Day Dreaming

Grant and I are enjoying every moment of living in Italy and are thrilled about the next two years here, but there’s no denying that we miss Alaska. Especially now, when amazing winter Chugach Range sunrises and freezing, but beautiful walks to work were the norm for me (Grant has been gone with the Navy longer than I have) and rosy cheeks, shoveling snow, and Kaladi coffee were part of daily life. We reminisce about it often and are so excited for a trip back, whenever that may be. For now, we’ll enjoy exploring amazing Italy and dream about home.

If you close your eyes & imagine for a moment, you could be here too.

Path of the Gods, Amalfi Coast

Our first hiking adventure in Italy!

A fun drive along the Amalfi Coast took us to an amazing trail called the Path of the Gods (Sentiero degli Dei).It wasn't the easiest place to find as we discovered multiple places claiming to be the actual path of the gods.

Our GPS, Jack, took us through some random neighborhoods & alleyways barely wide enough for our little car. We eventually realized that we were on the wrong side of the mountain. After arguing with Jack and threatening to get another GPS, he finally took us to the town of Nocelle where we found the trailhead.

The path of the gods took us along oceanside cliffs and through beautiful out-of-season vineyards. The weather was perfect & we ended the hike with a tasty dinner in a local restaurant that overlooked a sunset on the Mediterranean.

For more pictures, click here.

Roma

Fall is just beginning in Italy and this past weekend was gorgeous in Rome! We drove up Friday night and visited some of the famous sites of Rome, drank plenty of cappuccinos and walked along the Tiber River. Beautiful!

For more pictures of Rome, click here.

Yay!

Together finally! No deployments, no moving, at least two years. :)

We found this quote today, in Italian, and thought it described our relationship fairly well so we thought we'd share it on our blog:

"Il colpo di fulmine é la cosa che fa guadagnare piu tempo."

It means, "Love at first site is something that lets you waste no time."

Anticipation

I've said the phrase, "When I get to Italy..." many times over the last two months. I'm going tonight. :)

And I can barely wait to see Grant.

~Sara

Whirlwind Adventures...

So... we got orders at the end of August to report to Naples, Italy in September... and I flew off USS FORD from Panama (several days later), met up with Sara in Seattle, drove down to see the Wilson family in Silverton, Oregon that first weekend, then packed up and shipped our belongings in Everett to Naples, flew to Colorado/Wyoming to see the Bryans and Maynards, then executed an amazing spur-of-the-moment 5th honeymoon to Wrangell, Alaska just in time to ship me off to Naples the very next day (via a three day travel itinerary) where I now wait for my lovely bride... follow all that? Here's how it looked...

Wrangell, Alaska

Wow... what an adventure. I met an amazing guy (Mark Pempek) at the airport after landing in Wrangell who insisted on having Sara and I over to their house for dinner that night (BBQ smoked salmon with potatoes and turkey eggs). He and his wife (Terese) then loaned us their suburban for the weekend. The people of Wrangell were amazing and the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at was perfect (or "adorable" in Sara's words). The gourmet breakfasts each morning were delicious! One of the other guests staying there had a son who lived in Wrangell, so we were treated to one of his recently caught crabs for dinner. The hiking was spectacular, though the weather... not so much. We enjoyed staying in our "suite", drinking Alaskan Amber at the local restaurant and exploring the town's little shops. The one place neither of us have been to ended up being one of our favorite places in Southeast Alaska!

(more photos here)