When we learned that Club Vit would take place in Dubrovnik this year, we decided to make it a vacation sans Westley, with a road trip through Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Montenegro, and Serbia. After layovers in SFO and Munich, we arrived in Zagreb where we dined al fresco at Agave over foie gras and baked octopus despite the sizzling heat. We lingered over the heartbreaking Museum of Broken Relationships, then headed for Lubjlana, which charmed us with dragon statues, bridges, and Cacao’s single-origin gelato. We enjoyed deer carpaccio and frog legs at Spajza before driving to our AirBnB in Lake Bled. In the morning, we beat the crowds to beautiful Vintgar Gorge then returned for a bumpy electric bike ride around the lake. We attempted to summit Mala Osojnica for the view, but abandoned our climb due to heat and lack of fitness. We recouped with octopus salad and seafood tagliatelle on Ostarija Peglez’n’s patio, picked up a slice of the famous Bled cream cake and scoop of Sladogled (an international winner, but the raisins killed it), then enjoyed siesta followed by dinner at Finefood which featured a massive beef tartare prepared tableside. We drove to Tolmin Gorge Monday, which unlike Vintgar’s waterfalls featured icy rapids, forbidden caves, and a brutal climb to Devil’s Bridge. Filling on leftover krof and airplane sandwiches, we reached Predjama Castle for a brief visit which Melody sat out, then raced to Postojna Caves for a thrilling train ride and tour of limestone formations and blind olm salamanders. We snacked on gibanica before arriving in Plitvice for dinner at Degenija over brook trout and tender veal cooked under an iron lid. On Tuesday, an erroneous GPS entry led us through unpaved dirt tracks before we found our way to Plitvice Lakes. Our 4-hour hike through the beautiful falls reminded us of Uncharted, especially when it started to rain. We dried off over grilled meats at Licka Kuca, then got lost again finding free parking at the Lozovac entrance to Krka National Park. Compared to Plitvice, Krka was more swampy and less impressive, so we decided to skip swimming at the falls to head to Split. Despite the sketchy exterior to our AirBnb apartment, we felt safe walking to the Riva, where the energy and people reminded us of Las Ramblas. After impressive scallops, black risotto, and sea bass en papillote at Konoba Matejuska, we savored Luka ice-cream as we admired how the town incorporated the roman ruins. Exhausted by Thursday, we replaced our original plan for Korcula island with a local culinary tour. Our sarcastic guide talked about food and life in Split while helping us buy scorpion fish, red prawns, squid, warty Venus clams and big clams at the local fish market, followed by veggies from Green Market, which were prepared for us while we shopped for souvenirs and watched a Diocletian reenactment. Dinner with my friend Christina was a little disappointing, but we perked up with more Luka ice cream before bed. On Friday, we explored Diocletian Palace more thoroughly, avoiding the Game of Thrones-themed tourist traps, before driving through a strip of Bosnia to Dubrovnik. We stopped by Mali Ston along the way for a private oyster farm tour and shucking, then lunched at Bota Sare while watching the McLaren Adriatic 2019 tour come in with elderly drivers who needed help exiting their cars. Undetered by a parking ticket, we arrived at our conference hotel, sneaked out of the welcome dinner to watch the sunset from Mount Srd, then returned to the dinner without anyone noticing.