Not bad!

We then went back to the car and took the 1 minute drive to a perch off a road along the tops of the cliffs. At that vantage point they were often about eye level and maybe twenty feet away, as they flew along the cliffs, above the crashing waves below, silhouetted against the post-sunset pink sky.

Vuh-vuh-vuh! Vuh-vuh-vuh!