The tourist trap. Shawn Hatch and his girls bravely go where none of us had gone before. The snow was so beautiful.
Wes is getting quite proficient and throwing snowballs...and hits his target a fair amount of the time. My camera was the next target after this picture. 
Cuckoo Clocks. These things were everywhere, in every size imagineable. 
A beautiful church near the tourist trap. We walked around inside of it for a while.
Prayer candles inside the church. They added a warm, cheerful ambiance to the room.
The fake castle that I almost risked my life to photograph.
Everyone waiting in the van for me to photograph the fake castle.
Dusk-time sledding. This was my favorite part of the day. Kim Hatch and her daughter Shaylee get ready to take the plunge.
Kevin and Wes are going so fast, they're just a blur.
Wes mostly looked frightened going down the hills, but as soon as we'd get to the bottom, he'd ask to go up again. Crazy kid.
Shawn Hatch and his daughter Rylin.
Kim, the adventurer, kept taking the jumps on accident and had some sweet spills.
So, we woke up the next morning, ready to put on our ski gear, take our son to the Child Development Center for the day, and hit the slopes. And then, we opened the curtain to our room. The night before, I could vaguely see the outline of mountains and the snow groomers on the mountainsides. This morning, I could barely see the pine trees just 100 yards away. The ground was covered in snow and the snow was still coming down...HARD. We decided that if visibility was this terrible in the valley, it would be miserable on the slopes, and we further decided to forego our day of skiing.
Instead, our friends convinced us to try the breakfast buffet at the hotel (which was amazing) and head to Austria with them instead. So, we climbed into the van around 10 am, and drove the hour to Innsbruck, Austria. Our friend was visibly nervous driving on the icy roads. The visibility was horrible, but the roads were well shovelled. We arrived in time to find out that they were starting to close roads in the mountains. All of us froze. We didn't want to SPEND THE NIGHT in Austria. We had just wanted to check it out. We decided to make our visit quick before they decided to close the road to Garmisch, where we were staying.
We got out at the "tourist trap". Rows of gift shops lined a small, ancient alleyway. We looked at cuckoo clocks, cow bells, and knitted hats. Shawn, our friend, had promised his little girls some Austrian chocolate and we went in fervent search of it. While we slogged through the snow, I found and bought small gifts for family. After an hour of walking through shops, we stopped at a church nearby and toured its interior. Honestly, at this point, most of the churches look the same to me. I've been in so many magnificent churches, that some of the novelty has worn off. But, I took pictures and enjoyed the high vaulted ceilings.
We drove back without problems. The roads weren't closed, and we were so relieved. At one point on the drive, everyone admired a castle on the side of the road. I was stuffed in the back seat of the van, and couldn't get any good pictures. Actually, I don't think I would have gotten good pictures had I been in the front either. The windshied and windows were so splattered with mud and melted snow. At any rate, our friends stopped on the side of the road and told me to go and take some pictures of the castle. On the drive, it had seemed like we had stopped just after seeing it, but walking back up the mountain, it seemed much further away. I'm guessing it was about 1/4 mile up the mountain. I slogged along in the snow-mud mixture, stepping into deep snow banks to allow cars to pass. Because the road was so winding, I lost sight of our van pretty quickly. Suddenly, I felt alone in a desolate wilderness of white. With each passing car, I slowly began to realize that I was quite vulnerable.
My thinking went something like this: "Someone could easily stop and kidnap me. They could shove me in a car and drive right past the van, and no one would even know." I know that's pretty morbid, but it's sad that the first thing you think when you're alone on the side of the road in the Austrian Alps isn't "Wow, this is gorgeous", but "Dear God, please keep me safe".
I quickly found the castle, and while standing there, aiming my camera, I realized, it wasn't a castle at all. I'm pretty sure castles weren't built out of stucco. It was a resort, built to look like a castle. From the backside, you could see a shopping area of sorts. I snapped a few pictures, but I felt pretty foolish anyways.
I ran the quarter mile back to the car, informed them of our mistake, and relaxed in the relief of being with other people. Being alone in a foreign country had given me the willies.
On our way home, we found a good hill to go sledding on. We enjoyed the rest of the daylight, and the early night hours zipping down a small hill we found near the hotel. Weslee LOVED it and insisted on going over and over again. When all of our fingers were frozen, we piled back into the van and headed back to warm up in the hot tub.
We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in the indoor pool and outdoor hottub. Weslee learned to dunk his head under the water. (This is a big accomplishment considering this is the kid that would scream bloody murder when you poured water on his head in the shower. He would then spend the rest of the shower glowering at you like you had, in fact, tried to kill him.) He also learned how to jump while holding on to the side of the pool. He spent the entire rest of the time, alternately dunking his head and jumping.
We fell into bed that night, exhausted from the drive the previous day and wondering if the snow would ever let up enough to ski. The forecasts weren't good.
Instead, our friends convinced us to try the breakfast buffet at the hotel (which was amazing) and head to Austria with them instead. So, we climbed into the van around 10 am, and drove the hour to Innsbruck, Austria. Our friend was visibly nervous driving on the icy roads. The visibility was horrible, but the roads were well shovelled. We arrived in time to find out that they were starting to close roads in the mountains. All of us froze. We didn't want to SPEND THE NIGHT in Austria. We had just wanted to check it out. We decided to make our visit quick before they decided to close the road to Garmisch, where we were staying.
We got out at the "tourist trap". Rows of gift shops lined a small, ancient alleyway. We looked at cuckoo clocks, cow bells, and knitted hats. Shawn, our friend, had promised his little girls some Austrian chocolate and we went in fervent search of it. While we slogged through the snow, I found and bought small gifts for family. After an hour of walking through shops, we stopped at a church nearby and toured its interior. Honestly, at this point, most of the churches look the same to me. I've been in so many magnificent churches, that some of the novelty has worn off. But, I took pictures and enjoyed the high vaulted ceilings.
We drove back without problems. The roads weren't closed, and we were so relieved. At one point on the drive, everyone admired a castle on the side of the road. I was stuffed in the back seat of the van, and couldn't get any good pictures. Actually, I don't think I would have gotten good pictures had I been in the front either. The windshied and windows were so splattered with mud and melted snow. At any rate, our friends stopped on the side of the road and told me to go and take some pictures of the castle. On the drive, it had seemed like we had stopped just after seeing it, but walking back up the mountain, it seemed much further away. I'm guessing it was about 1/4 mile up the mountain. I slogged along in the snow-mud mixture, stepping into deep snow banks to allow cars to pass. Because the road was so winding, I lost sight of our van pretty quickly. Suddenly, I felt alone in a desolate wilderness of white. With each passing car, I slowly began to realize that I was quite vulnerable.
My thinking went something like this: "Someone could easily stop and kidnap me. They could shove me in a car and drive right past the van, and no one would even know." I know that's pretty morbid, but it's sad that the first thing you think when you're alone on the side of the road in the Austrian Alps isn't "Wow, this is gorgeous", but "Dear God, please keep me safe".
I quickly found the castle, and while standing there, aiming my camera, I realized, it wasn't a castle at all. I'm pretty sure castles weren't built out of stucco. It was a resort, built to look like a castle. From the backside, you could see a shopping area of sorts. I snapped a few pictures, but I felt pretty foolish anyways.
I ran the quarter mile back to the car, informed them of our mistake, and relaxed in the relief of being with other people. Being alone in a foreign country had given me the willies.
On our way home, we found a good hill to go sledding on. We enjoyed the rest of the daylight, and the early night hours zipping down a small hill we found near the hotel. Weslee LOVED it and insisted on going over and over again. When all of our fingers were frozen, we piled back into the van and headed back to warm up in the hot tub.
We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in the indoor pool and outdoor hottub. Weslee learned to dunk his head under the water. (This is a big accomplishment considering this is the kid that would scream bloody murder when you poured water on his head in the shower. He would then spend the rest of the shower glowering at you like you had, in fact, tried to kill him.) He also learned how to jump while holding on to the side of the pool. He spent the entire rest of the time, alternately dunking his head and jumping.
We fell into bed that night, exhausted from the drive the previous day and wondering if the snow would ever let up enough to ski. The forecasts weren't good.
3 comments:
Looks like tons of fun, Teri. The pic of the castle is beautiful, even if it IS fake! Wesley is SOOOO cute! The sledding hill must've been a blast!
Teri hope you don't mind me looking, but your pictures are amazing!! It looks like your family has adjusted well to England. We really hope that someday we get stationed there and maybe we'll be able to enjoy some of the same adventures as your family.
Hey you guys!! I think about you all the Teri, and I really miss you. Looks like you are having so much fun though. PS--LOVE your pictures! You gotta teach me, someday, how to do it so well like you! Love ya, Sara
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