Mt. Etna
Last weekend, Allie and I got to do one of our favorite things: hike a mountain. Actually, it's a volcano. And it was unbelievable.
Mt. Etna is Europe's largest volcano and one of the world's most active. Many people don't understand why Sicilians love to live on their island, but the volcano actually creates a lot of opportunities for the people who live there. Plus, you can see the coast from the mountains and that is living the dream.
Here's a fantastic selfie of us at the top of a crater.
With frozen hair and windburnt cheeks, we joyfully explored every aspect of Mt. Etna.
We didn't get to hike the whole thing, but we took quite the trek on the sideways snowy slopes. It's actually illegal to summit Mt. Etna, so that wasn't really even an option, but our guide Danielo knew all the best spots.
This is him; he's perfect. In the picture below he's standing in front of a cliff so I guess you could say the fog was pretty thick. This was probably at it's worst.
It obstructed our view in the morning, giving us bad visibility on the sketchiest walks, but that was one of the most amazing parts.
We took this lovely little road and also got to spelunk in a lave tub, which was awesome.
Danielo hopped out and found the unmarked entranced to the tub, which was found when they built the road.
And here we are. Chillin' in a cave.
And when all was said and done, we were simply overjoyed by the snow that started falling outside.
When exploring the lava tube, Danielo pointed out that the natural shape of the cave is a near-perfect cylinder with shapes marking the way lava flows and cools.
He said something Allie and I both believe wholeheartedly:
"Sometimes, nature is perfect."
