Ever navigated your way from Croatia to Slovenia? Neither had we!

Road trip here we come! With DK and Stephen behind the wheels of two matching Nissans we headed out to find our way! Praise the Lord for map readers! We chose to drive for multiple reasons- it is cheaper than all other options, there are many things to see along the way that would otherwise be super hard to get to and finally- who doesn't love a good European road trip??

It is about a 5 hours drive between Split, Croatia and Bled, Slovenia with two major sights in between.

1. Plitvice National Park
2. Skocjan Caves

Plitvice National Park might have been one of the most awesome places I have ever seen in my life! I fell behind the group many times while having a love affair with my camera. For my family, think 30 Hanging Lakes over and over again. For the rest of you- think nature hike, meets the blue lagoon times one hundred with water fall after water fall. It could not have been more picturesque with a wooden path throughout engulfed by reeds that looked out at a plethora of crashing waterfalls into turquoise lagoons. It is places like this that makes you realize, regardless of mega pixels, brand or setting- a camera just can't capture it all or even begin to do it justice. We hiked here for about 3 hours and ran down my entire camera battery.

After such a long day in the car and hiking around we found a small pink house- A Zimmer, if you will, in the middle of a rain storm in God-knows-where, Croatia. The owners could not have been nicer and were so proud of their 3 months they had recently spent in New York City with their grandson. We had a wonderful night's sleep and headed onto to Bled the next morning.

In between this unknown location and Bled, Slovenia are the largest caves in the world- Skocjan Caves. I honestly asked myself and the group way more than once why this is not on the list of natural wonders. If you ever have some free time and feel like taking a plane and car to Skocjan, Slovenia- please please see these caves. Just 150 years ago these unbelievable caves were discovered. Since then a walking path has been added and lighting installed for daily tourists. We were all in complete awe- so many questions- how did they blow a path through literally a cliff side ravine inside a cave that crashes down to the raging Reka river? How does a 2000 year old stalagmite grow to be over 200 feet? How did the explorers even know what they were doing with sharp cliff edges and a head lamp? Within the caves there is a suspension bridge 45 meters off the Reka river that you go across to get to another peak within the caves. Again, think largest caves you have EVER seen. Bob R- this is your mecca! Bring on your head lamp, baby! You can feel the concrete bridge move as you walk across. The largest bummer is you are not allowed to take pictures inside the caves- I was literally traumatized by this news, but I have added some Google pics above. Again, pictures just do not do it justice. It amazes me to think of all the the little hidden wonders God still has waiting for us to discover!

We left the caves and made our way to Bled. Now- enter the only man who has tried to legitimately cheat us yet! Driving along, driving along- toll stopping. There are many... we pull up and try to take a ticket to no avail. A man comes running out and asks us to pull over. He proceeds to tell us the machine is broken, he only takes cash and the toll is 35 euros- quick conversion- about $53. Stephen literally laughs throws the Nissan in high gear and we jet away with DK on our tail. If he was going to cheat us, at least make your strategy believable! Upon arriving at the next toll booth- we find out their is construction on all the roads and all toll booths are closed and not taking money from patrons- what a jerk! Good thing Stephen was quick to floor it!

Now we are in the town of Bled, Slovenia in the cutest house I have ever seen. Clive and Myrna own it and cook all of us breakfast and dinner every day. The house literally sits right on the river where you can drop in to raft or kayak. Bled is one of the adventure sport capitals of the world, so look for more updates on our adventures here. It is a quaint town surrounded by the Julian Alps with a river that runs along side. It feels very much like a European Vail, which is mine and Dave's idea of a little taste of heaven. We will be in touch!

Note- this post only contains pictures from Plitvice National Park. The next entry will have the rest of the pics I discuss above.