The Black Forest

It worked out really well that we had a 3 day weekend as soon as we returned from Alaska. It gave Sam a chance to relax and get over the jet lag before going back to work. We didn't do too much on Saturday and Sunday, so Monday we wanted to get out and explore.

We hadn't been down to the Black Forest yet, so we decided to drive that way. I didn't know what there was to see and I didn't really understand that it's just a mountain range, so there is a large area that's considered the Black Forest. I guess in my mind I imagined we'd see 'the forest'. It wasn't quite like that, but it was really beautiful.

Since we didn't know exactly where we were going we drove to the town of Baden-Baden, which we knew was part of the Black Forest, and stopped at an information center. They told us of a specific road that goes down through the forest, so we decided to drive that. It was a beautiful drive and we stopped at a couple of places along the way. The picture on the bridge was taken when we followed signs to a waterfall (which we never found). We did, however, find this quaint little covered bridge. It was the perfect setting for a picture.

Sam at the covered bridge

We stopped at this place, called Mummelsee, to stretch our legs since we'd been driving for awhile. There was this lake with a walking path all the way around it. It never ceases to amaze me how much the Germans walk. It seems to be their favorite past time and the path had people on it all the way around the lake.

The Black Forest is known for their Cuckoo Clocks, so we walked through the stores here then got something from the bakery before heading back out.

By the Mummelsee Lake

Standing in front of the oven that baked the bread we bought at the bakery.

We couldn't go to the Black Forest without trying a piece of Black Forest Cake. Honestly - it's not my favorite, but we had to check it out. We were getting ready to head home, so we stopped at this little cafe beside the road and went in for cake. Thought you might like to see what Black Forest Cake from the Black Forest looks like :)

On a different note, I've been trying to get into conversational German classes almost from the time we arrived and I keep missing them. I can't believe that it's happened again!! I called a couple of months ago and there were no more classes scheduled until the beginning of October. So, when we returned, I called to see when they were going to start and come to find out they started the middle of September and will go through the end of October. The next class is not scheduled to start until after the holidays. I really do want to get myself into some language classes, but can't seem to get there.

Before leaving Alaska we shipped about 6 boxes to ourselves, filled with things we bought there. Nothing too exciting to speak of, just some items that we haven't been able to find here. The boxes started arriving yesterday and you would have thought they had been sent by someone other than myself. I had so much fun opening the packages to see what I sent myself :)

I just spent about two hours on the phone with my Mom this morning. We've recently discovered Google Earth and had the most fun checking out different places. We looked at their place in Delta, then at my Grandma's in West Virginia (which didn't come in too clear), and my sister's in North Carolina. It's really amazing and would probably be even better if we paid for the upgrade, but the price they want is out of the question.

Well, I should get busy. I have lots to do and shouldn't spend anymore time playing around on the computer. Have a wonderful day!!

The last of our Alaska vacation

We returned from Alaska Friday evening and I'm just getting around to posting about the rest of our vacation there. That jet lag really got the better of us with the 10 hour time difference. (I took this picture as Sam and I left for Fairbanks. This is the view at the end of Mom and Dad's road. I think it's absolutely beautiful)

We had a pretty rough trip home - it ended up being 18 hours of travel time before we got to Germany. I was so happy to see Gabby when we got here. I'll have to do a post about her escapades while we were gone which got her in lock-down at the veterinarian for a couple of days and ended up costing us about $600. I'll try to do the whole story in another post, but let me just say that I was very happy to see her. She looked a little skinny from not eating during her time at the vet and she seemed to be in shock at seeing us again, but she's getting back to her normal ornery self. She's been incredibly loving to us though - we'll see how long that lasts :)

Well, let me see if I can remember what we did that last week we were in Alaska. We didn't do too much the first week Sam was there because he ended up getting really sick. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday my poor husband was practically on the couch all day. Anyone who knows Sam knows that if he's laying around all day then he's really sick. He's usually on the go. It drives him crazy to lay around and not get anything done. I keep telling him he needs to learn how to relax.

Thursday we went to Fairbanks for a couple of days. Living in Germany, we have a hard time getting some of the things that we're used to, so we planned to buy some items to bring back with us. I love the town of Fairbanks and just enjoyed being there again, shopping at stores I'm familiar with and eating at American restaurants. We stayed at Ft. Wainwright's lodging that night so we didn't have to make the trip back to Delta.

Saturday we all drove down to Tok. It's about 100 miles east of Delta going toward the Canadian Border. I worked there at a hotel my first summer out of high school. It had been quite awhile since I'd been back and Sam had never been, so we had a nice drive there and back and ate lunch at Fast Eddy's.

I thoroughly enjoyed being back at my home church. Dad pastors The Last Frontier Church. It's a very small, but welcoming place. There have been new people coming in and God has really been moving in the services.

We've had a hard time finding a home church here in Germany and it was just so wonderful to be back in some good services. We had a potluck after the morning service. It was a really nice time of fellowship. I so enjoy being back with people that I know and feel comfortable with. Here are a few pictures from last Sunday.

Dad, me and Mom

Me and Sam

Being silly - Michele(young lady I use to babysit for), Sam and me

Christian, Grace and Abraham

For awhile now, Sam and I have been interested in buying some land in Alaska and an opportunity presented itself while we were there. There was a 7.5 acre plot of land on the same road I grew up on selling for a really good price. So, on Monday we closed the deal on that. It's really a great piece of land with an acre already cleared. We're very excited about it and are in the process of making plans for what we want to do with it.

Art and Dad went moose hunting on Tuesday and Dad got his. In Alaska that's a very exciting event. Moose is a staple food and if you get one you know you'll have plenty for the year. Hopefully I don't have too many gentle readers that would be offended at these pictures. This is everyday life for us, but I know it may seem a little gross to others. Anyhow, here are a few pictures I took while the guys were hanging the moose quarters. Moose season is such a busy time that the butchers can't take it until the Oct 10, so it needed to be hung. It's cold enough outside at this time of year, so it'll keep with no problem.

Sam posing with one of the moose front quarters

Sam and Dad hanging a bag of meat

Sam

Tuesday evening, our last night in Delta, we went over to my cousin George and Gaylene's place. Sam wanted to shoot some guns, so we all tagged along and Gaylene made dinner. Her parents were there too and we had a really nice time. We wanted to be able to spend more time with everyone, but between being sick and having things we wanted to get done, we just didn't have time. We squeezed this visit in at the very last moment and I'm glad we did. Of course, the guys had to get some pictures with the guns.

I find it hard to take them too serious when George is wearing that moose hat

Here are a couple of the many faces of George

Our time back home flew by way too fast. It seems like we just didn't have time to get everything done that we wanted too. I'm never ready to leave, but this time I think it was even harder. Before we knew it Wednesday was there and we were on our way to Fairbanks. We went out to eat at the Turtle Club that evening. Chad, came with us and we had a very nice evening. We stayed at Ft. Wainwright lodging that night since we were scheduled to fly out the next afternoon. The next morning we went out to breakfast at The Cookie Jar (one of my favorite places to eat).

Coming back to Germany was not a depressing thing, but I do really miss my family and my country. It was so nice to not be a foreigner for a few weeks. We so enjoyed our time there and I'm already starting to make plans for when they come over here next year. I'm getting back into the swing of things. We really do have a good life here. We have so many blessings. I'm thankful for the time we had with Mom and Dad and would love to be able to spend more time with them, but at this time in our lives it's just not possible.

Here are just a few random pictures from Alaska -

This was the evening that Sam arrived. He wanted to read the newspaper, but Lucky had other plans. Sam really enjoyed playing with her. She's such big baby.

Sam did some things around the house that really helped Dad out. Here he was fixing the tile under the wood stove

Sam cleaning the chimney

Me and Mom at our land

Sam and Lucky

I've been TAGGED!!

We've just returned from our trip to Alaska. The date on this post is old, but I left it because that's when I started on it. I just didn't have time to finish until now.

I've been tagged - thanks to Eileen:) That means I have to list 7 random facts about myself and then tag 7 other blogger buddies. I will be the end of this tag though since I don't have any blogger buddies who haven't been tagged already. Of course, if some of my friends or family would start their own blogs I would have someone to tag (hint, hint :)

It's taken awhile to think of 7 random facts about myself. I'm pretty transparent on my blog and don't think there is much about me that would suprise anyone. My random facts probably won't be anything new for those of you who know me well, but here we go.

1. Before getting married, my husband and I never spent more than two weeks together at a time. We met at a training in Hawaii and got to know each other in the last 3 days of class. A couple of years went by before we got back in touch. We flew to see each other for visits, but it was never more than 2 weeks at a time. So, after two years of long distance dating we decided it was time to take the leap into marriage. It's been a good three years and just gets better as time goes by. I'm married to a wonderful man. He's funny and sweet and makes my life interesting.

2. I love animals and always wanted to be a veterinarian. For various reason I didn't go in that direction. I've thought a lot about going to nursing school, but since starting with the Army 10 years ago I just haven't taken the time to return to school.

4. In my teen years, I hand raised cockatiels from birth. That was a really neat experience. They had to be fed every couple of hours so I was up all through the night to feed my "babies". As they got older and started flying they would follow me around the house and land on me wherever I was.

5. I took violin lessons when I was around 10 and piano lessons at two different times in my life. I didn't stick with it and failed to learn to play either instrument. I still have my violin and always wish I would have continued with the lessons. I've decided that when we have children I will be sure they continue in music lessons long enough to really know how to play.

6. This is nothing unusual in Alaska, but two different times during my childhood we lived in one room cabins. One with no electricity or water; the other with no indoor plumbing, but... we had a path to an outhouse.

7. I am very, very close to my family. My Mom and I communicate in some form (email, IM or phone) almost every day. It's a little more difficult in Germany with the time difference, but we manage to stay in touch.

Moose, moose everywhere

Our time here is going by too fast and I know it won't be long before we're back to life in Germany. That's not a bad thing, but I love being here and am not looking forward to leaving. We're trying to get everything done that's on our list, but I already know there will be things left undone.

We've had a really nice and busy week even though Sam and I have been battling being sick. I started getting sick last Tuesday and by Saturday Sam was coming down with the same thing. He got in on Thursday. Mom had the day off of work, so we all went up to get him. Mom and I enjoyed doing some shopping before going to the airport. I have so enjoyed shopping at American stores again. I see so many things that I'd love to buy and ship over, but I'm trying to restrain myself.

Sam's had a hard time adjusting to the time difference here just like I did. I've never had a harder time with jet lag, but then I've never experienced a 10 hour time difference before either.

Sam didn't feel like doing much on Friday, so Mom and I finished up the second batch of relish. Dad got off work a little early and we had an early dinner in town and ran to the commissary. On the way home from Ft. Greely, we saw some moose so we stopped for some pictures. We always see moose here in Alaska, but I've seen more than usual this trip. There is a moose behind and to the left of Sam in these pictures. We stopped to look at a cow and twin calves behind a fence, but then saw this one. We don't usually get out if there is a moose this close, but we were already out of the car when we saw it and decided to snap a few pictures. Moose blend in so well though that it's a little hard to see it. Sam made sure he kept an eye on it :)

These were the moose we originally stopped for

The weather cooperated with us, so we planned for the bonfire on Saturday evening. It turned out to be a beautiful day. Sam and Dad did a lot of work outside. They finished laying some pavers to make a path to the back of the house. Mom's been working on the lawn this year and it looks really good. She'll plant grass around the pavers and next summer it should look great. While the guys worked outside, Mom and I stayed busy inside getting everything ready for that evening.

Dad and Sam moving a table out back

I love bonfires. The chilly weather, the food, getting warm and visiting by the fire, roasting marshmallows - all of it. We stayed out by the fire visiting for a long time then played some games inside. Sam loves an audience and had everyone laughing throughout the evening.

Art, Dad and Bill by the fire

Sam out by the fire

I've really been enjoying being back in my home church here. Since getting married and leaving Alaska I haven't found a church that feels like home. We liked the church we attended in Hawaii, but it just never felt like family. Now in Germany we're having the same experience. We've gone to several and are still trying to find one to stay with. Anyhow, it's just feel great to be back in some good services.

After church yesterday Dad, Sam and I went for a drive to see what animals we could spot. Mom stayed home to start working on a cake she's making for a baby shower. We saw quite a few animals - a wild buffalo, lots of moose and a herd of caribou. Here are a few pictures from that drive.

Sam with the Alaska Range behind him

One of the calf moose that we saw

Dad has seen lots of moose in this lake, but none were there yesterday.

We stopped by this visible portion of the Alyeska Pipeline south of Ft. Greely.

Sam straining under the weight of the pipeline :o)

More moose in a pond by the road

A herd of caribou off in the distance

Keeping busy in Alaska

I am up early, so I'll see about updating this blog. I'm going to Fairbanks later this morning, but didn't sleep very well because of taking one of my Dad's decongestants. Last night I started feeling like I was getting a cold, so I took one of his pills. It was non-drowsy and kept me up all night. I should have known better I guess.

Tomorrow we will be picking Sam up at the airport. I really don't enjoy flying and don't like my family flying either, but we don't have much of a choice. It's a means to an end with no other way to get where we need to be. Of course I'll be happy to see my husband again. He'll probably think it's cold up here, but I love the Alaska weather. It rained for a few days, but the last couple have been really nice. We're hoping the rain stays away so we can have a bon fire this weekend.

This last week has gone by so fast. We play board or card games in the evenings. I grew up playing games, but Sam's not into them much, so I really enjoy it when I come home. On Monday, Mom and I made some of my Grandma's Green Tomato Relish. It is the best and so much easier than I thought it would be. I always watched Mom do canning, but never did it myself, so this was my first time. We're going to make another batch on Friday probably and may can some jelly while we're here too.

Mom's been going to aquacise for awhile now, so I went with her on Monday evening. We'll probably go again tonight. I used to do aquacise years ago, but it was nice to do it again. Because of my shoulder I haven't been able to really work out for awhile, so I think doing exercises in the water was easier because it didn't stress it too bad. I have to be careful on a few of the moves though.

Well, I haven't really taken too many pictures, but here are a few from this last week.

Tomatoes from the greenhouse

Washed and ready to chop up

Boiling the relish before canning it

The finished product

Mom and Dad's Rottweiler, Lucky, is always ready to play

This cat was a stray that came to Mom and Dad as a kitten about a year ago. Dad's allergic though, so it can't have free roam of the house and Mom would love for us to take it. I just don't know how Gabby would be with another cat. He is a sweetie though. And he's HUGE! You just can't tell from the picture.

Back 'home' in Alaska

I just arrived in Alaska yesterday afternoon. Aside from missing Sam and Gabby, it's always so nice to come 'home'. My last week in Germany ended up being so busy that I didn't have time to post before leaving. We got tickets through Condor because they come pretty directly to Fairbanks (with a stop in Whitehorse) instead of flying to the east coast then coming all the way on up. No matter how you look at it though, it's a long, LONG trip. I ended up being awake for 30+ hours before dropping in bed early this morning at 1:30. Of course I could have gotten myself to bed earlier, but there's always so much to catch up on and talk about with Mom.

It's wonderful to be back in America, although I was pretty frustrated with the customs process at the Fairbanks Airport. Instead of clearing us and letting us go to get our baggage, we had to stay with the group after getting cleared to be escorted to another area to be cleared again. Finally about 45 minutes after arrival I was able to get my luggage. Dad and Art picked me up. Michele made a surprise appearance too which was really nice. Her family and us have been friends for a long time. I used to babysit her years ago and she's now in her second year of college at UAF. Can't believe how time has flown. That's when I start to feel old - when kids whose diapers I used to change are now adults themselves and in college. I don't feel old enough, but the years don't lie.

Art, Dad and I met up with Chad for lunch. It was amazing to me the things that caught my attention after being out of the states for 6 months. I noticed that the road signs are green. I never noticed them before, but in Europe they're yellow, so that stuck out to me. I forgot how many trucks there are in Alaska. In Germany I may have seen 10 in my time there. Here almost every other vehicle is a truck or big SUV. I love it. Someday I'll have another truck, but mine wouldn't have been very convenient in Germany. At the restaurant I noticed the different toilets in the bathroom, we got ice in our soda (and a straw), it was wonderful to read an English menu. I haven't ordered anything off an English menu since we've been in Germany. Also, being able to understand what people were saying around me was interesting. I've learned to kind of tune it out because I can't understand what's being said anyhow.

I had so much to say and talk about, but needed my Mom there to share my thoughts with. I finally just shut up about what I was noticing, because the guys didn't seem to care. All they were interested in talking about was moose hunting (Dad and Art have seen 25 moose in the last two days) and Chad was talking about gold mining. All of which is interesting, but I just had no one to share my excitement with.

We did some shopping in Fairbanks before heading to Delta. I never realized how friendly people are here. I used to hear tourists comment on the friendliness of Alaskans, but it was what I was used to. After being gone for so long (especially in Europe) I really appreciated how nice everyone is here. People in Germany really aren't very friendly. Even the Americans on base or in the PX keep to themselves. All through Walmart and Freddy's I noticed people smiling and being friendly, but NOT STARING at me. That's a nice change.

We didn't get home until around 7:30 last night. Art and Dad hunted some on the way home. We did see a cow and calf, but no bulls. It was so nice to get home and see my Mom. I had ambitions of going in with her this morning at 10:00, working out then coming back home, but since we got to bed so late I didn't. My days and nights are totally switched around and it'll take a couple of days to get caught up. I think we're going to go out to eat for dinner. We'll probably go to Pizza Bella. Can't wait to have some of their Greek pizza. Well, that's about it for now. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but will be sure to get some while I'm here.

Labor Day weekend

Since Sam took Tuesday off for our anniversary, we had a long Labor Day weekend together which we really enjoyed. On Saturday, instead of doing what I needed to do (stay home and clean my house) we went to a flea market and antique shopping. I love doing that and we found a really great little antique shop in one of the the towns we drive through all the time. There was so much packed into that space that I'm sure we didn't get to see everything.

We did get one really great piece that I'm excited about. In one of the back rooms there were quite a few old sewing machines and we saw a Singer treadle sewing machine back in a corner. Sam asked the owner how much it would cost and she said €100 (about $130). I couldn't believe it was that cheap! So, we said we wanted it. When she looked at it closer in getting it out she told Sam that we got a really great price. I think she spoke before really looking at the machine. It's in beautiful condition and still works. We were so excited about our antique find!

The owner had another shop down the street and gave us the key to have a look at what she has stored there. Sam fell in love with a 200 year old wooden trunk. She wanted €400 for that though and since we got such a great deal on the treadle she wasn't about to give us a break on the trunk. It's still sitting in the shop down the street.

Sunday we had Michelle over for dinner so she could meet Gabby. She's staying at our house while we're in Alaska. I was happy that Gabby wasn't nasty to her. Gabby just doesn't like other people and will often hiss or swat if they try to pet her. At one time she was acting all sweet to Michelle, but I told her not to trust the sweetness. I think they'll be alright though. It's a little easier to leave knowing that Gabby will have someone in the house with her. I know people must think we're crazy, but we love our girl and don't like to leave her for that long.

Monday we decided to take a drive to Bad Kreuznach, which is where Sam lived when he was young. He was excited about seeing his old house and school. It has been about 30 years since he lived there. Of course the town was different than what he remembered it to be. It took quite awhile to find the house, but after asking numerous people we finally found the school and the house was just behind it on another street. The school had changed some, but the playground looked the same to him. Here is a picture of Sam in front of the playground.

This is the house they lived in. The people who live there now were probably wondering why some strangers were parked out on the street taking pictures of their house. It was much smaller than Sam remembered and the driveway on the right side of the house was much shorter than he thought. He remembered it being really long, but as a 6 or 7 year old it would have seemed much longer. I really enjoyed seeing this part of his history too. I liked the town of Bad Kreuznach. It seemed like an older town and the old Army post was still visible in places although it's closed down now. Sam has quite a few family members in Bad Kreuznach, but we couldn't reach any of them so we'll have to get in touch at another time.

On the way back we decided to go through Idar-Oberstein to see the church in the rocks. It was raining though so we didn't want to walk the steps up to the church. We'll go back for that someday. The town is known for this church that was built into the rock of the mountain. It's really impressive and I want to see it up close at some point.

We were pretty close to some other military bases so we made a detour to fill up on gas at Baumholder. There are really quite a few US military facilities throughout Germany, which makes it nice for us when we travel. Baumholder was much larger than the other bases we've seen over here. We found out that we would be passing right by Ramstein Air Force Base, so we decided to check it out as well and walked through the PX.

We didn't get home until 8:00 that evening, then the next day (our anniversary) we decided to take another trip to see about a buffet and shrunk we saw advertised. The place for the buffet was close to Mannheim and we printed out Map quest directions, but true to form they weren't very good and we spent quite a bit of time lost. The lady was really nice and she had some other pieces that she was selling so we decided to buy an antique couch - it's in really good shape - and the buffet that we originally came for. The buffet is not in as good of condition, but Sam's going to do some work on it. I don't know how, but Sam got both items strapped on the truck and we headed off to Heidelberg to see the shrunk. After spending time lost again, we met the man at Patrick Henry Village and followed him home. It's a beautiful shrunk, but we haven't decided if we're getting it yet or not. We got home late that night as well and I don't think either of us feel like traveling anywhere soon. We were going to buy two small shrunks from the lady who had the buffet and couch, but when we got home she called and said her husband doesn't want to sell one of them until they leave Germany. We may go back up for the other one next Saturday. We'll see. Well, that about catches you up on our weekend.

I leave for Alaska in a week. I'm so excited to get home to both Alaska and the US. I like Germany, but I'm ready to be in the states again. Sam will come later and we'll fly back together. Well, I have a couch to clean up a little before we move it upstairs to our room, so I better get busy.

Happy Anniversary to us!

I'm late on posting this because we have had a very full 4 day weekend. Yesterday was our 3rd anniversary. On the one hand it feels like just the other day we were saying our vows and on the other it feels like a lifetime ago. We have sure been through some changes in the last 3 years. We dated long distance for over two years then when we got married I uprooted my whole life to move to Hawaii and now we're in Germany.

I would truly do it all over again though because marrying Sam was the best decision I've ever made. He's a wonderful husband. He is one of the sweetest, most patient men I know. I don't always handle stressful situations with grace, but usually Sam's like a rock. Nothing seems to get to him. I really appreciate how loving he is. I love his personality- he finds humor in any situation. Before we got married I had so many people tell me that men change after getting married, but Sam hasn't. He's just as sweet and loving as when we were dating. He doesn't leave dishes and dirty clothes all over the house. He doesn't mind cleaning or doing dishes sometimes. He treats me with utmost respect and puts 1 Corinthians 13 into action.

We don't always agree, but then as my grandma used to say "If two people agree on everything, then one of them is an idiot".

We didn't have much of a celebration yesterday because we ended up driving to Mannheim to pick up a buffet and antique couch. We spent a lot of time lost and finally made it home around 8:00. We planned to go out to dinner, but neither one of us felt like it by the time we got home, so we put a pizza in the oven and watched a movie. Here are a few pictures from our wedding.

Lighting our unity candle

Us with our parents

The wedding party

Our announcement and rings with my bouquet.