Slept in this morning. No alarms, no rush. Got up and went for another epic breakfast, which is becoming one of the best parts of the routine here.
Then we headed out on the trail into the Vallunga Valley. 12km out and back, flat the whole way. No elevation, just wide open spaces between two massive mountains. A nice change of pace after yesterday's big hike. Cows everywhere with cowbells clanging across the valley, which honestly never gets old. We stopped along the way to do some bouldering on the rocks, and we hit a couple of those barefoot trails they have set up along the path. Really cool experience. Some of the surfaces were fun and some were more painful than others.
Back in town we grabbed buns and lunch meat from the grocery store and made our own lunch at the hotel. Chilled for a while. Then headed out for ice cream sundaes as a late afternoon snack, which is when the afternoon thunderstorm rolled through. Full downpour. So we spent some time in the sauna and spa and steam room, which was not a bad backup plan at all. Grabbed a few more things from the grocery store for a makeshift dinner.
The village is such a fairy tale spot. I can see us coming back to an Alps-style village like this and just living. Really great few days here.
Started the morning with an incredible breakfast buffet at the hotel. Lukas probably took at least eight trips up and was very excited about the little Nutella jars. The kid is a machine.
We drove about five minutes to the gondola, which took us halfway up Seceda. From there it was an estimated 1.5 to 2 hour hike to the top, and we knocked it out in an hour and a half. Lukas wasn't bothered by the hike at all. Sofie let out a few groans along the way, but here's the thing about Sofie. She'll put her head down and just grind it through. We knew she'd be fine. Once we were at the top she said it was absolutely worth the hike and called it the best hike she's ever done. Even rated it in her top 5 experiences of the entire trip. The views were just incredible, completely breathtaking... no, but seriously, just unreal up there.
Lunch at the Hut
We stopped for lunch on the way back down at one of the little huts along the trail. There are tons of them scattered on the descent. The food was delicious, and the hut also had rabbits. The kids spent the entire time with the bunnies and are now of course asking for a rabbit. So that's fun.
After we got back to the hotel, we did a quick workout in the hotel gym and then went down to grab a coffee. Ended up calling the kids to see if they wanted to join us for a sundae instead. They did.
Driving day. We headed south toward the Dolomites, through South Tirol, which is technically Italy but doesn't really feel like it yet. Stopped in Innsbruck at a grocery store because I've been craving one very specific thing since we got to Germany: meatloaf on a bun. Finally got it. Worth the stop.
On the way we swung through Red Bull Hangar 7, which was very cool. Italian espresso in hand. Lots of laughs, as usual.
The hotel is great. Not as remote as it looked in the pictures online, but that actually works in our favor because it's super convenient to hikes and the condo. Sofie is wondering if we accidentally booked the honeymoon suite because the bedding was arranged in a heart shape on the bed. We did not. Probably. The place has a sauna and a beautiful backyard that we will definitely be taking advantage of over the next few days.
