Day 10

 It's Adam! Today was a bit of a crazy one. Luckily, we didn't have a super early start, so we were able to take our time waking up and having breakfast at the Airbnb before hitting the road. The boys played once more in the sand pit in the backyard and Jessica and I were doing some packing. Around 8:15, we were on the road. The first stop today was a short 45 minute drive away at the town of Banska Bystrica. 

The town had a nice big main square with a fountain and another mist arch. The kids were having a blast playing with/in them. Luke then started chasing some pigeons around and was climbing up and down a monument that was in the square. After some time, our short visit to this town came to an end and we hopped back in the car. So far the weather had been good. However, we knew from the forecast that a storm was coming. As we drove further through the mountains, I could see the storm catching up with us from behind. Along the route, we stopped for lunch at a nice restaurant with a playground. I got the pork knuckle and Jessica got the chicken schnitzel. We both got a garlic soup as well. The kids had some grilled vegetables, bread, and some of our food. After eating, we went to go let the kids outside to play on the playground, but the storm had just found us and it had started to rain. Nevertheless, the kids still wanted to play and we weren't going to deny them. 

Back in the car and safe from the rain we continued on our journey another 45 minutes or so until we arrived in the town of Tatranska Lomnicka at the base of the mountain Lomnicky Stit. For the next part of our day, we would not only go to the top of the mountain, but it would also be our overnight destination! After checking in at the bottom of the mountain, we were informed that there would be a break in the storm and they would take us up the mountain at that time. Soon after, we packed the things we would need into just a few small bags and hopped on the chair lift. After about 10 minutes, we switched over to a gondola which took us further up to Skalnate Pleso just below the mountain peak. This area has a restaurant and our stay included a welcome beverage and snack, so we stopped inside. Feeling refreshed, Luke and I went hiking around the nearby mountain lake to get some of his energy out. 

Eventually, it was our turn to ride the final gondola up to the very top - approx. 8,500 ft. We all hopped in and made the very steep final descent. Thankfully, we were in the clouds most of the way so I couldn't see how high up and steep it was. At the peak, we hung out in the cafe for another welcome beverage and then the waiter showed us to our room. We got the "comfort suite" so it was the larger of the two rooms that are up here. But, it is still pretty close quarters for a family of 4 with just one room. It was still very cloudy up here, so we didn't spend too much time sightseeing outside. But, the waiter let us know that its really nice to see the sunrise, so I made a mental note to do just that. 

After kicking back in the room for a while, we made our way back up to the cafe for dinner - which was a preset menu that we had selected in advance. The appetizer was bread and assorted types of pate. Then, we each got a chicken soup. For the main course I had a braised beef shank with roasted vegetables and Jessica had roasted chicken and vegetables. Luke had pasta and Ryan had chicken nuggets. The food was excellent, especially for this starving bunch.

Dinner caused the kids to stay up a bit later than usual, so we put them straight to bed once we got back to the room. And then we were asleep shortly thereafter - but not before I set my alarm for 4:30am to catch the sunrise!

Stay tuned!!



























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