Who came up with the idea that all good things must come to an end? I mean, really? Do they have to? I remember as a kid dreading the day summer camp ended or the day we had to leave San Juan Island and then bemoaning the loss of such a wonderful experience, wondering "why did it have to end?" I think it was when doing the PCT three years ago that I finally embraced the concept of "Be glad it happened, not sad it is ending." Even though they are only words, they convey a powerful idea. Be glad it happened. Exactly! My life is richer for having it happen. Be glad for the opportunity. Today, that philosophy came into play as we came to grips with the reality that it was our last full day on Elba, and we really wanted to stay longer.
I got up about 7:00 this morning, went out to the community tent, sat and blogged while Sally slept in. Mark soon got up, awakened by the campground maintenance crew riding into our site on his golf cart to empty the garbage and recycling. Sal arose about 9:00 am. Our usual of hard boiled eggs, yogurt, strawberries, banana's was great.
We put on our bathing suits and headed for the sandy beach. The beach has a very gradual slope. One must walk about 50 yards from the shore before the water reaches to your crotch. It is a great beach for little kids because the water is shallow for such a long ways. We both swam, although I did not stay in long. Cool water such as this causes my Raynod's syndrome in my hands to go bonkers, cutting off the blood to my fingers if my body temperature gets too cold. I returned to the beach to lie in the sun and read, while Sally continued to swim. Eventually, she returned to the beach, but not before she asked me to shoot some images of her swimming in the Mediterranean.
Our plan was to eat lunch at the same restaurant as two day earlier, but when we mounted the deck, we saw the place was full of German tourists from a tour bus. We decided to walk to the pebble beach and check it out, hoping to see some new territory and kill time until the Germans vacated the restaurant. On our way to the other beach we spotted Mark and Robin carrying mops and scrub buckets. Talking to them, we found they were down to scrub some vinyl banners, part of the get ready for summer chores they are working on daily.
Back at our restaurant, the Germans were starting to clear out, so we took a seaside table and soon enjoyed lunch-Greco salad, a repeat from Sunday and baked pizza crust with olive oil and basil. Yummy.
We walked to the swimming pool at the campground, an outrageously large and beautiful pool. Sally swam while I rested, even falling asleep a few times. Then it was back to the campsite to do a preliminary packing, make dinner and get ready to leave tomorrow morning-early.
About 8:00 pm Mark mentions that he wants to go down to the beach to get an ice cream, as Robin ate the last one they had. He wonders aloud if he should walk or take a mountain bike. I voice the opinion he should take a bike, quicker and more fun. I offer to ride down with him. A gelato sounds good. He takes me to a big tent that turns out to be a garage where a couple dozen really nice aluminum framed mountain bikes are stored. After Mark spends a few minutes digging around for the key, we are on our way, navigating the steep gravel road off the hill where the campsite is down to the road and off to the Gelato stand. Mark recommended a fig flavored scoop with walnuts. It was good. After the Gelato, we rode up the paved road for 15 minutes until we had to turn around to make it back to the campsite by dark. Grinding up the steep gravel back to the site was fun. Now I wish I had rented a bike for half a day and gone riding. Super nice area to ride and great bikes.
We have to be on the 6:30 am boat off the island, so we have to leave the camp at 5:45 am. While I wrote, Sally spent time talking with Katerina, Ester and Robin. About 9:30 pm we bid them goodbye and headed for bed. 5:00am comes early. What a great relaxing day!
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