2022 – Mid May – Exploring Greece – The Islands: Crete

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Koules Fortress

Our flight to Heraklion, Crete leaves at 1130 AM from the Athens international airport.  We start our drive from Corinth, about 50 miles away.  Personally, I am concerned of having to drive through Athens, the airport is literally on the opposite side of town.  The only thing we have going for us is that it is Sunday, hopefully Athenians will still be in bed, or at least not on the road.

2022 – Early/Mid May – Exploring Greece – The Peloponnese: Olympia, Monemvasia, Nafplio, Epidaurus, Corinth

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On the road

Temple of Zeus

Passing over the Patras Bridge we enter the Peloponnese, a separate peninsula of land in the south of Greece.  The land quickly flattens out with many ranches, orchards and farms.  We see the Ionian Sea off to the west before turning east climbing back into the mountains approaching Olympia.

2022 – Early May – Exploring Greece – Thessaloniki, Nafpaktos

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Thessaloniki's White Tower

Driving from Litochoro to Thessaloniki the toll road becomes crowded.  It is the second largest city in Greece at just over 800,000.  Our hotel is within a mile of the waterfront.  The streets are crowded with moving and parked cars, with luck we find a place to park on our second tour around the hotel.  I have to use my parallel parking skills to park on the left side of the street, backing uphill into a tight spot.  We celebrate our success, no dents or scratches on our car or any of the ones we squeezed in between.  We pull our carry-ons behind us, check in and learn that by moving the no parking signs belonging to the hotel we can park just outside the hotel door.  One more trip to the car, a long drive around the block and we are set.

2022 - Late April/Early May - Exploring Greece - Delphi, Kalabaka, Litochoro

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Meteora/Kalabaka

It’s been a while since I posted any trips.  We have been busy doing things around the house, taking little trips around the area, and planning, scheduling and putting the pieces together for a five-week trip to Greece.  This trip was originally scheduled for Sept/Oct of 2021 but with Covid getting worse, hot weather conditions and wildfires going through Greece we postponed it to April/May, just before the Greek tourist season starts.

Early October – Kayaking, Bat Yak Dinner – Austin, TX

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Congress Ave bridge

We are on our way to the 3^rd annual Bat Yak Dinner.  This is an afternoon adventure based on seeing small Mexican free-tailed bats taking off from their Congress Avenue Bridge hangout at sunset.

Traffic builds as we approach Austin.  We closely follow one of our fellow kayakers; we are nervous about finding where everyone is meeting for the picnic.  The fortunate thing is our kayaking buddies are easy to spot – kayaks hanging out of the backs of trucks or on trailers are a helpful clue.

Late September – Kayaking, Pennybacker bridge area and Bull Creek

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We are heading into greater Austin for today’s adventure.  Approaching and actual driving through a small part of Austin means sitting on the I-35 parking lot along with other temporary two and three lane parking lots.  This activity reminds us of some of the details we lived through in our past, working life.

Early September - /Kayaking the San Gabriel River near Circleville

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Today is our second expedition with our new found kayaking group.  Waking at 6 to make the rendezvous I am dubious about this trip.  I have no apprehension about paddling; it’s the forecast high of 97+ along with my phone telling me it’s already 80.

Late August 2021 - Kayaking; Killeen Texas

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Through the Pickleball group we belong to, Nicida found a contact for a kayaking group within our city.  The group has a list of 50+ kayakers but like most other groups a smaller percentage of members are actually regularly active.  After trading several emails and determining that group emails headed directly to my trash we got on the list in time for a morning paddling trip on Stillhouse Hollow Lake.

July/August 2021 Trip – The Henry Ford, Mammoth Cave and Hot Spring National Parks

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 The Henry Ford

Fordyce bath house
Hot Springs NP

Approaching metropolitan Detroit traffic builds and roads deteriorate.  Freezing weather, ice, snow and lots of traffic are hard on roads.  We are hoteling near Dearborn the next couple nights to see The Henry Ford - Museum of Innovation and Greenfield Village.  Greenfield Village is a conglomeration of buildings Henry Ford had moved, reassembled and restored representing the early days of America.  They include Ford's birthplace, the Wright brother’s home, their bicycle shop, Thomas Edison’s laboratories, just to name a few.  Arriving later in the day we are only able to spend five hours at the museum.  We could have spent several more seeing everything. 

July/August 2021 Trip – Northern Wisconsin, Pictured Rocks and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshores

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Northern Wisconsin

Spray Falls - Pictured
Rocks National Lakeshore

My family lives in northern Wisconsin, part of our trip is to see them.  We haven’t seen my sister and her husband since the start of the pandemic.  We had a trip planned last year but nobody felt comfortable given the virus conditions in 2020.

Once in WI we stop for cheese.  We enjoy Henning’s Cheese.  They specialize in cheddar, having many flavors.  We also pick up a few packages of cheese curds.  They are not a favorite of mine but my mom and Nicida love them.  Several bags of cheeses curds disappeared during our brief visit to northern WI.