European Vacation

After all of the craziness and busyness we experienced over our weekend, we decided to take a much needed VACATION break on Monday.  Off to the wonderful National Park in Croatia called Plitvice.  The park is approximately 3-4 hours from Kim's house in Nova Gradiska and is FULL of waterfalls.  We discussed Sunday what time we thought would be a good time to leave on Monday morning.  The Edge team was going there as well for their debrief trip, and their planned departure was around 8AM.  Randy and I discussed things, talked with Kim H. a little more about her thoughts, and well, we left a little after 6AM Monday morning....just to be sure we had PLENTY of time for my waterfall, photography-loving husband to absorb as much as he could of the beautiful park.

yep, the original color
(no digital processing)

Plitvice National Park is rated as one of the top if not THE top waterfall spots in the WORLD.  Once we arrived, it was clear why it received this honor.  My goodness, it was simply breathtaking in so many ways.  The waterfalls pouring into the 16 lakes in every direction, the crystal clear water, and the indescribable color of the water.  It was and is truly one of Gods most creative creations!!!

Back to the drive to the park.  August 1 was the date, and it was indeed bright and early on this Monday morning.  However, August 1 is a particularly interesting day in Europe.  Apparently, unlike the United States, most Europeans begin "Holiday" on August 1.  EVERYONE it seemed in Central and Eastern Europe was heading to the Croatian coast for their holiday.  Traffic was ATROCIOUS!!!  Apparently not only was traffic very heavy, but there had been a wreck on the autobahn as well.  We were stuck in traffic for at least an hour.  This did not do anything good for my husband's jitters or anxiousness to arrive at the destination.  But, it was the path God chose for us this day, and we endured the traffic and when we could, made a slight detour on back roads.

We arrived safe and sound at Plitvice lakes National Park at 10:30.  The weather was damp and cool, but very comfortable.  It was around 60 degrees upon arrival.  Thankfully, it didn't ever get stifling hot because we ended up walking between 5 and 6 miles by the end of the day.  What a day it was.  We spent 7 hours at the park and probably could have spent longer, but just had to call it a day.  The edge team arrived about 1 PM, and finished BEFORE us.  They had to wait on Kim to finish walking around with us before they could leave and drive to the coast.  It was a little funny that they left and arrived so much later than we had, but still finished before us.  Great, great day!

The most difficult part of the day was saying good bye to my dear friend Kim Hecht.  It was hard to tell her goodbye, but we had a wonderful time together.  Let me also just say if you do not regularly hold up our missionaries in prayer, you SHOULD.  They have a very difficult job to do and I really don't know how they survive apart from the prayers of the faithful!  Pray and uphold your missionary friends!  They need your support!

Our tour guide

After saying goodbye, Randy, the kids and I left Plitvice for a town about 30 minutes away from the national park.  We stayed in the little town of Rastoke.  This place is also known as "Little Plitvice".  Waterfalls are everywhere here as well.  Beautiful little place with a rustic hotel where we spent the night.  We ate dinner at the restaurant under the hotel and retired for the night.  Unfortunately the internet wouldn't work the entire time we were there, so the stress level went up a bit for Randy.  Tuesday was the drive BACK to Budapest and meeting the man to return our van.

A wonderful day of vacation for the whole Gardner clan, but NOT much rest for any of us.

Kim

A few more photos from Randy:



































And then Rastoke that night: