More Croatia Pictures

Slowly but surely going through more photos from everything this summer...Croatia is so beautiful!

Cliff Jumping in Croatia

Croatia might be the most beautiful place I've ever been!  A little group of us rented a car and drove through Slovenia (also stunning and I've never thought twice about the country until now) down to Pula, where we spent the weekend exploring different coastal areas along the Istrian peninsula.  Everywhere was a mix of white, rocky coasts, red earth, deep green pines, and the clearest blue water I've ever seen.  You can see straight to the bottom no matter how deep it is!  Because there are no sand beaches in that area, everyone suns themselves on rocky ledges and then jumps off them into the sea.  It was so funny watching little kids clamber up onto really high rocks, and just hop off without a second thought!  We saw a couple adventurous boys jump from about 50 feet, but it seemed like most stuck to around 15.  Older kids and adults will do anything (check out this video).  That's me jumping off in the pictures above!  That ledge was around 30 feet high, and that really got my heart pumping - it seems so high when you're standing up there.  We all took turns working up the courage to step off of it, and then the next day in a different area, Will did one that was closer to 45 or 50 feet high, and one of our friends jumped off one that must have been almost 60 or 70 feet!!  Wow.  

A special thank you...

to my mom!  Who drove with me and a van full of stuff all the way out to Massachusetts.  (That is a long way!) She stayed for a day before turning around and heading back home, so we ate breakfast at a historic diner called Miss Worcester, where we kept laughing at the new accent I would have to adjust to (people near us kept saying caaahd instead of card).  Then we drove to the coast - turns out I only live about an hour away from the Atlantic :)  She hadn't been to the ocean for a long time; it was very exciting to be greeted by the sounds and smells of the water as we stepped out of the car and started walking.

We sat and soaked in the lovely scene

while Trish napped on the sand.

Then we watched a little girl use her grandmother as a trampoline,

swam in the breakers,

and watched some boats go by.

It as a really nice day.  Thanks again, mom!  Couldn't have made the move without you!

Blowin through the Windy City

On the way home from Luzerne I made a couple stops to visit friends, the first one in Chicago.  I love this city!  A good friend of mine just moved down there to start at Northwestern, so we met up for a day and made breakfast, walked around, went swimming in Lake Michigan, and had sushi and Thai iced coffees (so good).  Swimming in Lake Michigan is wonderful; I've swum in the Atlantic, Pacific, Caribbean, Mediterranean, and various rivers and lakes, and I think the best swimming experience I've ever had is still in the good ole' gigantic midwestern lake.  Not that the others weren't awesome :)  While at the beach, a bunch of planes flew across the sky and wrote an advertisement - neat.  You don't often see skywriting in real life.  
At night I walked around the city with another friend, stopped for Vietnamese food, went to the top of the Hancock building for a night view, and watched fireworks by the water.  Not a bad visit!

Day Off!

 

 

 

I had a glorious day off recently, and spent the afternoon kayaking, swimming, watching the boats, and reading by the lake.  Ahh :)

Lake Swims

 

 

Ahh, pretty magical.