Sunday with the family...and Oliver...

So this last Sunday, we went out to my parents for the day. My cousin, Katie, is out from DC and wanted to go and ride horses. It was a really nice day, perfect for going outside. Plus, my mom was making yummy food. Always a plus. Oh, and Oliver was going to be there. You really can't argue with that. So this is mostly a picture post, well, most of my posts are picture posts. Though, these aren't that great. I just wasn't feeling it that day. I've been kind of down this week. Usually, pictures and family perk me right up! Not this time really. Oh well, that's what Oliver hugs are for.

Grandma and Oliver...Oliver is kind of blurry because I was messing around with my new lens and had it down to 1.4 aperture and that means that focuses on one thing and the blur factor around that one thing broader. For example, if the aperture had been higher, say 5.6, Oliver wouldn't have been blurry at all.

This is the best we could get with Jarika (mom) and Oliver. He was not in the mood...

Hanging out in the living room. If you look closely at Oliver you can see a baseball whistle in his mouth, but the funny part is that he noticed Uncle Jake's chips. He really likes chips, much to the disappointment of his mother. (Sorry Jaynie! I know this isn't he most attractive picture of you, but Oliver is hilarious in it!)

The whole fam! Katie, Justine, Jake, Oliver, Jaynie, and my dad...Mom is in the kitchen cooking, and I'm taking the pictures, and I don't know where Jarika is. Also not pictured is my brother-in-law, Tony. He is at work. Okay, so maybe just half of the family.

This picture cracks me up. Oliver and Jake bonding over food. Jaynie paying attention to Katie and Justine, and my dad so over it and wanting a nap probably. You would to if you were insane and got up at 5am every day.

Justine and Oliver on the way to visit my mom's new pig. If you are wondering what Oliver is looking at...

Uncle Jake and Grandad, fixing and summerizing the air conditioner...

So my mom bought a pig. I guess you raise them all summer, and then butcher them in the fall. It's like Little House on the Prairie! Hopefully this plan turns out better than the raising chickens plan...

Oliver loved the pig. He loves animals period. He giggles and screams and points. It's pretty hilarious.

It actually really cute. I'm kind of sad about making it into bacon...though, if you've ever had bacon straight from the pig, you'd get over it...

This is Oliver pointing. He points at everything. It's really funny.

One more picture of Oliver and the pig (my mom named him Wilbur), I'm already sad! He's so cute!

Jaynie and Katie vogueing it out in the horse pasture...

After the pig, we went to ride horses. I mostly just took pictures. Actually, Katie was the only one who rode the horse! We all just watched and petted the animals. I took pictures. Like the one above. This is my dad's tack shed. Fun times...lots of money...

Another view of the tack shed. I'm actually trying to be artsy here. I don't think it's working so well!

Jarika on the 4-wheeler with Oliver...and our dog, Abbie. She (Abbie) has ridden on the back of the 4-wheeler since she was a puppy. She loves it. It's kind of hilarious. My dad get's mad about it now because her nails tear up the seat, but hey he let her get on too.

I think my heart explodes every time I see my dad all sweet and loving with Oliver. I also think my dad was over me taking pictures of him...oh well!

Oliver loves his Grandad...

Jake saddling the horse...or at least trying to remember how to saddle the horse. He used to be more into the whole cowboy thing, but not he's mostly into sports and girls...Guess that happens to teenage boys...

This is my new favorite picture of my dad...he didn't realize that I was taking it...

Katie, getting up on the horse. Good thing she's 6 feet tall...

Crazy Grandma Karen! Must be why Oliver loves her the best...

Fun times riding horses in the sticks. What stories she'll have to tell all them city folk...

Grandad took Big O on a ride on the 4-wheeler. He loved it! He had the biggest smile on his face...

Look at that smile!

I don't know who had more fun...Grandad or Oliver...He was sooo pooped that night. He played and played and played.

Fun times at the Palmer house...

Greece: Day 10

So this was the horrible, no good, very bad day. We left Meteora at 6:30 in the morning. We were going to try and stay in Athens that night, but we didn't have a reservation, so we thought we would just wing it. Bad idea. Well we got back to Athens, and sure enough, the hotel was booked solid. So on a whim we decided to take the train to Corinth. We thought it would be simple and easy. Note to self...nothing in Greece is simple and easy. So we went to Corinth, which is a HOLE. The rental car place was out of rental cars, so luckily this really nice old taxi driver took pity on us. He helped us out and waited for us to decided what to do. We decided to go to Nafplion. It's a really cute harbor town in the Peloponnese, and it's actually a vacation town for the Greeks. It's changed hands many times through out history. It's been run by the Greeks, Venetians, and Ottomans. It actually looks very Italian.

Anyways, we paid I think 150 euros for a taxi ride to Nafplion. We didn't really have a choice. Of course then we found out that the freaking train we were on went to Nafplion after Corinth. It was a new route, and in typical Greek fashion, there was no signs announcing this. I'm not bitter at all. This part of Greece was just as stunning. Groves of oranges and olives, as far as the eye could see. I really wish I had taken pictures, but like I said. It was a bad day. Everyone was a little freaked out and tired. Once we got to Nafplion we took the first hotel we could find, since one of my traveling companions was freaking out bad and needed alone time stat. We felt very pressured to make a quick decision. It turned out to be a really INTERESTING decision. I really wish I had taken pictures because now that I look back on it, it's actually funny. But it really wasn't at the time.

So our hotel. Ghetto slum lord...no joke. It was old, rusty, broken down, random mattresses stacked on a shelf in the room. It was horrible. We thought for sure we were going to get bed bugs or something. It was surprisingly clean for how old and run down it was. I really wish I had pictures to go along with this. So Angela and I decided the less time spent in our ghetto room, the better. So we took off. First thing we did was go to the train station to buy tickets back to Athens for the first thing in the morning. This is what was across from the train station...

The fortress on the hill is Palamidi castle. It has been used as a defensive fortress by the Greeks, Turks, Ottomans, and the Venetians. It's pretty interesting. It has 999 steps up to the top. Another thing I regret about this day is that I was too upset and over it to climb to the top. It was raining, everyone was emotional, I was just done. So yeah, I regret that. Oh well, honestly, when I look back at how I was feeling, I don't think I would have made a different decision.

Cool Venetian tower in the middle of the bay...Look at the raindrops...yeah, POURING rain. I was so paranoid over my camera. I hate rain.

Harbor....

 This was across from a church. It was a really cool courtyard that was full of marble artifacts. It looked like a staging place or restoration place. I also imagined this is what Michelangelo's workshop might have looked like. I was trying to make myself in a better mood, lol.

See how Venetian/Italian these streets look! Very cute and picturesque...

The other side...If you look in the lower right-hand corner, you will see the top of some fence posts. I was looking in this courtyard at more marble pillars, when I noticed something stuck at the bottom of the gate. It was a rat. And not just any rat....It was the size of a small dog. Actually, probably a medium size dog. It was dead, but it was still the largest rodent I've ever seen in real life. Of course, now I wish I had a picture to scar all of you, my readers. But I was still too traumatized over the days events to fully appreciate the grossness/awesomeness factor. It was so bad that when I was in Paris and waiting for Dawn and Angela to finish in the bathroom under the Eiffel Tower, I saw rats scurrying back and forth across the sidewalk, and it didn't even phase me. They were normal sized rats. This one was a monster rat. Like that More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark book, with the story about the Mexican Sewer Rat and the mom snuck it home because she thought it was a dog. I still get shudders from it.

Really cool moss-covered stairs. I stayed at the bottom while Angela climbed them. I took pictures and babied my knee, and tried to recover from the rat experience...

 Random courtyard with graffiti...Looks like we're in Greece!

This house was sooo old. It looked like it was falling apart. If you look on the left, you can see Angela...

More cute alleyways...

This was actually really awesome. You can see on part of the stone something written in Arabic. It was so cool to see Italian, Greek, and Arabic in this city. It has such a varied history. How crazy to be taken over by such different cultures...

Another view of Palamidi...

If you look closely, you can see where the stairs are. You could probably understand a little bit why I was not in the mood...

This is a really cool gate to the old city. It has a Venetian Lion on it. That was a symbol of this ruling country. There are Venetian lions all over the city. Behind the gate is actually the street where our hotel is on. Don't let it's quaint look fool you. GHETTO!!!

Here is another look at Palamidi with a better view of the stairs. We saw this as we went to explore the Acronauplia. It's the oldest part of the city dating back to the 1200's. It was an awesome old castle. Though, it had graffiti on it! How is that even possible? It was slightly disturbing to this romantic historian's mind.

This is a view from the top of the castle...Nafplion is a really cool town. I want to go back some day, so that I can have a different experience...

This is a view of the ocean from a mostly unprotected outlook from the castle. I really wanted to jump into the water from here. It would have felt nice. There was actually a guy in a red speedo floating around in the water below the castle. It was still pretty warm even though it was pouring rain.

Here is more of the Acronauplia. It was so cool! it was like we were in a real medieval castle! But without the tourists and tour guides. No one was there. It was just us. 10-year-old Jennifer would have been in heaven. I would have been wearing my dress-up, princess gear and felt right at home.

We walked all around inside the parts that weren't fenced off. It was so much fun. It was dirty, and rocky, and falling apart. It was like I was an explorer or an archaeologist discovering something for the first time. Ok, so I didn't have a completely horrible time while I was there!

It had turrets! The little girl in me was in heaven. Now that I'm looking at the pictures and thinking about it, this part of the trip was actually one of my favorites. I could have spent all day there, just looking and feeling and imagining. It was a really special moment.

We had some pretty good food in Nafplion, but it wasn't my favorite city. The people weren't as nice as in other places. We did see the most awesome event, though. After we explored the castle, we just walked around and ate gelato. Well, we ran across a wedding. Yes, my friends, a BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING!!! It was bling, and glitz, and lots of Greek people. And quite a few nice looking Greek men in suits. We sat and watched. I refrained from taking pictures because there was an older tourist couple taking pictures, and I didn't want to be one of them. Though, I probably should have just done that. Again, I say, Oh well.

So that was Nafplion. Probably my least favorite part of the trip, even though it had it's cool moments. We didn't get bed bugs, we didn't get kidnapped by our ghetto slumlord. It all turned out for the best. I slept good that night, even though I was freaked out by the blanket I used. I guess it was okay, though, it smelled good and didn't have any weird stains on it or anything.

The Greece part of my trip is almost over! One more day in Athens, then Delphi, and then Paris!

Whoops...Greece: Day 6

I have to back up, I missed a day in Santorini. This post goes before the last two. So Meteora, and the last day in Fira, ignore them for this moment...So this is Day 6. The previous Day 6, was really Day 7 in disguise. Thank you Pete for pointing that out for me. So on Day 6, we went to Oia. Pronounced Eee-ya. It was our last day with our ATV's and we decided to drive from one end of Santorini to the other.

First stop...Red Beach.

Red Beach was a little under-whelming. But it was still pretty cool. It was a little dirty, but I guess this is what you get when you go at the end of the season. Note to self, next time go in June.

The red volcanic rocks were pretty cool, especially in contrast to this white church.

More volcanic rocks!

Angela and I in front of Red Beach...

Better picture...it makes you wonder how intense the volcanic eruption was back in the day. Red Beach is basically the lava flow...

Then we decided to just drive around on our ATV's. We went up this random road and stopped for a minute. While Angela and Dawn went exploring, I decided I'd rather stay and take in the view...and I took my favorite self portrait of all time...

We found a pretty cool lighthouse on the very tip of Santorini...here I am!

There was a mountain/rock/tall place near the lighthouse. Dawn and I hiked up it. Angela stayed at the bottom. I can't really blame her, it was tall, slippery, and it was REALLY windy that day. I was a little nervous, but I couldn't help myself. This is it below...Where that guy is standing...

This is the very top...you can see all the dust in the air. SOOOO windy...I think I got dirt in my teeth...

Dawn took this picture of me at the top, Angela is the little speck at the bottom...

This is the lighthouse, from our vantage point. It was an awesome view of the island.

So after the lighthouse, we went back to our hotel to pick up our dirty clothes to drop off at a laundry place. Best 15 euros I spent. Instead of washing them in the sink and hanging them up everywhere, I just spent money, dropped them off, and got them back all nice and folded. Dawn took this picture because she said I look like Jackie O...Um, doubt that. I was really trying to protect myself from the elements. If we had known how harrowing our trip to Oia would be, we might have thought twice.

So we set off to Oia. It was so windy. I know I've said this before, but you have no idea how scary it is to drive on an ATV into the wind on a road on a cliff, with no barriers. Crazy. The Greeks approved because as we were driving around this big bend, screaming our guts out, a bunch of Greek guys at a bus stop cheered us on. It was pretty hilarious. Seriously, I'm getting heart palpitations just thinking about it. You probably think I'm exaggerating, but I'm really not. I've never been so glad to NOT weigh 100 pounds in my life.

It was worth it, though. Because this is what was at the end of the road...

This place is insanely beautiful... Here are a few shots...

Dawn caught me taking the above picture...Just in case you were wondering, this picture is a point and shoot, stolen from Facebook, then converted to a jpeg. This is why it sucks.

The Colors!!! They were crazy cool. The overcast day helped them pop like whoa.

This is us... Now I'm going to just post a bunch of pictures. No commentary. There really is no point, just bask in the beauty folks!

This is the opposite side of where the red door was...

This is the fishing village at the bottom. I've heard that this is featured in the movie the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. But I've never seen it, so don't take my word for it.

Even the doors are beautiful...This is my kind of place. Desert like flora and land, blue ocean, and colorful buildings. It's like the best of everything, in my opinion.

Windmills! Though, Mykonos is the island that is famous for them...

This is actually my dream home. I'm going to live there some day...maybe...in my dreams...

We finally made it back to Fira and our hotel, after another harrowing ATV ride on a wind-swept cliff. We didn't die, but we sure thought we were going to! As we were walking up to Fira for dinner, we saw this guy on his donkey. I almost didn't get my camera out in time. It was a really cool moment. It's weird, this place is touristy, but so not at the same time.

And the perfect way to end the day...sunset at our spot...