I had Monday and Tuesday off of school last week so we decided to get outta Dodge for a long weekend and head north to the home of the Greek gods, Mt. Olympus, which is just under 3,000 meters high. Too bad nobody told us (thanks a lot, Lonely Planet!) that there was still tons of snow on the peak and that we had no chance of summiting it untl later in July or August. Here are some photos of our hike. (Keep in mind, this is Josh writing the captions for all of these, sorry they are so cheesy, I am my father's son) Photos from the rest of our journey in central Greece coming soon. Stay tuned!
There was a construction zone on our way out of Athens on Friday night and we passed this long stretch of road which I dubbed "Snail City" due to all of these slimy little critters all over the median!
Our first glimpses of Mt. Olympus driving up the gorge to the trailhead.
Karissa leaping for joy that our little rental car (a Hyundai Getz) could make it up the road. Again, in my charming need to come up with dorky sayings for all situations, anytime our car was put to the test I would exclaim "What Huyndai wants, Huyndai Getz"
A Greek drinking fountain, straight from the mountain
Both of us passing through the orange gate of doom, the point of no return! Notice who is carrying all the gear??
Our first encounter with the snow, about 1,900 meters up. Karissa and I are representing for the Twins on this trip! Too bad nobody in Europe gives a lick about baseball.
Right about now we were realizing that we were a bit unprepared for winter hiking. Nobody told us that late May in Greece would have 2 feet of snow on the ground! And I, always prepared, was in my running shoes. (I had packed mostly dress shoes for school and left my hikers at home)
Great Success! We made it to the Refuge A after about 3 hours of hiking. It was very cold and very damp up there and we spent the next hour huddled under blankets getting the feeling back into our fingers and toes.
I have become obsessed with Greek Salad (hold the olives thank you), basically just chunks of tomato, cucumber, and onions with olive oil, vinegar, and a hunk of feta cheese on top. This has spawned my latest clever phrase, "Everything is Betta, with Feta!" Notice the box of classy wine we carried up with us.
So, at 3 am Karissa wakes me up from a deep warm sleep in my cozy sleeping bag and says, "you have to get out here and see this!" When we went to bed it was raining, now the sky had totally cleared and it was AMAZING. Too bad she had forgotten the tripod for this trip, and that it was so cold outside because it was hard to keep the camera steady, and that she didn't have the focus right, and we had a cat nuzzling against our legs, because this was just a glimpse into the heavens from the refuge......just imagine all of these red, white, and blue stars above us every night. (And no, that is not some patriotic symbolism at all)
Jon, this one is for you.....That is some big wood.
Another instance of both of us taking shots of the exact same subject, but from different perspectives. Can you guess whose is whose? Hint, mine is better :)
