🎼Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree🎼

     While doing a home exchange in Australia in 2008,  our hosts challenged us to feed a family of kookaburras which would appear on our balcony for breakfast each morning.  You do know that kookaburras have a birdcall that sounds like HaHaHaHaHa, we could hear them coming.  They perched on the railing, waiting for their kangaroo meatballs, which our hosts had made ahead for us to share with them.   They were large birds and very intimidating, but did our excitingly unique job.

Look up, it’s a Koala !

The koala is not a bear, thus should not be called koala bear. The female has a pouch where their young stay until fully developed, much like the kangaroo. They  eat eucalyptus leaves which are poisonous to other animals, then sleep about 20 hrs a day.
It was fun looking up in the trees, trying to find all the koalas, while in Australia in Feb, 2008. This was an actual picture of one we saw.

Heading home from Crete

 

We left Crete on Friday, June 22, again on a C-40, with only 3 passengers on a 70 seat plane plus a crew of 10 military.  What a gift from the Lord.  Our destination was Oceania, Va., via Shannon Airport in Ireland and Bangor, Maine.
We did get to see the patchwork terrain of Ireland with shades of green and brown from the plane and  the terminal which did have tons of people, which they refueled our plane.  
Our stop in Bangor was an overnight Holiday Inn stop because of  stormy weather all along the East Coast.  On Saturday, we were up at 6pm for an early flight home to Virginia where we rented a Hertz car with a fellow Space A passenger and headed to Dover AFB to get our cars.

Souda Bay 2012

A map of Greece shows Crete as it's largest island to the south of it's mainland.  We are on the north western side,  near the town of Hania. Yesterday found us traveling south into the mountains to the southern coastal beaches.  Our 2 hour road trip through the mountains was filled with windy one lane roads,  grazing goats crossing in front of us occasionally,

One lane mountain tunnel

bought homemade olive oil here

had lunch here in Elon, a mountain village

Our waitress

mountain one lane tunnels, impressive postcard gorges,  flowering bushes and vines everywhere even on the mountain sides, unique rural Mediterranean villages with it's old men sitting outside enjoying coffee, outside cafes filled with  vacationing people just 'enjoying life', roadside stands selling homemade olive oil and honey, and red dirt growing vegetable gardens.  Paul and I stopped at a sweet little cafe in Elon for a lite lunch and enjoyed a conversation with an engineer from Austin, Texas and his 3 month internet girlfriend from the Ukraine.

Our destination was Elafonisi Island where the warm lagoon water was a glistening aqua color and rocks jetted up there like boulders in a pond.  We saw people walking through the delicious waist high water out to the island to explore and find their spot in the sun.  How could we not have brought our bathing suits?

Kalyves harbor

perfect boat for us

Our next day was another road trip heading East with no purpose in mind but to see the real Crete, off the beaten path.  We followed the coastline just cause we just love the water.  The seaside towns have so much character, rock covered homes built hundreds of years ago with porches viewing the sea, small shops just trying to etch out a living, Greek women dressed in long black dresses, ornate Greek Orthodox churches in the center of town,  One Mediterranean seaport village that caught my eye was Kalyves which had it all, everything that I love about Greece...water, town center, mountains, and beauty.  It's fun dreaming of living there, devouring all it has to offer.  I even found a boat that Paul and I could use to explore all the other seaport villages around the whole island of Crete.  OH to dream!  Several villages later, Paul suggested that we turn around, go back to Kalyves to explore and enjoy lunch.  AHHHH, so wonderful.

June 2012, Souda Bay, Crete, Greece

Paul and I left around 3pm from Rota, Spain for a 3 hour trip to Sigonnella, Sicily, stopped got fuel, then another 1 1/2 hour trip to our destination, Souda Bay, Crete.  We flew over on a govt commercial plane with about 60 seats with about 15 passengers, 2 retired and the rest, military.

C-40 military airplane

waiting to board

We had bought a 6" subway sandwich since no food is provided on the plane except to purchase sodas and candy bars.

It seemed like a quick flight, very smooth and non eventful.

enjoying 3 seats each

just about 15 on board

Leaving  Rota, Spain

We had already booked a room at the Navy base for $60 a night so upon arriving at 10:00 pm, we couldn't get there soon enough.  Both of us were certainly tired.


Slept in till 9:30 am, had lunch at the base restaurant, contracted for a car $20 a day,
visited the NEX Navy Exchange
for some breakfast items, did a
wash then headed by car to the
second largest town on Crete,
the town of Chania.



We had been to Crete before so the road were very familiar, visited the antique market in Old Town with memories of Floyd and Ann Gillespie being there last time with us.

Leather Street

Leather Street is a walking street with everything made of leather.....wallets, shoes, hats, purses, jewelry, clothes, etc.
Mostly we saw the same STUFF over and over.  Didn't buy a thing!

So Many Shoes

We finished off the day with a delicious dinner at the Monastiri Restaurant, directly  on the aqua water.  There must have been at least 50  open air restaurants pleading for your business so it was really hard to choose.  Fortunately this place was a recommendation.  The sunset was RIGHT THERE, the heavenly breeze made it comfortable, the waiter attentive, the music set the scene and the meal was interesting.  We each had a Greek salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers,
onions, olives, and a delicious unknown cheese....no lettuce, with olive oil and vinegar.  I had chicken kabobs called Souvlaki with french fries with a rice and vegetable side.  Paul had about 5 meats, chicken, beef, pork and who knows what else with the same veges.  

Chania harbor

Good Music

All restaurants side by side

A glorious Chania sunset to finish off a perfect day

June 2012, Rota Spain

Our purpose for heading to Dover Air Force Base en route to Ramstein, Germany was to see Brandon and Tyler who were on a mission's trip circling Germany for about 13 days.  The goal was to meet them in Heidelberg for a day or so and do the Rhine River cruise with them enjoying the castles.

We left home on Friday, the 15th, thinking surely a flight would turn up to Germany but it never happened for us.  I talked Paul into the first  8 hour flight to Rota, Spain and worry about getting to Germany later.  It was a good, quick flight on a large C-5 with about 45 passengers for 70 seats, that allowed me to finish a good book.  We ordered 2 box lunches and settled in. So thankful that we had arranged lodging while in Dover at the Navy Lodge $76.00 a night, since we arrived at 2 a.m.  Got a quick cab to the Lodge and headed for bed.  Saturday  took us the the terminal to get a small, very tight Chevy car for $35 a day so we had wheels.

We headed to Rota for a look around, enjoying the old town with its great beaches, many landscaped parks, outside restaurants, Spanish architecture and rich history, and it's small streets.  Just love it.  After a nap, we headed back at night to walk the busy streets, grab a ice cream, and listen to some live music until 1 a.m..at an outdoor restaurant.  Music was stimulating but the best part was a sweet little 3 year old dancing in the streets.  All eyes were on her as she mocked a flamingo dancer.

 Below is a pic of the busy beaches, gorgeous aqua water and luscious parks.  Paul even noticed some topless female bathers.  OU LA LA.

 Paul encouraged me to eat in the  cheap G.I. chow hall for dinner......another learning lesson to NEVER to that again.  Worst ever meal, not even work the $3.00 that we spent. LOL

On Father's Day, we headed for the Rota harbor dock in Old Town to grab a $20 for two round trip, half hour ticket to Cadiz, great boat, great 80 degree day, great breeze, and great partner, so definitely a perfect day for Paul and I.  Since siesta time is until 5pm with restaurants opening at 8pm, we had to settle for an ice cream, piece of terrible dark chocolate cake with french fries and onion rings at Burger King.  We were so counting on a great dinner at Planet Hollywood but didn't happen.

We walked around Cadiz and took the next pictures.  There is an Old Town with it's one car sized streets, a rugged as well as many beaches coastline, tight knitted apartments, notorious one way streets, plazas with water fountains for outdoor dining, and many loud animated people.

this is actually a street.

The next day, Monday, June 18th we headed to the terminal to board a flight to Sicily and then to Crete, Greece.

Our days at Vacation Village in Kissimmee, Fl

Vacation Village

The next leg of our  Florida Winter 2012 vacation was at the timeshare Vacation Village at Parkway in Kissimmee, Fl.   We were on the 6th floor in a lovely suite, very comfortable.






While there we visited Old Town where antique cars were lined up along the street and a group played oldies on a bandstand while we danced 'the stroll' in the streets.  What a great night!

Old Town, Kissimmee, Fla

Another day we headed over the Clearwater, Fla to watch the Phillies winter practice but we missed it by a week.  On a few pitchers had arrived but we did get to see their practice fields. We were disappointed but we still had a great day.
We also tried to see my sister Doris in Pinellas Park but I missed her and she wouldn't answer her phone, so sorry about that

Our next daily adventure was to see Downtown Disney by way of a riverboat.  One of our dancing friends told us about Port Orleans, French Quarter where there was a performer on Thursday night who sang the Oldies well, so we decided to head over.  Since we arrived early, we walked the property and found a free riverboat so we hopped on, asking questions later.  Well we found it was heading to Downtown Disney.  After a half hour ride, we arrived and walked the excited streets full of  fantasy.

Port Orleans, French Quarter

When we grew tired of walking we headed back and enjoyed a free
night of music with a very talented musician singing lots of old love songs.

Free Riverboats

Disney Restaurant on the water

Someone else told us to see the Gaylord Palms Hotel while in town and what a treat that was.  It had 3 large atriums,  about 4 1/2 acres; Key West, Everglades and St. Augustine.

All of these atriums are inside and have walking
paths, with lots of ponds, waterfalls, buildings
restaurants and palm trees with foliage.
The Key West atrium even had a sail boat
with a huge fish pond containing many of
the fish swimming the Key West waters.
It was a restaurant where you could enjoy
a meal as well as watch the fish. 

This is the Key West atruim  when we watched them feed the fish.  Need I say how beautiful it was.

A

 Another full day was spent at the ESPN Wide World of Sports watching David, Sandy and Lloyd's son, compete in the National Cheerleading Competition.  His school, Choctaw HS, placed 7th in the national which is a great rating.  I will say though that 10 hours of cheerleading was a bit overwhelming for us.  I think I could easily be a judge next year.

One of our best days was getting together with family.  Cathi and Erv hosted a party for us with her whole family with about 20 of us there, so much fun to catch up with Paul's brother's kids and their families.