one man and a mountain

our first snow...

another mountain top experience

...we have been to the mountain

the mountain outside our door and windows is impressive

like nothing I have ever seen

snow topped 

and driving up into it last weekend was beautiful

but 

this past Saturday in glorious sun

this time we went further 

higher 

little did we know

we made our way to the town of Frank's ancestors...Zoppe di Cadore

Frank's maternal grand father and great grand father immigrated to the USA from there @ 1920

so

I grabbed my down jacket

and frank grabbed a blanket and a bottled water

I teased him that really

if we get stuck under an avalanche in the alps

that'll help us?!?!

and out we set

his little photocopied Google map directions in hand

I grabbed two other maps that have been lying around on the way out the door... imploring him to wait...

let's look at these...let's see exactly where we're going... since I will be the one navigating....

but oh no he has full faith in Google

and me!?!?

off the top of our mountain the hang gliders soar like a flock of birds

the Google maps are labeled very well...by street name and route number...

but alas... almost immediately we realize that not one of the names on the google map correspond to any of the signage we see...

but we are able to spot numbers

so we follow along confident we are heading in the proper direction

and in awe we watch the mountains rise miraculously around us

 

along the valley floor we follow

the river of the clearest blue green water sleeping in its glistening white bed 

anticipating the melt of spring

waiting wide for the roar

the ride was glorious

like nothing I have ever experienced before

full sun and clear blue skies

mountains rising all around us

shadows on the mountain crags 

pine tree silhouettes dark against the gleaming growing peaks

little chalet town towers and steeples marking the way

we oohed and awed and couldn't wait till we arrived at pappap's home town

but we knew we were not where we were supposed to be

when we arrived in Cortina d'Amprezzo....a beautiful very sheshe ski resort town 

that hosted the winter Olympics in 1956...after WWII canceled them in 1944.

we were due East

we were familiar with the name 'Cortina' because ...all our life...it has been the name of the town that we have said frank's mother's father was from

we knew we were in the immediate vicinity

but somehow we had stayed on the main road the 'SS51' and missed the turn off...

to the road we should have been on 'old 51..."provincial"

it ran to the west and exactly parallel to where we were

looking out to the west all we could see was a very intimidating mountain glowing down on us

frank was sure there had to be a road down there that would take us right up into pappap's little valley village

so I checked my map...and saw a little 'pass'

it was a numbered road and we supposed we could take it instead of going all the way back to the main city 

where we had somehow missed the turn

I put up a little fight saying how even on the big 'main' road that we had been traveling all day 

I had gotten us lost....

I did not want to get onto some even smaller road...and get even more lost

but he said he could see the road running parallel to us....

and we're on an adventure...so..we should just take it...

so we watch for '347' and see a little sign off the main road and down...

we make the sharpest hairpin turn I've ever made...which should have been our first indicator...

but it points us in exactly the direction we want to go...

and so we go

but then...we are going up....

not down...along the valley between the mountains where we thought pappap's little town surely would lay

but up...one lane with no room to pass...switch back...after switch back...

those tall poles they put next to fire hydrants (so they might be found after heavy snowfalls!?!?) 

marking the way

every once in awhile we pass a farm house hanging on to the mountain side

or a car pulled off 

presumably for hiking...in the beautiful pine forests covered in snow

[walking...is extremely popular here...]

and so we go

teasing each other about how grateful we are to have that water and blanket in the car...

and writing the headlines for the local newspaper after our bodies are recovered in the spring...

and offering the alternative that maybe we should have sought out my forefathers instead...

on some nice tropical island 

but no

stupid American tourists (from "west-ern viginia") trapped under Avalanche...

for no one knows how many months?!?

why were they on this treacherous mountain pass only to be used for emergency vehicles 

why were they on the pass road...that should only be driven in the summer... in the middle of winter!???

didn't they see the clearly printed signs all along the lower entry way!?!?

oh that was what was meant by "no passing"

finally we arrive at the top of the mountain and the road opens wide before us into a large parking lot

and there are people milling all about

and there's a cafe....

and we have a moment of dread...as we remember last week when we drove to 'our' mountain's top

only to find a place to park and walk

but no thoroughfare....

it was a dead end...just a turn around

oh no we both realize at the same time

we could not have just driven all this way to turn around and go all the way back down....

and then all the way back to the town where I missed the turn AND then all the way back up here on a different road!?!?

but whew no

this road does go on...

and so we go on... forward ho...

down the other side of the mountain now

into the setting sun...

the road is slicker as the warm sun fades

but finally we begin to signs to Zoppe di Cadore

and finally get to pappap's little town not in some valley meadow village?!?!?!

but at the top...almost at the peak of a snow capped mountain

Mount Pelmo

after driving more than two hours looking we finally found the small town that frank's maternal grandfather immigrated from

Zoppe di Casdore

we drive down the main street to St. Anne's Church

and we get out and begin to explore

there is about 6 inches of snow on the ground and the roads thru town are covered with ice

we go into the church

we see the family name on a war memorial

and walk a little more

we meet three young teens 

[Eliza, Lara and Cornelia] 

to whom we try to explain our story

and they listen and try to talk to us 

and show us around

we walk by the school...and see this name...TOMEA?!?!

and then we sit and have a little coffee and the delicious Italian/Swiss thick as pudding...hot chocolate

as the sun goes down behind the mountains before dark descends we know we must leave

and as we make our way back into the valley 

who would have thought we would see a village named for my family 

as well...IGNE

it was a terrifying and beautiful 

exhilarating and sobbering

experience

even today it's hard to comprehend why or how someone could live there

at the top 

on the side of a mountain

and it's almost impossible to try to envision how you could have lived there 100 years ago...

but frank's ancestors did...

until one man

came here

Michele Joseph Pampanin was 21 when he left

he came (with his father) after his mother had died

he already had two sisters in america

one married (the other one living with them)

and there in New Jersey he met and married frank's grandmother...Nana...

and so the story begins for us...

with one young man

it kind of brings into focus how one life...and it's decisions...influence the world...

I pray my life might accomplish the desired purpose of our God...

even if I know nothing of it..............