Monday, July 6, 2009

Yodeling and all sorts of fun!





























Back from the trip to Garmisch. Was so much fun, although very wet. It rained the entire time we were there, a few breaks of sun, but never too much.

On Thursday we arrived to our destination and set up the tent. Sea and J made did some nice tarp stuff to keep us dry, so that was good. Soon after setting up camp, it began to rain and pretty heavy. Under the tarps or in the tent, we were dry. It never got really cold either, just sooo wet.

Friday, Justin and I took off for a few hours to explore on our bikes. It sprinkled on us most of the way, but it was so pretty, it didnt matter to us. We headed towards Austria and soon came to a place that looked like it might contain some singletrack. We were not sure this was legal singeltrack, but we headed up it anyway. It was super steep and washing out from the rain, but we trucked up it and eventually we ended up on a jeep road that took us high into the wilderness and who knows where. It was so quiet, even saw a red deer, well Justin saw it better. There are a lot of bike paths all over this area and there are signs just about everywhere pointing you to all sorts of destinations. Next time I will ride to the linderhof castle place, but that will be next time. After a good effort, we headed back to Garmisch.

The next day, for the sake of giving Sea a break from babysitting, Justin and I did solo rides on our own. He went first and then came back and told me where to go. It consisted of him saying "just follow the river, you'll head into austria for a bit and come to this amazing lake", okay, so off I went, and all together about a 30 mile roundtrip. It rained sooo hard on my way out. I almost turned around, but I thought, "you dont get this opportunity very often", so I kept on trucking. It felt like I was wearing a diaper, my chamois was so wet, but at least I was getting a shower with my clothes on, so it was all good. Eventually the clouds cleared, the sun shone on me and I made my way up a steep climb (which I did twice!) and then down to the lake. It was a turquoise lake, almost crystal clear. One of mother natures beautiful places. I soaked up the view and then headed back. Listening to the cows in the forest with their bells was like listening to windchimes, it was really cool.

Another thing that was so awesome about the weekend was that everytime I rode, I smelt these amazing smells I never noticed before. It was like my life entered smellovision. The wildflowers, the rain, the pines, it was AWESOME!

That night was the fourth of July. We did the 4th in Germany! We saw an awesome bavarian band and there was a yodeler, I was so impressed. I love that german polka yodeling music!!! I was trying to do it, but the kids were like, "you have to learn that and it takes YEARS to learn it, so QUIT it!" They are so nice. I got some video and I will post it on here when I figure it out!

The last day, it rained HARD!!! We thought we might be able to get in a ride, but we decided to go to the lake, Eibsee again. It was raining when we packed up camp and we were not sure if it would be nice enough to swim...well it was!!! We got up there and it was actually almost HOT, we all jumped in, had a swim, jumped off the little mini pier and just enjoyed an alpine lake at the base of the Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany.

As they say, all good things must come to an end, so it was time to get the koppa gang in the car and head back to reality. It was a fun vacay, Garmisch is a pretty little mountain ski town, comparable to probably Vail or somethings like that, except its Germany and the history of this place runs so deep. You can feel it, you can taste it! I love it! To sum it all up, it was a blast!

If you ever go, there are a ton of riding options, and the place is full of cyclists, all you have to do is ask!!

I get to take some days off from the bike. It is a rest/recovery week, although I am registered for a marathon on Sunday near Nurnberg, so that will be my hard effort I guess, then the following weekend is Ansbach, so a lot going on this month.

On a cool note, Justin made the local paper, they got a good shot of him racing the singeltrack and he looks all like a rockstar! Need to come up with some kind of joke with that one!

Hope all is well in your world!! Peace! angie

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