Free Range Mama

halloween

Since we were away from home, we really hadn’t done any preparation for Halloween this year. No pumpkins, decorations, or costumes. The first two were no problem, but we had to do something about the costume situation if we were going to go trick-or-treating. Zylie was happy to wear last year’s costume (Charmander, a Pokemon), but Alex needed something different, so we had to get creative. He has a tuxedo, so we decided to use that as a starting point. Vampire was an obvious possibility, but Alex decided to go with Magician. I had to pick up a few props, but it didn’t take much, and he looked really fabulous!

The friends we were going to go out with came down with the flu, which was a bummer, but we went ahead. The rain held off for us, and it wasn’t too cold, which was a very good thing.

We drove into town to trick-or-treat, because out where we live the houses are much too far apart. The neighborhood we go to is pretty fun because a lot of houses are decorated an have big Halloween parties going on. Z got many compliments on her costume from Pokemon fans (lots of high-5’s from teenage boys) but of course many of the people who were handing out candy had no clue what a “Charmander” was.

The kids put forth a good effort, but were wiped out and ready to go home before too long. Z is a very picky eater, and that extends to candy as well, so she had quite a bit that she won’t eat, but on the whole they both seemed quite happy with their haul.

the long road home

3:30am came all too quickly. We got out of the hotel to our waiting cab, who then whisked us off to the Athens airport (going about 3 times the speed limit and routinely ignoring the lines on the road, of course).

Our flight to Paris was pretty uneventful, and once we got there we had a little bit of time to wander around, recharge some electronics…

and spend some of that Euro change that wouldn’t be worth exchanging.

Our next flight was from Paris to Los Angeles, again on Air France. This is a horrible connection, especially considering it took us about 1000 miles beyond Seattle after nearly flying directly over it.

The kids were able to get some sleep, but I got almost none. I have trouble sleeping on planes anyway, but this was worse than usual. My seat was very cramped (if the person in front of you reclined their seat, it was about 4 inches from your face), it was daytime, and the woman next to me felt the need to *constantly* get up and walk around, so I had to stand up each and every time. Bleh.

Once in Los Angeles, we had to go through customs, which went smoothly enough, but the kids were exhausted and staggering around like zombies, and I was getting to that point myself. I even fell asleep in the terminal for about 30 minutes, which is something I never normally do, but it was more comfortable than the plane.

The next flight was to Seattle on Alaska Air. I was delighted that the Alaska plane had big comfy seats. Chris and the kids slept pretty much the whole trip, though I was awake for about half of it. We were in different rows – Chris and Z in one, me and Alex in another. Alex was sitting next to a businessman (I wanted the window this time) and while he was sleeping he kept trying to put his feet up or lean on his other side, so I had to keep catching him before he’d be asleep on this guy’s shoulder.

Once in Seattle, we got a Shuttle to our car (parked at a friend’s house) and then drove the rest of the way home. Door to door, the trip took us something like  28 hours, which is pretty insane. The kids did great though – amazing actually. It could have been a lot worse under the circumstances, though all of us are going to take a while to recover.

As much fun as we had, we are all thrilled to be home. I can’t describe how lovely it was to be able to crawl into my own bed last night and really really sleep.

back on the mainland

Our ferry arrived, just as it had on the way over, at about 5:00 in the morning. From the ferry dock, we caught a taxi to the hotel – a beach resort near the town of Glyfada (an Athens Suburb).

The hotel was a bit of a splurge – we had 24 hours to kill between the uncomfortable boat and the uncomfortable planes, so we figured we’d find a very pleasant place to crash, and try to spend the day relaxing. We had also hoped to enjoy their pool and beach all day, though, while the kids did take a swim, it was overcast and not quite warm enough to be out there all day.

Our room had a nice deck with a great view, and an amazing bathroom with an even more fabulous shower, which was much appreciated. As much as I liked the hotel, one thing that drove me nuts about it is how much they nickel and dimed over every little thing – even cheap motels offer free wifi these days, so you’d think a 5-star hotel could swing it.

When we checked in, our credit card didn’t  work, and shortly we got a call from the rental car place, who were having the same problem. Lo and behold, there was a fraudulent charge and the card company had flagged it as suspicious and suspended the account. Fortunately we had an alternate card, so no problem, but it’s annoying that it got stolen (especially considering how seldom it left my wallet – Greece is really a cash-only kind of place) and now I have to do a bunch of work switching over to a new account.

We spent most of our time lounging around our room, except for a couple of outings to go eat.

The folks at the front desk led us a bit astray – the restaurant the suggested was really awful – kind of disappointing for our last night in Greece – and we were so anxious to get out of there that we ended up having way too much time to kill in Glyfada before we could catch a bus back. We got some ice cream, but we also ended up just walking around a bit before turning in for a very short night.

last day in crete

Monday was our last day in Crete, and we were all sad to go, even though there are certainly a lot of things we have missed about home, and are looking forward to. The (overnight) ferry wasn’t scheduled to leave until 9pm, so we more or less had a full day to spend. Chris, Tracy, and I decided to go back to Chania to check out the shops again, since we still had a few more things we wanted to pick up and so much had been closed on Sunday. The kids opted to spend the day with their grandparents – though they also visited few of the local shops while we were gone.

We were pretty much all business in Chania – we saw the main market and the surrounding ‘Old Town’ – rather touristy of course, and busy, but well suited to our purposes.  Shops, lunch, and back home.

Once we got home, we focused on packing. It took a while to collect everything, but we had no trouble fitting it in, which is a good thing.

In the afternoon, Sandy, Jim, and Tracy left for a Raki (Tsikoudia) making party – a fun tradition that we were sad to miss out on – and a short time later, we left for the boat.

Chris dropped us off at the boat and returned the rental car, at which point they gave him the final estimate on the damage he had done – about 1100 Euros. Nice. The ferry itself was pretty uneventful. Less crowded this time, and not at all confusing, since we had done it before and knew what to expect.

sunday in chania

We had spent most of our trip just a short drive outside of the city of Chania, but we had never actually paid it a visit, so it seemed like the perfect destination for the last *full* day before our departure. 

Chania is a lovely city with a long and interesting history – having been continuously inhabited since the Neolithic era.  We started out in the Venetian Port, which was quite scenic, though probably would be even more so on a sunny day.

We failed to take into account the fact that it was Sunday, and that nearly everything would be closed, so the shopping was a bit lackluster, but we had a good time

looking at the ruins and wandering through the various alleyways in the old town.

Later in the afternoon, we were invited to the home of a local friend of Sandy and Jim. A Chania native, she filled us in quite a bit on the town and what it had to offer. She also made an amazing Moussaka which pretty much cured Chris of any bad feelings he might have had about Eggplant. Her husband made some excellent Raki, and we were treated to an amazing Bailey’s cake made by another guest at the party. It was a nice size group (13 including our 7 plus some cute dogs) and it was very nice to meet some locals and chat with them. It is always interesting to learn about cultural differences and how the U.S. is perceived abroad. One man at the party, for example, was extremely shocked that we hadn’t heard of a particular Greek pop star – he is so famous and well loved in Greece that it seemed inconceivable that we wouldn’t have at least heard about him, especially when they hear so much about our pop stars. I had to admit that a singer really has to perform mostly in English to gain much ground with the American audience, but it definitely got me thinking about what we might be missing out on.

frankenberry castle

After our failed attempt to visit Frango Kastello on Friday, we decided just for kicks to try again, but to plan it as a loop trip to save us from having to cross that particular stretch of the White Mountains any more than absolutely necessary.

The weather looked a little bit ominous (dark clouds descending over the mountains) but years of living in the Pacific Northwest have trained us to be rather dismissive of little details like rain. As long as it wasn’t snowing – we’d be fine.

Again, we ventured on the winding mountain roads. Again, the sheer cliffs and tight corners gave me heart palpitations. This time, however we had a new challenge, as, about halfway there, the skies opened up and dropped an astonishing amount of rain directly on top of us. To say it was coming down in buckets or sheets would be a gross understatement. It was dumping… and to make it worse, it was rolling right off the dry land and turning the road into a river. Very. Difficult. Driving. We thought we were through the worst of it, when we ascended a little higher – the rain stopped, but suddenly we were in a dense fog with only about 2 or 3 feet visible in front of our car. This would be scary anywhere, but on a steep, narrow road with hairpin turns, 500ft dropoffs on either side and often not so much as a guardrail, it was nauseating.

As we got to the dramatic descent over Hora Sfakion, we finally emerged from the fog, and were relieved to see that the coastal weather was much, much better. Not perfect, but certainly fine for our purposes, and surprisingly warm. We decided not to tempt fate by returning to Hora Sfakion for more Risotto and continued directly to the castle.

The castle itself sat starkly on the beach, with a few tavernas and beach hotels around it. The community itself wasn’t very interesting, and was probably even less so now that it was the off-season. They were literally packing up the beach umbrellas as we stood there. That didn’t, of course, discourage the kids from playing in the waves after we had completely investigated the (very cool) ruin.

They were drawn like magnets into the warm surf, and got soaked.

After leaving the castle, the plan was not to return the way we had come. It wasn’t hard to convince anyone of this, because it was clear that the fog was still hovering over the mountains. We decided to drive up the coast a bit and then cut back up to the North via the road to Rethymno.

Driving up the coast seemed fairly simple when looking at the map, but like the drive through the mountains, it proved also to be a mind-blowing assortment of steep grades, tight corners, narrow roads, and of course, the occasional encounter with livestock.

We found an isolated beach community a little way up, where we stopped for lunch. Much of it appeared to be closed down, but there was a little taverna there with a spectacular view.

We continued up to Rethymno from there, enjoying some amazing views in the hills over Plakias and through the gorge. We decided to stop in Rethymno, with the hope of visiting the fortress

(which we had still failed to see) and of course the fortress closed *just* before we got there. We decided to walk around a bit, but it wasn’t too long before it was dark and the drenching rain started up again – so we headed home, driving through it once again, as it turned into a spectacular storm with lightning and thunder that was still rolling nearly 48 hours afterwards.

stupid pole

Friday we decided to get out of town a bit and see some of the South Coast. We had been told that there was an interesting Venetian ruin almost directly south of us, that was worth checking out. We got a bit of a late start, but we piled into the car and went for it.

The first surprise was the drive itself. The White Mountains, which we had only really seen from a distance at this point, were a formidable obstacle. They were quite rocky and bare at times, taking on an otherworldly quality. Also otherworldly were the roads, which were unlike any I have ever seen. Extremely steep, narrow, with shockingly tight turns and few guard rails, hovering over deep gorges and dropoffs. Very anxiety-inducing, and the occasional sight of a wrecked car at the bottom did nothing to help.

There was occasional comic relief from the goats that would wander across from time to time (that’s a goat on a guardrail in the picture)

but I supposed they’d be a lot less adorable if you didn’t see them coming in time.

By the time we had descended as far as the coast, we were more than ready to take a break. We stopped in the nearest town, Hora Sfakion, to find a Taverna and get some lunch.

The town did not disappoint – very charming little seaside village with a nice run of beachside tavernas. We picked the one that seemed to be full of locals (they’d be at the good one, right?), and Tracy and I had the most incredible seafood risotto evah.

Everyone else enjoyed their meal, too of course, but I can only vouch for the risotto, which I am still dreaming about.

The kids were delighted to play on the beach a bit afterwards, especially miss Z, who discovered that the rocks all looked like eggs and started constructing a nest with the idea of hatching them.

We were all happy and full when we went back to the car, but as we were pulling out of our parking space, Chris failed to notice a short pole sticking out of the ground near our parking space and clipped it with the front fender – which in turn ripped the entire front bumper off of the rental car. Oh joy. Fortunately a very nice shopkeeper came running out and proceeded to help us tie the bumper back on with twine so that we could finally drive away. We decided at that point that it would probably be best to get the car back to the rental place and get a new car before the twine failed us, so our castle-visiting plan was scrapped in favor of driving back over the same mountain pass with the bumper dangling off the front.

Chris dropped the rest of us at home before going to the rental place, where he asked if he could please have a “more durable” car. They obliged, but not before making him drive the dangly-bumper car all the way to the airport to collect his replacement. We hadn’t opted for the supplemental insurance, so it’s a bit of a hassle, but we can still get reembursed by our credit card company, so at least we don’t have to ding our own insurance.

In the evening, we needed a little stress relief, so we were all went to dinner at Bloumasifi’s Taverna, and then Chris and Tracy and I headed over to catch the live music at the Art Cafe up the street. When we got there, the band was playing and the place was quite full (unlike the previous night). We ordered drinks and started sipping and chatting only to be roundly “shushed” by an English woman at the next table. Now, I was a bit taken aback here, as this was not a string quartet we were listening to, but a typical pub cover band, and we were not talking loudly nor were they playing quietly. A quick look around revealed that we were in the midst of a phenomenon that had been described to us by a local friend, who had been shushed here in the past under similar circumstances. Most of the people in the bar were English, and they were all facing the band and listening wit rapt attention. Apparently live music of any kind in this venue was treated as a concert, not a social occasion. Very odd. Anyway, we picked up our drinks and walked out on the terrace where were able to chat without any dirty looks. I’d already had a few too many, but as we were leaving, NIkos the bar manager pulled us aside and insisted we do a round of Raki with him, and who are we to refuse a round of Raki?, so we went with it. Definitely paid for my excesses in the morning.

greek hospitals and more

Z had been having some symptoms of another UTI for the past day or so, and by Wednesday night it got to the point that I felt we needed to take her to the doctor and have her checked out. There is a health center in Vamos, so we decided to start there. Walking in, everything was in Greek and nobody seemed to speak English, so it was a bit baffling. The guy at the front desk was able to point me in the direction of pediatrics (fortunately many English medical words are derived from Greek ones) and I was able to decipher a sign on a door that said “Pediatrikos” or something like that and had a bunch of families with children standing around outside. Chris and I surmised that we should wait here and watch what the other families did. Sure enough, it appeared that people were taking turns going into this one room, but it wasn’t clear if there was any rhyme or reason to it. Fortunately, I overheard a woman near me say something that sounded familiar, so I turned around and asked her if she spoke English. “Speak English? I am English!” she replied, and before long, she was my new best friend. She has lived in Crete for 6 years, and knew the system, so I asked her how the whole thing worked. She explained that the doctor only works until 1:00, so you get there as early as possible and pay attention to who gets there before and after you so you know when it’s your turn. Babies under 3 months get priority. Okay, simple enough, but it was already 11:30 and there were quite a few people there and no telling when we’d get in. Just then, the doctor’s assistant came out, and basically told everyone to go home and come back tomorrow, though of course I can only guess at her exact phrasing. My new friend felt horrible that we were spending a day of our holiday in a waiting room, and possibly having to do it again, so she promised to have a word with the doctor. She said the doctor was a bit difficult (at least with foreigners) and didn’t like to speak English even though she could, but would probably be willing to help us out. Long story short, with much assistance, we did eventually get seen. The doctor was generally displeased with us, but she was kind enough to Z, which is what matters. We got sent to another town to do the lab work and still had to report back the next day with the results. I wouldn’t call the experience easy, but it was completely free of charge (love that socialized medicine) and the quality of care was very good – so it’s hard to argue with that. We should be so lucky in the U.S.

In the afternoon, Jim and Tracy and I decided to do another one of the country walks out of the book. This time we hiked about 5K over country roads and mountain paths to the hidden church of the Black Madonna (she is the icon to the left of Jim in this picture).

We ended up doing a little impromptu sheep herding while we were up there..

And visited the cemetery on the way back through town…

In the evening we went back to the Taverna and had drinks at the Art Cafe.

cave church hike

For Tracy’s first day in Vamos, we decided to do a long hike around the countryside, which included a lot of more remote areas, and several interesting sites, like this cave church…

There were also some fantastic vistas along the way

In the evening, Chris went and picked up his dad (Jim) from the airport, and then we all went out to dinner. Jim hadn’t originally planned on coming on this trip, but when he finished his wine harvest early and heard how much fun we were having in Crete, he changed his mind and hopped on a plane. Yay!

monday and tuesday in a nutshell

I’m writing this way after the fact, so I’m going to deliver this in highlight reel form:

MONDAY

Pirate Ship = FAIL. Saw these cool ships in Rethymno – they normally do cruises, but they were’t running. Fortunately, the kids didn’t seem to mind.

New plan = WIN: swimming in the lagoon near Gerani Caves

TUESDAY

Alternate housing arrangement – WIN!

We picked up my friend Tracy at the Chania Airport today. She was planning to stay with us for the week, but with Jim coming, our house was feeling a bit squeezy. We decided to rent this extra house, which was teeny, but just the perfect size for Tracy and absolutely adorable. It was in the fabrika building (where the coking classes were held) and it looks like something out of a fairy tale on the inside. Cute, cute, cute! I will cop to being jealous on this one.

Scorpion = FAIL

Okay, I admit it was fascinating to find this thing, but it was in the kids room, and we suspect it was the source of the big welts on Alex’s arm. Turns out they’re not that poisonous here (and this one was tiny) but they still sting.