Beautiful Views

My husband has some time off for Christmas Break, and yesterday we went on a long drive for most of the day. Our island has a few large volcanic hills/small mountains in the center, and we can see two of these from our house. We drove up on top of the smallest hill yesterday, where there are two little observation decks, and you can see the ocean on both sides of the hill. Then we drove to another little mountain, where we saw some beautiful forests with types of evergreen trees that reminded me of the Pacific Northwest. We also saw a volcanic caldera and some steam escaping out of cracks in the earth. There are cows everywhere here; even within a hundred yards of the steaming caldera! I'll have to do a post just on cows sometime; the Azoreans are so proud of their cows and they are just eveywhere. The prime real estate goes to the cows here!

I just have to mention that these pics really don't do this island justice; these things are so much more gorgeous in person!

This island has so much to offer; there are so many different things to see and do here!

The view from one side of the hill.

The view from the other side of the hill; there was an expanse of fields and pasture. The little walls you can see are stacks of volcanic rock cemented together. These square pastures criss-cross the land all over.

Our drive through the forest. It was beautiful and made us forget we were on an island. Not that I want to forget, but it was cool anyway!

Steam coming from cracks in the earth. I really don't know what else to call it!

These trees are everywhere on the island... the leaves look like huge maple leaves. They give off a wierd smell in the summer and fall.... we call them "snot trees". Yes, that's right!

Our drive home.