Greece 2025

I'm writing this from our veranda in Naxos, Greece. How nice to have time to get back to my blog. I will write more but for now here is a link to our photos, that I will add to as we go. So much more fun than coming home to an overwhelming amount of pictures to go through.

We are here for two weeks after being super busy these last 6 months at the Mill. Our two Airbnbs were almost fully booked and we hosted many different events. Our "grand finale" was hosting a wedding at the end of September and now things will slow down a bit. We needed just this kind of holiday: a time to simple "be" and recharge our batteries. We flew the 3 hours to Athens from Amsterdam and then took a small plane to the island of Naxos, where we're staying for 9 nights. We'll then take an hour long ferry to the island of Paros for another 5 nights. What a treat! 

I'll be posting all of my photos here:

---Greece Photos---

Thanks for following along...sending warm hugs from here!

West Coast Tour

I just returned from a month away visiting my kids who live up and down the west coast of the USA. (Literally-they are spread out from the Pacific Northwest to Southern California 1,350 miles/2170km apart!) 

This trip's timing was in honor of Isabel's 21st Birthday!

Zack surprised Isabel by joining me for her big day

 (along with Griffin, of course!).

It was so fun to spend a week with her....

witnessing her life in San Diego.

I even spent a day on campus (SDSU) 

and was able to sit in on one of her classes.

From San Diego, I flew to Seattle. 

It's always a bit complex to fly home to Seattle. 

I miss mom so much when I'm there--and there is never enough time.

 I'm thinking next time, I will spend a whole month

 so I'll have time to see everybody.

This visit, I stayed most of my time 

between Aunt Dodo's house in Renton

 and up in Bellingham with Eli.

How can she be 92?!

Bear looking out Erin and Mark's front window, So many different kinds of beauty.

Eli in Bellingham

I saw as many loved ones (humans and pets!) 

as I could but it was still just a teaser, really.

Sheila's cat: Beau

Lunch at the Beck's with Charlotte & Alan

From Seattle, I returned to San Francisco to spend some time with Zack and Aidan before returning home.

In front of their apartment in the Lower Haight.

I love the perks of city living when I visit them. One night we took the bus to see the Broadway show "Chicago".  Everything is so nearby and they are both pros getting around.

A highlight this trip was joining Zack to adopt another cat at the local animal shelter. He's had Chika for 3 years now and she's really needed a friend. 

We told them what we were looking for and they said they had one cat available that sounded like a good match. We couldn't believe it when they said his name was "CHICO"! It felt meant to be.

Chika checking out "Topo Chico". They quickly made fast friends!

(Zack cleverly added Topo as a first name ;)

The SF SPCA is so incredibly well run!

With a full heart, it was time to head home.

Recharged until next time.

@zackgraves

Click here to see more photos from my

West Coast Tour!

Stay tuned for future tour dates, to be announced...

;)

Island Hopping in Croatia

After leaving Dubrovnik, we took a two hour catamaran ride to the island of Korcula. It felt like a mini-Dubrovnik, utterly picturesque, full of beauty, and so much history.

Our next stop was about an hour away by catamaran: the island of Hvar.

Each island had a distinct energy and personality.

We loved hiking up to the Spanish Fortress (construction began in 1278!) 

and taking a water taxi to the island of Jerolim (which can be seen in the above photo).

We loved this special spot!

After three nights in Hvar, we took the catamaran an hour away for six nights on the island of Brac. We stayed in a tiny little town on a bay that was just beautiful.

We rented a boat for a day and had fun exploring! 

Such a very special place!

And for our last night, we ferried over to the city of Split (and flew home from here). Another breathtaking city full of mind blowing history. We stayed steps away from Docletian's Palace (built in AD 305!!!). 

It felt so remarkable that this isn't one big museum behind ropes and glass but instead a place where people live, work, eat and get their hair cut (like Han did with a local barber):

How lucky we feel to have been able to experience so much beauty in Croatia!

To see all of our favorite photos from the trip, you can check out our Croatia album on Flickr.