Stromboli- it's real

Today marks the 6th day that char and I have been on our own.  On Monday Most of the crew went home.  Even though Rosie stayed another day, it felt lonely to be here without them.  I was grateful to Rosie and Quin for sticking around, it sort of eased us into beign on our own.

On our last day together we set out to make a dream a reality.  We hiked three hours up the side of stromboli to reach the summit at sunset.  It was breath taking.  While many of my good pics are on the good camera...here are a few...

The last part was the toughest, it was only a short distance to the final summit point where we could actually see DOWN into the crater, but because its all sand, every step forward is a half a step back... I was so amazed at Charlottes strength, she was bounding up the hill and even trying to make tracks for me so that I could make it, personally, I thought I may possibly die, as I think this was the hardest climb I have ever done.  Just when I swore I couldn't lift my legs any farther up that damn sand, Johnny said "come on babe, this is just like your PhD- its hardest at the very end, you can do this, you can do anything!"

 When the smoke cleared...We heard the mountain rumble...

And that is what a volcano looks like while its erupting.