Where have I been!?!?!

I feel like the last time I saw a computer was an eon ago. And you know what? We've been so busy that I actually didn't miss it... The only thing I missed was writing.. I'd do and see a million things that I 'couldn't wait to write down!'. Otherwise, I didn't stop once to wonder who was e-mailing me, or what news I was missing, or what the forecast was. I was away and it was joyous.

BUT!! You will never guess where we headed............ CINQUE TERRE. So, I was given two very strong recommendations about the place. The first was last summer. I was waitressing and having a conversation with a woman about travels. She had a thick east coast accent, which I can say, because everyone knows Wisconsinites carry their own linguistic bagagge.

"AWWWH MY. ITALY?!?!? You'll LOHHVVE ITALY. My dwaghter went, and she loved this place. Gowrgeous. She told me so. Beautiful. It's this place of five towns... write this down, sweetie. Chinke Terray. She said she'd stay there fowreva. For real, and my dawghter, she's not the lying type." And because I was absolutely scared out of my mind about traveling and the whole prospect of an unplanned 6 months, I wrote it down.


That night, still in my nasty sweaty too worn uniform, I sat and pulled out my pad. Chinke Terray???I googled. and googled. and googled some more. Chinke Terrace? Chink Terra?

-Google reffered me, 'Do you mean Cinque Terre?'

GOLD MINE. Picture after unreal picture.


When Erik got done with work I showed him the place. We're going. We're doing it. We HAVE to. HAVE HAVE HAVE to. And at the time, we were 'having' to do just about anything I could find. Paris? Doing it. Amsterdam? Doing it. Italian countryside? Doing it. Bavarian Alps? Doing it. Thank goodness a traveling vacuum salesman didn't come by and tell me how much I needed a portable vacuum to clean my pack out with. I would be 'doing' that too.


So, I mentally stored it away and added it to the list. It was only finally sealed when a friend of mine, Lexia, sent me an e-mail. She's this hilarious, beautiful, free spirit who is as kind as the day is long and is really well traveled. When she sent me my 'calm down' (which seriously saved me from a few last minute panic attacks) e-mail which entailed detailed back packing advice, and amazing information about the Cinque Terre, I was 100% in.


When we arrived with my parents, I was completely blown away. Feet out from under me, blown away. I can't put words to it. And sure, I'll post pictures, but they don't do justice to it. Not an ounce. The colors POP. It's as if someone dumped out a bag of skittles and threw them at a bunch of quaint houses piled atop each other on a dangling cliff edging the Mediterranean.

I could get into how unbelievably special it was to experience it with my parents, but that will be a much more nostalgic post when I have more time, Kleenex, and caffeine.

Here is where I'd post a bunch of the pictures as a small ounce of proof that this place actually exists. But there's a catch.. I really haven't been by a computer. That wasn't some fantastic lie that I spun. We've been so busy that I haven't even uploaded my pictures to the computer. Every opportunity I HAVE had to go on the computer entailed me glancing at the computer, then at my bed. Back to the computer and climbing into bed. So please accept these few that I do have as a peace offering for my absence.