A trip to the Southside!

Tuesday: I slept well last night and woke up before 8:00 sometime to some pretty loud thunder. I was still kind of tired to I slept and woke up at 8:00. I then quietly got dressed and went down to breakfast. The only one down there was Mr. Cook. I ate some breakfast and while I was eating some other people showed up. I walked around a little bit and waited for people to finish eating so I we could sit down and plan for the day. My grandparents and Aunt an Uncle decided we were going to drive through the mountains to the south side of Crete and find a beach. We were then going to drive back a different way and then back to the hotel. At the end of the day we would then had made a pretty nice circle of a portion of Crete, seen the mountains and a good beach. We left around 11:00 and started driving towards the south side J

What we thought was going to be a simple drive turned out to be a grand adventure and a great day! We kind of got lost because the roads weren’t labeled very well, but we ended up taking this other road that was a little bit longer, but had some great views. We pretty much drove down the coast a ways and drove through a couple small towns and saw some different views of the ocean. Emily and Ana were getting hungry so instead of eating in the mountains we stopped at the next town and it turned out to be a serendipities event. We found a nice little restaurant that made gyros and they were really amazing! There was also a book store across the street so we walked over and looked quick. After lunch and we drove on to the mountains. We could see them a ways before we got there and we even saw snow on the tops. Which is kind of weird... snow in Crete. Once we got to the mountains the road got really steep and windy. On the map it looked like a 3 year old went crazy with a pencil and paper. However crooked and crazy it was the scenery was absolutely beautiful! Despite being a little cloudy and rainy it was still an amazing drive. The road just kept going up and curving through all these different towns and villages. It was in a lot better condition then we thought it was going to be too. There was a great view of this really wide valley and it was very picturesque. The clouds were hugging the mountainside and the grass was really green... it kind of reminded me of some pictures of Ireland... another place I would like to go to someday. Sadly my camera ran out of battery and I forgot my other on in my pants pocket. I switched to shorts at the last second and forgot to transfer it. I also have some other frightening news that made me freak out a little bit. My battery charger isn’t working here. I’m going to try and find something that might make it work though. It worked in Germany and Crete has the same outlets. Even my IPod charger works! I’m not sure what the deal is, but I had one battery left and I’m going to really try and use it sparingly! I don't think it will last 6 days though....

So we continued upward and saw very many goats. We also very many different markings on the goats. Some had red dyed necks, others had blue spots on their rumps, some had tags in their ears and we even saw some that had hair shaved off certain places. I’m glad I’m not a goat! As we neared the top the mountainside got a lot rockier and there was different vegetation. We drove on top of the mountains a little bit and then crossed this really cool bridge. It reminded me of the bridge that the fellowship crossed in the first movie of The Lord of the Rings, except a little more cool! We all held our breath as we rove over it and made it safely to the other side. It reminds me of that story of the troll underneath the bridge and the three Billy goats gruff that are trying to cross it. Anyway... we drove and parked at a small vantage point and took some video and then began our decent down the mountain. The road on the way down had recently been re done and actually some of it was under construction still. It was nice and wide though... well some of it. It got really narrow and steep with no guard rails at a couple points. I’m glad we didn’t meet and busses or trucks. We also drove through three stone tunnels that were all in a row and in the last one there were some goats taking shelter from the rain. That was funny. After passing the turn twice we pulled into an empty parking lot for the beach we were going to and got out. It was an amazing beach and really huge. The sand dunes were really steep and tall and there were lots of rocks all over the place. The waves were really big and the smell was refreshing. We changed into swimming stuff and then walked down to the beach. The first thing I did was run... it was so fun to just run flat out on the sand and through the water. That was probably the most fun sprinting I have ever had. I stopped and picked rocks for a while and then ran some more. My uncle got brave and jumped into the ocean. You could seriously walk out like 50 ft and it didn’t even pass your knees. The waves were big and so you could walk out and then ride them in. He did it well. My grandma and aunt walked around and up and down the beach picking up rocks and talking, my cousin Emily just sat on a crate and played with the sand with her feet and Ana ran back and forth and walked around kind of like me. It was a very relaxing/fun time. Right before we left I went for my first swim in the ocean. It was pretty warm actually. Even though the sun wasn’t out and the wind was blowing it felt great! I was really surprised by how salty the water was... I wasn’t expecting it to be as salty as it was. It was cool! We then got dried off and changed and then got on the road again. We drove through a bunch of very small villages and followed the coast for a ways again. We stopped at one point to look at some eagles we saw and then we also a warbler of some sort. We drove back up though the mountains again and got some great views of the ocean bay. I tried my camera to see if there was a little juice left in it AND there was! So I was able to take about 20 more pictures before it actually died for good. We drove through the top of the mountain, but this time drove through a really beautiful gorge. The cliffs were amazing and we even saw a waterfall. There was also a church carved into the hill that was really neat! We got to the highway and drove through Rethymno and then were on our way to Bali. I then dozed off and woke up right as we were getting close to the hotel. Everyone had eaten a later lunch so they all were just hanging out for a while. I took a stroll down to the beach and around the side of the bay and climbed a cool rock that jutted out of the side of the bay. I found a place that was kind of secluded and just sat there for a while. After I got back we all went down and ate dinner. It was kind of the same thing, but different. They keep preparing it in different amazing ways! Kyle, Delany and sat outside and the rest of the group sat inside. After we ate we went up to one of the rooms and watched a movie and then I came back to my room and my Aunt and grandparents were playing game of scrabble. I tried a ton of different outlets to see if my charger would work, but no luck.

It was a really fun day and even though my camera ran out of juice I still took pictures with my mind and enjoyed it with out my camera. My sunburn is pretty much gone, but my face is still a little dry...

My adventure continues with.... A day on the beach! B-)