Loisach and Old Neighborhood

I was so ready to go out and explore Garmisch! We got up and went right over to the Loisach River, my old stomping grounds. It's where I played all summer when I was a preteen. We knew that we wouldn't be able to get in through the housing area because it had been fenced off, so we pulled up along the other side of the river, parked and walked across the bridge of nostalgia. Seriously though. I haven't been there since 1985. A lot has changed, but so much was the same! 

Some of my old paths had been washed away, and a lot of the plants have grown over other paths and play areas that me and my friends used to frequent, but it was still home. First thing after I crossed the bridge, I started climbing up the cliff. I don't remember getting that out of breath when I was younger...maybe I've just forgotten? haha. I made it to the top and peered off to see my family below. I tried to find my other paths to no avail, but I explored some new paths. 

 I also found a nice patch of toilet paper plant. I needed it in my younger years, with how much time I spent in the woods!

Pointing to our old house on the map.

 Luckily Dale was there to help me keep my memories straight. My memories are a little sketchy at best, but Dale's are solid. So between the two of us, I'm pretty sure we reconstructed my childhood!

 We used to eat these tiny strawberries when we played in the woods. We had a big rock near our house named Strawberry Rock (I think we named it...not really an official name), that was covered in them. Unfortunately, the military base added a big mound of dirt along the outside of the fence around the housing area, and either the rock was destroyed or covered. We were a little disappointed because we wanted to recreate a picture of the kids sitting on it.

 We also had several other rocks that we played on, including Mama Rock and Papa Rock. We had some fun climbing around them and acting like children again.

 After I got my fill near the river, we walked toward the housing area. Of course we knew we couldn't get to it from there, but we just wanted to see how it had changed.

 The seven Abersolds. Kurt, the youngest, was born in Garmisch when we lived there.

 All the kids with spouses. And one baby.

 After we were done there, we drove around to the entry gate to the housing area to see if they would let us in. These days you have to have military ID to get in to the housing area. My parents each have military ID, but none of the kids do. We went and asked them and found that they could each sign in four civilians, so we were able to all get in. Unfortunately, we needed our passports to get in, and most of us didn't have them on us, so we had to go back to the hotel, we ate lunch, got our passports, and went back. It took quite a while to sign us all in. Once we got past the security area, which wasn't there in our day, things started looking familiar.

 We passed the daycare center, library, and community center. Finally, we reached the school. I was a student there from sixth through eighth grade.

 I guess it looked exactly the same, but my memories are so faded that I wasn't sure! I remembered the inside and the playground much better than the front,, but of course I didn't get to go inside, and the playground was changed.

Then we drove down past the housing area where we saw the stairwell apartments, and then finally, the circle where we lived.

The memories came flooding back of playing on the circle, snowball fights, roller skate and bicycling races, climbing trees, the coal delivery man that would deliver coal down to the furnace behind that little wooden fence in front of my house. The swing that used to hang on the clothesline. Playing in my fort behind my house. The merry-go-round that nearly killed each of us at one time or another. Putting on plays and circuses in my backyard, and slipping on the "tightrope" fence. Dad keeping his mineral water out on the back porch. Recording Casey Kasem's American Top 40 every Sunday while we were at church, using a timer, my cassette player and my one cassette tape that I kept recording over every week. Haha, oh, my childhood.

 The bus stop.

It was definitely a trip down Memory Lane. I'm so grateful I had the chance to go.

Day 1--Munich and Garmisch

After we got our rental cars, we headed out towards Garmisch. We had three rental cars, so Dix and I hopped in with Dale and Kurt. Dale went to high school in Munich so we made a quick stop at his old high school and saw a few Munich sites. 

 Dix didn't sleep at the plane at all, but he caught a few zzzz's in the car.

 Almost there!

 It's so beautiful!

The beginning of the Adventure

We left Phoenix about 8:30 pm. We knew that our flight was delayed for a couple of hours, but Landon was driving us to the airport, and he had to work the next morning, so we had him drive us early so he could get to bed. We waited at the airport for a few hours, and then had an uneventful flight to Seattle. We arrived around 3:30 am, got the shuttle to our hotel, and finally got a few hours of sleep. We got up fairly early to eat breakfast at the hotel, which turned out to be terrible, so we went over to IHOP and had a less bad breakfast before heading back to the hotel for a nap, then packed up and caught the shuttle to the airport.

We were the first of the Abersolds to arrive at the airport. We checked in to Iceland Air, showed our passports, checked in our luggage, and went through security. Security was way easier to go through for our international flight than it was for our flight from Phoenix to Seattle. We bought some diet Cokes and found a comfy place to wait and charge up our phones. Soon after, the rest of the family showed up. Our flight was on time, and there were no problems getting on. The plane was tiny and not very comfortable, but at least we were on a seven hour flight. We watched some movies, and listened to music and didn't sleep at all. We completely missed darkness that night! It was summer solstice, and we were so far north that we just barely missed darkness. It wasn't even twilight! It was crazy! We had an hour layover in Reykjavik. We had to disembark the plane onto a ramp right onto the runway, then we were shuttled into the airport, went through immigration, waited in a long line to start boarding again, then boarded another shuttle, up a ramp, and onto the plane. This flight was only three and a half hours, but I was determined to sleep! I slept for at least two hours and felt great by the time we landed. When we landed, it was about 1 pm in Munich, and about 4 am in Phoenix. We were excited to start our adventure!

No dad, we did not forget our passports.

 Sleepless in Seattle.

 Crappy breakfast. Dix is not impressed.

 The family at the Seattle airport!

 Uncomfortable plane, but happy travelers!

 They had these on the back of all the seats so you could keep track of our travel time, etc. It was really cool to follow!

 The ramp back onto our second plane.

 Getting excited!

Germany!

Winter Break

I made a weighted blanket for Turner several years ago and Cooper has been asking me for one ever since. He picked out the fabric and I bought the poly-pellets in July. I even washed the fabric so I could start. But then we took an impulsive trip to Washington and soon after that I started my new job, so the blanket factory was not to be. I thought I would make it during Thanksgiving. I was wrong. This morning I decided that today was the day! 

I have a sore neck, and partially perforated fingers, but the blanket is done and Cooper could not be happier! 

Meanwhile, Cooper and Turner had their friends Christopher and Michael over. Turner and Christopher both got the same Nintendo DS for Christmas so they played that while Cooper and Michael built a super awesome fort in the backyard. Super fun day!