THE DOWD'S BIRTHDAY'S (BIRTHDOWD'S)

In June and July, I helped celebrate our friends Tom and Liz Dowd's birthdays! 

LIZ'S BDAY:

In June, Liz wanted to do a high ropes course in Piancavallo at Rampy Park, so a few of us from the squadron all carpooled up the mountain. We got out of the car, and started walking. Super smart Liz spoke up and said, "this doesn't look right." Fortunately, we walked back to the parking lot where we started and noticed this bright green sign pointing us in the right direction. 

 (which way?)

Over the hills and through the woods to the high ropes course we go...

Going clockwise from the man standing in front of the green sign we have Tom, Matt, Nick, Heather, Liz, Kathy and Tommy.

I've worn helmets a few times this summer: paragliding, ropes course, biking, zip-lining, wakeboarding... and I've loved every minute of it! 

We started out on the beginners level. The last time I did a ropes course was at camp when I was 13. I had been terrified! 

A few years later, and I like to think I rocked this ropes course. (well, the beginners level anyway.)

...And then we moved up to the intermediate. I think this was called the spider web.

After taking a quick and delicious lunch break, some of the group continued onto the extreme ropes course levels. (No thanks!) A few girls and I went for a coffee break at a nearby cafe. (yes, please!)

Soooo high!! I think Liz enjoyed her birthday ropes course celebration! I was certainly grateful to put some of my fears to rest on her birthday! :)

Tom's July Bday: For Tom's birthday I was the only lucky one to join the Dowds' in their adventures. We started out driving from Sacile to Cortina. I can definitely say I'd like to go back to this picturesque mountain town. Everywhere you look is a breathtaking view. 

Tom and Liz are avid geocachers, so we pulled to the side of the road to find one. The geocache was on top of this rock, so Tom forged ahead to find it. 

While taking photos, Liz and I discovered that we could actually go inside the rock!

We couldn't go up to the very top, but there were a few windows along the way that gave us better views. It's so crazy to think that someone built stairs inside a rock out of the rock!

From Cortina, we drove to San Vigilio di Marebbe for some extreme zip-lining adventures! They claim to have the longest zip line in Europe! We were up to 100 meters high, and we dropped 400 meters from the top. It's the steepest in the world! 

The three of us were joined by about a dozen other tourists. We all hopped in a few gondolas up to the first zip line...

Luckily, they start you off easy with a short zip line...and then you got to the second one. 

They told us we could spin and do whatever we wanted as long as we didn't grab the zip line. I was just focused on not moving ...at all. Haha!

Once I got used to the feeling, I started moving around and spinning like Tom and Liz were doing. 

It's hard to beat that view!

On one of the last zip lines the instructor turned us around, and gave us a slight push and walked away. He then quickly turned back around and said, "No, no, wait!" My heart just about leaped out of my chest. He fooled me..and everyone else! He did it to each one of us.

All I could say was, "That was soooo mean," while I was half crying/laughing.

I hope Tom had as much fun as I did! That adventure was really a rush!

Next on our adventure list for Tom's birthday was the pyramidi di terra or land pyramids near Segonzano, Italy.

It was pretty remarkable to see the Austrian influence in Italy.

We kept winding up a very narrow, steep road...and it just kept getting narrower and steeper. But the views were amazing!

We came to a dead end with this little (and smelly) farmer. He was so cute I couldn't resist taking a photo with him.

We turned back around, drove through the farmers vineyard, and came to a trail head for the land pyramids. We all started walking because the trail was hardly big enough for one car. We walked about 200 feet straight up hill, and Tom ran back to get the car. Haha! It was insanely steep. We drove up the tiny dirt road about a mile uphill to the next trail head!

We finally found it! Pryamidi di Terra!

We chose the path less traveled to get some of these shots.

The land pyramids were formed by glaciers.

It was such a beautiful afternoon and there was no one around, so we sang at the top of our lungs any song that came to us! It was so much fun!

Now the trick was getting back down the hillside mountainside. Tom handled it like a boss! We stopped along the way to take a few last photos before the sunset. 

Ah, yes, "Durchfahrt."

Perfect way to end a perfect day...

by stretching on a guardrail overlooking the vineyards. Haha!

I really hope Tom and Liz had as much fun on their birthday's as I did!! 

And a big thanks to Liz for letting me borrow a few pics! :P

BIRTHDAYS, BREAKFASTS, BASE AND MORE...

SACILE:

After traveling for about 5 days straight, it was nice to come back home and unwind a little. Aunt Diane and Susan loved our little town just as much as we do!

Almost every morning we would go to my favorite cafe or Nick's favorite cafe. Both are equally delicious; they have two very different atmospheres. My favorite cafe has air conditioning! (Big plus!) It has a wide variety of tasty treats, and amazing Italian coffee!

My favorite cafe, Cafe Berardi, also has a nice view of the river. 

Here's a sample of our breakfasts! We were so naughty! 

The last morning we were there, I tried a bite of Susan's orange and chocolate treat. (It's the one pictured above with a chocolate chip on top.) As I bit into it, the chocolate chip landed on my finger. It looked so unappetizing! I asked her if she still wanted it. My question must have tormented her. She looked from me to the chocolate and back to me. After a few moments, we just burst out laughing. It was a tough decision, but I ended up eating it. Had I not said that it looked gross sitting on my finger, she wouldn't have hesitated!

Look at my pinky. You'll see the chocolate chip. I was crying I was laughing so hard. :)

This is a small sampling of our breakfast at Nick's cafe. Yum! 

Every Thursday, we have a market in Sacile right outside our front door.

This is my cheese man I always buy cheese from. 

This market I bought a bouquet of flowers, lasagna, veggies, and cheese. Next week I'll try something new! This is one thing I will certainly miss when we have to go back to the States.

BASE:

Next we went to see Nicky on base and grab some delicious Greek food. We were able to see Nick take off and do an unrestricted climb. Picture a plane take off and then shoot directly up into the air. It was amazing, and so fun to think Nick's in the plane doing it!

This may not look fancy, but it is some of the best Greek food and it's right on base! The owner is from Israel, but she's lived all over the world.

BIRTHDAY!

For Nick's 28th birthday we were able to surprise him and our friend Liz Dowd. (They share the same bday) Our friend Sarah Zimmerman was able to throw it at her place. There was a lot of secret planning going on! It was so tricky since we had been traveling and we had guests, but we pulled it off!

Since Nick's twin, Emilie, was in the States for their bday, Liz filled in as twin since they share the same birthday.

Twinkies!!

GORGAZZO SPRINGS:

On one of our day trips, we took Susan and Aunt Diane to Sorgente Gorgazzo or the Gorgazzo source. It is the source for the Livenza River that runs through our town of Sacile.

Guido the goose hangs out there everyday. He's not super friendly, but he's fun to take pictures of.

After taking a nap, he did a big stretch with one leg stretched straight out behind him! I caught the very end of it.

Gorgazzo seems like a magical place. It has a river source that so far has not been determined how deep it actually is, and a special goose named Guido. I'd like to write a children's book about it one day.

PIANCAVALLO & PARAGLIDING:

When we went up to the mountain town of Piancavallo, Nick told us that we'd be coming back...to do a little paragliding. He told us how it was fun and easy, and that he'd already signed us up! 

When we returned for our paragliding a few days later, not only was Nick not going, he hadn't actually been paragliding before! "Easy," he told us. :) Susan and I were still in good spirits. 

Luckily, our friends Tom and Liz Dowd were going too! They've done enough jumps that they are certified to go by themselves. They have the equipment and everything!

This is another one of my favorite photos! It's a selfie of Susan!

Susan and I got strapped in, put our helmets on, and were given a 5 minute briefing on take-offs and landings. Susan was riding with an Australian named Neville, and I road with an Italian named Dora.

Aunt Diane was happy as can be grounded on her rock.

After running about 10 feet, we were airborne. They instructed us to tuck our knees to our chest and pull the extra fabric behind us under our bums, so we would have a chair. I couldn't get my knees to my chest or the fabric underneath me, so I dangled with my legs almost completely straight throughout the entire ride. I looked like a baby strapped into a Baby Bjorn on its parents chest! Haha!

That's Susan and Neville with the green kite!

Baby Bjorn!!

Tom and Liz

Tom flying above me...

It was a pretty quick 30 minute ride because we didn't have a lot of lift that day, but it was still fun! After my legs went numb because they were dangling so long, I wasn't able to land very well. I took two steps and my legs collapsed underneath me. Dora was able to stop quickly tho. :)

Group photo at the end! So much fun! 

I think it's safe to say that Susan crossed that off of her bucket list. I'd like to try it again one day, maybe even while we're still in Italy and possibly with Nick next time.

LAGO DI SANTA CROCE:

One of our last day trips we took was to Santa Croce Lake. It was about 10 degrees cooler there than in Sacile. It was a nice break from the heat. 

There were hundreds of kiteboarders and windsurfers on the lake. It was almost torture for Nick as we sat drinking coffee.

It was a jam-packed two weeks! We covered a lot of new places for all four of us! It was so much fun having us all together in Italy!