One Word At A Time: Adventure

By Ginny (MAD21)

If I were to choose a few words to describe my family, one of them would surely be adventurous. We love to go on adventures. Yes, we have also chosen that word to describe an everyday occurrence in hopes that by changing a certain child's perspective about it might make them more motivated to participate, but really, we do love them. One of our most favorite ways to add adventure to a road trip is that we don't usually have a map or a time line.

We have two different kinds of trips we like to take. One has a specific location as our destination, the other is "just pick a direction."

Click to read more ...

YOB International Adventures 2010 (Part 7) Crete

By Lara

Honestly? After Turkey, Israel, and Egypt, Crete wasn't terribly spectacular. It was pretty, though. The water was beautifully clear. The people who wanted to go swimming were encouraged to do so. I just wandered from shop to shop doing some last minute souvenir buying. I meandered over to the lake. I look some pictures of churches. I ate some mediocre gellato. We didn't have very long on Crete. I think it was only about three hours. I got back on the boat early and camped on the fifth floor deck to people watch from above. I'm also fairly certain that I went to bed early that night.

We disembarked the next day and rode back to the hotel. Karen held a farewell thing for us in the hotel lobby with coffee and some sort of uber-sweet thing. The remaining eight of us decided to go out to lunch to get our fill of souvlaki and tzazicki and baklava. Food was consumed. Photos were taken. Jokes were made. It was wonderful.

Click to read more ...

YOB: International Adventures 2010 (Part 6) Egypt

By Lara

We got up really early for Egypt. The first part of the tour was a three hour bus ride into Cairo. Our tour guide was interesting. I tried to stay awake for his lecture because he was so excited and knowledgeable. I did not succeed. I don't think I slept through a lot of it, though.

Cairo was interesting. No one in Cairo drives inside the traffic lines... not buses, not sports cars, not 1950's style Fords, nor the donkey carts. They all just weave and honk their way forward.

Our bus managed to weave and honk its way to the Egyptian museum. I was excited about the museum. I grew up watching enough PBS that four thousand year old statues make me tingly with anticipation. Plus, I was going to see the King Tut exhibit on its home continent! That's when our guide mentioned that under no circumstances could we bring a camera inside. My heart grumbled a bit, but I reminded myself that there was a gift shop.

Ok. We braved the exuberant throngs of people to get inside the museum. If Egypt has fire codes, I cannot imagine that we didn't violate about a hundred of them to squeeze into the museum. We didn't get a lot of time to look at the statues. I probably would have lingered over more of them, but I had no desire to be left behind in Egypt... or crushed by a tourist stampede. I did, however, get to see Tutankhamen's underpants.

Click to read more ...

YOB: International Adventures 2010 (Part 5) Mykanos/Israel

By Lara

Most of the day on Sunday, we were at sea. I distinctly remember writing in my journal, napping, and being cornered by Karen for an hour in the lounge. Most of the time, I just let her talk. It was easier that way. She had quite the monologue about cruise ship disasters. I did a lot of trying not to think about it.

We got to port in Mykanos mid-afternoon. All of the houses were whitewashed with blue roofs and shutters. It makes for an eye-pleasing effect. There was a rather long period of waiting for the shuttle bus to take us into the main village of Mykanos. I mostly remember being windblown. Aine and I may have pretended to be in 80ies videos. I remember there was singing.

The village was beautiful. Karen led us on a walk-through to the windmills. The streets were all whitewashed and cobble-stoned. The weather was ideal. The water was inviting. The churches were quaint.

Half way through the town, we met Petros. Petros is a giant pelican and something of a local celebrity. I thought he was adorable until he yawned his beak inside-out. That was creepy.

While most of the rest of the group visited the shops, I tried to find some quiet places to just sit and drink in the experience. Everything was so bright and beautiful. Also, it was Sunday, so I popped into one of the churches to take a little bit of reflection time and prayer. Greek Orthodox churches do tend to be a little bit more ornate than is my taste, but they are still churches and they are part of the experience.

Click to read more ...

YOB: International Adventure 2010 (Part 4) Istanbul

I was so excited to get off the bus. My first footfalls in Asia were walking briskly towards the Sultan Ahmed mosque. Most Americans know this as "the blue mosque" due to the interior design that incorporates blue Iznik tiles.

The line to get into the mosque was quite long. I amused myself with some kittens playing in the courtyard. When I got to the front of the line, I was given a bag to put my shoes in and was inspected by the modesty police. They decided that I was showing an acceptable level of skin and let me pass. Several of the people on my bus were given shawls and/or wraps to cover their bare shoulders or knees. (Please keep in mind that we had been briefed about this the day before.)

Click to read more ...