Hey welcome to my blog! I am taking about 17 days to travel around the world of ancient Greece (which includes what is today western Turkey). I teach ancient history and geography at St. Mary's in Medford, Oregon, so my goal is to see as many as I can of the places I teach about. Itinerary will include Athens, Corinth, Thebes, Sparta, battle sites of Thermopylae and Marathon and Salamis and Plataea. I will go to the islands of Thera/Santorini and Crete and maybe Milos and Samos. Will also see Ephesus and Sardis and Pergamum and the battle site of Aegospotami (inshalla) (Those who know me know I'm not Muslim, but I figured I'd throw in a phrase or two since I'll be a guest in their religious territory). Of course I will check out the ruins of Troy and then Gallipoli (from WW1) and check out Istanbul for a couple of days, hopefully leaving a day for the supposed grave of Philip II of Macedonia (Alexander the Great's father). Then I hustle back to Athens.

As of right now I am sitting in my mom's living room. Got into SFO at 7am and have a 12-hour layover to catch 17-hour flight to Athens via Frankfurt. Let the fun begin. Maybe I will try to upload a pic from dawn in Medford. Saw St. Mary's students Jem Burke and Becky Fu-Phi (Fuller-Phillips) at the airport.

More to come!