Agrigento Valle Dei Templi

Who knew that there were more Greek ruins in Sicily than in Greece. We went to the Valley of Temples in the seaside town of Agrigento. This was AMAZING. We saw the almost perfectly preserved Greek ruins of many temples including the collapsed temple to Hercules. Since we left Naro just after reposo, we had nothing to eat. The Italians don't start dinner until after 8pm and we were famished at 6pm. The only place serving dinner was......McDonald so we had to stop. The food was regular McDonalds food, but at that moment it was the best we ever had. Anyway, back to the ruins...... We did the evening tour of the temples so we got to see them lit up at night which was spectacular. We took over 150 pictures here it was just so amazing. Again though, we walked a couple miles to view these all up close. In the past 3 days we did the Mineo Hill climb, the stairs in Caltigirone and now this, God rested on the 7th day and I pray we will too. My mind and body are beat. We just want to share the beauty of Sicily with all our friends and family. You know you are all welcome to visit.

City of Naro

On our way to Agrigento, we decided to stop in a town called Naro. This town is a medieval town from the 13th century We saw something about it in our base paper and thought we would go. It was a beautiful town, but we got there during the rest period called reposo from 1pm-4pm every day. The town including all shops and restuarants close down during this time, so don't be hungry. We hadn't planned on taking this trip, so we didn't plan much with food and snacks, boy were we hungry and not an open resturant in site. The views are from and of Castello Chiaramonte which was built in the 1330s over an old Norman fortification. Again, because it was reposo we could not get into the castle to view the collection of dresses from the day. The views were beautiful anyway and the streets were interesting to travel on.

San Giacomo Festival - Caltigirone

This was unbelievable, the crowds, the activity, the excitement. Each town has a Patron Saint (San Giacomo is theirs) and on that Patron Saint's feast day they have a HUGE festival. This was in the town of Caltigirone which is only about 10 miles from us, though all towns are on the tops of hills and it takes a lot to drive up there. With the freedom of having a car now, we decided to go there alone and find what was going on. Thank God for GPS, we "marked" our car so we could find it when we wanted, all the streets and housing looks the same. In this festival, they light hundreds of candles, in the shape of St. James, on the 150 steps in the town Duomo (town square). Of course, dumb us, felt we needed to see it from the top and bottom so we hiked the WHOLE 150 steps and looked down, an unbelievable sight. Was it worth it??, well I will tell you when my heart starts beating normally and my muscles stop aching. Yes it was. The excitement of the crowd was contagious and we somehow got front row to the statue of San Giacomo (St. James son of Zebede) and the speech of the Bishop. Darn tourists. :)

Hiking

We went on a 3 mile hike up a hill close to our house with the Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) group. It was a nice hike and finally the weather cooperated with a cool breeze. I think Pinky had the hardest time. In the middle picture, way down in the valley, you can see our housing (the ugly orange houses). You can also see the town of Mineo on the hill in the background both in the right of the photo.

Retirement Ceremony in the town of Mineo

We went to a retirement ceremony on July 23rd in the beautiful town of Mineo for a friend. It was the best ceremony we had ever been to. It was held in an old covent's courtyard.

Contact us

I guess I forgot to put down how to contact us:
PSC 812 Box 3130
FPO, AE 09627
When you send to this address it is regular US postage, but if you send a box it needs to have a customs certificate on it.
Our phone number is: 714-927-3715. This is also a regular US number just like calling California, but it is an internet phone. If it goes just to voice mail that means I have my computer off, but if you leave a message I will get it when I check my email.
If you are checking time differences it is 12 hour ahead of Hawaii, 9 hours ahead of California and I believe 6 hours ahead of Michigan. If you check times off the internet, look us under Rome time.

New, Used Car

For freedom we had to buy an "island beater" car. Living 20 miles from work and shopping requires a car.

Pinky's Boyfriend

Pinky seems to have a younger man. He is only 9 months old and is our next door neighbor. His name is Nero.

Sundried Tomato and Eggplant Cooking class

Today we went on a tour just outside our housing area to an Agricola (working farm house). There we made five dishes with fresh eggplant, tomatoes and other veggies. We had a great time meeting new people both military and Italians. Oh yeah, the homemade wine wasn't bad either. This picture shows Cameron standing by the drying SunDried Tomatoes. Here is the website of where we went: http://www.siculolio.ch/indexE.html

Cameron's Biathlon

Cameron competed in his first biathlon in Italy. He did well. He has now joined the swim team and will be working out twice a week.

The view from the couch

This is the view from our couch. We look at the centuries old town of Mineo. It is beautiful. We have friends who have bought a house there in the town and it is wonderful.

Italy..... WE MADE IT!!!!!!!!!

We have made it to Italy. A long, long trip from Hawaii. We left on June 23rd and arrived in Sigonella, Sicily on June 25th. We all made the trip well including Pinky. We have been through a lot though. The travel was interesting leaving Hawaii and flying commercial to Chicago and then to Virginia which was a bit over 10 hours of flying. With a 12 hour layover in Viriginia, we don't sit still, we rented a car and lived a bit of homeschooling going to Jamestown and Williamsburg. We stayed in the Military lodge on NAS Sigonella for a couple days and then moved into our home on base. We live in a housing area called Mineo about 20 miles from Randy's work and 30 miles from the main base.