It's Luke again.
This week was very interesting with some new adventures for everyone.
Work involved Jacob working really hard on a VBA program using terrible resources on the Savitsky Method (my old homework). Nate made some handrails and can now tell you if any railing is up to code just by looking at it briefly. I started up on some of my mentor's work because he was busy with some training during the week and couldn't think of anything to give me on short notice.
Nate also started learning French. He says it'll take 480 hours of study to get level 1 fluency and I have never seen a man so driven to become fluent in a language in a month while we're in a country that speaks a different language we also don't know. Admittedly, this is a very specific situation but I think he should still get a superlative for this.
I don't have much to say about our after-work lifestyle because we don't do much so I'll add some filler material here.
Each of us have our own spot on the couch in the living room and we just kinda chill there. Jacob and I have apparently synced up because we wake up at the same time and also do a strange head nod while eating. We also have walked out of separate rooms at the same time to make a pb and j. Nate is a bit of a Minecraft legend and I am very inadequate in comparison when he tried to teach me some skillz.
Have y'all ever heard of a burek? It's some really good Eastern European food that we first discovered by pointing at it through a window and eating whatever the nice man gave us.
We also live exactly 89 feet away from a tattoo shop and the people there are so friendly! Jacob and Nate still don't want to go...
Ok so now we can move to the weekend! All of our trips so far have been coastal and we've seen some beautiful coastal views in cute looking villages and towns. It turns out though, if you go over the mountains, it's like hopping through the wardrobe to Narnia (am I allowed to reference that?). Everything is covered in snow and it's almost always snowing. We spent our weekend on the other side of the mountains. Nate and Jacob were a little out of their element as some good southern folk but I was in my home territory there. The frozen precipitation hugged me like an emotionally warm (but physically cold) blanket.
Saturday took us to Fužine and Delnice which were both small towns just over the mountains. We also visited a place called Lokve just north of Fužine which was an alternate location choice to visiting the "Cowboy Village" which was snowed in.
Fužine looked kinda like a town made for the lumber industry but had a lovely lake to walk around. We chose to walk on the shore of the lake and it just gave some boy band vibes (we will try to release an album cover soon). There was also fitness equipment along the path and I thoroughly enjoyed the monkey bars.
After this, we went to Lokve because Nate saw there was some ice on a big lake that required further inspection. We walked across a big dam that looked like it could host some thrilling sledding and began our journey to the patch of ice we spotted from the top of a mountain. The walk was incredible and had a bridge that my rigorous Webb education insists I call "a very happy beam".
We made it to the ice and tossed a couple of rocks to determine its structural integrity. After the rocks cracked the ice a couple of "bro, you could totally walk on that" statements were exchanged before we ultimately decided we were heavier than the rocks that fit in our hands... Jacob likes this photo a lot so it is below.
Delnice had an ice skating rink which it is famous for and what was apparently, a very secret zoo that we found. The "zoo" was pretty cool! there were some deer that were in a large enclosed space and this one friend was very casually nomming on potatoes that a kind lady was sharing with him.
That was Saturday. Sunday took us back over the mountains to the Lakes of Plitvička Jezera National Park. The ride should have taken 2.5 hours but the lovely (and toll-free) mountain pass was already covered in snow in the morning and the roads on the map looked like a giant toddler spilled his noodles on the mountain.
Our car is now named Sam from LOTR because he is quoted as saying "If I take one more step it'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been". But for our Sam, a lot of one more steps occur as we will most likely exceed the mileage deal on our rental.
We got to the park and it was snowing pretty heavy but that didn't seem to deter people and it certainly didn't stop us. We were covered in snow in 10 minutes but it was incredible. We took a ride on a ferry that had up to code railings.
There were many cute doggos on the ferry with us. Passing through the foggy, silent lake on the ferry made me kinda feel like George Washington crossing the Deleware if the dogs were horses and the engine was replaced with people with paddles.
We were told to take path F to see things or as the Croatians write it, "F". The hike led us through thin bridges covered in snow with beautiful frosted trees mixed with running water and steep cliffs. It was honestly one of the most beautiful places I've seen and I had a foolish smile on my face the entire time.
Nate introduced me to the art of candid photos on these paths. He is definitely the master at these things while I am but his apprentice attempting to find the perfect angles.
There were some places along the bridges where the turbulent water would bubble up through the wood which was ok for Jacob and me wearing boots, but not as ok for Nate wearing sneakers. Both of the southern folk said it was the most snow they've ever seen though and that was a nice thing to experience with them.
Plitvička Jereza is known for its waterfalls. We just had no clue how many waterfalls so we kept passing them and thinking that we saw the big one but they just kept getting bigger. We finally found a sign that just said "Big Waterfall" and it led us down a winding path to what could definitely be considered a big waterfall. It was in fact, the biggest, and the power of the falling water on that cold landscape was absolutely breathtaking to witness.
(I'm sorry I took this portrait style)
The entire trip showcased the miracles that nature can create and it was just truly an honor to be able to exist in such a place to appreciate it all. Everyone at work says it's a shame that we can't experience these places in the summer and I can agree, but I'm also so thankful to see this park blanketed in almost untouched snow with snow falling down as we watched it. It was far more than worth the face-numbing cold and relentless wind to see these lakes and waterfalls.
The drive back demonstrated how nature could also be unwieldy. It was cute to drive the mountain pass in the morning when it just started snowing, but it was not as cute when the snow on the road was deeper than Sam's clearance. We saw two cars off the road and when we stopped for them, we had to have help to get the car moving uphill again. Sam was not happy and I was fearful while driving 15 km/hr for 30 km up a path that could barely allow 2 cars to pass while there was no railing keeping us from a cliff. But we're here! And I got to share this story in a very dramatic fashion in hopes that people will read and enjoy this!
Comments