Old man winter
is nefariously creeping our way … ever so slowly. After an amazingly sunny and uncharacteristically long summer, he allowed us to dip our toes in the autumn colors
only to project snow by the end of the week.
And it’s
supposed to be a brutal winter.
So, a few weeks
ago to throw the winter blues off course, Jeremy and I decided to stretch out
our summer with one final last-minute excursion south that seamlessly turned
into a family reunion.
After packing
the car with camping gear, beer and one redheaded Jeb we left Germany late
afternoon and rolled into the most pristine campground one has ever pitched a
tent on in Maribor, Slovenia at about 9 p.m. Jeremy and Jeb started tent/grill
duty while I chatted with the Park Ranger. I explained our friends Dave and
Lesley were a few hours behind, so the ranger knighted me keeper of the gate
key and took off. (Slovenians are
very trusting …)
Dave and Lesley had a weeklong trip to Croatia planned for quite some time. We decided to Shangai
the first few days of their vacation after a conversation that went something
like this:
“We’ll be in
Croatia next week.”
“We’ll be in Croatia next week!”
“We should hook
up.”
“We should hook up!”
The next day we
hit the open road once more, this time with our small caravan and made it to Plitvice, Croatia by amid-afternoon to meet up with our
Italian correspondents Tad and Megan Trivisonno, who joined the trip with less
than a week’s notice after a conversation that went something like this:
“You
off next weekend?”
“I
am off next weekend.”
“Wanna
meet us in Croatia?”
“I
do wanna meet you in Croatia.”
From
there, the seven of us rock-climbed, hiked, sauntered through Plitvice Lakes National Park and dined on the finest of Croatian cheese, Italian wine, German
beer and brats, and a batch of rich chocolate brownies that would have made yo’
mama blush.
Then
we laughed. Oh how we laughed.
In
a short four-day trip we earned three new passport stamps: Slovenia, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, and Croatia, but vow more exploration in the aforementioned
countries is needed.
Croatia,
especially, has been on our radar for quite sometime, and this trip really only
brushed the surface. While the scenery was beautiful, it only acted as a
backdrop for some much needed catching up.
Traveling is
good for the soul, but so are the friends you drag along with you …
