Scenes from our trip

We took a trip to Kastamonu and then to a few other places close to the Black Sea this week. The views and the people were fantastic! We ate with an Iranian couple in Kastamonu. They put a plastic tablecloth on the floor and put everything on it. It was a great idea I thought! They served rice, baked chicken, salad with mayonaise for the dressing, and yogurt. It was all really yummy! The second day we drove to a small town named Ulus. We met with a friend of Brian's and toured around town. Later we went back to his house and had dinner with his family. They made kofte or meatballs on the grill. (Kofte comes in raw and several cooked versions...we like the cooked better!) We also had salad, potatoes, cornbread wrapped in some sort of green leaf, and watermelon. I can't even believe how much we ate in the last two days! The funny thing is that we were all really looking forward to the food. It was really delicious! We ate more than we ever eat, yet both families said that we didn't eat enough. I thought Will was going to die the first night. He ate so much and finally said that he couldn't eat another bite. The lady of the house said something about him not being hungry because he barely ate anything. He started laughing thinking she must have been joking! She wasn't! After leaving the Iranian couple's house we walked by a restaurant that was getting ready to close for the night. The kids laughed at something Will said, and the owner of the restaurant stopped me to ask what they were laughing at. I wasn't sure, but he soon realized I was a foreigner so he invited us in for a few minutes. He served us some homemade ayran which is a salty yogurt drink. I have to say it was the worst ayran I have ever had! Very sour! We made the kids drink as much as they could which wasn't much. Our friend, Adam, was with us on the trip, and he sacrificed his stomach and drank Anna Grace's as well as his own. And that was after the huge Iranian meal! Another interesting site...while sitting outside having dinner in Ulus a donkey passed by the front gate of our friends' house...alone. I asked about it and was told it was a street donkey. It had no owner...just roamed the town alone. I find this amusing. Stray dogs and stray cats are very normal here. They are everywhere, but I have never seen stray donkeys before. The next day I saw at least three more. Okay enough stories for now...here are a few pictures from our trip.