Garmisch, Germany- Our first big trip!

Hello Hello!

It's definitely not August 2014, but I'm catching up. I've made a goal for myself to cherish and document all of the travel we've done both in blog and scrapbook. Although I've never been one to keep up a diary, in a few short months school will end and I'll have free time before leaving this country. I'm already anxious and upset about it, but I've vowed to myself to finish these damn blog posts, if it's the last thing I do in Germany!

We traveled to Garmisch, Germany for our first camping trip as a married couple. Yes, I said 'MARRIED COUPLE' because we had just returned from our amazing wedding ceremony. I'll add that one in someday, but it's too good to be posting all over the web. This is in my memory as one of the worst trips we've ever taken, by far!!

We started with a leisurely drive South through Munich and into the mountains. By the time we left, which was about two hours later than planned (poor trip packing, planning, gas, and estimated time to leave coordination) we were anxiously trying to get to Garmisch as fast as possible. After two hours of driving, hitting traffic in Munich, I realized I had forgotten the passports. The ONLY purpose to this trip was to visit Austria. We were devastated. I frantically begun contacted every and any person I could think of to see if they happened to be heading down that way (as it was a popular 4 day location site). Lucky for us, our neighbors were coming down only two days after we arrived. (Passport crisis averted!) 

You can rent campsites on the base in Garmisch for close to nothing compared to the lodging prices and other hotel prices in the area. They also rent cabins year round that are very nicely kept. I highly recommend it if you're looking for some good ole American camping!

Once we arrived, it was time to locate our campsite and set up shop. My idea of camping, or how I was raised to camp, is to find a flat, patchy and comfortable piece of grassy area, maybe under some tree cover, in which you can imagine comfortably sleeping on. You want to make sure the patch of grass doesn't have roots, pinecones, or other horrible things in fear of having a sore spot after sleeping on it all night. You also want to be near maybe a water faucet, bathrooms, a campsite, a picnic table, and other functional but somewhat 'camp like' essentials. Just enough to remind you that you are camping, but not enough to make you believe that you are stranded in the middle of nowhere. So I began my hunt. My husband, on the other hand, had a different idea of what camping was. He grew up venturing into the middle of absolutely NOWHERE, finding the roughest, most uneven ground possible, covered in trees, brush and who knows what else. This site must not be near any civilization because you might risk hearing another camper (duh?) and you must walk through several miles of woods to reach a bathroom, or expect to shit in the trees. You also must know how to hunt, kill and cook your own food without using firewood, charcoal or the common camp ingredient known as marshmallows. Are you KIDDING me? We quickly realized that we were one two completely separate wavelengths. For those of you who know my husband, you know he is stubborn and he freaks out when he doesn't get his way. There's no arguing. (Yes I know, you're thinking small child, it's okay, I was too). So we ended up sleeping in the middle of a brushy and wooded area, on a bed of moss that was hiding about 10 pinecones (only to be discovered later after sleeping on it, of course). By the time we finished arguing, it was dark and nearly impossible to set up a tent. We left for Edelweiss Lodge and found some dinner and warmth.

The next morning we woke up early and ventured to the top of the tallest mountain in Germany, the Zugspitze.

We were on top of the world! And shivering, because on an 80 degree August summer day, its 40 degrees on that mountain! We took a lift if you were wondering. You can buy passes at Edelweiss (military, active duty lodge and resort) for roughly $40 a piece to be lifted to the top. That may seem expensive, but it's a huge mountain and we wanted to pay for the experience. If you are an experienced climber, you can of course spend a few days climbing it, as there are restaurants and lodges on the way up. We are not experienced climbers, though. 

By the time we came down, had lunch, it was pouring rain! Our tent was trapped inside of a monsoon, basically. So we spent the night miserable and in the rain. In fact, most of the weekend it poured from then on. We had hoped the rain would hold off in Area 47 in Austria the next day, and it did. (I may be getting the days confused, but regardless, the weather held off for the minimal activities we did outside our tent) At one point we spent half a day inside the lodge using the amenities. You can pay about $5 to use the hot tub and pool in the lodge, as well as have breakfast/lunch/dinner. I've never been in an outdoor hot tub in a down pour, it was interesting to say the least. We really struggled this weekend keeping dry!

Area 47 in Austria, for those of you who don't know, is a high adrenaline water park. It's got cliff jumping, water skiing, blob jumps, rope walking, water slides, 4 wheeling, rock climbing, white water rafting and much more. Definitely make reservations for some of the special activities ahead of time, but it's well worth a trip and only 45 minutes (I think) into Austria from Garmisch. 

Our final bit to the trip was the attempt to drive to Salzburg, Austria on the way home. We left early and packed up the camping gear in the pouring rain (which delayed us a bit). We would only tack on about 1-2 hours to our drive home, so it was worth a day trip for us. We didn't know at the time that the Autobahn that connects Garmisch and Salzburg is notoriously busy (we found this out 6 months later). Not only is it constantly busy, but in a torrential downpour everyone forgets how to drive and the traffic just comes to a complete stop. We were about 1 hour from Salzburg when we needed to stop at the final Esso (gas) station. There was construction so we had to drive ahead, get off, get back on and then proceed to the exit. Well we missed the exit and to redo that part would have taken another 20 minutes. At that point we were so frustrated with the drive, the rain, the traffic, and the weekend that we decided to head home. The only problem with that was we kept hitting staus (massive traffic jams). We literally drove on farm roads, through towns, and off the highway to avoid them, only to get back on the highway and hit another. What would have been a 3 hour drive took us 8 hours. Needless to say, we were a little upset!!

I can say though, that these smiles and views were worth it! We did try Garmisch again and it was completely successful. More to come!!