Mount Etna, Sicily (Italy)

We didn't have any missions so I finally got to go up higher on Mount Etna today. We got a late start, so we were fortunate that the weather has been warm and cloudless. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of haze. We drove our car up to about 8,000 feet and bought a ticket to go up even higher on an enclosed ski-lift car. The price was pretty steep - nearly $40 with the bad Euro-Dollar exchange. However, we probably saved five hours of slogging on the volcanic sand trails and roads. We could see lots of the island, although photos didn't turn out well due to the haze. There were lots of caldera holes and even small hills that looked like little pimples from earlier volcanic releases. The place where the ski-lift was had been severely damaged in 2002, so this was the first chance I had to go up the mountain.  [staying at Bachelor Housing for NAS Sigonella]