2013-2021; a Travelogue

In the past 7 years, I uploaded 202 posts in my blog Cross Country Chronicles.  As this is the first post of 2021 and maybe the final of this series that started with a trip, I took with my son John, from Orlando to San Francisco to Chicago and on to our starting point Columbus, Ohio.  Also, it included among others the remarkable crossing from Spain to Greece on my brother Nikos 29-foot sailboat Okyrhoe.  The trip from Florida to California and back to Ohio is described in 55 posts in January and February 2014.

The trip from Spain to Greece is described in 23 posts from August 2015 to July 2016.  There are many individuals from my immediate family, and those who love and care about me, to friends I love dearly, to professional associates at places where I lived and worked, and all those who encouraged and inspired me to write.  I want to thank and express my gratitude to all and wish them a good a pleasant trip in their lives.  The pictures in this post are from Porto Rafti, the beautiful little bay, I have made my domicile while in Greece.

                                                                       The three pictures in this post were taken by my brother-in-law Kostas Fotos.

Sunset

In Greek mythology Hesperides were are nymphs of the evening or the golden light at sunset.  They were called also Atlandides because they were daughters of the titan Atlas.  According to legend the Maidens of the West were tending of the Tree that Dance of the Hesperides around the Golden Tree that was bearing Golden apples.  Hesperides took great pleasure by dancing and singing sweet songs around the tree, (Canvas by Eduard Carvet, 1799-1883)

A happy cow enjoying the green grass of Ireland at sunset (photo by Enya Woods)

View of downtown Columbus, Ohio at sunset after a summer storm (photo by George Spigos)

Chicago also known as windy city or city by the lake at sunset from Adler Planetarium

View of Manhattan skyline and Brooklyn bridge.

Tourists flock at Cape Sounion to visit Poseidon's Temple and to enjoy the sunset at Saronic Gulf. 

Super moon over Poseidon's Temple.  If you can visit the site tomorrow October 2nd you will enjoy the rising beautiful moon between the columns of the Temple that was erected at 440 BC. (photo by T. Matsopoulos) 

My boyhood home

At seven in the morning we reached Hannibal, Missouri, where my boyhood was spent. I had had a glimpse of it fifteen years ago, and another glimpse six years earlier, but both were so brief that they hardly counted. The only notion of the town that remained in my mind was the memory, as I had known it when I first quitted it twenty-nine years ago. That picture of it was still as clear and vivid to me as a photograph. 

From this vantage ground the extensive view up and down the river, and wide over the wooded expanses of Illinois, is very beautiful—one of the most beautiful on the Mississippi, I think; which is a hazardous remark to make, for the eight hundred miles of river between St. Louis and St. Paul afford an unbroken succession of lovely pictures. (Slightly modified from Mark Twain’s The Life on the Mississippi) 

I spent 25 years of my youth in Illinois and like Mark Twain my affection for Illinois biases my judgment in its favor; I cannot say but every time I visit it especially the largest and most beautiful of its cities Chicago I feel coming home. The picture was taken on Chicago’s lakefront here I used to live.  Nearby the Chicago River begins from Lake Michigan. Its waters eventually empty in the Illinois River a major tributary of the Mississippi.  The Illinois River joins the Mississippi approximately 20 miles to the north of the Missouri River and the city of St Louis. 

On the terrace of my boyhood home, in Athens’ St Nicholas neighborhood, playing backgammon with my childhood friend Theodosis (on the left) while my little brother Nikos is watching the game.  Mount Egaleo is noted in the background of the picture. (circa 1959)

Traveling

It is time to bid adieu to Ohio's Capital city.     

Looking at Chicago’s downtown from 20,000 feet above ground.    

Looking at Chicago’s beautiful lakefront from 1500 feet above ground.  It is used for walking, running, cycling year around and for boating and swimming during the summer and fall months . 

Touching down with the airplane's shadow projecting near the runway.    

Large planes cause wake turbulence behind them.  Rapidly spinning air vortices off the wing tips of aircrafts may precipitate a roll of aircrafts that follow.  Each year pilots report 65,000 encounters of moderate turbulence 5,000 of which are severe.  Turbulence is most of the times a minor annoyance but on rare occasions it may result in an accident.