While the boys are away...

So I am a total weenie!  After a delicious breakfast of unknown items (see pic below, cannot figure how to insert into text on my phone!), we headed up a very scary road from Litorocho to Prionia. There are no photos of our ascent partway up Mt. Olympus via car because I was too busy trying to not have a panic attack. I am scared of a lot of things and twisty hairpin turns on poorly maintained roads up high mountains with no guardrails protecting your precious family from falling down sheer cliffs is near the top of that list. But the Lord provided in the form of a big red tour bus for most of the way up. The bus knocked all cars coming our way down the mountain and blazed a trail for us. 😉. But eventually the bus pulled over and also the paving stopped. Thankfully we arrived at the refuge at Priona just before the full blown panic attack started! (See pic of parking lot). 

Then we started on our ascent of Mt Olympus. We were immediately greeted by a band of donkeys getting a drink (see pic).   Then we started up the trail. As far as mountain trails go, this was a really good one; clearly marked and well maintained. However, my family is much more fit and excited about mountain climbing than I am. I wanted to "stop and smell the roses" but they wanted to push on as fast as possible in order to reach the summit and return before bad weather or darkness. After what I would describe as a noble effort, I was slowing them down and totally out of breath so I accepted their suggestion of returning on my own back to the refuge. I finally bid them farewell and enjoyed my walk back down. 

I took my time and marveled at the beauty of nature. It is easy to see why this was considered the home of the gods. But I could see the handiwork of the One True God. I was almost completely alone and sang the whole way down, enjoying the landscape every step of the way. 

The best part was sitting alone at a waterfall. I read in Acts about Paul's adventures in Thessalonica and Berea with new eyes. The words are now powerful and meaningful having been along that same path. And then reading the letters to the Thessalonians now makes sense and the words came alive as I read about Paul encouraging his Christian family that he missed so much. I can think of no better place than Mt Olympus to contemplate those scriptures. 

So after taking a short trek down another trail ( I didn't go too far since no one knows where I am and I cannot read Greek... I can imaging this sign saying all sorts of scary things!), I am sitting at the refuge restaurant enjoying bread and bean soup and praying my children and husband are alive and well and that they will safely return having achieved their goal of conquering Mt Olympus!

P.s. They made it back safely!  Stay tuned for details.