RS Best of Basque Country Tour- September 2022

Dinner was at the Restaurant Le Chistera at 42 Rue Port Neuf in what was told to us was the one of the oldest buildings in Bayonne. This dinner would be the first of several group meals and it was a good time to get to know the other tour members. This restaurant was a small place, so when the 24 of us loud Americans entered and sat in our reserved tables, I felt sorry for the other diners, who were probably looking for a nice quiet evening dinner. The dinner choice was either hake or duck breast. My wife and I had the fish. I’m sure we ate here because they offered a group menu and it was close to the hotel. Dessert and coffee were included in the meal as well as red or white wine during dinner.

After dinner, we were free to walk around the town, but since it was cold and drizzling, we opted to go back to the hotel for the evening.

Day 2

Today, the weather was cold and overcast with rain forecast, but we met our tour guide for the morning, who took us on a walking tour of the town of Bayonne. By the time we arrived at the Bayonne Cathedral (Cathedral Sainte-Marie de Bayonne) and the cloister, it was raining hard.
There was lots of good information given about the Basque culture, symbols and political status. Bayonne is considered the administrative and cultural capital of the Basque Country. Our walking tour took a break at Les Halles de Bayonne, the covered food market, so we were glad to get out of the rain, nosh on some cheese, buy a coffee and use the restrooms. Then we walked across the river to the Musee Basque et de l’historie de Bayonne (Musuem of Basque traditions and art) which is the main reason the tour meets in Bayonne.

We had a guided tour of the museum. There was a Basque music group singing Basque songs in the main rotunda area, so it was hard to hear the tour guide even with the whisper quiet devices. Still, it was a good museum to get an understanding of Basque culture. Then we were free for the afternoon. But it was raining hard.

We walked over to a nearby Crepe place, Le Creperie d’Aurelie at 27 Quai Amiral Dubourdieu The small restaurant was full, but the waiter told us to come back in half an hour and he would have a table for 4 available. It was a miserable walk in the pouring rain for that half hour, but when we returned, as promised, there was a table for 4 waiting for us. Between my lousy French and pointing at the menu, we had a nice meal and excellent service. The husband of the other couple we were traveling with always wanted to leave a tip, no matter how indifferent the service was. I was finally able to convince him to only leave a one or two euro coin, as he could not add it the credit card bill. I’m not sure what he thought of me for refusing to leave any tip at all. But I subscribe to the travel theory of not imposing my American Culture habits on the local populace and that includes tips. European service staff are paid a decent living wage.

After lunch, the two wives decided to go window shopping as they made their way back to the hotel. My friend and I decided to wander the town and geocache. What I like about geocaching is that the locals who hide the geocaches tend to bring you to locations they want you to know about, like some lesser known statute or monument or famous building, that isn’t mentioned in tour guides. There are descriptions on every geocache online and I learn more about a location from the geocaches in the area. At the very least, I am wandering around the town with a purpose, since I am not a window shopper. I’ve found geocaches now in 17 countries.

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We had dinner reservations at Brasserie BASA, 74 Rue d’Espagne, a very nice, upscale restaurant. We arrived at 7 pm and we were the first ones and only ones there for over an hour. By 9 pm, the place was packed and we were just finishing our meal. The cost was a reasonable €80 for the four of us, and that included wine and water. (The bottled water issue confounded us to no end. Sometimes we got free tap water and other times we had to pay for bottled water. No water was ever brought to the table unless we asked.)

Bayonne
As for my overall impression of Bayonne- The one day on tour was enough. There wasn’t much else for us to see or do that would require a second day or a pre-tour day on our own. I’m glad we spent our pre-tour time in Saint Jean du luz.

Day 3

Breakfast started at 7. We were all packed and outside the hotel with our luggage by 9:00 am. We loaded our bags into the luggage area under the bus and off to Saint Jean Pied-de-Port, (SJPDP) France.

SJPDP is the traditional starting point for pilgrims walking the French Route of the Camino Santiago. It is located at the start of the Roncevaux Pass through the Pyrenees Mountains. Pied-de-Port means “foot pass” or foot of the pass” There are various shops and cheap albergues (hostels) serving these pilgrims along the Rue de la Citadelle. Since it was the end of September, the season was coming to a close, so many of the albergues had shut down and there weren’t many backpacking pilgrims around. During the high season, SJPDP’s narrow streets are packed full of people.

Our tour guide walked us across the river on the Vieux Pont, along the cobblestone rue de la Citadelle and up to the Mendiguren Citadel for the panoramic view of the town and the countryside. We then were given some free time to walk downhill back towards the bus, check out the shops, peak into the church and visit the fortress walls. I stopped at the Pilgrim office and my wife picked out a shell for me to carry on my Camino next year. But I didn’t need to do that. As a gift, Agustin gave everyone a Pilgrims shell and a Pilgrims passport. I managed to get several sellos (stamps) in my book the next day.

It was a 45 minute drive through the Pyrenees which crosses from France into Spain. By motor vehicle, along the highway, through forest trees, it’s not that majestic or impressive, and that is why the Camino Frances passes here through the Pyrenees from SJPDP to Pamplona. But for Pilgrims, the walk between SJPDP and Roncesvalles is considered a tough hike because of the 1390 meter elevation change to the top and then down again on the Route Napoleon to Roncesvalles, Spain. Why do I know this? Because I am going to walk the Camino next year. So it was nice to see SJPDP and Roncesvalles in advance of my trip.

We stopped at Roncesvalles for a break. We were now in Spain. Roncesvalles “valley of thorns” is the one of the first stops for Pilgrims after crossing the French Pyrenees, so there is a large albergue,( 183 beds over 3 floors and another 110 beds in one large dormitory room next door) here. There is also a small royal collegiate church and two small hotels.

From Roncesvalles, its downhill to Pamplona, so all the tour members opted to walk the short 3 kilometer Camino route, through a wooded forest path to the small village of Burgete, where we had a very filling group lunch at the Hotel Loizu restaurante.

Then it was a one hour bus ride to Pamplona to our hotel, the Hotel Pampaelo Urban spa, with an excellent location at Plaza Consistorial 3, in view of the Ayuntamiento de Pamplona and the Running of the Bulls route, which occurs in July during the festival of San Fermin.

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I was very happy to finally be in Spain, so I could practice my Spanish. I could read the Spanish menus and signs and I felt less anxious about encountering the unknown as I did in France, because my French was so poor.

We took an evening “orientation” walk to the main square, the plaza del Castillo. There was a festival going on (not the feast of San Fermin) in Pamplona. We saw “gigantes and Cabezudos” which are giant mobile statutes (about 13 feet tall) and big headed figures (kilikis) who walk around the town or accompany the religious processions. Tens of kids were harassing one kiliki, who ran after the children hitting them with a foam truncheon. The kids were having a great time.

We then walked over to a popular tapas/pintxos bar on the south side of the plaza called
Bar Gaucho Taberna known for its skewered pintxos like cod meatballs or pork cheek and is considered to have the best pintxos (tapas) in the city. The place is popular and crowded.
Outside the bar, in the plaza, Agustin gave us a cheat sheet of Spanish words for the pintxos and the Spanish phrases on how to order. He gave us a voucher for two tapas, and explained the procedure to get the bar tender or counter person’s attention. There’s no line. You have to politely elbow your way to the front of the bar, get the bartender’s attention to tell him/her what you want. You can’t be meek or you won’t get noticed and served. It was a fun experience and it gave us the confidence to eat at other pintxos places, if we wanted to, for the rest of the trip. After eating the Pintxos, we were free to go off on our own and explore.

Day 4- We almost missed the tour

Today was a full packed day in Pamplona. You don’t want to miss this day, but my wife and I almost did.

We were awakened to my cellphone ringing in our dark room. It was Agustin, asking where we were? “What time was it?” I asked sleepily. “It was 9 am”, he responded. Our alarm clock hadn’t gone off and we overslept. The tour group had gathered outside and was ready to depart on the city walk. Agustin asked if he should come back in an hour and get us and bring us to join the rest of the tour. I told him no, we would find them. “How? “he asked.

The other couple we were traveling with had shared our locations with each other in the iPhone app, “Find My Friends.” I told him I would catch up with him in 15 minutes, but my wife needed more time, but she would find me. The walking tour took off, but I was able to catch up to the group as they walked slowly towards the main plaza. I was told that I missed the information about the Festival of San Fermin and the running of the bulls and the reason the people wear white and red bandanas.

At the main plaza, we rested while the tour guide told us about the medieval history of Pamplona and then the history of Ernest Hemingway, who is beloved in Pamplona. Because of my curiosity, I downloaded “the sun also rises” and tried to read it in the evenings. I’m sorry to say, I don’t care for Hemingway’s writing style.

My wife joined us in the plaza about 45 minutes later, using her Find My Friends app on her iPhone.

The group took a coffee break at the famous Café Iruna, a Hemingway haunt, visited the “rincon de Hemingway (Hemingway’s corner) where there is a life size sculpture of Hemingway leaning on the bar. We continued our walking tour and visited the Cathedral de Santa Maria la real de Pamplona and the cloisters.

From there we walked to a private home that housed a collection of bullfighting memorabilia.
The elderly owner’s husband was a bullfighting aficionado and his collection of bullfighting memorabilia is a site to see.

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One of my personal WOW moments happened here. The owner only spoke Spanish, so as we toured the collection, she would speak Spanish slowly so that Agustin could translate her words into English. And that is when I realized that when she spoke Spanish slowly, I understood every word she was saying! She told a funny anecdote in Spanish and I laughed out loud. After the English translation was given, the rest of the group laughed a few moments later. We were served some food and drink, saw a video on the Running of the Bulls, and I was able to talk to the owner in my basic Spanish and we exchanged pleasantries.

The highlight of the day was the meal at the Sociedad Gastronomica Jarauta 79 (a men’s private eating club. (Women allowed, but not in the kitchen) We were led downstairs into a cavern-like room with a long table that could seat all 28 of us. And we had a gastronomical feast of many tasty dishes, wine and sangria. We all left stuffed and probably a bit tipsy.

Afterwards, we had the afternoon free to ourselves. The two wives walked the Avenue de Carlos III el Noble Etoribidea to see the shops and the Monumento al Encierro, a large monument honoring the running of the bulls.

My buddy and I walked around Pamplona looking for geocaches and we found ourselves at the Ciudadela de Pamplona, a medieval fortress and now a public park. We then walked across town to the Mirador del caballo Blanco, an overlook on the old city walls and just had a relaxing time looking at the lesser known statues and monuments.

In the evening, because we had such a heavy lunch, my wife opted not to go out to dinner. (Again, we had problems adjusting to the late dinners). The rest of us went to find a tapas bar on the Calle San Nicolas for tapas. There are lots of restaurants on this street.

Day 5- The Camino

On the bus today. We set three alarms to make sure we would not miss the bus. The first stop was at a top of tall hill (770 meters high) called the Alto del Perdon, The Mount of Forgiveness. It is windswept, with panoramic views. The monument is made of sheet metal and represents several pilgrims and transport animals heading west towards Santiago de Compostela.
There is a windfarm here also and you can hear the humming of the blades as they rotate.

This was a personal WOW moment because the metal sculpture of walking pilgrims was a scene location in the movie “The Way,” starring Martin Sheen, who decides to walk the Camino Santiago in order to fulfill his dead son’s wish. In the movie, at the Alto del Perdon, the pilgrims are resting after the steep hike to the top, when a pilgrim goes by riding a bicycle, and one of them says “You mean, we could have done this by bicycle?”

Walking the Camino

From here, the bus drove us back down the hill and dropped us off at the little village of Uterga.
As Agustin told us, there were bathrooms in the Camino del perdon alburgue and bar, but reminded us it was polite to order something to eat or drink if you wanted to use them. So all 24 of us overwhelmed the place. It was crowded so while my wife waited in line to buy a café con leche, I snuck into the restrooms.

I also found they had the stamp and stamp pad on the counter for pilgrims to self-stamp their passport books, so I got my first “sello” to put into my Camino passport book.

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The weather was nice now. No rain, no clouds, cool temperature during our walk.
From Urtega, the tour group walked along the backroads on paths meandering through fields for about 7.0 kilometers, through the town of Muruzábal and stopping at Obanos, to make sure nobody was lost and we had all kept up. Then we stopped at the Jakue Hotel, where we took a rest break, bought drinks, and used the rest rooms. The bus was in the parking lot for anyone who didn’t want to continue the walk, but we all continued our walk. The camino is well marked with the yellow scallop shell and arrows, so it was easy to stay on the path.

As we walked through the tiny villages, we passed albergues that had backpacks sitting outside the front of their doors. These albergues didn’t open until later in the day, but the luggage transport company, had already delivered the luggage to their destination, and they were left there until the pilgrims had arrived from their day’s walk. While many pilgrims carried their own backpacks, you had to option to pay 5 euros each day to send your luggage ahead to your next night’s lodging.

Then we walked another 1.2 km to Puenta la Reina. (Queen’s bridge). Along the way we did a quick visit in the Iglesia del Crucifijo to see a large Y shaped crucifix left by German pilgrims. We walked down the main cobblestone street, Calle Mayor, with it’s restaurants, hostels and other services for pilgrims. We stopped at the church, Iglesia de Santiago, where got I got my second sello for my pilgrim passport. We walked to the river and ended our walk at the Queen’s bridge where we learned about it’s history. From there we boarded our bus on the other side of the bridge, and just in time. It began to rain.
After that walk, I’m sure many of us were hungry as I was, so the planned stop was for a group lunch at a winery, the Bodega Lezaun, in Lakar.
The group meal was good. As long as you wanted red wine, you could have as much as you wanted to drink as it was included in the meal. You went into the side wine cellar, opened the spigot in the wooden barrel and filled your glass with wine.

Then it was a 2 hour drive in the pouring rain to San Sebastian (Donestia) where our first stop was at the Monte Igueldo Amusement Park, on a high hill with sweeping views of San Sebastian. It’s very scenic and worth a stop, but all my pictures have storm clouds and rain in them.
We stayed at the Hotel Parma at Paseo de Salamanca 10. It was another great location in the Parte Vieja (0ld town). We were right on the mouth of the river’s edge, so we could hear and see the large waves crashing on the rip-rap rocks across the street from the hotel.

We had an hour tour to rest before we met Agustin again, who took us on an “orientation tour” of San Sebastian and we ended the walk at the Konstituzio Plaza and given the evening off to find our own dinner.

Before parting, Agustin gave us a somber warning that “tomorrow’s guide may be a little weird…. Well, you’ll see…” he said.

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San Sebastian is renowned for it’s Basque Cuisine. The area has a high concentration of restaurants with Michelin stars. The area is also known for the production of Basque cider and a there is a Basque traditional set menu that I wanted to try. I was converted to cider over beer over a year ago, so I am trying to find that perfect cider. Many of the cider farms and cellars are outside the city in the countryside, so getting to them was problematic for me, (I guess I could have taken an expensive taxi) but I was able to find one near to our hotel, in the old town, the Beharri Cider House (Sidreria Beharri). I had made dinner reservations there, and what we ate was very good. But the cider cellar downstairs was closed. I asked in Spanish if I could go downstair and look and the waiter accompanied me and told me in Spanish that it was the wrong season for pourings and tasting. They made their cider in metal vats, which were on display. Their cider master only came by once a month during this time. We could have had the traditional Basque menu, but it was a lot of food and expensive and with our late hour dining stomach issues, we had to pass on this. But maybe next time. And we’ll figure out a way to get the cider house outside of town. But the food we did have was good and was reasonably price at €50 for two of us.

Day 6

Raining. If you study the weather patterns of San Sebastian, it rains a lot in this area. So while it has a beautiful sandy beach (La Concha), the weather isn’t conducive to making this a sunny beach town destination.

We met Agustin outside the hotel at 9:00 am. “Where’s this guide we should be wary of?” We asked.

Agustin smiled and said “He never showed up, so I’m your guide for San Sebastian. I live here with my wife and child. My apartment is in the next neighborhood over. When other RS tour guides come to San Sebastian, they hire me to do the city tour.”

We all laughed when we realized he was the guide he was warning us about yesterday and off we went on the tour. However, several people, including my wife, didn’t get the joke, and thought this errant guide never showed up and that Agustin had to ad-lib it. She was impressed at his knowledge of San Sebastian and his ability to impart this information on the fly and overly impressed when he pulled out an iPad to show us pictures from San Sebastian’s past. It wasn’t until the day at the farewell dinner that she figured out it was a joke. We still laugh at that memory.

The city walking tour took us south to the Plaza Gupuzkoa and Agustin stopped there to talk about the stone sculptures on the building, but by now it was raining hard again. We walked to the San Sebastian Cathedral and had a break before entering to see the inside. Then we walked West to the Concha (the sandy beach) and then up to city hall, and then to the Basilica de Santa Maria del coro. We didn’t go in. As we walked back towards the hotel, he pointed out the San Telmo museo where the morning tour ended and we were given free time.

As it was close to 1230 pm, I was glad I made 1 pm lunch reservations at Kaskazuri , which was only two blocks from the hotel. The lunch menu del dia consisted of 2 courses and dessert and was reasonably priced at €25 per person. Wine was included, and it wasn’t just a glass of wine, but a bottle of wine. The waiter brought a bottle of red. I told him I wanted white wine and he brought a bottle of white wine. So we had two bottles of wine for lunch at no additional cost. The food was excellent and I recommend the restaurant especially if RS tours puts you up at the same hotel. Reservations required, and it was an hour and half lunch. You can’t hurry a memorable experience.

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After lunch, the women walked over the Aquarium, which was a good way to get out of the rain, while the guys went geocaching along the Paseo Maritime de San Sebastian. It was pouring rain. Even in the rain, this was a scenic beach. We walked up to the marina. We found a cache hidden at the Marina and as we were signing the log, a man called out to us in English “Are you geocaching? I’m the owner of that cache.” We had a nice time talking to him about geocaching in the area and what else to see and do. We love suggestions from the locals who actually live here. We walked towards the river, passing the Hotel Maria Cristina and Teatro Victoria Eugenia. But it began raining hard again and we went back to the hotel to rest.

This time it was my turn to get a haircut. My wife told me to find a “peluqueria” and using google maps, I found a “Peluqueira para hombres” near the hotel. My Spanish was good enough to tell the hairdresser what I wanted.

Because we had eaten a heavy lunch, we weren’t that hungry for dinner. So around 7:30, we wanted something light and went into the nearby discount supermarket “Lidl”, but didn’t find anything we wanted. I hate to say this, but after nine days we were “pintxos’d and tapa’d out” and couldn’t eat another heavy meal, so we did what homesick Americans do and ate the food of our homeland at Burger King at Okendo Kalea. I include the address because some of you will thank me later.

Day 7

9:00 am. We had to wheel/carry our luggage a distance because it was the only spot available to the big bus. We were told to wear closed toed shoes because in one hour we visited a sheep farm, visited the sheep barn, watched them milk the sheep and made some sheep cheese the Basque way. We ate sheep cheese and snacks.

On all the RS tours I’ve been on, RS tries to visit some animal related experience. In Scotland, it was the sheep dog. In Madrid, it was the bulls. On this trip it was the sheep, because sheep herding is a significant cultural identity with the Basque People. The best sheepherders in Idaho and Nevada are/were Basque immigrants. But this was my least favorite activity, but lots of other people on the tour loved it. I guess they didn’t step in sheep poop.

Approaching lunchtime, we drove next to Gernika. From where the bus parked, we walked in the rain to the Restaurante Zallo Barri, where we had our group lunch at around 130 pm.

After lunch, around 3:30 pm, we took a walking tour of Gernika, learned about the history and the aerial bombing during the Spanish Civil War. Of course, this town is also famous because of Picasso’s anti-war painting “Guernica” so we stopped to see the life-size tile mosaic reproduction. It’s not the real Guernica, which in the Sofia Reina in Madrid. The rain had stopped while we walked around. We also visited the Assembly house and Tree of Gernika.

We then drove a hour or two in the rain to our final destination of Bilbao and the Hotel Conde Duque. The hotel is in a nice central location across the river and within walking distance of the Guggenheim Museum.

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derek, I love love love this trip report. Your descriptions of the places, activities, and meals are wonderful.

We’re doing this tour in September, so I am bookmarking, and will be taking notes!

My French is better than my Spanish, but I’m hoping to have some time for language review this summer.

Can’t wait to see the next installment.

Askuna Zentroa columns

We had our “orientation tour” which from the hotel we walked crossed the futurist looking and curved walkway pedestrian bridge “Zubizuri” and ended at the Plazaide Don Federico Moua, a circle plaza in the middle of downtown Bilbao. We were then free to wander around and find our own dinner. We walked over to the Azkuna Zentroa to see the 43 artistic columns, each constructed with a unique design. Agustin was impressed that I even knew about them, but they are mentioned in Rick’s book. And then we found dinner at La Brasserie de Elene. Again, it was around 7:30 pm, and we were the first and only diners there for over an hour. Dinner was fine, but nothing special to write home about.

Day 8- Last day
Our final day of the tour.
10 am Today was the only day that we started this late. Agustin took us on a Walking tour from the hotel to old town Bilbao. We stopped at the Ribera market, an indoor mercado, food court, and farmers market with fishmongers on the second floor. We had our morning café con leche and snacks and used the restrooms and then all of us took the tram to the Guggenheim Museum.

Guggenheim Musuem

We had some free time to wander around outside at the sculptures including the spider-like sculpture “maman” and Jeff Koons’ “Puppy” before starting our 12:30 pm guided tour of museum. The museum and tour were excellent and one of the highlights of the tour and a WOW moment for me.

We were given the afternoon off, ate lunch at the museum and then walked around the town with a final farewell dinner at 7:15 pm at Larruzz, which was within a short walking distance from the hotel. The restaurant was OK. It could at least accommodate all of us at 6 separate tables. But this restaurant doesn’t have good reviews.
I guess because it was raining, we never got a group picture, or if we did, I don’t remember it.

Day 9 Early morning flight
We had an early flight to Barcelona (where the RS Best of Spain tour starts), so we had the hotel arrange an early morning taxi, and the hotel had a bagged breakfast for each of us at 6 in the morning. The early morning ride to the airport was €17.50.

Final Observations

I really enjoyed this tour and what we saw and learned and experienced was a contrast and very different from the Best of Spain tour, (which we took a week later) so I’m glad we did both as a back to back. And if you have time to do both, I recommend both tours.
The highlight was the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao. If you are visiting the Basque country on your own, this is a must do.

San Sebastian (Donastia) is known for it’s wonderful food and our lunch at Kazukuri was a highlight. It’s too bad we never got used to eating lunch as our main meal. The tapas/pintxos we ate were a novelty for us, so we are glad we got to experience that, but its never going to be my favorite food.

I could have skipped the sheep farm visit, but lots of the other tour members loved it. Sheep herding is an integral part of the Basque culture, so I guess you need experience it.

The most important thing I got out of this trip, was that the Basque people are proud and unique from Spain and France and there’s always that underlying political context of independence and demand for more autonomy everywhere you visit.
The Camino Santiago is the main tourism in this area and the pilgrim’s money supports a lot of the tiny villages, restaurants, hotels, albergues and stores along the route.

Coming up next- Pre-tour report- Figueres and Cadaques.

And later, Best of Spain Tour report.

Thanks for your trip report! It took me back to when I did the tour in June 2018–my first ever RS tour. The itinerary was almost identical. I missed the full day in San Sebastián because I took a side trip on my own by public bus to nearby Loyola to visit the birthplace of St Ignatius instead. I too got pinxto’d out by the end of the tour but after our tour guide told me a wonderful story about the origin of the classic pinxto “Gilda”, I just had to go out and get some. What I loved about this tour was the focus on a unique culture, a smaller geographic area, and (except for the Guggenheim) less “blockbuster” sights. It was a sweet experience.

Thanks, derek! Your trip report helped me re live our trip to the Basque region years ago. We loved our time there.

Great and detailed trip report. This area is on my list. We spent 3 weeks in Spain last October and pretty much only ate tapas, for lunch and dinner. We had two special dinners but in the afternoon. We also can’t eat dinner so late in the evening.

We're going on the Basque tour in less than a month so your trip report was timely and full of great information! It looks like we are only staying in two of the same hotels, the Conde Duque and Hotel Parma. I sure hope Agustin will be our local guide in San Sebastian. Our guide will be Francisco who Rick features in his Basque videos. Thanks so much for posting your trip report.

Claudette, you’ll have a great tour with Fran! He was our guide in 2018–warm, fun, organized, and a great storyteller and teacher. I still remember how he taught us “thank you” in Basque: “scary Costco” (eskerrik asko)

Fran is from Pamplona and on our walking tour of that city we ran into various relatives of his who greeted us as they passed by. In fact, the men’s dining club you’ll eat at one evening is through a family connection of his. The way he prepared us for walking a bit of the Camino made the experience deeper for us, and his explanation of Picasso’s Guernika during our stop in Guernica was moving and memorable.

Enjoy Basque Country!

Accidental Southerner, I am looking forward to meeting Fran. When I was watching Rick's video (I think it was even a MNT) I remember thinking I hope we get him for our guide. Wish granted, yay!