WHY SHOULD I GO TO SPAIN?

I've mentioned before that I've never been to Spain and that it's been a dream of mine to go one of these days. Now, my wife and I have been married for 21 years and prior to that my wife never gave Spain a thought. The only thing she new about it was that it was somewhere in Europe. I've pretty much educated her on this fabled land and why I love the culture. She has suggested that I should make a trek to Spain on my own.

My wife and I love California very much, she's a native, I've lived here most of my life. We've visited most of the missions and have visited Santa Barbara, Monterey and Carmel, San Diego and other areas of California that have deep Spanish roots. I've made many comments on how similar California and Spain are and many things they have in common. So much so that now after 21yrs my wife asked me a question which now I'm asking myself. Why should I go to Spain?

Here is her arguement: Why are you willing to spend thousands of dollars going to a place that looks exactly like where you live? Everything that I've (that is she) have seen of Spain...pictures, travel shows, videos, looks exactly like California! The architecture, geography, cities, language, people. It looks like California!

My response: It's my chance to visit Europe, the people and the culture. To see history.

She counters: Well, if you want history, you got it right here regarding Spanish history...Father Serra and the establishment of the missions, the explorers and colonists that built the cities here.

She now asks me to list off things about Spain and she would counter with a counterpart. Ok, I thought I would win this one. No, just about everything I threw at her she had a equivalent. Here's some of our banter:

SPAIN/ CALIFORNIA

1.Madrid/ Los Angeles

2.Barcelona/ San Francisco

3.Sevilla/ Santa Barbara

4.Marbella/ Newport Beach

5.Mallorca/ Catalina

6.Galicia/ Calif. Pacific Northwest

7.La Costa del Sol/ So. Calif. coast line

8.Las Costa Brava/ Central Calif. coast line--Big Sur

9.wine regions(Rioja, Jerez)/ Napa, Sonoma, Monterey, Snta Barbara, Temecula

10. La Sierra Nevada/ California's Sierra Nevada

11. The Alhambra/Hearst Castle

12. Churches and cathedrals/ California missions

13. Spanish cuisine/ Various Spanish-Basque restaurants

14. La Tuna/ No counterpart

15. Zarzuela/ No counterpart



So, then she asks, why should I go somewhere that looks like home? I can understand if you lived somewhere else, say, Ohio...( I started to laugh my head off at that remark). What's so funny?, she asks. I told her that the Moderator for the Madridman website is from Ohio. Needless to say she cracked up! You see, she told me, I was right!!!

So now, I'm at a quandary. Should I stay and save myself all that money or should I go?