Monday - My last day in Europe

So it has taken me a while to get this last post up, but I figured that this trip needed an ending for anyone who read this. So here is the last day :)

Monday morning I woke up and I got on the computer to finish going through my pictures and getting them ready for bringing back to the U.S. I also updated my blog with all my Crete info. We didn't have anything planned for the day, but packing and getting our stuff together. I wanted to go on a hike though at some point. Around 10:00 on of my Aunts friends and her son came over to talk to my grandparents about camp. My grandparents are involved with a camp in Northern Minnesota called Flaming Pine Youth Camp. My Aunts friends were visiting MN this next summer and wanted to know about the camp. After they left my grandparents said they were going to get ready and go on a hike to Felsberg. That's the town I went to on my third or fourth day. I was almost done posting pictures and told them they could go on ahead of me and I would catch up. They didn't walk mvery fast, and I did, so I didn't think it would be a problem. About 10 minutes later I was getting ready and out the door. I had my camera around my shoulder and my sunglasses on. It was gorgeous out! The flowers were blooming and the air smelled of fresh grass and trees. I took some photos quick and then got on my way to catch up with my grandparents. I figured if I was walking 1 1/2 times fast then they were that I would catch up to them right before Felsberg. So right as I got to the trail entrence I heard some thunder and I looked up at the sky. There was a bunch of clouds to the south and I was like... wow that was a quick change of weather. One minute it's sunny and I'm wearing sunglasses and the next minute it's getting cloudy and thundering a little in the distance. Never the less I kept going. I took the trail that we walked on my first day and walked along the Nekar river. Then instead of continuing on to the dam I took a trail to the left that went up the bluff and was on my way to Felsberg. For a long portion of the trail it was just a diagnal cut up the bluff and pretty straight. About 1/3 of the way up, it started to rain a little bit. Which was no big deal. I put my camera undr my shirt and kept walking. I was enjoying the peacful thinking time. All of a sudden the rain started to come down really heavy and I had to duck under some trees. I thought to myself, "what a wonderful story... I get stuck in a heavy downpour in the middle of the woods in Germany.... how wonderful!" So I doged from tree to tree and speed up the hill. I passed a bunch of people coming down and they all had umbrellas and rain coats on. And when seeing me in my shorts and a t-shirt they probably thought I was crazy. Well actually they probably saw I was American and that's all they needed. haha - just kidding :P

So I then got to a different part of the trail where I had to take some turns. I have a pretty good sense of direction so I made a few forked trail turns and ended up getting to the town with out getting lost. I walked through the small arch that was on the west side (I think) and there were a couple people waiting under there in the rain. I smiled and walked by and they all laughed. I'm not sure if they were laughing at me or laughing at something they were talking about. The one thing that was worrying me is that I hadn't seen my grandparents yet. I was going at a pretty fast pace up the hill and was really surprised I didn't see them at all! I knew the towns lay out so I looked around where they said they were going and they weren't there. So I walked to the little cafe we went to the other time we came and looked for them there, but they weren't there either. I went to an antique shop and looked for them there and bought something. Then I went back to the cafe and had a Chocolate crepe. I had been wanting one the whole time I was in Crete and now under these very strange turn of events I was getting one :) - haha. So I had my hot crepe and then walked outside and it was sunny again! So then I walked all the back down the hill and took some pictures. I got back to the house and walked up and knocked on the door and my grandma opened it. I was very surprised. How was it they were back before me?!? - Turns out my grandpa took a different trail that came out somewhere else before the village and since it was raining they took shelter under someones garage leento. The owner saw them and offered them a ride home, which they excepted. So the whole time I was hiking in the rain and looking for them in the town all soaked they were under a garage leanto about 2oo meters down the road. So that was my adventure of the day! IT was rather fun though and I enjoyed getting out and hiking on my own.

That night after everyone got home we all got in the car and went to a pizza place that my cousin Emily really liked. It was very cool. It had a large stone oven that had a woodburning fire around the edge. They would make the pizzas and back them on these wooden pizza boards and put them in the large stone oven. They were very good. Before we ate though we ordered and then went and walked around outside. We went up and down the long mall street again. On our way back I passed this guy who was selling all these figures made out of metel. He had used this soft metel wire and formed all these different things. It was really cool! I saw a drumset one, but then saw a guitar one and bought it for my little brother. We got back to the restaraunt and waited for our food. It took a long time, but it finally came! It was really good and I ate almost my entire pizza. After that we went home. I finished packing and that was a mircale. I was able to get it all in my backpack and suitcase though and even though it was super tight it all fit. I made sure I didn't have anything illigal and then set it all very neatly by the door and went to bed.

That was my last "full day" in Europe and my last adeventure continues with... The flight home!

Ooops

I'm not sure why the wednesday post is out of order... but it is... sorry bout that! :)

A day at the beach!

Wednesday:

It was a very beautiful day! The sky was clear and the sun was shining really bright and was really hot. We decided that we would just spend the day on the beach and hanging out. After breakfast my Uncle Dennie, Mr. Cook and I walked to a beach down the road that was a lot bigger than the one we were on. We almost went to that beach, but it was kind of a long walk and we figured it be better to be close to the hotel and be able to go back to it with out having to walk 15 minutes. So everyone walked down to our beach. Laura, Kyle and I had tried to make a sand castle Monday night, but we didn’t have any buckets or shovels so w used some plastic we found to dig. I wanted to make a much better castle so I went to the store and bought myself a very cool and stylish “Finding Nemo” bucket that included a rake and shovel. I felt very coo walking across the beach with a Nemo bucket... Ok just kidding I didn’t. :P haha - anyway Zack and I saw that the girls had started making a sand castle so we decided we could make a better one and made our own. The kept taunting us and telling us ours looked horrible, but I think deep down they were just jealous because our sand castle turned out pretty amazing. I have pictures on my website of it. After we made a sand castle we goofed around in the water and tried to get the adults to get wet... which didn’t happen. I layed in the sun for a while and then did some other things that involved water. Later in the afternoon I went on a run up the bay and ended up going off road running and went over this hill and found a hidden bay that had a really cool rockbar... like a sand bar except with rocks instead. It was very tricky getting down to it because it was steep and I had to do a little rock climbing, but I was careful and took my time. I got down there and enjoyed the cool little rockbar and walked across it while looking for rocks. I wish I had my camera while I was there, but it’s hard to run with a big Cannon over your shoulder. I then ran back and scraped up my legs quite a bit while I played dodge the pokey bushes. I then stopped and hiked up a rock that gave a really nice view of the bay and the ocean and sat there for a while. After eating the teenagers went up to one of the adults rooms and we watched over the hedge while playing Uno. Despite starting off really bad I ended up winning the game like 10 minutes before the movie ended. Talk about good timing! We all were tired so we went back to our rooms and went to bed. I’m really tired as well so I’m going to call it a night as well!

My adventure continues with.... Santorini!!

The trip home :(

Sunday: I woke up around 4:00am for some reason and was hoping that it was time to get up, but it wasn’t so I fell back to sleep again and woke up around 6:40am to the beginning of the sunset. I debated with my sleepy self whether or not to go down to the beach or not and decided not to because I felt really tired and had really bad heartburn from the pig we ate last night. My grandpa was up and gave me some antacid. I went back to sleep and woke up around 7:00am feeling a lot better. Though my stomached still felt a little funky. I took a shower and finished packing while everyone else was down eating breakfast. I brought my stuff down and then quickly went in and had some... yes yogurt. I had to have one last bowl! Well actually two... haha Then we brought our stuff down to the main hotel place. We all walked up right as the bus came, but then it didn’t stop and just kept on going. We then figured out that it had to turn around first before it picked us up. It came back around and we loaded our luggage and got on. We all had a seat this time and had a very comfortable ride to the airport. We walked off the bus and right into the airport where we immediately got in line to check our luggage in. We slowly moved through the line and talked a little bit. We checked our luggage with no problem and then made our way to security. I “unloaded” myself into the little plastic tray and made it through the scanner with out setting anything off this time. We sat down by our gate and waited. I took out my book and read a little bit. I also talked with the other kids for a bit before we boarded. The dreaded announcement came over the speaker and we all boarded our plane back to civilization (otherwise known as Germany). We walked out onto the tarmac and then took a bus 300 meters down the runway to the airplane. We boarded and my grandparents and I were in the very last row of the airplane and I got a window seat. It was very cool. The leg room was also nice. I took pictures as we took off, which I’m sure broke some rules. And then read and listened to music the rest of the trip. I think I might have dozed off once for about 10 minutes. We were served lunch, which consisted of a chicken tomato sauce on noodles and a piece of packaged chocolate cake for dessert. It’s not restaurant food, but it wasn’t too bad. The sky was clear so I got a really nice view of the ocean and land the whole time. We flew over Austria and I got to see some beautiful mountains. I took pictures of a lot. My window was kind of iced up though, so they won’t be the best. I pretty much glanced out the window every 2 minutes to see what new land feature was making its appearance. It was a really nice flight and probably my favorite yet. The landing was very smooth and everyone clapped as we pulled in which was a cool experience. We got our stuff and went to the bus and were driven across the runway to the airport. We went to the baggage claim and did that whole deal and then made our way through the giant maze of the Frankfurt airport. There was a lot of going up and down escalators and taking trams, but we finally ended up at the train station where we met up with everyone minus the Jackson family. I guess a piece of their luggage didn’t come through right away so they missed the first train. We road to Monheim and I typed most of this up. We got off and walked to the next train station where we said our good byes and parted. I was kind of sad. I had a lot of fun with the group of people I was with. I wonder if I will ever see them again. I’m definitely adding them on Facebook and in the future am going to make an effort to meet up with them sometime; whether that’s when I got back to Germany or if they come to the states. My grandparents and my Aunt and Uncle and cousins then boarded our next train and took off. We got to the train station and Dennie went and got the van. I spent some time typing some more of the trip up until Dennie got back with the van. We loaded up and hen went home. We unpacked everything and I brought my stuff up to my room. I opened up my suitcase and was blown back by the repuslive smell coming from it. I definitely have some laundry to do! After I got my clothes sorted and unpacked my stuff a little more I got dressed for a run. I ran to one of the trails that goes along the Neckar and ran to the dam that we went to on our first day. I then ran back on the trail that goes along the river and up this really long hill! It was almost a mile uphill. It was tough, but I kept myself going knowing that if I was running with someone I would tell them not to stop. So I took my own encouraging words and won against the hill! I got back to the house and took a shower and then spent some more time typing. The ice cream man came down the street and we went and got some ice cream. I got speghetti ice cream with vanilla and chocolate ice cream. It was really good. We then sat down and watched some of our trip to Crete on video. I then went up to my room and spent some time reading a book I picked up. Then I got online and checked my email around 9:00 and had a whopping 72 e-mails.... I sorted through them all so I didn't have to do it on my las day. Then I went to bed and fell asleep almost instantly!

It was a very good day and even though I'm not in Crete any more I'm very happy to be back AND I'm even more excited to go back home!

My adventure continues with... One last day :)

Another trip to the Southside!

Saturday: Today we had planned to go on the Catamaran. It was a boat that went around a portion of the island and went into different coves and stuff. Because of the weather however we decided to drive to the south side of the island and see if it was sunny and walk around the town by this beach. We ate breakfast like usual (I feel I say that everyday, but its part of it I guess) and then loaded up in our different vehicles and headed out. The trip was pretty smooth at first. We stopped at our first gas station (soon to be two more) to get gas and batteries, but then decided not to get gas right away because we would have to wait. So then we kept going and then got low on gas and stopped again for real this time. After we left that gas station I kind of fell asleep a little. I was awakened when I heard an “Oh my goodness that car is going to hit that rock!”... “Wow that barely missed the Cooks car...” And then Michelle Jackson radioed in with a “Holly crap that rock just hit our windshield and there is glass in my lap!” This all happened within like 20 seconds. What started as a smooth ride to the south side of Crete for a walk on the beach quickly turned into a big deal. At first everyone was like wow the whole windshield shattered into their laps, but I was like that couldn’t have happened because they would have like swerved off the road because it would have hit their face and the rock would have hit someone and windshields are really really hard! It turned out I was right and the windshield just had a giant smash in it with cracks going every direction. Thank God that the rock grazed the hood before hitting the windshield or it might have gone right through and hit Mrs. Jackson. Mr. Jackson and Kyle were alright, but Mrs. Jackson had some glass all over her lap. The windshield hadn’t broken, but the glass from the other side fell off. The gas station had an air machine for blowing up tires and Mr. Jackson blew all the glass out of the car. We all had gotten out of our cars and kind of surrounded the Jackson’s car and were trying to decide what to do. My uncle called the insurance company and then the car company and arranged for another car, but someone had to drive the one with the cracked windshield back to the nearest car rental place to trade. They told us that it wasn’t bad enough for it to be too dangerous to drive. So even though the group really didn’t want Mr. Jackson to drive it he said it would be fine and he would just take care of it while we went on. So he left and we all continued on to the beach which was not even 5 minutes away. Talk about everything happening just right... or just wrong. We got to the beach and it wasn’t much different from the weather we had on the north side of the island. We walked into the town and looked around for about 10 minutes and then went somewhere to eat. My uncle and two cousins went to a place to have crepes, but then when we ordered they said they didn’t have any so I just got a milkshake and then went up to the restaurant that everyone else was at and got a pizza. The service there was really nice. I walked in and the guy pulled out a chair for me and then pulled out another chair and said “This for your stuff” and pointed at my backpack and camera. I thought that was funny. The pizza was good, but I was only able to eat half of it. After we ate we walked around the little town and went in and out of the different stores looking at all the various little trinkets and souvenirs. There were two shops that were really cool and both sold pottery. I passed one at the last minute and saw a guy inside making a pot so I walked in. There was a lot of really cool stuff! It’s too bad I didn’t have enough money to get anything. I guess I’ll just have to come back! We all met back at the beach at 4:00 and talked while the Laura, Kerri and Ana walked back. Once we were all there we loaded up and got going again. It was back to the North! About ½ way back we stopped in a little town where we looked around again. We stopped mainly for the bakery and got some Baklava and some 50 cent ice cream. After that stop we drove the rest of the way home and spent some time packing. After packing a little bit I finished a game of 500 that I was playing with my cousin Emily, my uncle Dennie and Zack. Zack and I ended up winning surprisingly! We made plans to eat at a restaurant down on the beach instead of at the hotel. The adults went down to the restaurant/bar a couple of nights to watch soccer and got to know the guy who runs it really well. He was super awesome! When he asked me what I wanted to drink he kind of waved his hand and was like “And you sir, what would you like to drink?” and I said, “I would like a Fanta.” And then he said with a smile, “sounds good to me!”... just the way he approached us and talked with us was very welcoming! We were served bread as a started and then we had Greek salad. Greek salad comes differently, but we had tomatoes, cucumbers, a little bit of lettuce, onions and olives. I was kind of disappointed with the olives... I’m sure they are amazing to the people in Greece, but to me they were very bitter and salty. They were like a step up from green olives. I like the canned ones better J We were then served huge plates of pork. I’m not sure what cut we got... I think it was some of everything. We also had some amazing potatoes that were cooked with olive oil and seasoned. It was a very delicious meal. For dessert we had a coconut cake that was very moist and was soaked in some sort of sauce. And then a very interesting custard like cube. Nobody knew what it was. The best I can describe it is that it was a stiff, lemon flavored custard, that almost had a bread texture... it was very good what ever it was!

After we ate the teenagers walked down to the beach and played around with a soccer ball. Then Ana and Laura and a kid that Ana met at the hotel walked down to the pier. Olivia, Emily and Zack went back to the hotel. Karrie and Kyle stayed on the beach and listened to some music and I walked over to the pier because I felt uncomfortable with the three others being over there when it was dark out with some other strangers sitting in their boats smoking. I wasn’t going to judge, but I wanted to make sure they didn’t fall off or something. We then walked back to the beach and then walked up to the hotel where we had Baklava. Baklava is a very flaky sweet pastry. It soaked in a very sweet sauce and when you eat it drips from your mouth. It is so good, but very rich! I can only eat a little bit at a time. After we ate that we all headed to bed. I spent some time writing a little bit and then went to bed at midnight.

My adventure continues with.... The trip back home :(

Another day on the beach B-)

Friday: Friday we all woke up to a very clear sky and a bright shining sun... it was definitely a beach day and we declared siege to the beach once more. Before we did so we all ate breakfast. I have been crazy about the yogurt and chocolate here and have had it every morning... but I took it a little far when I had 6 bowls of it... and yes I was very full. I was very full all day in fact! After I finished breakfast for the first time I laid down on then lounge chair by the pool and fell asleep in the sun for what seemed like for ever (and was only 15 minutes). It was one of those sleeps where you drift in and out of consciousness catching different pieces of conversations and wake up very out of it and confused... if you have ever experienced that :P I woke up and it was right before 10:00 (when breakfast ends) so I went in and had some more yogurt and proceeded fill myself for the rest of the day. We spent most of the day lying in the sun. I played a game of scrabble and through the Frisbee around. Zack and I invented a game that was like hand ball except the goal was a whole in the sand. You had to pass the ball and only got 3 steps and if you through it in the hole you got 1 point and if you kicked it in you got 2 points. At first it was Zack, Kyle, my uncle Dennie and I, but then it was “the old guys” against us “youngens”. We ended up tying that one because they got tired out J It was a lot of fun. I was very careful about the sunscreen that I put on so I didn’t end up sunburned on any other part of my body. It was a very relaxing day and I got some good pictures. After the sun started to go down we all packed up and went to a beach in a smaller bay next to the one we were on. It had a lot of really nice skipping rocks so we had a "Rock Skipping Competition". We all got rocks and then started off for the most skipps. Dennie one that one with 8, but later I skipped 10. Zack won highest arc... he serisously skipped it and the rock would go 6 feet in the air. We pretty much skipped rocks and walked around for awhile. I got some good pictures of the sunset... or rather the clouds from the sunset. We went back to the hotel and got some food and then I went up to the Jackson's where some of the other kids were hanging out and played backgammon with Kyle while the girls watched 13 going on 30.... which is really.... well I don't want to offend anyone who likes it so I won't say any more. haha :P

After that we all went to bed. It was a great day and I'm enjoying the great sunny weather :)

My adventure continues with... Another trip to the Southside!

Santorini

Thursday: I got up early and went out onto a ledge at the tip of the cove and got to watch a full sunrise. It was really colorful. I wonder why the sun doesn’t shine when it first comes up out of the ocean... it’s just a red circle with colorful clouds. It was a good little while just sitting there. I walked back to the hotel and packed quickly for the day trip to Santorini. We then ate breakfast (which for me consisted of two bowls of yogurt and chocolate sauce... Mmmm so good!) and then those of us who were going hit the road. It was my grandparents, my aunt and uncle, my two cousins, Mr. and Mrs. Cook, Mrs. Cooks sister Megan, their two daughters Olivia, Delanie, Laura Jackson, Kerrie Smith and I that went. We drove to the port and got a good parking spot and went in to buy our tickets. After that we walked to the boat. It was like a ferry cruise liner hydrofoil. It wasn’t very big and it was really fast. It had two pontoons on either side. It was really loud as we boarded. We found our seats rather quickly and then waited to take off. The boat then backed out and pulled forward. I was surprised at how fast it moved. I didn’t get a window seat, but I was able to see out the back of the boat at the water the engines was spraying. It was really cool and would probably have been amazing to water ski behind... actually probably not :P My aunt Debby, Grandma, Grandpa and I all played a game of scrabble and then I tried to get a nap. With in two hours we were there. It was a really fun trip and my first boat ride across the ocean... or the Mediterranean. We got off the boat and then took a bus up this really steep and windy road to the main town and largest port where all the huge ships land. I was amazed at the bus drivers. They make so many sharp turns and impossible scrapes I’m surprised they don’t have accidents all the time. People in cars need to learn how to drive like bus drivers in Crete! Oooo actually that may not be a good idea! We got to the top of the island which is actually a giant volcano crater and the only one of its kind. The whole main island is actually the base out of a really old volcano. And the middle island is the top that sunk in after it exploded. It was really interesting to think of it that way. The ocean has filled in most of it. We walked through the town a little bit and went to get tickets to ride the lift? Down to the port where we could then ride donkeys/mules up a trail. It was a cool ride down and a great view of the town and cliffs. We then waited for a while as people looked around and then we made our way to the donkey place. We all bought tickets and then walked up to where the donkeys were parked. Some of us got put with another person. Emily and Ana road together, Todd and Delanie did and Megan and Laura did. The rest of us were single person. It was a long ride up, but super fun! We didn’t have to have anyone lead us either. We just got on and the donkey did the rest. I started out in 5^th place and ended up in first because my donkey was a speed demon. He must know my style

B-)

Once we got to the top again we went to a restaurant on the cliff and ate. I had a Gyro for the third day in a row and had it served to me in yet another way. The first time is was a pita wrap, the second time it didn’t come with pita and was just onions meat, French fries and sauce. The third time I got the pita on the bottom with the meat and sauce on top with French fries. All three were really good, but the first one was my favorite.

After lunch we walked through the town and went in all the different stores. After that we went back to our meeting place which overlooked the bay/port. Todd, his wife Molly and I walked down the stairs to a church and I took some good pictures. We also so a very young couple (teenagers) sitting in the corner of a dome on the church sitting in a very inappropriate position. I then ran up the stairs and then looked around in the stores some more. I went to the main road thinking I would make a loop and come around where we came up, but I couldn’t find it so I walked back to the other spot where everyone was. Turns out that I was like 20 feet away from the road I needed to take to finish the loop. I just needed to go a little further. I have a pretty good sense of direction so I knew I was in the right spot. I just needed to do a little more looking. We walked back to the bus station and rode it back down the windy hill. We passed like 6 buses all of which with like a foot in-between. It was incredible. We got down to the bottom of the hill to the port and had about 45 minutes to wait. We all sat in the shade of an old bus station and waited. I ran up this old road to take some pictures of a barn and stuff and came back. I bought some water and then talked with everyone. There were some puppies that we saw in an alley across the street so I went over and asked the guy who owned them if I could take pictures. I got a couple cute ones. The girls then went over and looked at them. They were some sort of golden retriever mix. After 15 more minutes of waiting our boat came. We got our tickets out and boarded and then rode it back to Crete. It was a very fun trip! After our boat docked we got all our stuff and headed back to the vans. We only had two vehicles because not everyone came so it was a quick departure. We were pushing it as far as time went so we were barely going to make it back to the hotel in time for dinner, but thanks to my uncle Dennie’s professional driving skills we made it back with 30 minutes to spare. We had a good dinner and then hung out for the rest of the night. We were all pretty tired so we showered and got rid of any donkey smell that had come back with us and then went to bed. I slept pretty well!

My adventure continues with.... Another day on the beach B-)

A trip to the Southside!

Tuesday: I slept well last night and woke up before 8:00 sometime to some pretty loud thunder. I was still kind of tired to I slept and woke up at 8:00. I then quietly got dressed and went down to breakfast. The only one down there was Mr. Cook. I ate some breakfast and while I was eating some other people showed up. I walked around a little bit and waited for people to finish eating so I we could sit down and plan for the day. My grandparents and Aunt an Uncle decided we were going to drive through the mountains to the south side of Crete and find a beach. We were then going to drive back a different way and then back to the hotel. At the end of the day we would then had made a pretty nice circle of a portion of Crete, seen the mountains and a good beach. We left around 11:00 and started driving towards the south side J

What we thought was going to be a simple drive turned out to be a grand adventure and a great day! We kind of got lost because the roads weren’t labeled very well, but we ended up taking this other road that was a little bit longer, but had some great views. We pretty much drove down the coast a ways and drove through a couple small towns and saw some different views of the ocean. Emily and Ana were getting hungry so instead of eating in the mountains we stopped at the next town and it turned out to be a serendipities event. We found a nice little restaurant that made gyros and they were really amazing! There was also a book store across the street so we walked over and looked quick. After lunch and we drove on to the mountains. We could see them a ways before we got there and we even saw snow on the tops. Which is kind of weird... snow in Crete. Once we got to the mountains the road got really steep and windy. On the map it looked like a 3 year old went crazy with a pencil and paper. However crooked and crazy it was the scenery was absolutely beautiful! Despite being a little cloudy and rainy it was still an amazing drive. The road just kept going up and curving through all these different towns and villages. It was in a lot better condition then we thought it was going to be too. There was a great view of this really wide valley and it was very picturesque. The clouds were hugging the mountainside and the grass was really green... it kind of reminded me of some pictures of Ireland... another place I would like to go to someday. Sadly my camera ran out of battery and I forgot my other on in my pants pocket. I switched to shorts at the last second and forgot to transfer it. I also have some other frightening news that made me freak out a little bit. My battery charger isn’t working here. I’m going to try and find something that might make it work though. It worked in Germany and Crete has the same outlets. Even my IPod charger works! I’m not sure what the deal is, but I had one battery left and I’m going to really try and use it sparingly! I don't think it will last 6 days though....

So we continued upward and saw very many goats. We also very many different markings on the goats. Some had red dyed necks, others had blue spots on their rumps, some had tags in their ears and we even saw some that had hair shaved off certain places. I’m glad I’m not a goat! As we neared the top the mountainside got a lot rockier and there was different vegetation. We drove on top of the mountains a little bit and then crossed this really cool bridge. It reminded me of the bridge that the fellowship crossed in the first movie of The Lord of the Rings, except a little more cool! We all held our breath as we rove over it and made it safely to the other side. It reminds me of that story of the troll underneath the bridge and the three Billy goats gruff that are trying to cross it. Anyway... we drove and parked at a small vantage point and took some video and then began our decent down the mountain. The road on the way down had recently been re done and actually some of it was under construction still. It was nice and wide though... well some of it. It got really narrow and steep with no guard rails at a couple points. I’m glad we didn’t meet and busses or trucks. We also drove through three stone tunnels that were all in a row and in the last one there were some goats taking shelter from the rain. That was funny. After passing the turn twice we pulled into an empty parking lot for the beach we were going to and got out. It was an amazing beach and really huge. The sand dunes were really steep and tall and there were lots of rocks all over the place. The waves were really big and the smell was refreshing. We changed into swimming stuff and then walked down to the beach. The first thing I did was run... it was so fun to just run flat out on the sand and through the water. That was probably the most fun sprinting I have ever had. I stopped and picked rocks for a while and then ran some more. My uncle got brave and jumped into the ocean. You could seriously walk out like 50 ft and it didn’t even pass your knees. The waves were big and so you could walk out and then ride them in. He did it well. My grandma and aunt walked around and up and down the beach picking up rocks and talking, my cousin Emily just sat on a crate and played with the sand with her feet and Ana ran back and forth and walked around kind of like me. It was a very relaxing/fun time. Right before we left I went for my first swim in the ocean. It was pretty warm actually. Even though the sun wasn’t out and the wind was blowing it felt great! I was really surprised by how salty the water was... I wasn’t expecting it to be as salty as it was. It was cool! We then got dried off and changed and then got on the road again. We drove through a bunch of very small villages and followed the coast for a ways again. We stopped at one point to look at some eagles we saw and then we also a warbler of some sort. We drove back up though the mountains again and got some great views of the ocean bay. I tried my camera to see if there was a little juice left in it AND there was! So I was able to take about 20 more pictures before it actually died for good. We drove through the top of the mountain, but this time drove through a really beautiful gorge. The cliffs were amazing and we even saw a waterfall. There was also a church carved into the hill that was really neat! We got to the highway and drove through Rethymno and then were on our way to Bali. I then dozed off and woke up right as we were getting close to the hotel. Everyone had eaten a later lunch so they all were just hanging out for a while. I took a stroll down to the beach and around the side of the bay and climbed a cool rock that jutted out of the side of the bay. I found a place that was kind of secluded and just sat there for a while. After I got back we all went down and ate dinner. It was kind of the same thing, but different. They keep preparing it in different amazing ways! Kyle, Delany and sat outside and the rest of the group sat inside. After we ate we went up to one of the rooms and watched a movie and then I came back to my room and my Aunt and grandparents were playing game of scrabble. I tried a ton of different outlets to see if my charger would work, but no luck.

It was a really fun day and even though my camera ran out of juice I still took pictures with my mind and enjoyed it with out my camera. My sunburn is pretty much gone, but my face is still a little dry...

My adventure continues with.... A day on the beach! B-)

A Greek Monday!

I woke up at 6:45 to a beautiful sunrise coming out of the ocean. Seeing a sunrise out of the ocean has been the on thing I have been looking forward to most and it was really beautiful. The sun was a large red ball that was throwing scattered lines through the clouds and made the ocean seem really dark blue. I quickly got out of bed and got dressed, but I was a little too late for pictures. I just enjoyed the moment for the moment instead and not for the picture :) I then went down to the beach and just sat down there for a while as the sun rose. The sun hit some clouds and it disappeared so I went back up to our room. We ate breakfast at 8:00 and it was really good. There was a HUGE bowl of plain yogurt... and it’s no where near the stuff in the US. This is a very thick and creamy yogurt... almos goopy... that you put different toppings on. They had this every morning with four differnt jellys, and two bowls of cearel you could put on it to. My favorite topping was the hot nutella tasting chocolat sauce they had. I put it on my yogurt every morning and it was really good! They also had some eggs, traditional bread, meat and cheese and some little round bread/sweet cheese type things. That had some Cinnamon on top with a drizzle of honey and some sort of sweet cheese inside. Maybe it was cream cheese or something like it. It was really good and I was definitely full afterwards. We got ready to go and left right around 9:00am to go to an old ruin that was once a palace where the monitor battle took place. Each family had a vehicle so it was four cars total. We all had special names to. My uncle Dennie, Aunt Debby, cousins Emily and Ana, my grandparents and I were all in an 8 passenger, manual VW van. Every vehicle got a walked talky and a code name. Since Dennie was leading the pack his name was Gandalf, the Jacksons was “Red squirrel”, the Smiths were the Whomping willows and the Cooks were the nut packets. It was really fun. So once we got ready we were off...

Our first stop came when we met a van coming the opposite direction on the narrow road, Dennie pulled off a little bit and let the vehicle pass, but then found out that the van was two wheel drive and was stuck. So we backed the van down... or actually I should say the whole pack slowly backed up... it kind of looked like a snake trying to slither backwards. We got back on to the cement and then we were off for real. After about a kilometer we realized we had another problem... the gas tank was on E. So our next mission was to find a gas station. We did and it was really big and wide open. There was also a little church (like 10 person church little). It really proved church buildings come in all shapes and sizes. After our gas up we left for the museum again. And yes, you guessed it, we stopped again! This time at an ATM machine. Apparently the one next to the hotel was out of cash. So we were driving down this rally busy street and we all pulled over. We left enough room for cars to pass, but while everyone was crowding around the ATM machine a bus came up and couldn’t get through. Not only were we holding up the bus though, we were also holding up at least 20 cars behind it. My uncle and the other adults made a mad dash back to their vehicles and we pulled out. The last car however got caught behind all the people we held up. The bus driver was really angry... and we saw him again when we got to the museum!! We finally got too the museum and got in. It was really cool to see the ruins and walk around. It wasn’t like a normal ruin where you walk on little side walks and look at everything behind roped off sections. We actually got to walk on it and through some neat stairways and stuff. My favorite part was all the cool stone stairways and the trails to walk on. Also a guy came up to me and had me take him and his wife’s picture with his really nice Canon camera... he must have seen mine and known he could trust me in knowing how to use it. After I was done looking around I joined the rest of the kids and we looked around in the tourist places across the street. There is always so much stuff to buy, but I’m having a hard time buying stuff I won’t use. So I didn’t get anything. We all met up at the entrance and then we loaded up into our vehicles to find somewhere to find lunch. This turned out to be quite the adventure. We spent the next 20 minutes driving around looking for a place that was actually open and could hold 20 people. We then found out another truth about another country. The French don’t use the bathroom and the Greeks don’t eat lunch! We finally found a small pizza place/hotel that would feed us, but we had to wait 20-30 minutes. We decided it would be worth it because we would probably spend that much time trying to find another place to eat and then have to wait there anyway. So we got some drinks and then just hung out for a while. There was an amazing bakery across the street that some of us went to as well. While most of us were off looking around the adults ordered the food. They ordered a bunch of “starters” for lunch so we ended up eating a bunch of "little lunches". We ate fried/battered mushrooms, fried cheese, bread, squid, French fries, kabobs, fried zucchini and then fruit and yogurt for dessert. It was like the longest lunch ever. We were there for at least an hour and a half. Each starter came out like every 10 to 15 minutes and then we would eat it and wait. It was good though! After we ate those of us who wanted to go to the beach walked down. It was about a 10-15 minute walk before we got there. Once we did we were excited because there were huge waves! We ran around in the water a little bit and I skipped stones. I found out that if you skip them off waves tat they really go far. It started to rain a little bit so we went back to the vehicles and then back to the hotels. I was kind of tired and dozed off for a little bit. I kept waking up barely and hearing different parts of different conversations and it was really weird. I woke up fully when we stopped for a bag of oranges for Emily. I got out and took some pictures and then we finished the rest of the 10 minute drive back. We passed a cool beach that I thought would be cool to run to. I think I will tomorrow.

Once we got back a few of us got changed into cooler clothes and went down to the beach. We then hung down there for a couple of hours. We built a really cool; I like to call it abstract, castle out of sand and random things we found on the beach and in the rocks. We found things like tile, bricks AND even a piece of rebar! It was a lot of fun. While the group (Kyle (15), Kerrie (16), Laura (16) Ana (my cousins who is 14) and Delany (12?) were talking and skipping rocks I hiked up the side of the hill across the bay and walked out onto a really cool outcropping of rocks. I’m going to sit there during a sunrise for sure because it has a great view! It was starting to get dark so we went back to the hotel and by then everyone else was eating. We ate (fish, some different salads, potatoes, a yogurt type dish, fruit, rice and noodles). After dinner we went up to the Jackson’s room and watched “Oh brother where art thou”, which was actually pretty funny! It was a really good day.

My adventure continues with.... A trip to the south side!

Saturday AND Sunday (4th-5th of April)

Saturday: I got up around 6:15 in the morning and went for a run with my cousin. She ran to the soccer field and I went on a trail through the woods that came out on top of this small hill that overlooked a small house and pasture. With the fog covering most of it, it was transformed into a little morning scene. I got back and showered and then we all rushed out the door to a breakfast that was being put on for Dennie at the church they attend. So we got there and my cousin Ana and I made some fruit salad and my grandpa made his famous pancakes. We ate some before everyone got there and Ana and I decorated the big chalk board to make it birthday-ish and then we set the tables with birthday napkins and candles. There were about 30 people total that came and a lot of food! It was very interesting to be in a German environment... I don’t understand a thing. :P After we ate we all Collaborated and got the dishes done. We then drove home and put everything away. After that we spent the rest of the day resting/packing/waiting for 10:00 to roll around. Once it did we had the van packed and were driving off at 9:59pm. We arrived at the station and Dennie took the van and parked it somewhere. The train arrived on time and we were ready. We got on and tried to find spots. It was kind of crowded, but after 5 minutes we got settled for the most part. Once we did how ever we realized that we didn’t have the best company in our car. There were at least 20 college students who were all drinking something. On guy had some IPod speaker that was playing this really repetitive techno music, that just about drove me up the wall and then there were a couple people that kept walking back and forth. I was kind of uneasy so I sat across from my Grandma and my aunt sat next to my grandpa in the other aisle. There was one couple that was very drunk who stood next to my grandpa and aunt and was talking to them. We made it off the train with no incident, but the whole ride was very unpleasant. The Saturday night crowd right? We then transferred to a much nicer train and got spot in a quiet car around 12:00am. The seats were very comfortable and we even had a table in front of us. The train reached a speed of 200 km/h. We all did really well on that ride. We got to the airport and we loaded all our baggage onto some carts and wheeled our way to the check in point. On our way there we passed a family that had flown in and was walking somewhere. They had two little boys and one of them was on the top of all the luggage in the cart and looked really tired and about as cute as a 4 year old can J Once we got there we looked around for the rest of the group, but didn’t see them. After about 10 minutes of sitting around and me learning how to count in German someone from the group came and said that everyone was there, but they hadn’t checked in. By the time we got through checking in the rest of the group was in line. We went through security with no problem... well... I set of the reed light and was searched, but I was good. My uncle and cousin Emily we subject to a random bag check too. We got to our terminal and then rested in some lounge chairs. Our flight was taking off of at 3:40am and by the time we got checked in and through security it was only about 2:00am. My face was doing better today. It pretty much peeled a lot and I had to keep putting lotion on... I felt weird with my skin so gross looking.

Sunday: We found a nice row of lounge chairs and layed down. I tried to sleep, but couldn't, so I got up and walked around. I also spent some time typing the past couple of days up and read. We waited around for about an hour and then moved into the gate area. All of us kids sat in a group on the floor kind of lounging around. After about 15 more minutes we boarded the plane and took off really fast. Not the speed of the air plane but the time it took to get all ready and leave. The actual take off was the longest I remember though... Normally you speed up and *vroom* your off, but this took it felt like a whole minute off zooming before we left the ground. They served us a sandwich (which was really good actually) and some yogurt. I listened to my Ipod and fell asleep since it was all dark out. I slept the whole flight and woke up to a beautiful sunrise. I was sitting on the wrong side of the airplane to get a really good view of it, but from what I did see it was amazing! It was a really long orange and dark red streak across the sky. Then we landed and walked out to a very cloudy wet Crete :P those clouds really hide the sun. It was fairly warm, but really wet and kind of drizzly. The smell was realy refreshing and I definitely know why people like the smell of the ocean now! We walked off the plane onto the tarmac and then got onto a bus that brought us to the luggage claim. It took a while for all our luggage to appear, but it was all accounted for and nothing was missing or broken. We then packed up and head towards the bus that was going to take us to the hotel. Everyone was doing well except for one of the girls, Olivia, who had just gotten over strep throat. Her ears and throat were hurting really bad!

It took us a good 45 minutes to get to the hotel from the airport. The drive was really nice though. We went around a large portion of the island to the northern point where our bay was located. We stopped at two other hotels first before ours and each time I was like... I hope this isn't ours, because they were no where near the beach. When we did get to our hotel I was excited because it was perfect! On the beach in a cool bay and had lots of sand. When we got there they still needed to fix our rooms up, so we ate breakfast (it was around 9:30am). It took a long time for the breakfast to arrive so Kyle (one of the guys) and I went down to the beach and skipped some rocks and looked around. It was so cool to actually walk by the ocean and hear the waves. It felt so amazing! Everything was just amazing... After about 25 minutes our breakfast came, but some people got theirs mixed up. Over all I wasn’t really impressed with the service. The food was good, but it took a really long time. After we ate we sat around and continued to wait for our rooms to be ready. A couple of us went up the street to a small store and looked around. A little while after we came back they finally lead us to our rooms, which were actually down the road a few meters and in a separate part of the hotel. They were really nice rooms and had a lot of space. We got one that over looked the pool and a little bit of the ocean. Zack (the guy that’s my age) and I got dressed to swim and jumped in the pool. You can think we ae cazy to do that on a 55 degree day, but we wanted to swim everyday. haha we were only in the pool for like 2 minutes. And the first time I jumped in it was kind of a jump in and jump out deal. It was freezing, but well worth it! After a hot shower I just hung out and looked around. Everyone just chilled and did different things. A lot of them napped. We had dinner at 6:30 and it was buffet style. There were a lot of different options. There were three green salads and two with feta cheese. Then there was goat’s cheese that you could just have. There was humus, noodle, fishes, fried potato slices and some sort of casserole type thing. There was also ice cream for dessert. There was banana, chocolate and strawberry. They were all quite good! After dinner all of us teens went up to one of the rooms and played a game of apples to apples and then moved to another room and watched a movie. After that I walked my cousin Ana back to her room for my aunt and then got ready for bed and hit the hay. I had a good nap that afternoon so I wasn’t that tired. I ended up falling asleep quickly anyway. It was a great first day and I'm thankful there were no problems or troubles and that we got to the hotel safely :)

My adventure continues in.... A Greek Monday!

The next week!

Well I'm sorry I have not been good about getting the past two days up... I haven't been up to much... just getting ready for Crete and doing some odd things here and there.

This next week I won't be able to post anything because I won't have internet access. I will be writing it all down though and will have it up when I get back! Are train to the airport leaves in two hours. We are leaving the house at 10:00pm and our train leaves the station at 10:55. Our flight doesn't actually leave until 3:40am, but the 10:55 train was the only train we could get that would get us to the airport before 3:00am. So it's going to be a really long night, but really fun! On Thursday I met the whole group that is going to Crete with us and they are really fun! Our flight lands around 7:20am in the morning and that means we are going to have an extra day (pretty much) in Crete. I'm really excited bout it!

So anyway that is a very brief description of what's going on. I will try and get updates up when I can!! And don't worry I'll be taking lot and lots of pictures for you all to see!

:)

Heidelberg

I slept really well last night and woke up at 7:00 well rested. I spent some time working with my pictures and trying to get my camera sorted out. Turns out the problem was the memory card being to big or something... because once I took a lot of the pictures off it worked great. I made sure all my pictures were on the computer and then I put them all on CD’s. So now I have a hard copy of them and I have most of them off my memory card. So instead of spending time editing and posting I took care of that other problem so I could keep taking pictures. We had to be ready for the bus at 11:30 in order to get to Heidelberg in time to do all we wanted. I got read around 10:45 and then we kicked it in gear and walked to the bus station. We took the bus all the way to Heidelberg and then got off and walked over the bridge. We took some pictures and then walked over to a sculpture of a monkey and took pictures by it. My grandpa had a hankering for ice cream so we stopped and got some. I had a scoop of lemon and a scoop of pistachio... I know, great mix! After that we hiked to the Funicular, got tickets and then waited for it. It’s really cool how it works. Its counter balanced so when one goes up the other comes down. We took the first one up to the first station and then took the older one up to the very top. The view of Heidelberg was really cool, the only thing that ruined it was the light layer of clouds that blurred the view. It was a great day though, beautiful sunshine and very warm weather. We walked up a trail and saw a falconry and got to see some falcons and an owl. After that we went to a small restaurant and had some lunch. We ate and then took the Funicular back down. It was fun to sit in the front row... almost like a roller coaster, but in slow motion. After we got down we walked down Hauptstrasse, which is like a really long pedestrian street with stores on either side. I bought myself a new pair of shades and something for my sisters and then my grandparents and I watched a puppet show that this guy was putting on on the street. We stopped at another place for ice cream and I got some cherry/vanilla swirl type ice cream this time. I was kind of getting warm so I took a layer off and as we walked to the bust station. My grandma saw a flower shop and went and got some flowers for my aunt and I helped hold them. J We stood and waited for the bus and I got a headache sitting there in the sun. My face really hurts today and I had a blister on my nose that I have to keep popping... it’s really not very fun at all. I made sure I had sunscreen today! I’m probably a little dehydrated, but I have been drinking a lot of water since we have got home. It’s beautiful outside right now and I’m enjoying the weather! I’m also looking forward to our trip to Crete this next week! Yey for sun!

Monday?

I seem to have forgotten about Monday! Well had no fear, because I remembered! Well actually I didn't do anything on Monday. I did a lot of picture work and my grandparents took a day off again. When my cousin Ana got home we both went for a run and that was really pretty. We ran through a cool trail in the woods and up and down some hills. I really need to go running at Holzinger lodge sometime... those trails are a lot of fun! After we got back I changed and then my uncle and I went to go hike around two castles that were like 10 minutes away. They were very small castles, but still cool! My camera wasn't working, so I didn't get any pictures until right when we left. We looked around for a bit and then drove back. I then got to bed because I was going to be up early... So yeah that was my Monday :P

My day in the alps~

Wednesday: I woke up around 7:30 to my uncle getting up and looking out the window. Since it was really foggy when we pulled in the night before we weren’t sure if skiing was going to be fun. If it was clearer we would still go the place we planned, but if it was worse or the same we would go some where else. I asked him how it looked and he said it was worse. Sure enough the fog was heavier and worse. We got packed and then ate breakfast down stairs. We asked the lady who owned the place about it and she said when you see a dark blue strip at the bottom of the fog cover that means it’s clear on top. She then turned on the TV and sure enough it was! The channel was showing a live feed from the webcam at the ski place. So we were pretty excited! It was going to be amazing! We ate the rest of our breakfast, packed our stuff, put on our snow gear and then left for a day of skiing AND forgot a very important thing... sunscreen! I would come to regret that by the end of the day.

We got to the place at about 9:00, when it was supposed to open, and it was kind of packed (a lot more so than my uncle had thought it would be). We found a spot and got our stuff on (boots and etc... ). We got our tickets which were really cool. They clipped on to your jacket and had a little bar that you slipped into a machine to go on the lifts. It was kind of like a thin credit card. There was a really cool dam under the first lift and I went to take a picture of that while my uncle went to get goggles in the car. We then scanned in and got onto the first car. It fit like 20 people and was really crowded. We started up and went into the fog cover... and with in 2 minutes we broke through and it was so sunny and beautiful! The mountains were... indescribable! They were endless and white and amazing. I just sat there and stared... my jaw probably hit the ground. We got to the station and I stopped and took pictures, but little did I know... it was just the beginning of what I was going to see. We took the second car up and got even higher! The second car went to the main ski base. The view from there was even more incredible! I could stand and look out at the mountains all day! The first thing we did was search for a locker. I had brought my camera and I wasn’t going to leave it in the backpack we brought laying around. So we found a locker that was right by the front door and put our stuff in it. It was also super warm so I took off my jacket and put it in the locker along with my camera.

We started down the first slope and I got used to skiing again. We took the ski lift up to the three runs (which were more like 5 or 6 and AMAZING) and right as we were scanning through I realized at had forgotten my card on my jacket that was now back at the lodge and in the locker. Once again I experience a moment in life where I'm so excited I forgot something important. It happened back last year when I ran the Ragar relay and was so excited for my first leg that I forgot my shoes, light and jacket gear.... :P I guess I haven't changed much - haha

So while I waited at the bottom, my uncle rode up and skied down to the lodge, got my card and then came back. We then rode up and then skied down and I had some trouble. I found out that my posture was messed up and my balance was off. So I messed around a little bit and figured out the right groove and skied a lot better. I improved over the next couple of runs and felt really comfortable on skis. We went down the blue hill and the red hills for a few times and then we went down a really long reed one that turned to black diamond and then red again. It was like 3 miles long. It was soooo fun! Then we road the car back up again and skied the other three runs a couple of times.

Around noon we skied back to the lodge and I got my camera and wrapped it in my jacket and hat so it was padded in the backpack and then skied down to the lift. We were going to ski down once more and then take the next car to the top of the Mountain peak. I skied down, very carefully, and got my camera out before I got onto the lift. I made sure it was safe and then started taking pictures on the way up. I got to the top and skied to the right and took about 20 pictures and then skied over to the other hills and took about 30 and then skied down to a little shack where there was a deck and took about 10 more. Then we skied down and took the next car up to the very top... and wow... wow!... I mean WOW! It was so high and incredible! I told myself I was going to come back to this very same spot someday because it was worth seeing again and again and again! I took at least 60 pictures from the very top and just stood there and soaked it in. We ate lunch at the place there, which was kind of gross, but filled us up. I then hiked over to a couple spots and took pictures and then hiked up to a really high look out place where you could see the other side of the mountain range and the little tiny town below as well as clouds. I too, yet again, more pictures and then I wrapped up my camera, slipped it over my back and skied from the very top the hill to the lodge, about a mile... and I put my camera away and took off some layers. I skied the rest of the day with a long sleeve t-shirt with a t-shirt over that and snow pants. You could have easily gone skiing in short and a t-shirt though... it was that warm. We then skied from the lodge down to the second car station (the 2^nd one we took up in the morning) it was about 3 or 4 miles long total. It was amazing! The black diamond was a little hard, but I made it with out falling, with out going too slow and felt good! By this time of the day it was getting kind of warm so the snow was a little wet and was starting to pile up on the hills. Skiing it was kind of hard at times. We got to the bottom and rode the car back up. My uncle sat in a lounge chair and took a nap in the sun while I continued to ski.

I went down the black diamond one (Which is so much better than MN Black Diamonds!) and then the red one and then skied all the way down to the car station again. I then met my uncle and we skied 4 more runs and then called it a day at 4:00. We were going to ski till 5:00, but we were getting tired and there is no need to get really tired and fall and get hurt. I took onne last look at the mountains and then we got our stuff in the locker and started our way down. When we got to the bottom we got our boots off... which felt so amazing on my feet! We changed and then hit the road. We stopped for coffee quick and then left Oberstdorf and headed back “home”. With in 10 minutes we stopped and I took a picture of the mountains again and then we drove on a little bit before pulling over again so I could take a picture of a cool creek with the mountains behind it. I took a picture of myself too. When we pulled in there was another car there. I was about to leave and then this lady had walked over to the creek as well and asked me if I wanted my picture taken by her with my camera. I was like “YEY!” She took my picture and then I took her with her camera and it was cool! J

I then looked through all my pictures, ate a little bit and fell asleep. I slept a good 2 hours of the 4 hour trip. I woke up in time to see the sunset and it was weird. The sun was all dark red, but the sky was completely blank with no color what so ever... it was like, the most un-romantic sunset ever :P – The other thing I woke up to was a very red face... no I wasn’t angry, but I discovered that the after noon in the sun had turned my face into a tomato! And I was even so lucky to have a line across my nose and cheeks where my goggles were. So now I look like a dork :P Oh well! My arms are also red from skiing in the sun with my sleeves rolled up all afternoon. It was well worth it though, but I regret forgetting the sunscreen!!! We got home and unpacked and I got ready for bed and talked about Thursdays plans, peeled some potatoes for my uncle and then typed this all up and went to bed!

It was a very amazing day an probably my favorite day so far! What a great way to start the month of April off! J Thank you God for safe skiing and amazing mountains views!

-meeting couple in car

My day in highschool...

Tuesday:

I got up and did the whole morning routine with everyone at 5:00 and then I was off to school again, except this time with my cousin who is in high school. I got there and was not surprised by the amount of swearing I heard or all the girls hanging on the guys and the guys picking on all the girls. We walked to her first class which was art. We sat down at her usual table with three other kids and then the teacher looked at me and said, “Emily take your friend and go sit in the back of the class.” I was like uh oh, I got my cousin in trouble. It was all good though I guess the table was just too crowded or something. The project for the next week or something was to make a mobile. A mobile is a hanger with stuff hanging off of it. The teacher wanted it to be more of a balance though, because “You highschoolers are more advanced than the 2^nd grade so I want to see that.” About half the kids were pretty good and then the other half just goofed around. One kid brought a small bottle of vanilla extract and then dared one of the guys, “Mayo”, to drink it. He did and smelled like vanilla. I helped Emily with the idea she had, but then the teacher pretty much said it as ugly and unattractive and nobody would want to look at it. So then I suggested my own idea and it turned out better... well it started to, but then class ended.

We went to her second class, which was Geometry and I enjoyed that. The teacher was kind of quiet and didn’t always wait for the class to be quiet, but I guess that’s their fault. We learned the same thing that my other cousin learned except on a harder level. The warm up problem was really cool. We had to find the height of a triangular stack of pipes that each had a diameter of 8ft. It would be easy to say that it was 16, but the top pipe sinks in between the other two a little bit so it less than 16. The way you solve it is by connecting the center of all the pipes and forming a triangle. Based on some thermo all the sides of the triangle are 8ft. So then you know the radius is 4 feet. Then you know that half the measure meant is 8ft (because they gave you that info, and because when you had the two radiuses you get that answer). So then you have to find the little gap in the middle of the pipes; to do that you have to find the altitude of the triangle. So you draw a line down the middle and turn it into two right triangles. You know two of the legs one is the diameter length and the other is the radius length. So you us the Pythagorean thermo to solve it and you get the other distance, which was like 4([sqrt]3) or something. So yeah... I liked it J

The last class she had was Chemistry. That class was a lot of fun to. The teacher was very on top of it and in control of the class and I liked that. We did a lab where we had to heat baking soda and do some different measuring. It was a lot of fun... we also had to wear goggles... ugh...I don’t like those :P After that we ate lunch and then she went to this class room and read for 20 minutes. So I picked out a book and read some of it. Then we had to go to her Spanish class because she had to fix something and I almost fell asleep. It wasn’t actually class time; some kids were just looking at their grades. I was struck with the fact that for most kids Spanish class it a waste of time. A fair portion of the class does the least amount possible because they don’t want to learn it and they skinny by with a passing grade and forget it all. I say this with experience. I’m not sure how to fix that problem, but in the long run I don’t think it’s worth it for most of the kids if they barely make it through the class and then learn nothing anyways. Wouldn't they be better off learning something that they might do a lot better in, that is then more useful to them? I don't know.... anyway

After that we went back to her reading class and my uncle came and picked me up. He said hi to a couple of the teachers there and then we left. We went back to the other base and went to a renting place where we got boots and skis for me. I didn’t fit their size 13 boots so I used size 14 ski boots... yeah, very big! We then filled the tank and hit the road to Oberstdorf where we were going to go skiing. We listened to some music, talked, got coffee and snacked. It was a very fun trip. The GPS (Maggie) took us on a very different route there, but it was really pretty and I’m glad we went that way. My uncle and I got to Oberstdorf in about 4 hours. I got a peek of the mountains when we went to France, but when we came down this winding road near Oberstdorf I saw the Alps for the first time and I was taken aback. They were so amazing! And the landscape was beautiful. There was no where to pull off and take a picture so I just forgot about my camera and took the time to just soak what I was seeing in! There was some dense fog so you couldn’t see all the way up, but I was still amazed. We arrived at about 8:30pm. The place we stayed at was super far back in the valley of the mountains, but had a great view! It was a small little house with some rooms up stairs. The room had a couch, one gigantic bed, a shower and sink and then a deck that you could go out on to. It was just right. J

I took some pictures off the deck of the incredible mountain scene, but with the fog the pictures really don’t show it well. We got our stuff all settled in and then both of us went to a small restaurant, where we were the only ones, and had something to eat. I had some apple strudel with almond ice cream and vanilla sauce. It was pretty good! We then got back to the “hotel” and got ready for bed. My uncle did some reading and I wrote a letter and then we went to bed. He told me to nudge him if he started snoring and I told him the same. Not five minutes after we went to bed he was snoring. I just put my ear buds in and let him sleep. I fell asleep myself and never heard him again.

It was a very fun day! Part of it I was in high school for the first time and then 4 hours later I’m at the base of the alps sleeping in a small “hotel” awaiting the next day to go skiing! Thank God for safe travels and an amazing day! J