Glorious Greece!

Hello friends and family.  Sorry for the long delay in posting our adventures.  Unfortunately, our tablet decided to take a vacation of its own in the beautiful town of Olympia (Greece, not Washington), so we were unable to post anything.  It was an answer to prayer that the tour guide was able to locate it for us and return it to us as we prepared to leave our beautiful cruise ship. We are back home now, but I will post our adventures a few days at a time, so as not to overwhelm you.

We departed Spokane, and flew to Chicago, then Vienna, and then to Athens.  We were transferred to our ship at the port of Pireas.  We met up with our fellow travellers, Betsy Seidel and Bob Martin, Sandy and Jim Long, and Dick Martin.  We were definitely a band of Merry Wanderers.

We settled into our beautiful stateroom, checked out the view from our personal veranda as we left port, and the fun began.  We had 4 staterooms in a row, so were able to have conversations from the verandas morning and night.  We probably looked and sounded hysterical as we hung over the railings chattering away like a bunch of birds.

The ship, Oceania Cruise Line's "Riviera", was stunning.  It was completely remodeled in 2016, even though it was just built in 2012!  We had an amazing marble bathroom, a very plush mattress, sheets and comforter to die for (1,000 count linen sheets!), and every amenity you could think of.

The Riviera.  She is a "small" cruise ship - only 1200 passengers.  There was a ratio of 1 crew member for every 1.5 passengers, so the service was incredible.

Mike boarding the ship

Our marble bathroom.  I am already scheming on how to redo the master bath in our new house!

The ship travelled from port to port at night, so we woke up each morning to new scenery.  We then had all day for shore excursions or free time to explore.

Well, here we are in our first port, sunny and beautiful Gythios, Greece.  It is a balmy 72 degrees which is perfect shorts weather.

Gythios is a beautiful little town and is the ancient port for Sparta.  We were "tendered" off the ship to dockside to board our bus.  Our first tour was to the town of Sparta.  We drove through the beautiful country side, filled with olive groves, orange and lemon trees, flowers of every type and color and lots of agriculture.  There are many abandoned and/or unfinished buildings all over Greece as a result of their economic collapse in 2008, and the residents struggle financially.  Their largest income is from tourism.  They also export a LOT of olive oil - olive trees are everywhere.  The other interesting reason for unfinished bouses is the Greek tradition of starting a house for their daughters as their wedding gift soon after they are born.  Grrek tradition is to leave the parent's home and property/business to the sons.  The daughters get a house close to their parents.  Greek families are very close and spend a lot of time together, even as adults.  The house is worked on as the daughter grows, and the whole family gets together and finishes and completely furnishes it in the weeks before the wedding.

Many of our ports of call can't accommodate big ships, so we will be taken ashore in "tenders".

The tender from the ship

Once on shore we boarded our bus.

Greek streets were not designed for big tour busses!  The drivers were amazing in their ability to squeeze through little ancient villages.

Most taxis in Greece (and throughout Europe, in fact) are Mercedes.

Greek traffic is crazy!  If they can't find a parking place, they just double park.  They will run out and move for the busses and trucks when they honk their horns.

Statue to Leonidus, Spartan warrior and leader of "The 300", Spartan warriors famous for holding off an army of invaders.

The statue was amazing in its detail.

We visited a museum dedicated to the olive.  Didn't sound too exciting, but was actually very interesting.  They have documented evidence of olives being cultivated and used as far back as 3.000 BC. 

Ancient jars used to store olives

Beautiful ancient olive oil light

Amazing mosaic of an olive tree

Next stop on the tour was a family owned winery and vineyard, whch has been in the family for centuries.

The family home and winery.

The owner is very proud of his winery and was a gracious host.  We enjoyed a tour, followed by "mezes" (plates of bread, hummus, cheese,olives and other local delicacies) and very nice white wine,

Olives growing on a tree in their olive grove.  They also press their own olive oil.  These are not yet ripe - they turn ourple and then black as they ripen.  Olives are inedible until they have been processed, usually by brining.

Back on the bus for our return to Gythios.  We had free time to wander around.  Located a bank to exchange some dollars for Euros.  The first challenge was figuring out how to get into the bank.  Every sign is in Greek, and the doors are locked.  Fortunately someone coming out spoke English and explained.  You have to buzz for entrance, then enter a "lock port" one at a time, then be buzzed in.  Then you have to provide your passport, which they make a copy of (ID theft concerns, anyone?), then they make a copy of the bills you are exchanging, then you sign both copies, and finally they give you Euros.  Whew!  

We strolled around, gad a little traditional pastry that was like an unsweetened doughnut but quite good, and made our way back to the tender.

On the wharf.  Check out the octopus tentacles hanging on the rack.  Octopus is a Greek delicacy and the display is supposed to be enticing.  We passed!

Boats at anchor

The harbor

The tender back to the ship

Back on board, relaxing on our veranda

Time to meet up with the rest of the crew for dinner. We all have different shore excursions on many of our days, so decided to get together for dinner each night and share our adventures.  There are multiple places to eat on board, with 4 of the restaurants requiring reservations, which we made a long time ago.  There are also 2 other restaurants that don't require reservations and are more relaxed.  One is buffet style, with some items cooked to order, and the other a more formal "Grand Dining Room".  None require "dressing for dinner", which we all like, but "resort casual" is requested, which is fine.  The food in all places is beautiful and well prepared.  The wait staff is amazing.  Dick is already engaged in a running battle with them over serving himself beverages - a big "no no" in their eyes.  He tries and they catch him!   Tables are set with linen and cloth napkins, which the waiters place in your lap.  I could get used to this!

An after-dinner stroll around the decks to check out the amenities and then off to bed.  Found the bed all turned down, chocolate on our pillows, and even a cloth on the floor to step out of bed onto before putting on our "Oceania" slippers and totally amazing and thick terry cloth robe!  Good night, everyone.

October10, 2018

Lots to catch up on.  Sorry for the long void in posting, but not much progress was being made until recently.

Once the holes for the shop posts were augered, we had to hand-dig the rest of the way, due to lots of rocks in the soil.  Baxter liked the giant dirt piles, but we sure didn't, as the dirt all had to be moved by hand!

Fortunately, we had Gallanger's tractor to do the heavy hauling, but we had to do the shoveling - 24 tractor buckets of dirt in all.  

Baxter provided pointers and inspected our work.

You can tell fall is just around the corner.  The leaves are changing color daily. We were treated to this beautiful double rainbow....

We took a trip to Daniel's Nursery, along Lake Roosevelt south of Kettle Falls, and bought trees to line the lower part of the driveway.  They are Green Ash trees, and turn a brilliant yellow in the fall.  We will move them when we get back from Greece.

More work got done on the driveway.  It is a slow process as they are "making" the rock as they work.  It is screened shale, which packs in and makes a really nice road surface.

The contractor is using a belly dump, which will cut down on the number of trips and help reduce road costs.  The pit is only about 5 miles away, which also really helps.

We took a break and nade a quick trip to the "wet side" for Mike's 50th class reunion.  Had a great time and he enjoyed reconnecting with people.  We stayed with Diana and Aliyah, which was fun!  Also had good visits with Jane and Jerry Madtson, Ken and Gayle Powell, the Fosters, and Shaun Straka and his herd.  Good to see everyone!

Can you find Mike?  Just look for the gray hair!

Leaves are changing fast now.  The quaking aspen are so pretty.

The wild crabapples are brilliant red!

Mike walked the utility ditch for water lines and power at the well site to measure for electrical wire.  It is a 4 foot deep ditch, to avoid having the water line freeze (frost line is at 30 inches).  Doesnt look that deep from the lower field - can you find Mike in the ditch?

Baxter was the safety officer and offered his advice.

We find some unusual rock formations - any guess what kind of rock this is?  Hint - it is NOT a mineral!

The leaves keep getting more beautiful!

I planted 300 daffodil bulbs along the top of the berm on the east side of the house site.  The whole area is bare dirt and won't be landscaped until next spring, and I wanted something pretty to look at when the snow melts!

The quaking aspen are turning golden!

We moved the pile of dirt and sod by the entrance gate in the lower field, which was a definite improvement.  The 3 Amigos offered some equipment adjustments.

Then they decided a consultation was in order!

What an improvement to have the big piles gone!

We started the process of trimming up the lower limbs on the big pine trees.  This is a must for fire-proofing and prevents grass fires from getting up into the trees.  Mike found this old trap grown into one of the trees - a fun find.  We wondered what the story is on this trap - a fun mystery. 


We spent some time walking some of the game and cow trails and finding good walking paths and viewpoints.  Develping some paths will be a fun project for next spring.

We also finished spraying the snow berry - a big job, and glad it is done.  We will let the herbicide do its job this winter, and then cut all the dead brush next spring. 

The aspen in the upper meadow just get better and better!

We had a nice surprise visit from Rory and Connie Barreith last Friday.  What a nice surprise and a real spirit lifter.  They gave relocated to Cour d'Alene, so we will get to enjoy visiting back and forth.

At last!  The last piece if the driveway was rocked yesterday.  No more horrendous dust storms every time we drive up the hill!

The hole was dug for the septic tank today, and it will be delivered tomorrow afternoon.  I am making a supply run in the morning for drain pipe and we should get the drain field finished tomorrow as well.  The contractor will start putting up the remainder of the posts for the shop on Friday, and it will hopefully be done when we get back from Greece!

Measuring depth for the septic tank.

The aspens are in their full glory, and today was a beautiful sunny day.

Mike got to play with the laser level today while measuring for the septic tank.  Oh boy, a new toy!

Bedding the septic tank hole with sand as a cushion for the cement tank.  Our contractor is pretty amazing with the excavator.  Good thing Mike trusts him!

Moving sand into the hole.

Another day is done - sunset over Bonanza Ridge.

That's all for now.  Will try to post during our cruise in Greece!