Sisters and Sisters

Julie and I had a great time, just the two of us.  But we could have been more organized, so we ended up missing some things because they were closed before we got there.  I took the whole week off that she was here.  We took a long trip to the eastern part of Crete where she had never been before.   This was her second visit to see us and her fourth time to Crete.  I think she likes it here.  I'm hoping she is able to come once more before we leave.

Morning coffee overlooking Chania.

Trip to the Botanical Park

Grape Arbor at the Botanical Park

Grapes at the Botanical Park.  We hand lunch here, they served fried olives and tomatoes.  Julie really like them and has been making them for herself.

Kritsa from our Hotel room

View from our drive north of Aghios Nicolaus

View with solar panels

View of shore line north of Aghios Nicolaous

The small island is Spinalonga.  It has a fortress on it that was used most recently as home to a Leper Colony.  The colony closed in the 1950s.

The village where you take the boat to Spinalonga.

The pier where we caught the boat

Julie enjoying the ride.

The boat ride.

Spinalonga from the boat.

Inside the Spinalonga Fortress.

Julie hiking on Spinalonga.

Spinalonga

Spinalonga

Spinalonga main gate.

Pretty tree on Spinalonga

Bastion at Spinalonga

I can't remember where this was taken.

Sisters at Meso Potami Lasithi

Taverna decorated with tomatoes.

And pumpkins

Sisters with wine and Raki

Tourist stop near the Lashithi Plain

We did not Ascend the stairs, but I am curious.

Dinner at home.  Unfortunately it wasn't as good as it looks!

Just Lee and Us

We continued to eat as much as possible.  Thassa the dog ate many pairs of flip flops.  Lee and Grier spent day after long summer day going swimming, drawing, and reading, bike riding, playing music, and playing backgammon.    I went to work.

We went on two camping trips together.  The highlight of one was watching a Cycada turn from a grub to a winged insect.  Three chairs around a tree, in the dark, and a flash light and an hour and a half later it had wings.  We were so hungry we had to make the 10 steps to the taverna before we saw it fly away.  I checked on it later and it was gone, so it must have flown up into the tree.  The highlight of our other camping trip was playing games with friends at the taverna and swimming by moonlight.  We are forever spoiled concerning camping.  I’m not sure if we still be able to convince ourselves to go to a campground that isn’t on the beach and doesn’t have a built in Taverna complete with all the usual suspects (Greek salad, souvlaki, tzaziki, boiled greens, fresh French fries, wine, Raki…) about 10 steps away from our camp site!

Grier and Lee went on a 10 day driving tour of Crete and to a wind surfing camp. I went to work.  It’s a good thing I like my job.  The summer flew by and then our trio came to an end.  Grier and Lee left for the states in mid-August.  It was painful to see them go but I had the fun of preparing for a visit from my sister Julie.  She was only here for a week, but there was no grass growing under our feet and I didn’t work.  We continued to eat.  

An outing and  nice luck in a mountain will age.  Thassa is being a good dog under the table.

Sheep pipes at Omalos Plateau

Angelic Leland in the 4,000 year old Olive tree

Our campsite at No Problem Campground

View of Aghia Galini from the beach next to No Problem camp ground

Aghia Galini

Grier and Lee waiting for me

Moon from Aghia Galini

Agia Triada Minoan Site

Pretty beach on the south coast

Nice view of the south coast

Martin and Lee

Wonderful discussions on whatever topic floated through our minds. It seems like when you get Lee and Martin together there is never a shortage of interesting discussions to have.  So much so, that it was difficult to look around at the scenery because we were so involved in our discussions.  I’m pretty sure they were discussions although someone listening in may have asked what we were arguing about.  At any rate they were extremely fun.  Sometimes Lee and Martin delved into things that I was unsure of what we were talking about.  This is not a reflection on them; it’s a reflection on me.  It was physics, math, computers and inventing things and the possibility of being able to do a particular thing or not, and what would happen if you did and Martin saying yes, yes and Lee saying; What?   Or the other way around…

These are some pictures of a hike we went on.  There were lots of ropes ladders and rocks.  It was lovely and best of all cool and there was water flowing in the stream.  Lee and Martin went ahead; Grier and I were a little slower.  For example, we found a perfect spot for a nap.

Martin and Lee did their best to help us out concerning picture management on our computer.  Martin set us up with an Apple Tower thing.   I understood what he was saying as he did it, but now have lost all memory of what he did.  We will have to invite him for a visit when we go back to Poulsbo to get us set up again!  Lee tried very hard to educate me concerning how to work photograph files on our Apple computer.  I am used to a PC and have challenges with the Apple logic.  Lee was patient but was getting tired of showing me things over and over and over.  I definitely feel like an old dog trying to learn new tricks.   The upshot of all this is that I am painfully slow at finding and attaching pictures to our Blog.  It’s fun to write the stories, but painful to dig for the pictures.

I have no pictures of Martin, but he really was here.  He is a photographer and took many pictures, but always managed to stay out of any pictures I was taking.  I'm not sure how he did it.

The beginning of our hike down Patsos Gorge

Shortly after we started, Grier need ed to take a break.

Yes, he fell asleep.

Tree becoming part of the rock.

More Patsos Gorge

Pretty waterfall.

The trail had ladders ropes and chains to help you get ofvr the rocks in places.

Swimming hole

Swimmer

Person thinking about swimming.  I only got my feet wet.

An interesting rock

Hiker on the way out of the canyon.