First three days

lots Of travel, cute motel, lunch at rifugio and hike

A drive to Calgary, followed by a flight to Munich, followed by a drive through the alps to the Val di Fassa in the Dolomite alps capped our long two and a half days of travel.
Tom had the horror and pleasure of driving through the winding back country roads, dodging trucks, hordes ofPorsches and motorcycles. He did an excellent job and said he was happy to know he could negotiate the autobahn and autostrada (Italian version). And he was happy to have a Hyundai similar to his Rav 4.

Our motel is quite quaint, but well appointed. We had about an hour to look around the small town before our five course meal, all included in the $60 euro price. Breakfast buffet is also included, but don't expect bacon and eggs. It is continental breakfast of yoghurt, cereals, crescents, sweet rolls, meets, wieners and cheeses.

Today we got up, had a leisurely breakfast, tried on our via Ferrara gear and then set out for a hike at 8:30. 13 headed out to one area for the harder hike and via Ferrara while some stayed for a shorter hike. Tom and I plus two others ended up hiking, saving the via Ferrara for another day.

The day was chilly with intermittent clouds after a stormy night that left grapel on the trail, which made some of the scrambling sections a bit slippery. We rode a ski lift partway up the mountain and then up and over a pass, which required climbing a ladder and using a cable. But overall, it was an easy hike of about 5 miles, broken up with a lunch stop at Rifugio Road de Vael. We had polenta with pomadora sauce and pomme frittes (French fries).

We returned by way of a high alpine circle that landed us back at the lift. In the trail, we saw several flowers, some familiar, some not: crocus, monks hood, hare bells, a thistle, dandelions, rock cress, a pretty purple flower maybe in the gentian family, douglasia, buttercups, and phlox. We thought maybe spring flowers bloomed twice here as we thought doughlasi, phlox and crocus were only spring blooms.