May 11 - Bar-b-que in the mountains

A beautiful, clear day in Lugano on Saturday. We were invited, along with all the other coaches and wives of the Lugano Lakers, to attend a bar-b-que at the mountain home of the head coach. Another coach picked us up and we headed to Cadro and then up the mountain from there. I know there are many hidden roads in the forested mountains - I always find it amazing that there actually ARE roads there! I was impressed that it was a paved road, although very narrow. We then came to a small group of houses and I thought we had arrived. Nope! We then continued the climb on a narrow dirt road, no guard rails (just the forest) and no room to pass if another car came down hill. Scary!!

We actually had a small caravan of cars as all the coaches headed to the mountain house, which is in a clearing under the mountains that are called the "Denti della Vecchia". (Old lady's teeth). Nobody was bothered by this ride - it was not frightening to those who are used to the mountains! I was really glad we were riding in a Mercedes 4 wheel drive. On the way down, I tried to take a picture with my iPhone - I was in the backseat. It's not a good picture, but you can get an idea what we were driving on. The coach's wife told me a story about coming up with her husband and their car did not have enough power to make the steep climb on the dirt road. She said her husband managed to turn the car around and drive the rest of the way backwards, utilizing the lower gear and making the car a "front wheel drive". Amazing!!!

We really had perfect weather and enjoyed ribs (costini) cooked over his outdoor wood fireplace. The house had all the conveniences of a normal house, although very small, thanks to a solar panel they installed for electricity. The clearing had a couple other houses, and also a path went through there which leads to Alpe Bolla - up at the top there is a Capanna - a place to spend the night and a restaurant, for those hiking in the mountains. We had a great time with great food and drink!

When we got back home, there was still plenty of sun left, since the sun is setting here around 8:45pm. Rick and I took a hike up in the mountains here in Pregassona, exploring a new path. We really had no idea where we were going, but we figured we would find our way back. This higher path led us to near Aldesago, which is a higher town on Monte Bre, and from there is was downhill all the way. Rick and I are both trying to exercise by hiking as much as possible, but we are really feeling it in our legs and knees. My trekking poles help immensely, but it is still TOUGH! We were totally wiped out when we got back. Phew!

Our chefs out in the outside fireplace shelter. And sorry, I couldn't put this picture down below. This blogspot is really aggravating! This is the 3RD day I've worked on getting 3 pictures on this page, and it won't even put them where I want them. So please excuse the disorganization of my site!

Another side story:  in the beginning I showed a picture of the garbage truck here. Garbage is put in a container which goes quite deep into the ground. The garbage truck pulls out the long cylinder and empties it into the truck. Every time Rick throws something away, he thinks "what if you throw something out by accident? It must be impossible to retrieve it!" So the other day we were sitting on our balcony and noticed a car stopped in the middle of the bus turn-around. Then we see the baker from the Pasticceria below us helping a woman by the garbage chut. He had a very long pole and they were trying to retrieve something from the garbage. Well, it was her car keys! She apparently hopped out of the car to throw away her garbage, with her keys in her hand, and they fell down in there too. The baker got her keys out! Now we know what happens if you thrown something out by accident. :-)

Rick enjoying his ribs!



We are driving down this dirt road with a drop off, no guard rail. Yikes!