Well, after a fabulous two weeks in warm Florida weather, I went to the complete opposite.

My adventure started off in Stuttgart, Germany where I saw some friends who now live there. There middle son who is 18, is one of my good friends, and since it had been a while since I had seen him and his family, I figured I would spend some of my time visiting him.

The day after I got to Germany, we hopped in the car with two other new acquaintances and drove to the Alps, which are on the border of Germany/Austria. The family we were staying with are friends with my friend, and they were nice enough to allow me to tag along.

Please forgive me. I can not remember where exactly in Germany we were…let alone try to pronounce or spell the names. I DO know we drove past Munich. If that is any help at all? ANYWAYS…Let us continue…

The drive up was beautiful! We got there and it was all snow-covered mountains and snow-covered trees. I had never seen so much snow in my life. It was breath-taking.

We were staying with other Military families in a cabin in the mountains. It was quite a trek to get the car up there. Almost got stuck at one point. That was quite interesting. That is when an automatic car is beneficial, manual driven cars do not like steep mountains, especially when the roads are so small that you sometimes have to stop on the way up. Scary stuff.

However, the 18-year-old did not kill us. We made it safely to the top and to the place where we were staying.

Once we got all settled in and ate, we decided to all pass out pretty early. Especially since the next morning the boys were going skiing. I decided to make the bright decision to not ski, but rather work on my essays for grad school, just so I did not risk getting injured before second semester.

So, the next day we went to the slopes and I waiting whilst everyone else skied, in a cute little restaurant, where I sat at a table with multiple German/Austrian people sitting around me asking me questions…shame I could not understand what they were saying since I only speak English…either way it was fun playing “guess what they mean” when they asked me questions.

Also, since we were staying in a lodge that was similar to a hostel (nicer than a hostel, but similar), we had to make our own food. Might I say, Cody, one of the lovely boys I got to spend the week with, taught me how to peel potatoes. I am pretty proud of myself. Maybe I am not so hopeless after all? 😉

Later during the week, after a day or two of lying low and watching movies, we went to a restaurant at the bottom of the hill where we were staying. So how did we get to the restaurant?

We did not drive…

We did not walk…

We went sledding to the restaurant. That is right, I said SLEDDING. How awesome is that?

I have never been sledding before in my life, so this was quite a fun experience for me. Not only were we sledding, it was pitch black out and snowing. Talk about a death sentence for someone who is the definition of Murphy’s Law!

I am proud to say I did not die! Which I am sure you are realising since I am still able to blog.

The last day of our Alps experience, we climbed to the top of a mountain (thought I was going to die). But the feeling of exhaustion and death was totally worth it because when we got to the top, it was one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen.

It was absolutely gorgeous on top of that mountain. Once I saw the view, my mind was cleared of anything I had been thinking of. The fact I could not breathe did not seem nearly as important. It was just the four of us, at the top of a snow-covered mountain. Looking down on the town and river below us.

This picture is of the two of the four of us at the top of the mountain. These boys certainly won over my heart over than week. Although they drove me crazy at times, how could you not love these faces? What can I say? These two right here are truly AWESOME. 🙂

In the end, a week trip to Germany? Completely worth it!