Tobons Around the World: Giro d'Italia

How do you spend 40 days in Italy? You invite some of your favorite people in the world to accompany you and indulge in all the sights, smells, and tastes the country has to offer. Celesta Ernst (Court's Mom) and Morgan Ernst (Court's Sister) joined us for one of the most anticipated legs of our year long trip. Celesta baptized us as "The Three Crazies and a Colombian". I know it sounds crazy to travel with your mother-in law, sister in-law, and wife for 40 days, but in actuality it is Freaking Crazy!!!...just kidding! It only took a few days for us to get our groove and get used to the sound and smells that come with each one of us. We adapted to living in close quarters for the first 10 days and fought off some nasty colds as well.

In no time our estrogen rich foursome was an unstoppable force. We would overcome the cruelties of traveling by car in Italy, where the windy roads make you wish you were rather sailing the Atlantic Ocean during a heavy storm. Court and I barely survived the biggest test our marriage had seen thus far, by finally learning how to work together as the Driver and Navigator on road trips. However, Courtney's "episode" on the A4 on route to Vernazza will be immortalized in my memory, with her lungs fully expanded and her piercing eyes cutting through my forehead the words "I did not tell you to take that turn!!!!" come out of her mouth. The consoling part to me was that had I listened to her we would have been heading back to Venice, in other words the wrong direction. With time we learned that getting lost in the Italian country roads was to be expected and almost unavoidable. In all honesty, it is also where we had some of the most fun. We stepped-on and swatted all kinds of insects and spiders in Umbria and became the unofficial exterminators of the region. At the end of the Italian adventure the stars aligned when we visited Positano. Unanimously our favorite city in Italy. Our itinerary had us traveling throughout most of the country by plane, trains, and automobiles. We covered over 2800 KM by car and made it alive and without a scratch on the car! It was an unforgettable experience and one that I would love to repeat (seriously). Below is a quick recap of where we went.

Rome: April 27 - April 30