First the important news. Maia was born yesterday about 11:00. Her stats are 7 lb 13 oz, 20.5 in. Everybody is doing well. Jul is up there helping out until we get home. We can’t wait to meet her in person.

Today we finished driving to Antalya. It’s a lot of driving. We had only a few stops to break up the drive. Our first stop was a bathroom break. This was an interesting stop because they had a playground. Danita and I took a ride on the merry-go-round. We were soon going so fast we had problems staying in the seats.

We crossed the Taurus mountains. If you drive across the Appalachian mountains, you see roughly the same land on both sides. Not so in Turkey. The land, fauna, crops, climate, and wild animals are completely different. The mountains are steep with winding roads. They are much rockier than the Appalachian mountains. Our lunch was at a road side stand. We had filo dough stuffed with cheese and spinach. This is a little bit like Greek pies. Women had three hot tables and prepared or lunch while we watched.

We also stopped at the Aspendos theater. This was built in the second century AD. It is the only complete ancient theater, including the entire original back stage building. It’s used quite actively today. People sit on the original Roman stones. Bring your own cushion, or rent one when you arrive. I’m not including a pic the pic would look exactly like dozens of other theaters.

Finally w arrived at our hotel in Antalya. This is a very high class hotel with views of the Mediterranean. They offer a buffet for both dinner and breakfast. The number of options for dinner and desert are overwhelming. Here’s the view from our room.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.