Arriving in Frankfurt
Our first overseas travel involved us talking our first exploratory trip to Europe. This involved a plane flight from moline Illinois, to Chicago and from Chicago, to Frankfurt Germany... Better known as Dauchland. Arriving in Frankfurt we found our rental car and began our venture to Mannheim where we were to meet my fathers friend Sven. We arrived in the afternoon after a adventurous trip down the autobahn. Wow do cars drive fast. You can pull into the fast lane only to be overtaken by a Mercedes m5 in a matter of seconds going 285km an hour or translated 185mph... think about that. One second you are trying to overtake a car with your rental and the next sec you are being tailed by a car having to slam on the brakes... Ours maxed out at 105 mph.

We arrived at Mannheim and checked in to the Steingenberger hotel. At first thought I wanted to just collapse on the bed... Next thought, I was in a new place/country/ world and wanted to explore. We went to the nearest Starbucks and got wi fi.
-Brandon 

What next? Exploring! We head in to the city and try cheeses, and neueva wine, and bread.. We window shop and check out the latest european styles and look at all the German specialities. 

By this time we are too meet up for dinner with Sven.

We arrive and dinner is being prepared, cutting the onion, baking the bread, and cooking the meat. I loved that it gave us time to chat and get to know one another. Maybe an hour and a half passed as we chatted about our travels and dinner was finally ready! It looked amazing...tomato sauce with onions peppers, and zucchini, Pork medallions, and cheeses...and it was! Sven and his wife were so hospitable they chatted with us until 10:30 or so about our plans. We had a nice time and after the night we were ready to head to bed and get a good nights sleep. Jet lag was setting in.

The next morning we got up and headed to see another friend, Gunter. We arrive at his home and we are greeted with warm welcomes and delicious food. 

After lunch we headed into the town of Speyer. We saw an amazing cathedral, which the Germans call "the dome", it's 950 years old and still standing strong. Gunter was such a great guide, he showed us the history of the town as well as some German specialities. We had a crepe, (nutella, banana, and grand marnei), he showed us what neueva wine is, and got us Italian ice (my new favorite) I had pistachio, and Brandon had orange. That night we headed to the brewery for dinner- a German traditional restaurant. Not sure what to order because the menu was in German, I followed Gunter's recommendation on a traditional German plate, and Brandon went with another recommendation. Surprisingly, I liked what I got... A Liver meatball, a bratwarst, and something  I still can pronounce, but still delicious, and what other than sourkatut to go with it. Brandon enjoyed spatzel and mushrooms with pork medallions. And we both enjoyed some good German beer.

Third day in Europe 

Today we wake up... "it's 9:30" Brandon says. How did we sleep so late?! We won't admit it but we are still jet lagged. On our third day we have so much  planned. We're not exactly sure what we are doing but we know for sure Gunter won't do us wrong.

We head up stairs for breakfast and are treated with fresh brewed kaffee. and asked to sit at the table. We proceed to eat nutella, a delectable breakfast spread, popular among Germans, and cold meats with toast. Completely satisfied already, we are then served eggs with bacon. Delicious. Heika, Gunter's wife (who says she is not a cook) has already cooked us two wonderful meals, what a treat. 

We leave for heidleburg and head to the castle. What a Magnificent sight. Gunter, took very "gut"care of us. We went up into the castle and took a tour, learned about the history, and saw some amazing architecture. 

After the tour, we head to wine country. To Germans, this means business... A half liter is the norm, however Gunter bought us a glass for 15 euros which meant we could essentially taste 70 different wines.... And a taste in Germany is more like an entire glass... (see picture) what a great tradition! And even better Gunter had us try a speciality dish from each winery.. (pictures coming soon)  some of the best foods I have tried. They were nothing I have ever seen in the states, but DELICIOUS!!!

After many wines and good traditions we head back to Gunter's house for a glass of wine and to plan the next weeks. He has been so hospitable we couldn't ask for more. We are just about to head to bed and we are enjoying the wonderful accommodations (and German beer). DANKA GUNTER!!!

Hynach lake

Our latest endeavor was a backpacking trip to Haynach Lake. We went with two of our good friends Connor and Becky. Starting from green mtn trail head we headed off at 5 am and slowly made our way up stopping for pictures, snacks and moose! Our first moose we have seen on a trail and we were up close and personal! It was a mama with her two babies... Incredible! Continuing on not to disrupt them we pass by many beautiful streams. Brandon dying to throw his rod in, but we keep going until we reach the lake. The destination was gorgeous! We were surrounded by huge mountains, on a beautiful blue bird day. The weather couldn't have been better. We unpacked and headed to the lake; pulling in fish one by one we were all catching tons of fish! Huge cutthroat trout were stacked in the lake and it was so fun to watch the gulp down our fly and catch them. We fished all day long and finally decided that it was time to set up camp and cook dinner.

Dinner consisted of a scrumptious meal of pasta with cheese and summer sausage, and of course coffee. We enjoyed the views while getting eaten alive by Mosquitos. I felt like I was back in my childhood again by the amount of bug bites I ended up with.. Brandon stopped counting at 50 because he got bored. I have bites all over my legs, and arms, and even worse nearly 10 on my forehead! (we even had bug spray)

After dinner we went back to the lake and caught some more fish.. I caught my biggest cutthroat yet! It was great. We enjoyed the sunset and the cool mountain air, watched the stars for a bit and headed to bed.

We woke up the next morning and snapped some great pictures and threw our lines back in the water. Six fish later I decided to go find Brandon. He had just as much luck, and all big fish! The four of us filtered some water and headed up to summit Nakai. It was a beautiful summit and only took us a couple hours because we were right at the base.

Fishing a bit more once we got back to the lake it was nearly 4pm and we needed to start heading down. Exhausted and again being eaten alive by bugs we were almost running down the trail to get home. To finish off a great trip we headed for Mexican and a margarita.