Abruzzo and Pompei

I apologize in advance, having trouble over here posting pics on my blog. These few in the beginning are the most I was able to put on. You can check out facebook pics as I will try to get more on there. Sorry!

Hiking in Abruzzo National Park

Last weekend was Halloween weekend. Jeremy ended up getting a three day weekend, and it was supposed to be a very nice weekend, so last minute we decided to go camping in Abruzzo National Park. It was a very good decision! It was gorgeous there and had tons of fun. I was sad I didn't get to really enjoy the fall colors in Colorado the few days I was there before leaving for Italy since I wasn't feeling very well, but this camping trip in Abruzzo definately made up for it. The colors were amazing! The trees and mountains were awesome, we didn't feel like we were in Italy. It's only about a two and a half hour drive from Naples, so not far at all. There is a ski resort there as well. Not sure if I will still be here when they have enough snow though.

Gorgeous day for hiking!

Jeremy snagged a pic of me taking a pic

We realized we were going camping on Halloween weekend, thought it could be spooky, it was just fun! Was definately a little chilly there since we were in the mountains, overlooked the fact that we were going from the coast to the mountains, but we were fine. It was good for hiking weather, not too hot. Just the drive up there was awesome. On the way we saw a hangglider in the air, then as we were driving up the mountain there was a guy about to launch off the side of the mountain on his hangglider, so we stopped and watch. It was cool, looks like fun, not sure if it is something I would do, I would be afraid of the landing part. We saw lots of cows just chillin everywhere on the side of the mountain. When I first saw the white spots I thought they were mountain goats to find out on closer look they were cows, just enjoying their day eating grass.
One of the towns in Abruzzo National Park is built right on top of the mountain when there's lots of perfectly good valley town building land down below. I thought it was very interesting it was built on the top of the mountain, very cool looking. Strategic purposes back in the day, guess it worked for them! Our first task was to figure out where we were going to go camping. This turned out to be a difficult task finding a decent looking place and not having to be in a tent right up next to a bunch of people in a cabin or RV. We finally found a place. I guess for Italian standards it was a nice place. It ended up being a good place because since it wasn't a busy weekend we were able to be in a spot with nobody else nearby, the owner was cool to talk to, and it was within walking distance of some hikes.

The first night we didn't really go do anything, so we just went to the bar with the owner and talked to him some, got some cappucinos and played cards. It was fun. Taught Jeremy some new card games! We attempted to build a fire, Jeremy doubted my fire building capabilities. And unfortunately I didn't prove to him I could make a fire because all the wood we found was pretty wet so it wasn't catching. We weren't able to make a good fire either night, very disappointing. Oh well, we still had fun!

Where is the stinkin geocache?

The first day we did a hike that was supposed to go to some cave I guess. Turned out to be a very small cave, at least the one we found. But it was a nice day, and gorgeous views and trees with the changing leaves. We enjoyed just being with each other. There were lots of other Italians out hiking. It was funny because were just in our tennis shoes taking a little hike and all these other people were some serious hikers. They had their trekking poles and everything! It wasn't that hard of a hike! It was like that on all the hikes we went on! These Italians are serious!That afternoon we drove to do a different hike to a waterfall. It was interesting. Most the hike was on a paved path and they had carriages that would take people back and forth. We thought about renting a bike but didn't have enough time before they had to be returned. Then at the top of the path was a short actual hike to two waterfalls. It was pretty. I learned that Italians don't really get to the side for you if you are behind them and wanting to pass you. You just have to seize your opportunity to sneak past them.

That evening we went to the big town in the park to walk around and get some very tasty Nutella crepes. I would totally buy some Nutella while I'm here but I know I would eat in a day or two so I am trying to resist! But it is so good! And the crepes were delicious. Another thing learned about the Italians: they don't really understand the concept of lines. The town was really cute. Its a little Italian ski town. Everybody was out enjoying the evening too, and it was their off season. I would love to go to this place in the summer and/or winter. I think it is a good place to visit all times of the year!

The next morning we packed up camp, and with no success in finding any geocaches yet we decided to spend the morning trying to find one before we headed back to Napoli. One we were able to park within two miles of the cache. It was next to a lake and we couldn't really find a trail that went to the lake, so we just took off and got about less than a mile in and decided we weren't going to get to it, there were too many mountains in the way and it would take forever. One of the problems with not having a European map downloaded on the GPS is it doesn't have roads or trails on it, making geocaching much more difficult. We decided to attempt to find one more geocache before heading out. We made it to where it was hidden, we know we were within 5 feet of it, but just couldn't find it. Looking at the hint more later it was apparently in a tree somewhere, but we didn't see it, so dissappointing. Luckily, the weekend with no success in geocaching didn't turn Jeremy off from it. He still seems excited about it, that's good! We look forward to going caching with Luke and Jackie.

My handsome man!

Then we had to head back to Naples, on the way we stopped to get something to eat and drink at this little joint where this Italian man brought us in and was very excited for us to be in there, handing us stuff to eat and drink. Telling us we wanted to buy this and that, pushing stuff in our hands saying yes, we wanted to get it. It was hilarious. We were so taken off guard we didn't know what was happening! We figured he must be desperate for some more sales or something.

When we got back, it was time to do laundry, play some volleyball, and the next day...celebrete Halloween...!

Now he is a little scary! At a Halloween party with one of the Navy bands performing. Fun night.

Cow on the side of the rode in Abruzzo National Park

Week before Halloween we carved a pumpkin. I was excited Jeremy wanted to carve one! It was fun.

The final look, it's two ghosts holding hands, Jeremy's idea


One of my jobs was scraping the inside, my favorite part. Unfortunately we didn't get to bake the pumpkin seeds, he has no oven :(

Our first Italian meal prepared together

The next day Jeremy left for his week long trip in Africa with his band :( Seemed like I just got here and he goes and leaves! Not cool. But he gets back tomorrow, that's good! I was lucky because my friend, Kristin, has been in Moscow the past few years and this past week she just happened to have her fall break so she and one of her friends came to Italy to visit!

So I showed her around Naples a bit, they came to base with me one night to my volleyball game. I took them to get some yummy Italian pizza. And one day we went to explore the historic town of Pompei, which ended up being nothing like what I expected. I always imagined the to really be a buried city from lava, but it has been dug out so much it doesn't even look like it was covered by lava. It just looks like a really old, abandoned city. And I always imagined there to be preserved bodies you could see. Not so much, we saw a couple, but nothing like I imagined. It was still cool though, much bigger than I expected it to be. Took forever and we still didn't walk through the whole city. It was fun to spend some time with Kristin and catch up. She's a good friend, I miss not getting to see her more often. Got to enjoy some good cappucino and gelato with her in Italy! Who knows where it will be next time we meet up!

Other than Kristin visiting I have just been exploring more of the area around Jeremy's place, getting cappucino. I discovered a really nice lake not far from here and found my first geocache in Europe! Very exciting, now it's Jeremy's turn to find it! He gets back tomorrow and I am very excited. He has a couple days off since he has been working the past week so hopefully we will do some more hiking and find some more geocaches!

Hope all my friends and family are doing great! Miss you all!