On the Top of the World

What an exciting week we have had!!   
I started the week off with a big surprise from my sweet husband...
He brought a big box home from the post office and I just thought it was for him because, believe me...I know EVERY thing I've ordered and I wait with great anticipation, checking off the days on my calendar until it finally arrives.  It's one of our little pleasures here...getting packages in at the post office.  
Anyway, the package just sat on the table until Travis said..."Mom, this is for you!"
I started opening and soon realized it was......my dream camera!!   A new little Nikon D-3100.  I could've fainted.

I was pretty excited about it because we had a big event coming up and now I couldn't wait to have some fun taking lots of pictures

What was the big event, you ask??

Arriving at the Frankfurt airport

Daughter, Codi and grandson, Palmer came for a week long visit!   They arrived on Thursday morning and looked fantastic after their long and uneventful flight.  

Palmer in front of Toys R Us

After we picked them up at the Frankfurt Airport, we had to stop at Kaiserslautern to run a few errands. 

 Then we came home so they could rest up a bit.  

We took a weekend trip to Garmisch, Germany to stay at the Edelweiss Lodge.  It's a very nice hotel that is for military personnel and their families.  It's in the Bavarian Alps and is located right at the bottom of Zügspitze, the tallest mountain in Germany.  We have been here before and really love this area.  

The Lobby

Codi and Mike looking at the ski runs.

We had a good dinner in at Zuggy's in the hotel and Palmer and Travis played in the game arcade.  Palmer even won at the claw game!

Palmer shows off his winnings at the Claw game.

Skiing at Garmisch Classic

The next day, Mike, Travis, Codi and Palmer all went skiing at Garmsich Classic.  They had a great time  I stayed at Edelweiss and enjoyed a day of reading books and taking photos (two of my favorite things) because skiing is not my favorite thing.

Lunch time!

That  night we went to the old town area of Garmisch and had a really authentic Bavarian dinner at a cute Gasthaus that even had music and slap dancers!

The restaurant

The next day the weather cleared and we could see the sun was going to be out, so we all bundled up, grabbed the ski gear and headed to Zügspitze.  There is a ski resort at the top of the mountain on a huge glacier.  To get up there, we took a 15 minute tram ride that goes almost vertical up to the peak.  The we took another short tram ride part way down the back side where the skiing is.   Palmer and I hung out and played games and read while Mike, T.J. and Codi skied for a couple of hours.  Then we had a nice lunch in the lodge, jumped back on the tram and headed down.  It was so beautiful up there..no words or photos can really describe the feeling of standing on top of the world!

getting on the tram

Brrr! It was cold up there!

Ready to ski

Palmer overlooking the Bavarian Alps

Travis gets some air

Blue skies and colorful skis

The gold marker marks the highest point in Gemany

On top of Zügspitze

See the castle WAY up there!?

We were headed home and decided to stop at Neuschwanstein castle.  It is the castle that Walt Disney used as inspiration for his Cinderella's castle. It was built by "mad" King Ludwig in the late 1800's.  He was declared insane and died a mysterious death before it was completely finished.  

We had the choice of either taking a horse drawn carriage up or hiking up.  I voted to take the horse drawn carriage (of course, duh!)  but was quickly out voted, so off we went on a thirty minute hike up through the cold and frosty woods from where this photo was taken up to that itty bitty castle on the hill.  It only looks itty bitty because it's so far up the hill :)

The horse drawn c

We took a thirty minute tour through the castle that was very interesting.  The boys thought the most interesting thing was that King Ludwig built an indoor grotto or cave right next to his bedroom.  They thought that was cool.  I loved all the paintings. There were lots of paintings depicting scenes from Wagner's operas about knights were throughout the rooms of the castle.  

Then we hiked back down, got in the car and drove home.  It was another great adventure to add to our growing cache of memories to treasure.  

Codi leaves on Thursday so we have a few more days to cram some more fun into....and you can bet we will!

love and miss you all,

-corri