After the longest and craziest week of duties I’ve had so far this year, it was time for another weekend escape.  Our whole yabanci family just so happened to have the whole weekend off at the same time (a true Turkish miracle), so we decided to go off on an adventure together.  We had a hard time deciding where to go (because there are just so many options in Turkey!), but settled on Bursa because it was relatively close and one of our friends knew where we could get a cheap apartment that would hold all six of us.

The main event of this trip was Uludağ mountain, which literally translates as “great mountain”.  Uludağ is a common winter destination as it houses one of the largest ski resorts in the country.  While our initial plan was to go skiing, we didn’t think there would be enough snow for it since we’ve been having a lot of warm weather lately, so we just decided to enjoy the mountain for its views.  It turns out there was plenty of snow and it was absolutely freezing at the top, but I suppose that’s why they say hindsight is 20/20.  Next time, we’ll have to be more prepared because I saw some snowmobiles with my name on it.

Nevertheless, the view alone was worth the trip.  It takes over an hour to get all the way to the top with the teleferik, even without stopping at the halfway point.  Though it was fairly warm and sunny at the bottom, the closer we got to the top, the more snow dusted the sea of pine trees below us became.  Coming from a place that is quite literally flatter than a pancake in some areas, Dakota and I were particularly stunned.  Needless to say, I took a lot of photos.

Much fun was had!