CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, ITALIA

January
PJ and I decided to spend one night in Cortina and do some snowshoeing [Racchette-da-neve or ciaspole in Italian]. We packed up Reese-piece and headed north! The weather wasn't the greatest our first day so we mainly explored the town and hung around the beautiful mountains, but the next day was filled with snow fall. It was great, except for the fact that our car would not climb the last hill to get to our snowshoeing destination, Cinque Torri! We were literally 5 minutes from the trail head! We were so disappointed! Make note, even if you have all weather tires, keep snow chains in your car. We have learned our lesson and have recently bought new snow chains.

Anyway, after trying to find alternative places to go we decided that we would take the Funivia Faloria up to the top and grab lunch at the rifugio. It was snowing, windy and the visibility was non existent so we enjoyed a warm lunch, Reesey flirted with some carabinieri for food, and we headed back down.

The area has great skiing/snowboarding also, but unfortunately we were not prepared for that on this trip.

The small mountain town we stayed in south of Cortina

The small mountain town we stayed in

Cortina

I do not condone this…but I had to take a photo

Clouds covering the mountains

Refusing to take a photo

Not enjoying getting pelted with snow

REALLY not enjoying getting pelted with snow

REALLY REALLY not enjoying getting pelted with snow

Flirting with the Italian Carabinieri

We left Cortina earlier than expected so we decided to make a stop along the way home. We headed to Valdobbiadene, an area of Treviso, which is known for its 'Road for Prosecco'. It is the home of prosecco and is filled with many, many wineries. The best part is that it is only an hour away from Vicenza!

LAGO DI SORAPIS, ITALIA

August
While browsing the internet one day, I came across some posts about a beautiful lake in the mountains of Cortina d'ampezzo. I was determined to see this place for myself. A few Saturdays after I heard of this lake, PJ, Reesey and I loaded up the Mazda and headed up to Cortina. 

There are several different starting points and trails that one can take to the lake/Rifugio Vandelli. We decided to do the one that would take about 2.5 hours one way. We parked on SR48 near Son Zuogo [approx. 46.556191, 12.204372] and started on our way. It was a little chilly but not too bad at the base. 

The beginning of the trail was pretty flat. There were some beautiful views of the surrounding Dolomites and mountain homes. Eventually the trail moved further into the forest and we came across a steeper area filled with snow. Reesey enjoyed playing in the snow as PJ and I tried not to slide down the mountain.

I would say the hike wasn't too difficult. There were some steeper areas and one or two more narrow spots. We also happened to be hiking the trail on a day where it started to rain and, at one point, hail on our way down. The rifugio had some amazing food and wine but the whole trip was made when we saw the lake! The water was an unbelievable color of blue.