The Europe Itinerary

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I haven't posted in two weeks. Well, it's because I've been busy - in my social life anyway although I don't have any photos or stories to tell about it. Well, maybe I do. Last week I was busy because we had Stake Welfare Council one night, Ladies' Night at Mad Dog's Cycles another night, Ride-Like-a-Girl Mountain Biking 101 another night, went mountain biking Friday night with my roommate, and then tried out some Trek road and mountain bikes at their demo day. See it's been crazy!

So, did you know that I leave THIS Friday night for my trip to Europe? Absolutely! Holy cow this past month has flown by. It always does when you have something to look forward to. And boy do I ever! So here is our mostly firmed up itinerary:

• Take a red-eye flight to New York City and arrive Saturday morning
• Play in NYC for our 10-hour lay-over
• Hop on our next flight to Zurich, Switzerland
• Go to church, then play and check out the sights in Zurich on Sunday
• Drive to our B&B in Zunzgen, Switzerland
• Go to Niederdorf (a village of 1,700 people) where Jed's business meeting is and maybe make an appearance in Basel
  
• Stay another night in Zunzgen
• Drive a 7-hour drive from Zunzgen to Salzburg, Austria stopping along the way in little villages and checking out the sleeping beauty castle near Fussen, Germany on Tuesday
  
• Check out some of the Sound of Music sights via bike and the hometown of Mozart in Salzburg on Wednesday
• Drive to Venice, Italy on Thursday and stop in Hallstatt, Austria and Villach, Austria and hope to catch some May Day events along the way (and possibly even visit a previous roommate of mine - yes, she is from Italy)
• Drop off our first rental car (that we have already nick-named Pico) at the Venice airport and then take a water taxi to Venice to our B&B which is seriously a block away from St. Mark's square
  
• Play in Venice on Friday and check out the Grand Canal, Saint Mark's Square, their famous glass blowing, masks, and lace
• Drive to Rome via Florence on Saturday - I'm hoping Jed will oblige me for an art museum in Florence so I can check off a lot of the artwork that is in my book titled, "The Art Book". I always check off artwork in that book when I've seen it in person! :o)
• Tour Vatican City, the Colosseum, St. Peters Cathedral and make a wish at Trevi Fountain in Rome on Sunday.
  
• Fly for home on Monday, May 5th!

Yes, everyday is jam packed and we will not be able to see everything, but our goal was to see as much as possible. And every-other day is in fact a travel day, but we are hoping it won't feel like that since we will be driving a car and can stop anywhere we want to and check things out! I am getting soooooo excited. With the help and encouragement of a great home teacher I was able to find some great deals on B&Bs in all of our destinations - at most of them Jed and I will have our own beds maybe even our own rooms!

This will probably be my last entry for this week....and until I get back and have a ton of pictures to share!! So stay tuned for the post-trip entry.

Finally! A Successful Trip to the Hot Pots

I have had two unsuccessful trips to the hot pots in the past 4 years and I finally succeeded in getting to them this year! This last weekend! The first time - the road was closed so we tried to go around the long way and spent hours driving and finally gave up. The second time - the bridge over the river was washed out and the water was too high to cross so we gave up. But this time! Oh this time! I guess third time the charm is accurate in this instance!

Jen and I gathered a great group of friends to go with us after the Priesthood Session of General Conference on Saturday night. The hike was great! And you wanna know what the best part was? I could keep up with everyone! I think all this gym-going business these past 8 months has paid off for me! Last year, I was a super slow hiker. But this year.... hopefully that will be different. So we hiked the 2 or so miles into the hot springs known to us locals as the Diamond Fork Hot Pots. The hot pots are notorious for nudies, but thankfully we didn't see any. Gross! And the people that were already there must have been new (supposedly) because they left the best and biggest pot for us - at the top near the waterfall.

We sat in the springs for 2 or more hours! We just chatted and had fun teasing everyone. That's the beauty of being such great friends! And we obviously took some pictures. We finally got out when part of our group left early for the cars - we didn't want to hold them up too bad. :o) The hike down was pretty adventurous because there was still snow on the trail and it had been packed down to a pretty slick ice path. Sadly, the only time I slipped was in the mud. I could have at least slipped on the actual ice if I really had to slip! We didn't get home until 2 am. The hot pots are definitely a must do again!

Did I Just Run a Red Light?

Do you ever wonder, "Did I just run a red light?" right after going through an intersection? I think I just did that - cuz after I went through the intersection I looked in my rear view mirror and all the traffic behind me, and I think even the traffic beside me, had stopped. The left-turn lane to my left was still turning left.... but did they have a protected left turn arrow? Meaning the opposite direction did too? I didn't hit anyone... so all's well that ends well, right?

Maybe I should watch my driving a little more this week, because I am pretty sure I ran a stop sign Monday night too. Ha!