Cappadocia The Last One

I watched this camel eat and drink and it was like a gross, slobbery comedy act. We also got a kick out of these birds' feet feathers. They sort of looked like they were wearing bellbottoms made of feathers.

Our hotel had a swimming pool, always a smash with the kiddies.




All in all we had a really fun trip. I saw lots of stuff I'll never forget- strange, mystical rock formations, beautiful ancient Christian paintings, underground cities, camels, people from all over the world, mountain ranges, and on the way home at a rest stop, a woman in tradional Turkish garb washing her feet in the sink in the restroom. Ya gotta love it, baby!

Cappadocia Trip Part 6

We went to a carpet maker/dealer and got the lowdown on handmade carpets. This old woman is showing one of the tour members how to tie a Turkish double knot in a handmade carpet.

Ever wonder where all the silk comes from? They keep the silk worms until they form a cocoon and then they heat them until they "go to sleep." They put the cocoons in water and spin the silk.

They use lots of things from nature to dye the wool. Things found locally, which is one way to tell where a rug was made- based on colors in the rug. OK, OK, yes, we bought two kilims.

Cappadocia Trip Part 5

One very interesting part of the trip was a tour of an underground city. It was a place where early Christians hid. It was at least one story underground. It was there I realized I would rather die for my Christianity than live underground. Just thinking about it now makes my heart palpitate. I kept praying the electricity wouldn't go as it so often does here.

Cappadocia Trip Part 4

Inside these cave churches there are beautiful paintings done by early Christians. They are remarkably intact except for deliberate defacing of the faces. We didn't see the the no pictures sign until after we'd taken these pictures.

Cappadocia Trip Part 3

Cappadocia: where evil eyes, pottery, and purses grow on trees! Meghann took this beautiful picture of grapes. Cappadocia is also famous for wine apparently.

Cappadocia Trip Part 2

Some pretty good balancing acts.


The valley seemed to go on and on.

Trip to Cappadocia Part 1

Cappadocia is a region in Turkey where the people have made the most out of a most amazing landscape. Before I got there, I assumed we would be seeing old homes carved into mountains where people USED to live. To my surprise, people still live in them. I am sure there are better words to describe the strange rock formations we saw, but to me, it was like entering another world. Some of the homes are open to tourists, the picture on the left is from inside one of those homes. I loved seeing the satellite dish coming out of a window carved in a rock. Talk about a mix of old with the new. Some people on the tour with us compared Cappadocia to Bedrock of Flintstone fame. It did look like something from a George Lucas movie.

Super Lucky Kids

The last week in June Meghann and Sydney got to take a trip to Italy with the chapel. They met up with youth from all over Europe.
They stayed in tents on an Army base. They went to the beach almost every day. They got a taste of local culture and loved the food. Best of all, in my opinion, was a visit to the leaning tower of Pisa. Now their passports are stamped more than mine.

Still Here

It's been more than a month since I last blogged. Whoops. We are still here and still alive. Summer is in full swing and that means it is hot, so hot that I have coined a new term for heat such as this : violently hot. I am SO thankful for air conditioning. I would be dead otherwise. It never gets below 80, even at night. It was 90 at 9 am the other day. I have seen the thermometer in our van read 1o8. I don't have a lot of time to download pics right now so I will just leave you with a few bullets of info on our fam and life in Incirlik.
* We have a fig tree loaded with figs in our backyard and you don't, so there
* Meghann and Sydney spent a week in Italy the last week of June and had a great time (I will post pics of their trip soon, I promise.)
* Our van has over 131,000 miles on it and is starting to fall apart. The brakes are shot and the driver's side window can't be opened, we are waiting for parts from the states.
* We have a new base wing commander who actually goes home around 6pm and on the weekends, it's like a party.
* Doug will amaze and stun us all by actually taking a week of leave during the month of August
* Our Internet service has been crappy lately and we all want to die if we can't get online
* We live in Turkey, you guys, and we are getting homesick so feel free to drop us a line and let us know you know we are here, still. Still here. In Turkey.