Eric and the Girls

 We had a nice little visit and Lunch with Eric today. He was on his way to Boulder,UT for a campout with Matt ( Matt will join them tomorrow). They have been together for ten years.(!)

Tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches, cucumber slices.  Don't ever cook with Kya around! That stinker licked my butter on the counter AND stole some sliced cheese! Bad dog. 

Tomato sauce--never again!

 

I will never make tomato sauce again! These 9 little pints took ALL DAY!! 

They might be good for making spaghetti and pizza and such, but ALL DAY?????!!!!!

Granted, I didn't start really early as I slept in until 8 am today.  But between preparing the tomatoes and onions, simmering that, then straining it all, then reducing it to half while stirring all the while to prevent scorching. . . .I was standing over the hot steaming kettle for hours and hours. Ugh. I'm such a baby. 

So much for doing anything else today! That was it. No pickles, no other bottled tomatoes or tomato soup or tomato juice( yes, there's still MANY tomatoes left). 

Another day, I suppose. But never again seasoned tomato sauce. Not unless it can just simmer on it's own withOUT constant stirring.

I expected it to freeze last night, so yesterday I picked the rest of the tomatoes. 8 more bags to go. Most are still green, but they will ripen.

Next year I shall plant only TWO tomato plants. Maybe only one. 🍅

Travel day (s) home.

 Long travel

Up at 5:30 a.m. off the ship by 7:00 a.m.  Or, at least in line to get off the. Ship. 1 hour shuttle to Athens airport.

So much walking, confusion, lines, misunderstanding, etc. The Athens airport left much to be desired in the way of info, signage and organization. 

Athens to Rome. About 2 hours.  Rome was just BIG and didn't label their gates. Then when we did find gate assignments, they changed them. I didn't have a boarding pass for one flight, too.  Rome to San Francisco was an 11 hour flight. Three movies and two naps, a couple of meals. 

San Francisco was huge, customs, walking , lots of walking,changing terminals, re-claiming and re-checking baggage, even though it was all checked through to Las Vegas. We barely had time to use the toilets and refill our water bottles before it was time to board our Las Vegas flight. 

We didn't have seats together on that mostly- empty flight ,( about 2 hours). We mostly slept. We were so tired.

In Las Vegas, we were the last to claim our luggage. It was the fourth airport and Mike's feet and ankles were killing him. Wheel chair time. We found one close by.

We found our car! 

We ate "breakfast" at in and out burger with about 200 other folks.

 They crank out the burgers and fries! 

Drive, drive, drive . . .

Elevating while waiting for bags in San Francisco.

Home at 4:08 a.m. on Sunday Oct 5, 2025. 

31 hours of being ' in transit'. 😴🛏️🥱🫩💤💤💤

Mykonos Day 10. Oct 3

 I swam in the Aegean Sea. It's just my head you can see there, poking out of the water.

I did chat briefly with a couple of other bathers.

Today is our final port stop. And Mykonos is a gorgeous place. There are historical places, museums that we missed, and lots of twisty tourney tiny trails between the houses and businesses that were fascinating to walk among.

Mike celebrated his birthday on lovely Mykonos with-- what else? Ice Cream!

We saw windmills.

This rock looked like a crouching lion to me. Or a camel?

Gelato! Or ice cream. They are basically the same. 

This was the (plastic) doorstop at the ice cream shop in Mykonos.

An actual car street instead of pedestrian walks. 

My practically private beach (above,) there wasn't anybody in sight when Mike and I first got there. So I decided to change into my suit. But, after we found the place to do that, lots of people started showing up from all directions. Mike was very helpful in holding a towel just so between me and people and I managed to get dressed in my swimming suit without flashing too many people.

A tender boat. We ended up leaving port an hour earlier than previously planned because of high winds expected that night. The final night on the cruise boat was the roughest of the entire cruise. We could actually feel movement. No other time, basically, were we ever able to even tell we were on a ship, it was so smooth.

Mike was served a nice big Birthday cake slice all for him! After we already had dessert. The little chocolate sign he's holding says, "Happy". He ate the "Birthday". Haha

Moon on the water after the wind calmed down. Through the porthole in our room.

Sunset as we left Mykonos.

A private pool on the fore deck for rich passengers in the fancy suites. Who know?!?!

Taking photos of our last sunset on the ship was a popular activity.

Floating in the Aegean Sea. 

The windmills would have looked really cool with their sails intact.

Oct 2, 2025, Santorini. Day 9

 Sunrise photo attempts. Oh well. 

Above are sunrise pictures.

Santorini is a beautiful caldera island. Some things have changed in the years since we were there last. It's far more expensive and upscale if shopping, dining, etc. 

Mike and I joined a tour group that took us to the towns of Oia and Fira. We tendered in to the port at a place different than the place at old port where the cable car is. We were bussed up the cliff side East of Old Port, then through the dry upper part of island. All of the island is dry and desert-like. It's a volcanic caldera. Even the grapes were stunted . But the bougainvillea vines were big and covered trellises. 

It's so full of tourists. Cruise ships. I think our guide said 70 percent of the population were employed by tourism. 

Poor people. I'm sure it has both helped and hindered.

I was kind of tired after so many stairs and walking around the two towns with a bus ride or two. Some ice cream, because we can and it seems to be our tradition. Donna bought me a lovely linen-look table runner with olive motif embroidered on it. And I found a casual cotton blue and white shirt. Not exactly what I was searching for, but close. It's a man's  shirt! 

We took a nap after we rode the cable car down the cliff, tendered back to ship, ate lunch at the buffet. We were quite hot and sweaty after the short excursion. Mike was still resting, suffering from allergies, so I spent time in a hot tub between 4 and 5 pm. It sure helped my sore back! It was so hot.( The water) I got to visit with Donna for a bit while poolside.  It was the first time I'd put on my swimsuit this whole trip. 

Nine of us met for dinner at a restaurant at the ships's back. I did catch sunrise AND sunset here at Santorini. Not spectacular, but nice. 

After dinner there were games! Fun, long day. 

Sunset in Santorini.

This is the new blue and white striped shirt that I bought.

 

Cliff houses

Tendering back to the ship.

Two cable cars passing. I think they do it with counterweight.

These homes and hotels are perched right at the edge of the cliff

 Why?!!

That's our ship, the Norwegian Pearl, down there!

Another smaller cruise ship was in port during evening.

From the sublime to the ridiculous. Beautiful cathedral on a marble square, slummy old homes with tumbleweeds and crumbling walls. 50 yards apart.