Off the beaten track...a spontaneous adventure.

I love "off the beaten track" adventures - though, admittedly, I prefer the ones recommended in guidebooks (is that an oxymoron?)  My dear sweet Josh is quite the opposite.  He wants to explore real live "we're the only people who have ever been here" places...so today, that's what we did - well, sort of.  Our destination:  the town we can see on the hill far in the distance when we're sitting on our porch. 

Hmmm...well, we started with a map which gave us a name - Centuripe (chen-tour-ee-pay) and from there we got GPS coordinates.  While looking at the map to find said city, Josh saw that there was a reservoir just past the town, so we added that to the list as well.  Okay, so not exactly "we're the only people who have EVER been here" places, but definitely "we've been in Sicily for almost 3 years, what else is there to see" places.  It was a beautiful, fun, and spontaneous day!

On the way to Centuripe we passed an old abandoned railroad station.  We turned around and found the side road that led us to the tracks.  The kids were in their glory (and so was Josh) - climbing along the abandoned tracks and even exploring inside the station. 

We were fairly certain that we were in no danger of getting hit by a train...though while we were playing here a truck passed on the road and Elise started screaming and running for the station (thinking it was a train). 

Quintessential Italia! 

The duomo in Centuripe - we ate our picnic lunch in the piazza. 

I love the way the city frames Mt. Etna.  

On to Lago Pozillo.  The reservoir was pretty low since the summers are so dry here.  Josh, Elise and Lucas explored the mud flats while Caleb and I napped in the car. 

We drove a little farther and found a grassy area where we could throw rocks and watch the animals grazing nearby.  Donkeys and sheep and horses...oh, my!

Doing silly dances on a stone "stage"

We stopped on the way home and picked up pizza. (after 2 years here, I just figured out that there's a place in town that's open BEFORE 7:30!)  I couldn't believe the little boys each scarfed down 3 pieces - I guess they worked up an appetite on our adventure.  Also had some left over granite that we've been savoring since it's the last batch of summer from our favorite shop in town.  It was a good day!