Quarter of a Century

Well, I'm just over halfway through my final vacation of Peace Corps. I have had a crazy fun time traveling through Italy and Croatia with my friend Emily. I will share more stories in a later blog (I'm tired and have a big day of hiking tomorrow), but I thought I'd post a few pictures from my birthday. We took a bus from Zagreb to Plitvice National Park that day, where I was startled by literally dozens of waterfalls. It was just about the most beautiful place I've ever been to.

(some of the waterfalls at Plitvice)

(Emily and me on top of a mountain)

(After this photo, I promptly dipped my shoe in the lake climbing off that tree!)

I took a zillion photos of different lakes and waterfalls on my hike, and I will definitely post more later. We hiked around the lakes for about five hours before heading back to Zagreb, where we were "couch surfing" with a documentary filmmaker (and unofficial Croatia guide) named Marin. Marin took us out for drinks that evening -- we had red wine mixed with Coca Cola, which tasted surprisingly good. Then we met up with his friend Dragan and hung out at his high-rise apartment overlooking Zagreb.

Dragan, Marin, me and Emily

Zagreb is a beautiful city, by the way. It still has a small-town feel in the center district, complete with a towering cathedral from the middle ages. Emily and I spent a few days just walking around the city and eating gelatto.

(Emily and me in downtown Zagreb)

(the Zagreb cathedral)

It was an amazing birthday -- definitely going down in my book as one of my best and most memorable ones ever. I'm still in Croatia, but now I'm in the southern region (Makarska). It is very different, but equally as stunning -- There are villages squished in between giant rocky mountains and the blue-green sea. Like I said, I will definitely write more later (we've also traveled to Milan, Venice, Dubrovnik and Slovonsky Brod -- right on the border of Bosnia). But for now I hope that these pictures and short descriptions will do!