Wahooo! Canyoning!!!

This weekend was the weekend I was looking forward to! About 1 week after we arrived here in Italy the first group returned from a trip offered through Outdoor Recreation. They told us we must do it so a few weeks later we signed up for canyoning in Slovenia! I have been waiting and building anticipation for the past like 3 weeks! So today we woke up at 7 and met Randy outside who took us to Outdoor rec where we loaded a van with about 13 other people and headed for a 2 hour road trip to Slovenia! On the ride over, our van watched super troopers and slept! When we got there we all got fitted for a neoprene wet suit and jacket, along with booties, a helmet and what we called a plastic diaper which was used when sliding down the rocks! So we took the can from the equipment place to where the trail was. We stuffed everything in the neoprene wet suit and wore it like a backpack as we hiked up the mountain! The water was such an incredible teal color but absolutely freezing! We stopped to put on our getup which was so hard. Putting on a dry, tight wet suit on a sweaty body was such a struggle! We were able to wade in the water which they said was totally drinkable and iceberg cold! The whole day was full of sliding down natural water slides into small but deep pools of water, and jumping off bunches of cliffs! We jumped off a 20 foot cliff and then if we were 100% sure we could jump off a 40 foot cliff! Of course, I was one of the 4 who did both, and the only female I might add! :D The scary part was not the height but the fact that we had to clear a boulder sticking out of the cliff in order to get to the water! It was so problem though was absolutely an adrenaline rush! I wanted to do it again but there were people waiting so we had to move on! The final cliff was roughly 50 feet and was so dangerous that they lowered us down with a rope! As you were falling the water from the waterfall was crashing on top of your head and then you hit the freezing cold water! I loved every minute of it! After we did our canyoning bit, we went and had lunch and then went on a hike to see a single waterfall in this cave like structure that got barely any light! It was amazingly beautiful! We took the rest of the trail around and made it back to our vans and back to Aviano. It was an incredible experience and one that I would recommend and do again in a heartbeat!

More beach and relaxation!

So the weekend after Tay and my fabulous 3 day Rome and surrounding areas trip I felt I needed to take it a little easy. Dom and I decided to head to Lignano and enjoy some sun! When we arrived it started to pour and I was a little nervous but hey "It's an adventure" as mama says! :D So we walked to find Sabbiadoro, a more hopping area of Lignano. Once we found it, the weather started clearing up so we layed out for a few hours. Once the sun started going down we went and got some dinner and I got a wonderful seafood spaghetti! I barely finished my meal and was absolutely stuffed to the brim when I did! After dinner we went on a walk down to the main road! There were people all over the street and we must have heard at least 4 different languages walking down the street! We then got some gelato and ate it on the beach! Finally as we got super tired we headed back and fell asleep. The next morning we walked back down to the beach and hung out until the bus came to take us back home. Although there weren't many stories from that weekend it was very refreshing to have a simple relaxing weekend.

The next weekend was also supposed to be a chill weekend. One day we just all hung out around the base and relaxed after working 45 hours in 4 days! The next day Dom and I took a bus to Pordonone and then headed to a store called Decathalon. The closest bus stop was a good 15 minute walk to the store so we got off the bus and began hoofing it to Decathalon. The walk wasn't that bad and I was blown away when we got there! Basically it was a store that sold equipment for camping and swimming and every sport you could imagine! I ended up getting a camelback, pair of soccer shorts and a bright teal shammy towel! After shopping we had about an hour to kill so we headed to the mall and got a coffee. When time came, we started walking to the bus stop. We got about 50 feet from the bus stop and we saw the bus go right past us! So we could either wait an hour for the next bus or we could start walking. So since we are both kind of antsy people we decided to start walking on the highway! We walked for what seemed like hours and asked two people along the way how to get to the Pordonone bus station. Both people we asked seemed shocked and asked us "con piedi???" meaning "with your feet???" hahah! We ended up making it there around an hour and a half later! We were exhausted so we got some pizza and waited for the bus to take us home. Finally we got home safe and sound and went straight to bed!

Monday was monday funday and was a totally blast! The guy who is in charge of the dorms, mr.Lewis, had all of the lifeguards over to his house for a BBQ. We all pigged out on hot dogs and hamburgers and totally stuffed ourselves silly! Later, once we were out of our food comas someone found nerf guns and so the Lewis family and all the guards had a giant nerf fight! It was so much fun and a great release! We all pilled back in the van and went back to the dorms full and happy!