Praia da Vitoria, Azores (Portugal)

When I exited my room at the NAVSTA Rota Navy Gateway Inn this morning, I was greeted with a the sight of Rota covered in a dense layer of fog - I've never seen it so bad.  This trip just keeps getting more interesting every day!. During our (Chip D. and me) flight planning, we tried to find an airport within our range that would have better weather but we ended up having to wait out the fog for about five hours. At that point, I made a call home to tell them we would be calling "uncle" and stopping for the night in the Azores. There was a little grumbling, but I pointed out that we had been ahead of schedule throughout the trip and they agreed we were making the right call. We finally got going and found that when we crossed the west coast of Portugal, the weather was much improved. In fact, it was so nice in Terceira that I almost didn't recognize the place! We had enough time to drive into Praia (with a rental car from Via Livre that I picked up at the BOQ Front Desk) and have dinner at O Pescadors. I also got to do some post-Christmas shopping (lots of closeout hand-stitched decorations). Found a few other good souvenirs. Even got a good night's sleep - tomorrow should be a good day.  We spent the night at the Mid-Atlantic Lodge.