Nice.....ash....

This is the three of us after we just finished climbing down Santorini's resident volcano. The island used to be a ring with water in the middle of it, but following an eruption thousands of years ago, the island was flooded with ash and debris is now shaped like a crescent moon with an additional island in the middle. That middle island hosts two active volcanos, one of which we hauled ourselves up today. It was actually worth the 1.5 km climb in the middle of the day with no shade, when we got to see the amazing view and see the sulfur yellow encrusted crater and watch the steam rise from it. For you geology buffs (Dad) check it out here.

Later in the day, we took a ferry to another part of the island, to a beautiful city called Ia (known for its fame as the city Alexis Bledel visits in the Sisterhood of the traveling pants, but i digress...) which is only accessible by way of 270 winding steps up the cliffs. I know that you must be thinking what great shape I am in to be able to climb that feat and still live to tell the tale, but I must defer all compliments to the donkey that had to carry my sorry ass up them (no pun intended). It actually might have been worth it to hike up the steps, because I think the donkey galloping around the bends of these steps that hug the cliffs shaved five years off my life: I arrived at the top of the mountain sweating as much as if I had actually made the climb (which I will claim in all future retellings of this story). I attempted to take a picture of the three of us on the donkey while actually riding, but I couldn't muster the coordination necessary to hang on for dear life, squeal like a little girl, say a novena, try to remember how to cuss out our guide in Greek AND take a picture. So this picture of me NEXT to the burro will have to suffice.