Golden Bessie, Beaches and Quakes

This week has been exhausting, after recieving some bad news about a trip we were looking forward to, being completely overwhelmed with the idea of how much work I have to get done for school in the short 10 week semester, and Bessie- aka the Green Machine, being out of commison for 2-3 weeks, I was done with this week! Sadly, due to some mix-up that we still cant figure out and are still bitter about, we are no longer attending the marriage retreat at the end of the month at Edelweiss Germany. I am quite sour about it but we had made reservations to extend our stay which I am hoping they will honor so we can still at least have our trip!

School is quite overwhelming as I try to get into the right mindset of it all, three years is a long time to get back into the swing of everything, hopefully I will get the hang of it, leaving my husband without verbal lashings of how tired I am :)

 Now for poor old Bessie. She was having some work done (sometimes you come to an age where you just need a nip or tuck right?) new brakes and rotors when I was informed by the mechanic that the caliper? on the right side was leaking (not good) and the left one was stuck which had to be pryed off leaving it un-usable. Terrible timing as I just started classes, no internet at the house (at least a good enough connection for a two hour class, three nights a week), and having to commute to post in the middle of the night with no car!!! Worst news of all the bad news! Anyway Bessie has been deemed unsafe to drive until we can get replacement parts, so she gets to sit in the parking lot on pos, tear :( , until that day comes.

 Now the good news (well not for Bessie at least). Ironically enough Bessie has a little sister, a Golden little sister. One of the hubby's coworkers has the exact same car, just two years newer, with....get this....similar problems ie. new brakes and rotors need to be ordered. As generous as this man was we worked out to put our new brakes and rotors onto his car making his usuable in the meantime! He was kind enough to say that since we got it working we were more than welcome to use it, as he has another car anyway. Thank God for this man cuz without Bessie for 2-3 weeks would be rough...and only because of my school situation! Anyway we are now the drivers of what I call 'Golden Bessie'. Exact same inside and out just switch the green for gold! Sadly GB also has a problem with her drivers side window requiring new parts just like B but hey they are working wheels so Im happy!


Yesterday we travled to a local beach just North of Venice, Jesolo. No Dad it was not a nudie beach, but in true italian style the italians did what they wanted and we definately had to turn our heads away on more than one occasion.  We were looking for a relaxing time to just sit and enjoy the sun, and we definately found a good spot despite the local attractions! The water was cold but there were miles and miles of beaches stretching to walk along and catch the rays! We were able to meet up with our former house guests and enjoy lunch and some time on the beach before heading back home for the day. It was nice just to relax afte this first week of real classes as I attempted to catch up on some much needed sleep as well....Little did I know that my night would not go as planned. After missing the exit for the correct autostrada to get home, I miraculously managed to find my way home via a completely different route than we had planned. As my copilot dozed...no not Tucker this time, I was able to find a familiar route back to Vicenza, Ill tell you now that that is quite a feat for me without a map on only being on that road once before...we have now established that we definatley need to invest in a GPS!

Now for the Quake...yes you read that right, we experienced our first earthquake last night. The epi-center was about an hour and a half south west of us but still close enough that we felt it. It started out as just a rumbling and grew to shake our bed as well as all the furniture in our house! Scared I finally got Kyle awake enough to realize what was going on as we both hopped out of bed. We made it as far as the door frame and It was over. Roo was whining the neighbors were running outside yelling....little to say I did not get a great nights sleep after that! Welcome to Italy right!

Today we are gonna have some friends over to BBQ as just relax around the house, next weekend we are hoping to make it to Rome for the 3 day weekend! Wish us luck in our late planning!

Monte Pasubio

A little taste of Via Delle 52 Gallerie- The 52 WWII tunnels that wind up and through Mount Pasubio. I was a great day but unfortunately we only made it to tunnel number 31, next time we need to get there sooner and pack lunch I think. Anyway it was definately a climb up to the top giving us some amazing views of the valley and the surrounding mountain ranges.

A New Chapter

Well as many of you know I was accepted into a Grad school program through UND Grand Forks for a Master of Social Work. It is going to be a very exhausting four semesters of class (6-7:40pm Central Standard Time= 1-2:40am Maggie Time=very tired Maggie). This is my first real week of class, I had orientation and a preflight last week, so now it is down to the grind! Sorry if I may be neglectful of the blog but for all you Facebookers it is easier for me to upload pictures there instead of here so check my albums for a more indepth look of happenings around here. I will try to still upload and update everyone on here!

Our past trips have included Lake Garda which was absolutely beautiful! Kyle did some rock climbing with the men as another wife and myself enjoyed the sunshine, sadly in my case burned to a crisp.

The Men and their mountain

View from the 'tanning platform' waiting for the men

Riva del Garda

Palm trees in Italy??

A little Liquid Courage before the next climb (mountain is in the previous picture, the top peak)

Lake Garda

so beautiful, can't wait to come back in the summer when the water is warmer

We ventured to a nearby town of Marostica where there is a huge castle with walls still intact, within the walls is also a giant chess board. In September (in which I plan to attend) they have a live chess game with costumes and the whole she-bang) Im very excited to go see it! Even though it was a rainy day we still hiked up to the Upper Castle so I could get some good pictures of town!

Looking up at the Upper Castle from Marostica

Live Chess

Chess Board

Halfway up the Hike

Our wet and slippery Terrain

Made it flip flops, dress, and wearing white without any falls

Upper Castle

Its a Kyle size door

Found this gem while geo caching

so beautiful!

Stay tuned: this past weekend we adventured to the 52 Tunnels in/on/around Monte Pasubio....granted Kyle and I only made it to 31 before the fog rolled in and I lost my climbing nerve, still got some great pics. Whats in store for us this weekend, checking out a beach near Venice....bring on the sunscreen for me!