On the 12th of October we met the Treismans at the airport in Crete. (They are the ones we saw in Japan.) We got our rental car and drove an hour and a half to a nearby town. We stayed in this awesome house right on the water. When you walked down the steps you can jump right in and go swimming. There was really good swimming and snorkelling. What was really weird was that there were two really big teepees. They had six mattresses. Harper slept in her parents’ room and Quincy, Decker and I slept in the teepee. There was also a big house. On the beach we made an awesome movie that I’m not going to post because it is embarrassing to all of us. On the fourth and last night we had a birthday celebration with my mom even though it was two days early. We had a lot of fun on the beach and we made a lot of clay.
On the 8th of October we arrived in Athens, Greece. On the 9th we hiked up to the Acropolis. First we went to the museum. The Acropolis is so amazing. It was kind of hard to imagine how long ago it was built. Over 2,500 years ago!!! Athens was named after Athena, the greek god of wisdom. She and Poseidon, the god of the sea, both wanted the city, so they decided whoever gave the best gift would get it. Poseidon gave the mortals a spring, but they didn’t really like it because it was salt water. Athena gave the mortals an olive tree, and they liked that best because it gave them oil, wood, and food. At the Acropolis there used to be a statue of Athena.
The next day we went to this awesome park. We played in the fountain and on the playground. The next day we went to the Olympic Stadium where the first modern Olympics were held. It was awesome.
On the 24th of September we flew into Dubrovnik, Croatia. We were supposed to meet our grandparents, Mimi and Poppy, but their flight got cancelled so we met them two days later in Split. Dubrovnik was really cool but it was super crowded by Americans. When we got to Split our Mimi and Poppy were there waiting for us. It was funny because we were planing to do that to them. After Split we took a ferry to the island of Vis. In Vis we celebrated Decker’s birthday and wow did he get a lot of presents. I made him a card with a picture of Rex, his favorite clone. After Vis we went to Plitvice. We did this cool lake hike that was really pretty. After that we went to Zagreb and went to a cool Nikola Tesla museum. Hanging out with Mimi and Poppy was so much fun. Mimi took me shopping and it was really fun. On the 4th the grandparents left. 😦
After that we went to Maribor, Slovenia and saw the Smalls again. We drove to the Mur river and floated it with Balkan River Defence. They are an organization that floats rivers in the Balkans to protest against dams. By the time we finished it was dark. We watched this amazing video they had made and then listened to a live rock band. Me and my dad got some t-shirts. The next day we went to Tara’s 5th birthday party. Tanja made this awesome cake and we hung out for awile.
On the 16th of September we took a plane from Ljublianja to Dobra Voda, Montenegro. We stayed at this apartment building right on the water. It had a pool and a cool deck. To get to the ocean we had to walk down this cool rock path. What was also cool was that there was no beach, just rock cliffs to jump off. Every night we watched the beautiful sunset from the deck or the beach. We went to Montenegro because we wanted aplace just to hangout and not have to do anything. Our goal was to not leave the apartment more than once. We met it. We had six days there and it was so much fun.
After six days we went to another town in Montenegro called Budva. We stayed in this apartment in town. We had two days there and also didn’t do much.
We drove to Bovec, which is a really awesome town on the Soca river. The Soca river was a really amazing blue color. It was like glass. The first day my dad went kayaking with a tour company called Sport Mix. While he was kayaking we went to a cool beach and sat by the water and swam. The water was really cold!
The next day my dad and I went canyoning with Sport Mix. Canyoning is where you go into a tight canyon and you go down natural slides that the river makes. We were with 4 other people and they were really nice. Since the water was so cold we had to wear a lot of neoprene. We also had a helmet and a harness. It was so much fun!! We went down a really high waterfall that was 30 feet, did a 25 foot jump, a few big slides and a lot of small slides. On the really high waterfall, the guide lowered us down halfway, made us wait 5 seconds and then dropped us!
After two weeks of camping without a tent, my parents splurged. On the 29th of August we took a bus ride to Ljubljana. We stayed there three days and on the fourth we picked up our RV.
Our first stop was this awesome lake called Lake Bohinj. It was a beautiful lake so we stayed there for 4 nights. Our neighbors were really nice. One couple was from Germany and they had a really cute 1-year-old named Vanessa. The other couple was from the Netherlands. There was a lot of ducks that would come up to you looking for food. One time Vanessa’s dad was feeding the ducks and Vanessa put her finger out and the duck bit her. One day we rented a rowboat and my dad rowed us across the lake. We bought groceries and ice cream and the rowed back. One day we walked to a big grassy field and played with our ball and Decker’s stick. We played baseball for about an hour. Another day we walked up to a waterfall.
After Bohinj we drove to Bled. We stayed at a campsite right behind the lake. We weren’t camped on it so it was a 3 minute walk to the lake. We went swimming to a dock and the water was really cold. The next day we drove up to this really cool castle on a hill and had a fancy lunch. After that we walked back to the camper and drove to the Vintgar Gorge. It was a really cool gorge that was skinny and scary. Unfortunately it was really rainy and cold and we had to go back before we got to the end. After that we drove to the Slovenian Alpine Museum and met the Smalls and the Grmovseks.
My parents know Anda Smalls through Brookie and Danielle. Before we were born, my dad went on a bike ride with Anda in Moab. While they were stopped for lunch, Anda asked if anyone wanted some apple and someone said yes so she just ripped the apple in half with her bare hands! Anda has a 12 year daughter named Zala and a 10 year old son named Luca, which was really confusing because we met a different brother and sister named Zali and Luca in Fiji!
Tanya Grmovsek is Anda’s sister and she has a 4-year old daughter named Tara. Anda and Tanya are from Slovenia but Anda moved to Colorado. Anda and her kids are living in Slovenia for one year. They live in Maribor but they came to Kranska Gora for the museum exhibit. We were at the museum because they were opening an exhibit about women Slovenian climbers and Tanya was in the exhibit. We looked around the museum and then drove to a campsite in Kranska Gora.
Tara
The next morning the Smalls drove to our campsite and we all got ready to go on a bike ride. We got in their van and drove to their apartment. We then walked to a bike cafe and Decker, my mom and I rented bikes. My dad stayed home that day. We got our bikes and started riding to Italy! We stopped at the famous Planica ski jump. We then rode to some lakes in Italy. Now I have been to more countries on this trip than my dad! Tanya and Tara met us at the lakes and we ate lunch and built a gnome home in the forest.
The next day we drove up to the top of the Vrsic pass and hiked to the top of a peak. We built another gnome home, had lunch and then walked back down.
The next day we drove back to Planica and then walked up to a hut. The huts are almost like a hotel but a lot smaller. They have rooms and a restaurant. One of the coolest things about the huts in Slovenia is that they aren’t allowed to turn anyone away because when people are out in the mountains they have to give them shelter. We played Frisbee 500 for a while and then went to bed.
Earth to Jules 