my big adventure

it all started when i heard fraňa say "pol piatej" (30 until five) and understood it to mean 5:30. my plan was to walk over to herľany to visit with fraňa and talk about a few things, so at about 5, i headed out. on my leisurely stroll, i took this pretty picture:

this is a picture of the rankovce skaly (rocks) lit up by the sun with everything else in the shade from clouds.

when i arrived, i realized the blunder (after being told that i was late). fraňa was still around, so we got to talk. i got to look at the rocks they have (opals and such), which they found around herľany. i got dinner, and we got to talk about what we needed to talk about. after that, instead of just sending me back home by the same road i took to get there, fraňa, martin, šimonka, and their dog, kahlo, decided to go for a walk with me along a trail going basically right from their house to the path to the rankovce skaly. as we walked, the sun was setting (which wouldn't have happened if i had been on time), and i got to see this:

two pictures from the sunset. on the right, you can see the sun setting behind the tatry (slovakia's most famous mountains), which are apparently visible from rankovce when it's clear out.

then, when we were walking, fraňa and martin wanted to show me where the old jewish cemetery is/was, so we took a detour...through the water and mud. needless to say, in my chacos, my feet got soaked. as we were coming away from the mud, kahlo, decided he wanted to get up close and personal, so he jumped up on me, leaving me looking like this:

note the dirty feet, pants, and you can't see the dirt on the fleece, but it's there, luckily monika was doing a load of laundry the next morning :)

then we ended up going around back, so that it would be easier for fraňa, martin, and šimonka to get home. the gate to the back, however, was locked, so i ended up jumping it...well, climbing awkwardly over it.

the gate hopped and my adventure family

overall, it was a good time had by all, i needed to take a shower anyway, and my chacos could probably always use a good washing :)