We went to the top of the parking garage on the UF Campus to see their fireworks display. It stated raining while we waited so we had to hold up in the truck for a little while until it stopped raining:
The rain stopped before the fireworks started so we went back outside and relaxed in the bed of the truck:
We were missing Lizzy because she was still at Youth Conference.
The fireworks were so good:
7/04/24
Happy 4th of July! We started off the day with our church family for the annual pancake breakfast. We had a nice time visiting with our church family and friends and we were excited to have the Araques join us too!
Later we went to Alachua, Fl for their fireworkswhich is touted as “The largest small town fireworks display in America”!
Cold treats on a hot day:
They had live music and vendors and a thousand + people!:
The Happy Couple :
The crowds were getting bigger by the minute,
So we headed back to the truck to watch the fireworks. We waited in the truck bed in the dark:
We decided to have some family fun on the tennis court!Mom and Dad against us first:
Rachel and Mom vs. Dad and Lizzy next:
We decided to take it inside to the racquetball/handball courts:
The game gets a little more intense inside!
Later that evening we had a neighborhood visitor:
He was very friendly and enjoyed lots of pets and quite a bit of food too:
Mom later found out that he is a neighborhood Tom Cat named Lion who is and indoor/outdoor cat and likes to make his way around the neighborhood for pets and treats.
Lizzy had almost no time to rest from vacation before Youth Conference! Mom drove Lizzy, Lily, Zach and Sawyerout to camp:
Brother Johanson met us at the parking lot to help transport all the stuff to the cabins.Zach was in charge of keeping it all on the cart!Lizzy and Lily were more than happy to just walk.
It is really hot here in Florida. Good luckand have fun!
We got a hotel and went right to bed because we had a 6am flight.
6/18/24
Two full days of travel is rough!
Flying over the Alps. Flight from Verona to Frankfurt 1.5 hours:
The food is surprisingly good!
We were all able to sit together on the Condo Airlines 7.5 hour flight. We have one more flight after this from JFK to Orlando. Then we shuttle to the car and drive home:
6/19/24
Luna was so happy to see us and we were very happy to see her even at 2:30am!:
Beck Family Vacation: Italy! Day Eight in the Dolomites/Alps/Auronzo, Italy.Today is Father’s Day and the girls made a special breakfast of scrambled eggs with black truffles, fruit and pastries!
We also gave Sullivan Father’s Day cards and gifts.
Then we held a little family church of sorts with spiritual thoughts and scriptures. It was a beautiful day so we headed out and enjoyed several different excursions. First we walked to the Santuario Romano Del Monte Calvario, an outdoor memorial garden walk less than a mile from our Airbnb. There were crosses along the trail with depictions of Jesus:
The wildflowers were everywhere!
The slugs here are different:
The top of the climb:
Beautiful views at the top:
The wildflowers were so pretty!!
Look at the flower she blew floating over her head:
After the sanctuary we drove to Monte Tudaio, a mountain with World War II relics and bunkers:
It was quite a climb up to the bunkers:
A WWII Bunker:
We were able to go inside and explore the bunkers:
European cave spider:
A stationary bicycle!:
We had the whole place to ourselves:
It was a pretty walk back:
Then we drove to an Archaeological Naturalistic Park that had a beautiful lake:
A great place to relax!:
Finally we drove another 10 minutes to the Tibetan Suspension Bridge.
There was quite a walk to get to it:
Mom loves bridges!
Waterfalls below the bridge:
A little side trail:
One last walk over the bridge:
It was a beautiful and very enjoyable last day in the Alps:
Tomorrow we drive back to Verona and prepare for two full days of travel back to the states.
Beck Family Vacation: Italy! Day Seven Dolomites/Alps/Auronzo, Italy.
Dad caught mom’s cold so we slept in and took it a little easy today. Of course we stopped at the bakery for breakfast and bread for later. Then we drove 30 minutes to Lago Di Landro, a pretty lake:
Ready for an easy hike:
We followed a 3 mile trail around the lake. We of course had some adventures along the way. Rachel was trying to teach Lizzy the Wizard of Oz skip.
I think she’s got it!
Making our way around the lake. The lake was a beautiful blue-green color and the mountains in the background were so pretty.
Flowers everywhere and several of the make a wish kind (more on that later):
We had to jump across flooding on the trail quite a few times:
Leaping Lizzy!
Even on a cloudy day it’s beautiful!:
Alpine Clamatis:
Any guesses on her wish?:
It’s funny . . .
They both wished for a Taco Bell!
Valeriana everywhere along the trail:
A relaxing hike is nice too:
Lots of Barberry too:
Another leap across the water:
Of course Lizzy must climb something!:
The actress is far from scared:
The other side of the lake:
Uh oh, major flooding across the trail:
We made our own detour on the brushy ledge:
She said she was playing Moses, except there was absolutely no parting of the water we had to work for this crossing:
We watched some swans and other fowl swimming in the lake:
Nap time:
Getting smarter every second with Dad’s glasses:
Lizzy wasn’t done resting so she caught a ride:
The water in Italy is so clear!:
We are on the other end of the lake:
Not much farther:
Back at the lake:
End trail pic:
After the hike we went back to the Airbnb and Sullivan took a nap while the girls all went off shopping around town. Of course we had some Gelato; perhaps the last of of trip (we’ll see ).Dinner was also an experience because of our lack of understanding of the Italian language:
Beck Family Vacation: Italy. Day Six in the Dolomites/Alps/Auronzo, Italy.
This morning we stopped at a bakery and got pastries for breakfast and some delicious bread we will have later for lunch along the hike. We drove 45 minutes to our hike in the Tre Crime Di Lavaredo Nature Park on the Tre Crime Trail (Three Peaks Trail). We got to the park at 9am and we had to wait about 15 minutes in a car line to the entrance fee station (30 euros per car!). There were a lot of people planning to hike this trail!
A little chilly but the sun is out.
We decided to go counterclockwise based on research we did on the trail conditions and also less people. The views at the start were beautiful!
The weather was only a little chilly and the sun was even out. Thee were views of the mountains from every direction:
Oh how things changed!! Snow = Snowball Fights:
It’s on!:
And on . . .
And on. They never give up!
It is warming up into a pretty day:
The hike then turned into hiking mostly along ledges:
We were hoping the low clouds will burn off throughout the day so we can get a better view of the three peaks:
More snow and clouds as we climb higher:
Another snowball fight broke out:
Look at the views or the snowball fight, your choice here:
The water in the pond is crystal clear!:
Lizzy went wading in the freezing cold water!:
A beautiful backdrop for her!
Making our way around the mountains and over some little streams. There was a restaurant up here too!:
We kept hiking through:
The hike was pretty steep:
A nice little flat section:
That’s our trail:
Out of nowhere this happened! It was lightly raining and the trail went so high the snow got deeper. It was quite slippery with snow, slush and a little ice too:
We hit the mother load!:
The artist inspired:
It’s raining again:
This white winged snow finch stopped by to say hello:
Rachel might just be praying for this hike to end:
It might be trying to clear up again:
We think that water in the far distance might be the reservoir by our Airbnb (?):
End of hike pic. We survived!We had a lot of fun, some misery, and we completed this incredible 6 mile hike together!
Dad’s hoodie elastic has imprinted his head perhaps permanently. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if this is his new look from now on:
Beck Family Vacation: Day Four in the Alps/Dolomites.
Today we drove 20 minutes to our hike at Lago Di Boe (The Lake of Boe). It was cold and foggy but we were hoping the sun would come out and change that pretty quickly. No such luck today. It stayed pretty cold and even drizzled on us a bit.
Trail-head pic. it’s pretty cold.
The whole first part of the hike was a STEEP climb up a pebbled road.:
“Wait, what!? We’re climbing that?”:
The wind made it colder:
Lizzy tried to run it! She made it pretty far at a run:
Rest break!:
We turned the corner and the climb continued. Rachel creates her own switchbacks along the way to make it a little easier:
We made it up to the first ‘lake’. Well, based on the trail info we read we thought this was going to be a lake:
A retention pond! Really!?:
Rachel’s expression is quite fitting as well:
There’s a restaurant up the hill. Perhaps they have hot chocolate!:
Ducking down beneath the wind chill helps a bit:
When I got to the top I found Lizzy riding a zip line!:
Mom thought this was a slingshot so Lizzy tried to launch a rock. Oops, it was a kiddie swing:
The restaurant was closed so we kept hiking. The trail drastically changed to a pretty rocky climb:
The clouds were thick but we could make out the large rock formations:
It was still an uphill climb for another mile:
We ran into a group who decided to abandon their hike and wanted directions to the quickest way down:
As we continued our assent there was snow and ice along the trail:
And the rocky climb continued:
There are some pretty wildflowers along the trail too. See the pink/purple flowers up on the right:
Back in the snow:
Even more snow:
The trail narrowed and it got a little cliffy and the fog was thickening:
I bet the view from up here is spectacularwhen the fog is lifted:
Hiking in the edge:
Snowball fight up here!?:
Lizzy built a snowman:
So cute.
We could hear water flowing under the ground around us and it was a little bit creepy. We also saw lots of scat along the trail and we were hoping to see some wildlife.
We had several little detours around snow and ice:
We saw an Alpine Marmot and lots of marmot scat.:
His had his back to us.
We made it to Lake Boe! I’m sure it’s an awesome lake but it was more creepy with the fog.
At first we didn’t even recognize that it was the lake. It looked like fog and snow.
We were enjoying the hike while also wishing we could actually see the lake:
Lake Boe if only we could see you:
We are sure it’s beautiful on a clear day:
Swimming anyone?:
One last look:
A creepy ski lift currently closed:
Another snowball fight:
Dad got Lizzy!:
Racing back for more snow:
She got him!:
This was a loop trail. Can you see the road we climbed up this morning in the distance?:
Up there:
We hiked down below the clouds and it was a little warmer too:
This is a pic of the mountain views we would have seen on a clear day:
As we approached the end of the hike we somehow lost the trail and had to hike through a very pretty yet soaking cold wet grassy field. We are all ready to get warm and dry! We did hard things today as a family and that always brings us closer together as a family.
Beck Family Vacation: Italy! Day Three in the Alps/Dolomites.
Today we drove a half hour to our hike in Puez-Odle Nature Park near Antermoia, Italy. There was rain in the forecast so we got somewhat of an early start. At the trail head and ready to hike:
It started off on the chilly side but not raining. We made some rabbit friends right from the start:
More rabbits this way!:
This way:
Awe!!
Beautiful views are calling us away from the cute bunnies:
Rachel saves her Lizzy from…well nothing really:
Wow!:
What animal could have possibly made this track!?:
Obviously this is going to be a beautiful hike!:
A crime scene of sorts:
Again, the views along the trail are so beautiful.
The girls flying the coop:
These flowers are along the sides of the trail:
Still a bit foggy but no rain yet:
We found snow!
Snowball fight!
Get’m Lizzy!:
Relaxing at a crest along the way:
Up high on the mountain:
Rest break for Lizzy. What a great sister Rachel is to carry her up the mountain!
There are restaurants along the way!:
Enjoying the amazing views!:
Time for the final steep climb before the summit:
Almost at the top:
Lizzy made it to the top first:
Listening to music to get her to the top:
Mom and Dad made it too:
A cool sculpture at the summit:
And these:
Awesome summit views:
Resting before the descent:
It started raining and then HAILING!!
They started off tiny pebble size and got just a little bit bigger:
The hail stopped and it continued to drizzle but we kept on going. We also saw goats, cows and small mammals we couldn’t identify:
The Spring wildflowers are so pretty:
A little wet, but it was an excellent hike!
We had another awesome day hiking in the Dolomites!
: 
). Dinner was also an experience because of our lack of understanding of the Italian language:
