| :: August 2017 :: |
| The annual Leonetti High Altitude Trek... This year... The lovely Dolomites! We have skied in this area, but seeing it from this perspective was amazing. I can't believe how beautiful these mountains are, wow! Added bonus, we met the nicest mountain loving, paramedic, couple from Colorado Sella Towers | Piz Boe | Passo Perdoi Rifugio Kostner Rifugio Pisciadu 18 - 21 August Day 1 | after passing some gorgeous mountain lakes on the drive up we parked and started our trek, we climbed from 2200 meters up to 2500 meters | 3 hours to Rif. Kostner - totally darling rifugio - wonderful food and private, cozy rooms. Not typical and much appreciated. |
| We took a day over to Roccaverano from Serole - we had beautiful views of Monviso and the Alpi Marittime the entire way. Plus we stopped and picked blackberries. Added bonus. Serole, Rifugio Leonetti, Italia |
| Day 2 | The forecast said rain would arrive around 2.00 so we wanted to get to the next rifugio ahead of the crap weather. We descended from 2500 to about 1700 meters and then had to go up to 2600 meters. About 7 hours on the trail and the last 30 minutes it started raining and hailing. Not a lot of photos this as the visibility wasn't great. It continued to rain and hail through the evening but thankfully we met G&D and enjoyed chatting and helping them celebrate their 23rd anniversary. Rifugio Pisciadu Day 3 | thankfully was beautiful! But, there was still a lot of ice and snow on the trail. We didn't bring any equipment - no crampons, carabiners, or harnesses. No one expected this crazy storm. The trail was dicey and the ladders and cables were a bit freaky. I was reassured having American paramedics nearby |
| Love seeing our sons together. Same country. Same time zone. Same city. Same Uber. Warms a mother's heart. Zaven spent a few weeks with Avalon enjoying Portland Portland, Oregon 1 August Joe starts school on the 28th and his doctorate program kicks off again. Zaven's uni, here in Milan starts in October. I will be traveling to San Francisco on the 31st of August for work but Avalon is meeting me there, hooray! Then... Geneva, Switzerland Grenoble, France Oslo, Norway London, England Sofia, Bulgaria Singapore ... After dropping Zaven off at the airport (very, very, very early on the 1st, Joe and I continued north to meet our new tenants in Germany. Long day but fun to catch up with the Plapps at the always charming Pauliner Beirgarten 1 August Stuttgart, Germany |
| A few beach/riviera days at Spotorno 14 & 15 Agosto Buon Ferragosto! |
With all the travel lately I was really looking forward to being still and having a staycation Rifugio Leonetti, Serole Roccaverano Beach days at Spotorno 11 - 17 August |
| Consulting maps at about 3000 meters Hooray Americans! |
| A nice stop at Rifugio Boe where we had warm tea and strudel before parting ways with G&D On the way home, I had been wanting to see Lago di Braies Lovely but jam packed with tourists eek. |
