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New Zealand Day 7
Hip hooray, Zach still can’t harvest cause of rain so we’re off to The Banks! We have been hearing “The Banks” a-lot in this house and are eager to see what they have to offer. Incidentally, we are also still a bit knackered from our big day yesterday, but no matter. One is not always…
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New Zealand Day 6
To offset our perfectly delicious relaxation yesterday, we decided on a marathon day today. We were up and out before the sun, which in this case was about 6:00. The clouds and fog of yesterday had disappeared out to sea and the day was gloriously clear. The mountains had a fresh blanket of snow and…
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New Zealand Day 5
Drizzly rain started last night and continued off and on all day. The mountains were hidden behind thick clouds and the fire in the living room felt like a necessity. We had planned to take it easy all morning, but Heath apparently made other plans in the wee morning hours. He woke me with very…
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New Zealand Day 4
What better way to spend the morning than in the Enchanted Forest? A walking path runs through tall redwoods, fir and other trees lining the banks of a canal on the outskirts of Methven, and it’s been turned into a mile long fairy garden. Little wooden doors are set into trunks of trees, fairies, goblins,…
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New Zealand Day 3
Sunday in this beautiful land. We ate oatmeal, hashed the Sunday School lesson and generally had a relaxing start to the day before heading out to see what local Canterbury had to offer. Mud or poop? That is sometimes a little blurry in a two year olds mind. We were deep in the magical woods…
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New Zealand Day 2
We woke up to a beautiful day and a big breakfast by Camille. Something about the way we flew around the world completely eliminated jet leg, so that’s been a happy surprise. Zach has been working at a farm nearby helping with harvest. It’s usually wet in the mornings so today they didn’t get going…
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New Zealand Day 1
I hate January so much I will literally do anything to make it go away. This year we managed to chop 19 whole hours off of it by flying to New Zealand. Yes, I would eat wretched quinoa and chicken gloop, have swollen ankles, fight restless leg syndrome and endure airplane bathrooms just to shorten…
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Escalante Hike
Author: Richard Tilton No corridor trails. No handrails. No mercy. Excellent scenery. Start: Lipan Point, Tanner Trail Trailhead (7,350 ft) End: Grandview Point (7,400 ft) Trails: Tanner Trail, Escalante Route, Tonto Trail, Grandview Trail Total distance: 31.3 miles Elevation gain: 7,425 ft Elevation loss: 7,608 ft Lowest point: Hance Rapids 2,536 ft Hiked: November 28-30,…
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2025
Year in Review Milestones Travel Daily’s Unusual Events Memories Forever Etched On Our Minds And so ends another Year. Was it good? Yes! Yes, it really was. We have so many good friends, so many reasons to be grateful. Merry Christmas to All! Our love, Heath & Jeanie
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Back to Home Base
This morning the great idea of leaving Chalki port at 4:30am maybe wasn’t such a great idea. Zach and Andrew were gonna ease us out of there while the rest of us slumbered till a reasonable hour like 6am or so. The engines rumbled to life right on time, but when it came time to…
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Swimming and Clinics
4:30 am has become a preferred starting hour. We debate between 4am and 5am and compromise in between. We just have so much we want to see and a week is not long in Greece. Quite a bit shorter than in the USA in fact. Our destination today is the little island of Alimia and…
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The Halcyon Days
The last two days have blurred into one in my head. They were filled with golden sunshine, blue seas, and cookies. The sails were filled with frisk breezes and we bowled along, sleeping when the feeling hit, snacking, drinking tea, or just sitting and doing absolutely nothing. I don’t think we’ve ever had such consistently…
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Fact Checking at Santorini
Santorini. Those surreal blue and white pics you see on calendars, guide books, travel agents and pretty much everywhere you see the word Greece. It’s a major cruise ship destination and apparently the crème de la crème of the Islands. It’s also a fair distance from major boat charter bases, so you need a decent…
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Astypalaia
The first thing I saw when I idled on deck were two goats silhouetted against the sky at the top of the cliff. One had curly horns and the other had none. It appeared they felt terrible smart. In the water Dalen was ripping around in the dinghy and eventually he and Zach went and…
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Embarked
It was nearly midnight and the sea around the boat was churning and splashing with the crew from the Beluga. It had been a fairly easy but long crossing from Kos to Astypalaia and we all felt sticky and stinky. All at once I heard Bonnie’s eager voice urging me to “Come here! The water…
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The Calling Sea
The Journey Greek Islands. Astonishingly clear water, rugged hills with the first few cyclamen popping up, goat bells tinkling, olive groves everywhere, some perfectly dressed while others have run amok. Given a chance, I will always say yes to a trip to the Mediterranean. Walking on the hills I feel all kinds of empty spots…
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Home
And then suddenly I’m back home, seasoning pork loin, scrubbing potatoes, watering plants, teaching Junior Sunday school, and it’s all normal. I’m all normal. But back in Israel our friends are still exhausted. Still worried. Still stuck on hold. Lena says she’s so tired and says she can’t even really pray. I have no trouble…
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Airport
Ok, remember what I said about Egypt’s charm disappearing? I totally take that back. We rested at the hotel till 11:30pm, then boarded the bus along with all our luggage, suit-coats (only 2), the immeasurably talented Abdul and headed off, horn tooting, lights flashing and attitude galore. If we’d had a tail it would have…
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Touring Egypt
We’ll just flex on all these peasants. -Avery Standing at Giza Main Entrance, our hectic security entourage around us, we felt a tiny bit conspicuous. While a few other groups have one or two suit-coats along, we seem to be the only one with suit-coats, police and plainclothes. Tapping our inner VIP, we tried to…
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Celebrity Status
Africa never disappoints. “Someone” has declared us a high security risk group and we have been gifted an entourage of gun toting, suit wearing security dudes. It started small, with just Hassan, but when we walked to supper at Abu Tourek, we suddenly triggered some policeman’s alarm system, and we were cautiously escorted out of…
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