Greece, I love you.

But first, a big fat shout out to my BFF Jessica in Boulder. She just had a baby girl: Ella Jae Johnson and she is so gorgeous and tiny! You can see pics of her on Jessica's blog over there on the right in my blog roll. Congratulations Johnson family!

Back to Spring break--which was AWESOME!!! Half road-trip, one quarter ferries trip, a whole lotta climbing, and some serious scenery by the Med. It was everything I thought it could be and more.

Our plans were to eventually stay several days on the Greek island of Kalymnos, a total world-class climbing mecca, but as it was still off season, and ferries only run three days a week, we didn't need to get down to Bodrum in Southwest Turkey until Monday morning. So we drove, checking out the world on the way.

Our first stop was Izmir, the third largest city in Turkey on the Aegean Sea. Near this town are some of the most famous Roman ruins and the area was incredibly beautiful and fertile. We caught up with some friends and stayed the night.

Now that's how much coffee I'll be having, thank you very much. If only I could lift the cup...

Sunday we left Izmir and headed down south to Bodrum with plans to check out an up-and-coming bouldering destination at Bafa Lake. On the way there, in the middle of nowhere-seriously, middle of nowhere, we found caffeine.

Before you arrive at the little village of Bafa, you drive along the lake for awhile. Tim is impressed. The lake is hu-mongo and GORGEOUS. There are olive groves everywhere.

And all around the lake are tons and tons of rock and boulders. Only a tiny little bit has been developed. Last year, a group of kids from Salt Lake came out and developed a bit and made a movie, Herakleia. Go here to see the trailer and some crazy shots of this crazy place. Herakleia was actually an ancient city and the ruins are almost as impressive as the sheer amount of rock in this gorgeous area.




We didn't actually do any bouldering. All the landings were pretty serious and we didn't have a crash pad yet. Turns out, the only place you can get one is a little store in Izmir--they make them right there. The store was closed while we were there but we did get a pad on the way back home. So....we are well-prepared for our next Lake Bafa trip.

So we continued on our way when all of a sudden, again in the middle of nowhere, we spotted what looked like a Roman temple. So we pulled over.

Sure enough, it's the old city of Euromos (of course). This is what happens in Turkey. There are ruins everywhere. You know, being the cradle of modern civilization and all.



Finally, Sunday evening, we made it down to Bodrum which is a seriously popular vacation spot. Honestly it's pretty similar to the Greek Islands just across the bay. Except for the whole call-to-prayer thing. Okay, there are many more differences. But Bodrum is still charming and beautiful. We stayed the evening and went to catch our ferry the next morning. Our boat was the only one on the dock and while I was out on the deck, checking out the bay, a Navy ship pulled up beside us. Here was my thought process:

--Oh, that looks like a US naval ship.
--Oh, yeah, there's the American flag. Cool.

--Hmm, that's a pretty small boat to come such long way.
--My brother's boat was that small.
--Actually, that looks a lot like my brother's boat.
--I wonder what the name---HOLY SHIT!!


--It IS my brother's boat!!

After much tweaking out and yelling at them, and me acting like a crazy person, we learned there were a couple dudes on board who had worked with my brother when we was serving on the John L. Hall. They told him about it. How cool is that? How small world is that? This is a TINY harbor for an unimportant city. And it's the only other boat on the dock? RANDOM!!

Bye-bye, Alan's former boat.

Actually, I'm really glad he wasn't actually on the boat still. I would have freaked out and then some. Especially if we had not been able to get off our respective boats. I would have been a mess. I love you, Alan!!

And an hour later, we pull into the harbor for the Greek Island of Kos which is a pretty big, popular island for tourists. This was the day after Easter, so besides restaurants, all the business were closed and all the islands' inhabitants were in town hanging out at the cafes. How Euro!

So we joined them. We thought this old guy was cute.

Nice Vespa! --the preferred mode of travel on the islands.

We soon hopped our next ferry for our final destination: Kalymnos. The owner of the apartment we rented picked us up at the harbor and took us to our little home away from home. Kalymnos is a tiny island and the majority of the tourism in the months off of tourist months (June-August) is just climbers from around the world. So there aren't really many hotels. Mostly, there are just apartments that you rent. Ours was quite nice and cost us 25 Euro a night. We also rented a scooter to get around to the climbing areas.

Day One (as in Tuesday), we went first to crag called Summertime:

But we soon realized that the reason why it's called summertime is because it's shady. So you go there in the summer. Duh. It was winter so we moved on somewhere sunny. The crag was called Casteli and it was out on a point that jutted out from the mainland. Here's Tim on some infamous gray limestone slab:


Then it was time for our, okay, we're in another country, let's have some Guinness, Guinness.
We love Guinness. We miss Guinness. Mmmmm.....

The next day we spent at a great crag called the Odyssey. I think. We didn't get a guidebook because they're putting out a new one next month. So we'll buy the new one when we return. So the rest is off the top of my head and my memory is like my Guinness: gone!

There were several great, fun routes there. We also had a nice time talking to folks at the base. There are literally people there from all over the world and everyone speaks English to each other (except the French, of course). This is nice and comfortable for us after struggling with Turkish.


Great shot of the crag from below. But it makes you feel like, while there are TONS of routes here, there seems to be the potential for even more.

Time to hop on the scooter, go home, shower, and go out for some MOUSAKA!!!

Tim enjoying the sunset over the Med on our porch.

We can't leave just yet. There's a little visitor on our scooter.


The islands were totally prime for my favorite game: Spot the kitty. They were everywhere. Even more so than in Istanbul. It was awesome.

Here's an interesting reminder about what to do with your toilet paper:

Our last day climbing, we went to a popular crag called Archi, or Arhi in the book:




This is Tim below his proud send, Thetis--a fun 6b+ that we had to wait in line for.


Alas, way too soon, we had to pack up and leave. Friday afternoon we boarded our ferry back to Kos. In Kos we picked up plenty of bacon and sausages and Tim refrigerated the whole package with giant packs of frozen pita bread. It worked well!


Leaving the port in Kalymnos. So long, paradise.....

We're pretty sure it's going to be crazy hot there this summer. But the trade winds kick up and there's always a breeze and plenty of routes in the shade. We're pretty convinced we'll be spending more time here this summer. Mostly, this was meant to be a re-con mission to figure out if we really wanted to spend a large hunk of time here. The answer is, obviously, a resounding YES!

Hello, Goodbye

There is not so much of this anymore:

We just had our last ski weekend. 15 days for me, 16 for Tim. I think that's pretty good. Especially when you consider the season is only 3 months long. The trip to Austria helped a lot. I think we'll still get another backcountry day or two in April in the high mountains. But it has warmed up fast!! Today at school I wore sandals and short-sleeves. This past weekend, we experienced in one day what would be a two month progression of snow quality in Colorado. With that sort of warp-speed, I'm not holding out much hope. But this season was awesome! I was so pleased with what we found here in Turkey AND I got my first ever ski vacation. I got a new pair of skis this past summer (G3 Vivas--sweet!) and I can honestly say I broke them in well. I am satisfied.

And now we approach our spring break. We shall head off for a week of sunshine on the island of Kalymnos. It's a Greek island, but so close, it might as well be Turkey. But it's not. It's Greece. And some of the best climbing in the world. We'll see. Next weekend we drive to the cool Med town of Bodrum where we'll hang out a night or two, then we'll hop a ferry to Kalymnos.

We're staying in these climber apartments where, with our rent, we get a moped for the weekend. How Euro! After these 3 months straight with kids (that's right teachers, no long weekends, no half days, nothing!) I NEED some time on the Med. It will be well-earned. Ahhhh.....

My New Kitty

That's Right

PALANDÖKEN! Skiing Eastern Turkey

Unsure of what we'd find, last weekend we set off for eastern Turkey for the biggest ski resort in the country. We flew an hour and a half and took a 15 minute taxi up to the resort. Again, it was one of those all-inclusive deals, but this time, much cheaper for waaaaayyy better skiing! We didn't find any powder. In fact, they need some serious snow out there. But there was enough for us to have a total blast and not get bored on the pistes.

The place has an ancient gondola, 3 high-speed quads, and several dinky lifts and t-bars. The runs were plenty steep and long and there were several slalom courses set up all over the mountain--probably the only resort steep enough to have such courses. From the top of the mountain, we could get a couple thousand feet of decent in, and NOT on cat tracks. We were very pleased.

We also made quite an impression with the tele skis. People stared and the brave ones told us our skis were broken. Thank you for letting us know.

The bare landscape was still a bit shocking, even though I feel like I've been around the Middle East enough now to expect it. We felt like we were skiing on the moon. There were no trees anywhere. But of course, that meant plenty of wide bowls for carving huge turns.

As soon as we got back, we tried to book a second trip, but all the flights are full this month. We may have to wait till next year to go again, but we'll be sure to get out there at least once a month next winter!

Tomorrow we're off to yet another new ski area, Dorukaya. We are slowly reaching Tim's goal to ski every resort in Turkey by the time we leave--short winter be-damned!

8 Weeks to Go Time

We've added a race to the calendar! It's the Golden Horn 1/2 Marathon! The race traces the Golden Horn in Istanbul--the old European bit that has all the old stuff in it. It's an out-and-back, but since it's confined to that one little area of the city, it should be easier to manage, logistically (read: no standing in the rain for an hour beforehand).

I learned about the race through a random email, and I'm glad I did, because there are just not many races here--none that I've heard of in my own city. I thought the next race we would run would again be the intercontinental race that we did earlier in the fall. We kicked off the 8 weeks with a huge trail run the other day. My knee is doing decidedly well. This race will be the longest I've run since my knee injury onset. I think if I get through it without knee pain, then my full recovery is official. I had no pain after the 15k we ran in the fall, so I'm keeping my hopes high. I'm still treating it and still certainly working on hip strength. I can tell when I ski--my left leg is still severely weaker than my right and that's just going to take more time.

In other fun news--we're working on our spring break, the first week of April. The early coming of spring has cut our ski plans for that break. Instead, we are planning to go climbing on the Greek island of Kalymnos--some of the best climbing in Europe. It will be in the middle of training time, so I guess I'll need to do some runs on the beach. I know, it's a rough life.

Thought I'd Be An Expert By Now, But.....

In the middle of this past week I returned from a whirlwind trip to Israel with a bunch of kids. It was incredibly stressful for me being responsible for kids in a new country. But I didn't let any parents down this time, though we discovered one child is violently allergic to strawberries, I had to pack up the kids belongings and move their luggage out of the horrible hostel we were set up in for our first night of the conference, and I had to act as our tour guide in Jerusalem. Overall it was a great trip, and the kids made it worth it. I was waiting to see how this conference went to decide if I would be involved in MUN again next year, but the kids have convinced me through their behavior and pride in their performance that I should definitely stick with it.

I know before I left I promised my expert commentary upon my return. So sure was I that I would know the route to peace and be the purveyor of understanding to all ethnic and religious groups around the West Bank with my five days in their midst. Alas, I am as confused as ever. My presence did not quell the tensions that run high throughout and around the old city--ancient wrongs, vengeance, and not-so-ancient grudges are alive and well. And so what follows is merely a tourist's commentary on her photos. I did learn a good deal about what is housed in Jerusalem and I left with a strong resolution to return sometime (without 16 high school kids) and really SEE Israel.

Like many Westerners, I expected Israelis to be fluent in both Hebrew and English. That simply is not always the case and I seriously underestimated the amount of Palestinian-Israelis and Arab Christians in the country. So, most road signs and information of importance appear in the three languages: Hebrew, Arabic, and English.

In this picture we're on the bus and over the hill lies Jerusalem. I took pictures of the hill because it looked familiar to me--like I see such landscape in photos of Israel.

Below is the "new" part of Jerusalem. This city is much different from Tel Aviv, which could pass as any Western, well-developed city. Just outside of old Jerusalem, where we were staying, and inside the old city walls, it all felt very third world to me.

The old, walled-in city is accessed through several "Gates." The one below, near where we stayed with a bunch of French nuns, is the Damascus Gate. This is the northern-most gate and is named (I assume) for the major city it is oriented towards.

The Damascus Gate entrance.

Once we passed through the gate, I lead us as straight as possible through the streets to reach the Western Wall (Wailing Wall). On the way, we bisected the street called "Via Dolorosa" on which lie the Stations of the Cross. Below is the 5th Station of the Cross, thought to be where Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus carry his cross or tried to carry it a ways for him. As a side note, in Jerusalem, it seems like the Christians are less concerned (than the Jews and Muslims) with actual historical fact, or archaeological proof and just ardently hold on to what is generally accepted as commemorative places. There exists loads of criticism and archaeological support that things happened differently, in different areas around Jerusalem. So I suppose it's something you have to decide for yourself. It still does not take away the fact that these places are so revered by so many and have been for centuries. You cannot easily dispel that kind of power and magic.


Below is a typical scene in the old city. People still live and work in the buildings and the streets are narrow and crowded.

I expected to see a lot of Orthodox Jews. What I did not expect was the interesting hat below. I simply imagined the black coats and hats with the side curls. Other dudes were wearing fur flying saucers. I know that's not very respectful, but that was my first impression. And at least I understand that they aren't tourist attractions and so did not jump in anyone's face to take a picture (I just clicked them off from behind). I think that this guy's hat means he's an Hasidic Rabbi.

And now we come to my contraband picture. No photos allowed of the Western Wall, but I got a couple anyway--taken in a very non-obvious, from in front of my stomach, sort of position.

In front of that barrier, there are many many Jews, praying and swaying. The men and women are separated and the mens' side is MUCH bigger than the womens' side. The men are very loud in their "wailing" and the women just seem to sway and read from their Torah books. If you go to the Wiki link above, you can see better pictures of the people at the wall, though not nearly as crowded as the day we were there. Tourists were allowed to respectfully go up to the wall, so I went up and stuck my little prayer for my family into a little cranny. While I can't honestly say I believe in anything like that--least of all any sort of dogma, it was still pretty cool to be there.

This is the entrance to the Dome of the Rock, which is not accessible these days to non-Muslims on Saturdays. But I had Turkish kids with me, so I let them go in and snap off photos while I waited outside the gate. Definitely go to the Wiki link. I was disappointed to not see this site. This is the girls getting themselves all covered up. The people inside the area made fun of the kids and hassled them for not knowing their prayers. It's probably a good thing I couldn't go in... I'd hate to have the kids see me rough-up anyone.

From Dome of the Rock, we made our way down the Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where we spent a good deal of time. This is the place where, supposedly, the hill where Jesus was crucified and entombed has been dug away and this church was built over the site to commemorate all the important spots involved in the crucifixion, anointment, and entombment.
The history and ownership of the church itself is very interesting and the Wiki article on this place is definitely worth the read.

Just inside the doorway, this is the rock that commemorates where Jesus was anointed and wrapped up. There is a lot of contention over the validity of this spot, and I guess it's now more of a traditional place-marker than an historic one. To the right of the rock is a stair climb which represents his climb up the hill of Golgotha and at various points the rock on which the cross was set up is visible through glass. At the very top is an incredibly ornate altar and the rock is exposed under glass windows there. We did not go up there as we spent the majority of our time trying to get into the tomb instead.

But this is part of the rock of Golgotha, exposed on the lower level of the church. So I thought that was pretty good...

And underneath a huge, ornate dome, there lies, I mean, there for three days, lay Jesus.

The Greek Orthodox (I'm pretty sure anyway) own this part of the church, and so we had to cover our heads with scarves to enter. On this wooden structure built over the tomb there are shelves where people placed lighted bundles of 33 candles. 33 to represent Jesus' age when he died.

The dome from the inside.

We had to wait in line a LONG time, wrapped around the structure before we could go in. Here's people going inside--our turn is soon.

Inside the structure is two little rooms. This is the outer room and you have to bend down and go through that ornate marble doorway to get to the rock that commemorates the location of the tomb.

And this is the rock that people accept as Jesus' tomb. It's worn incredibly smooth from the billions of hands that have rubbed over it.

This is the altar above the rock. And that's all I had time for. They hustled us in and out very quickly. The kids were cute--they wanted to know if they were supposed to cross themselves before they went in and they conducted themselves with the requisite awe. Jesus is still an important prophet for Muslims.

Good shot of the doorway as I backed away.

After our day in Jerusalem we moved north of Tel Aviv to the gorgeous American International School for the MUN conference. The pic below is from even farther north, almost to Haifa. The woman I stayed with the last night really took good care of me and my kids and I shot this from her roof. In the distance is the huge Cesarea Aqueduct.

And below is the US Ambassador to Israel. This guys traveled with no less than 4 secret service dudes. He was gracious enough to come and speak to the students during the opening ceremonies of the conference.

I don't have the kids' parents' permission to post any pictures of them, so I won't. But we spent about three days at this school, joined by many schools from all over Israel--a great learning experience for our kids. While somethings went wrong for us on the trip, and we stayed in hostels while they are used to Hiltons, I have since overheard the kids talking to others about what a great experience they had and what an incredible impression Jerusalem made on them. Color me satisfied.