MY FIRST CARPATHIAN EXPERIENCE

We went to the Mountains last weekend. Just the 5 of us, drove 1 hour West of our town into the Carpathian Mountains in Romania. Man, I love that I can say that sometimes. Pretty damn cool. It was a beautiful drive. Lush rolling hills before the mountains that hosted many farms and herds of sheep and goats. So many different colors of green contrasted by the crisp blue sky. It was a beautiful drive. I wish I could show so many of you. I love being able to see the shadow of mountains in the distance and having that excited feeling as you grow closer and closer. Or maybe that's just me I don't know. David took us to a hiking path in a National Park. It was interesting to say the least with some of the paths being very steep, the two walking children navigated their way across the rocky terrain quite well. I had packed a lunch so we climbed as high as we could before we stopped and sat to enjoy our picnic. What scenery! Bloody beautiful! I will try to attach some photos for sure. This turned out to be a short picnic as a small slip of footing would have you easily half way down the mountain. I could hear my mother-in-law in the back of my mind, "steady,steady" (with English accent). Ruby, after having climbed all the way up the mountain in a backpack, was eager to discover the new territory but due to the steep terrain was unhappily restrained. The decent was very rapid compared to the assent. I could feel my legs shaking and knees wobbling as we got nearer to the bottom. Mostly because I had to hold on to Gabrielle the whole time as she stumbled and fell over a dozen times down the hill. It got so frequent that she became weak with giggles which made her steadiness worse.

We loaded the car and drove further into the Carpathian Mountains, destination Lacu Rosu, or Red Lake to us. The drive was again phonemenal with jagged cliffs on one side and solid rock faces on the other. Every once in a while you would turn a corner to find a number of nomads and farmers had set up shop on the ever so narrow shoulder. They were selling all kinds of wonderful Romanian treasures like handmade dresses, necklaces, table cloths and sweaters. There were traditonal brooms, cooking pots and we can't forget the cheap plastic made in China toys. Guess what my kids wanted?! Yup, they wanted the Dollarama special but they settled for matching (of course) white and blue hand made dresses. Little do they know they won't be allowed to wear them!

When we arrived in Lacu Rosu I was very surprised to see how busy this little moutain town was. It was crawling with people. Everyone came to see this Red Lake, even I was interested to see it. But to my disappointment, the lake was very... green. Not even a hint of Red. Apparently it hasn't been red in quite a long time but someone in history swears it was once. The best part about Lacu Rosu are these fire roasted pasteries from heaven called Cartosh. That's Romanian for pastry covered in brown sugar and crushed walnuts, roasted over and open fire and eaten warm. Bloody hell! Good thing I went on that big hike right Ann! After that we were on our way back "home" with the children, loaded on fresh air and exercised to the max. were passed out in the back of the car the entire way home. My mind had now changed to other things. Namely a "Canadian BBQ" that my husband volunteered me to host for the Chiefs and Directors at his work. What would be on the menu, where would I buy the food, how much did I need.... I thought I was supposed to be bored here!?

But I'll save this story till next time.

Alison