Crete was great, but getting there and back again was harrowing. Elliott and his soldiers were flying on a teeny tiny Navy plane for this trip, but Lena and I could only fly if there was Space A[vailable] after all the official passengers were seated. This means I had to pack and close up the house as though we were leaving for the week but had no guaranteed seat on the plane. So I did all the prep the night before (cleaning out the fridge, freezing food, giving away produce, washing the last of the cloth diapers, cleaning the kitchen, watering the plants, giving a key to a friend so she can water the plants mid-week, closing all the shutters on all the windows, unplugging everything, taking out all the trash…) and then at 6am on Monday morning we drove to the Naval Air station airport.
After two hours of assuming we couldn’t go (no seats left, Lena couldn’t fly on my lap, we didn’t have the right paperwork) a crew member in a flightsuit walked up and said: “There’s room for you. You can come.”
And just like that, we did!
[There is more to the “harrowing” adjective regarding our return trip, but I’ll save that story for a little later.]
Elliott worked every day (Monday-Thursday) that we were there, but his hours weren’t super long on this trip. Lena and I kept ourselves occupied on base until he was finished for the day.
One evening we all went to the pool on base. These days Lena loves playing with volleyballs, soccer balls, beach balls, tennis balls… you name it, she wants to carry it around and then “throw” it.
Another evening we went to the beach. The water was so warm and clear!
Later that same evening we went out to eat gyros with Elliott’s soldiers. I meant to take a picture during the meal. Whoops. Obviously it was delicious!
Elliott, Lena, and I explored the port city of Hania one evening. There were hundreds of fun shops and delicious seafood restaurants. This wins the “coolest walk-in spa ever” award in my book:
More photos coming soon of a trip to a couple of monasteries, a hike that we never finished, and our pre-flight trip to another beach at about 8 o’clock in the morning.
