Places to Be

Jennie Lakes Wilderness - 5 Day Backpacking Adventure - Days 3-5

We spent the entire day #3 at Jennie Lake and walked absolutely nowhere. We fished, had Oban Scotch with some candied ginger, made tasty food, read books and told stories. While the sun was out we also took a dip in the beautiful mountain lake. Colin - pictured pondering the water temperature. 

In the mountains, the weather can change in as little as 20 minutes. So - that evening we got surprised by a hailstorm! It nearly flooded our tent, so we had to move it to higher, more angled grounds so the water would not accumulate under our tent.

The firewood got kind of wet, so it was a challenge getting a fire going but we managed, and in the end the evening was saved.

Next morning we woke up early to go fishing. The fish were pretty hungry : )

Day 4 - We left Jennie Lake and headed around towards Poop Out Pass to go back to Weaver Lake where we had planned to stay our last night. On our way there, we met some hikers who told us about a crosscountry off-the-trail path that was shorter than the designated trail by about 4 miles. We took the chance and went for it, arriving at Weaver Lake in early afternoon. That gave us more time to enjoy the lake and do some more fishing.

Jennie Lakes Wilderness - 5 Day Backpacking Adventure - Days 1&2

This past year we have been busy. Getting a house, preparing for our wedding, etc. so we have had not much time for travels. However we did want to make sure to go on at least one trip this year so it wouldn’t all be just work and no play.

So we decided to go somewhere close to home and picked Jenny Lakes Wilderness as our destination. You can see the map of the region in the picture above. It was a 5 day hiking / backpacking trip with 4 nights spent in the wilderness. 

First day we drove to Fox Meadows and hiked in to Weaver Lake where we spent our first night. Day 2 proved to be the most difficult day of the trip since we had to ascend over 1000ft on a sunny mountainside and the uphill trail just kept on going for ever and ever. Or so it seemed. Our goal was Jennie Lakes where we intended to camp. 

Our first few days in Riga, continued. We connected with nature at the Botanical Museum and checked out some winged beauties in their Butterfly Room.

Day 25 - After having a delightful camp at Trieste where we stayed at a camp where nobody spoke english but drank lots of wine, we continued on south. Because of our short stay in Venice we basically gained an extra day and decided to use it to go south into Croatia to Krka national park! And wow it was worth it. We got there pretty late (4:30) and the park rangers sold us tickets but neglected to mention that park closed at 6. We almost felt like we got fleeced. However we decided to go and explore as much as we could anyway since we paid for it. Everyone had gone home since the park was technically “closed” so we were the only visitors. It felt like having a small piece of Amazon jungle all to ourselves. We saw lots of beautiful waterfalls and water creatures and amphibians.  As a reward for completing the trail we got to swim in the biggest and most beautiful waterfalls at Krka. The swimming area is normally crowded, but we had it to ourselves completely. It kind of felt like we were the only people on earth, swimming in such primal unrivaled natures creation. A couple of swans joined us in our evening swimming.

Day 22 - We visited Salzburg the birthplace of Mozart. However we didn’t visit Mozart museum unfortunately, not enough time.

Instead we saw the century old Hohensalzburg Fortress and took a guided tour up to the tower and the secret living quarters of the various rulers that inhabited the place. We also saw and heard the  "Salzburg Bull" - a pretty unique sort of organ that plays predetermined notes automatically. This type of organ is also called an Aerophon.

We also saw Dom zu salzburg - A magnificent church with huge rotundas and incredible amount of paintings. Could take entire day to look at them all. 

Day 21 - Continued - We continued on driving south towards Austria and on the way decided to stop and see the old town of Český Krumlov - an Unesco World Heritage Site! It was pretty magnificent, built in around 13th century and changed and improved upon by various owners over time, so the castle looked like it was from several different time periods at the same time. We got to walk in the courtyard of the castle and also saw its large gardens. Since we got there late in the day, unfortunately the museums were all closed however the touristy nightlife of Český Krumlov was beginning in full swing. We didn’t stick around though, we had more distance to drive. Next to Salzburg!

Day 21 - We got up early and drove to Sedlec Ossuary in Kutna Hora. Legend has it that a priest from the middle ages brought soil here from Golgotha, the hill where Christ was crucified. The result was that Sedlec became a very holy site and incredibly popular as a burial ground. Soon, the small church became filled to capacity with cadavers, and as a way to make room for fresh burials a practice of exhuming the remains and building structures from them was born.

Day 20 - 2nd Day in Prague. 

Have you ever built your own coffee at a cafe? Probably not. In Prague they give you all the ingredients to build it yourself. Espresso, steamed milk and hot water. 

After that we went painting. Paintings not shown. But it was a challenging. You can see the view we attempted (2nd photo). Later on we went to Prague National Museum and saw an exhibit on Death. We saw a giant dragonfly, a fossilized frog and “Lucy” (5th image). Yes, “Lucy” the first human was in Prague and we saw her! It was pretty surreal and interesting. Next after “Lucy” is a skeleton of an ancient celtic warrior. And some more skulls from an ossuary.

Day 19 - We are in Prague! We walked around the old town, went to an art exhibition in St, Agnes of Bohemia Monastery. Read more on its history here http://www.prague.net/st-agnes-convent-building. We saw a lot of interesting paintings, some of our favorites were “The Path of SilenceI” by František Kupka (5th image) and “The Water Goblin in Winter” by Jaroslav Špillar (6th image). 

We also met up with a few friends in Prague, one of them who we met at Spectrum Fantastic Live - Angela. She now lives and works in Prague. 

Day 17 - We had the whole day to wander about the serpentine streets of Krakow. This city was truly the hardest to navigate of them all! Krakow used to be Poland’s capital before it was moved to Warsaw, so there is an incredible amount of history there. We visited Wawel Castle, where the Polish royalty used to reside. It looked like every stylistic period in architectural history had a hand in building this place, and cupolas were stacked on top of steeples over and over again.