June 15:

We woke up to snow this morning. Not here, but up on our mountains there must have been a snowfall during the night.



Our goals today were to find a masseuse and drive to Passo Tonale (one of the highest points nearby). We started looking for an hotel that we had been told had a spa. We drove up above town on some narrow roads and then around a bit and finally gave up and stopped for gas. I asked the attendant about the hotel and he gave me directions that I only half understood. Stopping at a hotel down the road the clerk showed me on the map where the hotel was, very close. Sure enough they gave massages and we made an appointment for tomorrow, because we were not sure how long our drive would be.

Then we headed out and up. As soon as I got up to speed, we spotted a small open air market and had to stop. 

Linda likes to shop at these places, always looking for a bargain. She ended up buying a double layer top for 13 euros ( a bargain) that was actually made in Italy. Who would have thought?



Our apartment is at 1500 meters (4900 feet). We ended up climbing up to about 6500 feet and looking up at peaks that were 8500 feet high.  

Here's what it looked like as we climbed.






Once at our destination, we read some signs that seemed to indicate the lift to the main peak would open this coming Saturday. We will have our desk person at the resort check that out for us later. We want to do that.

We had purchased a cooked chicken, strawberries, and cherries at the market. We found a place to pull over with a view and ate lunch.















Here are some views from the top and on our way back down.

During the entire drive we were passed by pacts of motocycles. The drivers were not Hell's Angels. They were like the guys we watched get ready to ride on Sunday - middle age, regular guys and occasionally a woman. We think this sign was posted for them. Reminding riders to be careful. Look at it closely.


It certainly catches your attention.


We returned much earlier than we anticipated so we changed our massage appointments and both had one. Mine was too gentle. I made the mistake of telling the woman I wanted a relaxing rub. Linda had a different person, Anna Maria - isn't that the perfect Italian name? The only problem is that she's Romanian. There seem to be quite a few in Italy. Linda was given a sport massage which she liked.

It had already started raining (typical) when we were done and we drove back to the apartment. A successful day, we achieved our goals and then some.

Linda cooked the leftover chicken and added mushrooms and some grilled eggplant. We eat pretty good for just "camping out".

This is one of our views in the evening that doesn't come about until 9:30.