Laurel Elisabeth Stevens

Reflecting the Setting Sun (photo by Meredith Stone) Our trip to Süd Tirol feels like a long time ago now--John has left for two trips since we returned from our family trip.  We are getting back into our routines again.  But in my mind’s eye I can still see the light gray Dolomites surging up against the backdrop of a blue sky, green mountains spreading down in the foreground.   Our Approach Road (see first post about Süd Tirol)-photo by Meredith Stone Rittnerhorn Summit (photo by Ralph Stone) We took a few hikes with the children.  The one I most wanted to do turned out to be only the prelude to what became my favorite. We took a cable car to the start of the hike, and then hiked the rest of the way up to the 2260 meter summit.  We had a gorgeous day for this, but it turned out to be steeper than I had thought.  Elisabeth had no trouble.  Henry kept on pretty well but I was quite grateful that he needed to stop and rest as much as he d...

On our first morning in S ü d Tirol, the kids woke us up at 7 AM.  It was very dark in our apartment, since we had closed the exterior shutters, and there were no night lights, so we were all sort of stumbling around.  The bathroom is one step up from the rest of the apartment, and there are thresholds to step over from one room to the next.  Any bruises we have may be a result of that.  The next nights we didn’t bother to close the shutters.  Those of us living on the plains need reminders of what a mountain morning in October is like.  There’s no bright sun streaming into your room at 7 AM. Once we were up I suddenly had a brilliant idea that we should go outside to see the sunrise.  I quickly made coffee, got dressed and everyone bundled up so we wouldn’t miss it.  Our hostess, Maria, saw us leaving and commented on our early rising.  When John told her that we were going to see the sunrise, I wonder if she laughed a little. There we were...