Still July in VA, right?

The sun is shining

Yeah! Back to the beach. Now if only my iPad would hurry up and charge so I can finish reading my book.

Rained in

We are sitting our apartment in Okrug, Croatia waiting for this storm to pass. We have heavy rains, thunder, and lightning. Cailin and Marlee dressed to go for a swim this am in the rain, but then the lightning started up. Figured that probably wouldn't be a good mix.

Just praying that we keep power and internet today. Our rowdy bunch of little people may go bezerk without their electronics--as may their Mommies!

Lunch stop

Yesterday we headed from Plitvice Lakes to Okrug, Croatia (about a three hour trip). We stopped at a little market for bread, cheese, and meat (only thing missing was wine) and found a little beach to have a picnic. Weather was overcast (my favorite--love the beach, but not the intense sun).

Here are the kids playing in the water. You can see Marge, our trusty white SUV in the background of picture 2.

A few more Montana pictures

The Last Owner of Nellie:

 

Debs, Dad, Dave, & Nellie:

Brother/Sister Love:

The Whole Stony Creek Crew:

And finally, little niece Judy wanted to learn how to shoot a bow. I think she may be ready for her own (at a little lighter draw weight) soon. Whatdaya think Mom & Dad?

Guidebook quality

This picture reminds me of a Disney resort. The S shaped thing in the picture is the wooden pathway through the water/vegetation. Doesn't get any prettier than this!

More lake pictures

The water is completely clear. In areas with no movement it looks like you are looking through glass. From a distance it looks turquoise.

Plitvice Lakes

Today we ventured to these lakes and waterfalls. The park is probably the prettiest place in all of Europe. The weather was perfect and the scenery absolutely breathtaking. Only drawback were the crowds. Tons and tons of people and we were there during the light part of the day.

There are walking paths throughout the park which take you right through the waterfalls and waterways. The paths were constructed with milled logs which made them blend into the scenery.

We walked through the lower lake area and then took a boat to the upper lake area. We took a bus back to our starting point. Nice, long hike.

We stopped for a snack of chocolate filled donuts before catching the bus back. Calories in equal calories out. ????

Follow By Email

I finally got around to adding a "Follow By Email" gadget to the page. Hopefully that helps those of you who want to follow without logging in regularly to check if there are any updates.

Lunch

First stop in Croatia. Slunj.

Congress square (Ljubljana)

Walked through this huge square on our way to Tivoli park. Here is Grayson playing in the drinking fountain.

Don't have a picture, but we did locate a playground at Tivoli (our day would not be complete with a playground of some sort).

Famous Preseren square

Cute little square in the old town. Many pedestrian streets converge into this square.

Market

Visited both the open air market and this indoor market today (was so mesmerized by all the selections that I failed to take pictured until we exited). Wonderful dried fruit stands (we visited the same lady three times!), breads, cookies, meats, etc. We snacked our way through the market.

We Then stopped for deliciousness at a street vendor for lunch. The girls and I shared three bureks (these are a phillo-filled savory dish (kind of like a calzone)--we had a meat filled, cheese filled, and a pizza style. I forgot to take pictures of ours so had to take one of Crystal's). Very tasty, but a little too much fried food. Think we could have split two and been happy. Did enjoy some of Grayson's fries, too.

Ljubljana

Cross street for where we parked. Fun sights in the city.

Ljubljana visit

We went to the capital of Slovenia today. Had a great walk through old streets, markets, etc.

I am afraid that Cailin and I may now be the same height, as is evidence by the photo. Yikes. I may have to invest in some platform shoes.
>

Home sweet home

Dinner at Pizza Rustika in Bled

Great little pizzeria. We sat on the roof top deck (with cover--it has been raining off and on all day). The pizzas were very tasty. We managed to polish off three adult pizzas and three kid pizzas. We were stuffed and ready to go be bums at home after leaving.

Cailin ordered a nacho cheese pizza. Good, but the nacho cheese sauce was a little overpowering for my taste.

Postojna cave and castle

We visited these caves today! They were AMAZING. You ride a train into the mountain for about 10 minutes (like a real life Disney ride) and then walk around these unbelievable formations. The cave is older than old. We learned that it takes 100 years for the formations inside the cave to grow one cm. We saw beautiful stalagmites and other limestone formations. No pictures were allowed in the cave (Marlee informed me after taking this picture).

We then drove to see the castle built in the cave (about 10 minutes away). We didn't go inside, but enjoyed from afar.

Yep, another playground (at Postojna)

Thought these umbrellas were cool. You can see Finley climbing the train from one end (right side in the picture) and Grayson at the other.

Say what???

6km around the lake? And we are going to walk the whole thing? Yep!

After the gorge yesterday, we came home for a little rest, walked into town for dinner, and then decided to finish off the evening with a stroll around the lake. The kids were less than pleased!

The middle of the lake hosts a small island with a church. We didn't make it out to the church, but the view from the shore is remarkable.

Walk was successful and we were all exhausted upon returning home. Clocked at least 10km today.

Playground -- playing required!

We parked next to a playground at the gorge yesterday and of course we had to stop to play. The kids couldn't get enough of the large plastic tube.

Vintgar Gorge, Slovenia

Yesterday we visited this beautiful gorge. The 1km walk was gorgeous with a narrow wooden path running along the sides of the gorge.

Maryland!

170 miles to drop Jason off.

Odometer got stuck at 50999.9 and as a result the speedometer is also having issues. But...

...there's an app for that!

Last night on the road

West Virginia! I can smell home. (Or is that the industrial plant next door?)

Kentucky Bayou

Attempted to stop at a pizza place once through Indiana and Louisville. It was closed, but found a great Cajun place with gator tail on special.

On to West Virginia.

Indiana

Getting closer. Goal tonight is WV.

Just crossed the Mississippi

The St. Louis arch in the background. Homestretch.

Major Milestone

Nellie just rolled past 250,000 miles on the odometer. This was back in Iowa, we're almost to St. Joseph, Missouri now. I think we only have another 1200 or so to go.