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!!!

Hilo and Volcanos National Park

The next day we drove to the other side of the island with a goal of getting to Volcanos National Park. We packed our lunches and took off. Looking again at our guide book we decided on what we wanted to do that day. Driving along we saw a beautiful pull off along the shore and saw some boogie boarders hit some big waves. Further on we stopped at Hilo, a small college town, and very old, to get flashlights so we could explore the lava tubes. (a lava tube is when lava is flowing but the outside of it begins to cool down and harden while the inside is still very hot and continues to flow. The out side eventually creates a solid and the inner flows out creating a tube.) the tube we explored went on for ten miles, however we only went about a half mile in. Walking into complete darkness with only a flashlight can be a little spooky, especially when there are many parts that require crawling.

Driving further on we finally made it to the Park. We stopped at the visitor center to look around, get advice from the rangers, and grab a map. We decided on a scenic drive first to get an idea of what the park was like. There was an active volcano erupting while we were there, however we couldn't see anything because that area of the park was closed due to hazards. Next on the agenda was a hike. We chose a 4 mile loop that was so diverse and interesting. Kilauea Iki Trail starts in the rain forest on the crater's rim. The trail descends 400 feet through the rain forest, with native birds in the canopy, to the crater floor. We crossed the still-steaming crater floor, past the gaping throat of the vent that built Pu'u Pua'i cinder cone, and returned to our starting point via the crater's rim.
(pictures to come) and more on Hawaii

Honeymoon getaway

Hawaii. What an exciting place to be going on our honeymoon. After a long day of travel and three different connections we finally make it to Hawaii, otherwise known as the "Big Island". We are so excited we hop off the plane to perfect weather, beautiful palm trees and friendly people everywhere. We stop to pick up our rental after waiting for our luggage, and Brandon drives around the corner in our car for the week... A Jeep Wrangler! I couldn't wait to out the top down. We load up our luggage and find our hotel, it was almost as if we were in a huge hurry... We wanted to get to our hotel so bad we just couldn't wait. Our honeymoon was finally here! We check into the hotel and were upgraded to a beautiful cabana right on the ocean. Tonight the was to relax by ocean watch the sun go down and have a nice dinner in. We did just that. We stopped at the local grocery store, and picked up some of the essentials; bread, lunch meat and cheese, some snacks, (a $10 gallon of milk..YIKES) and of course, stuff to make some tropical drinks. We also picked up some ahi poke which we were told is very popular among Hawaiians... This ended up being a staple during our time in Hawaii.



The first full day we woke up bright and early, actually before the sun came up, and we headed in to Kona coffee country. We stopped at some coffee farms and learned all about how coffee beans were roasted and harvested, and the whole process. It was very interesting. We even got to try fresh figs, fresh coca, and fresh bananas that we picked. I have to admit Kona coffee is the best coffee I have ever had. Delicious!



After our coffee tours we peeked in our guided book to find something for lunch and we found a sushi place where you make your own custom roll. It was great I got ahi avocado and fish eggs, and brandon got their famous spicy ahi with avocado and crispy salmon. One roll could have fed us both, they were HUGE, and only $5 a roll. Completely satisfied and a little overly full, we decided to walk around town- Kailua Kona. A cute touristy town with a lot of fun shops, and the beautiful ocean to walk by. Ready for a snack we stopped in a small shop for some shave ice. Our first shave ice of the trip, and definitely not our last. We decided to share a medium, and boy was that enough! The shave ice was the size of a bowling ball! It was delicious and a work of art.



Day 2
Our second full day was amazing. We headed straight for a snorkel spot that we heard was supposed to be great snorkeling, Two Step. Amazed by the beauty around us during the drive we took numerous stops on the way there to take pictures. Right before Two Step there was a National refuage that the guide book said was worth our time. It was a short walk around the area where the extensive grounds included a palace, a temple, and a Great Wall, among other important artifacts. After that we snorkeled for the rest of the afternoon, with all sorts of tropical fish and colorful coral. I have to say If you have never snorkeled before, it is something that everyone needs to try. It is so invigorating and unworldly and the life that is down there is constantly changing. You never know what you may stumble upon. Which brings me to our next active for the day. We were on our way to another snorkel spot when some locals stopped us and were trying to convince us to rent a kayak for the day. "Only $25 a person for the whole day" he said... Well it was already 3pm and we just wanted to snorkel... I thought it was rip off. He kept at us and Brandon finally said we only have $20 but we'd only take it for a few hours. He finally convinced us because he said there were dolphins out there and I thought it's be fun to maybe see one in the distance (even though I thought he was feeding us a bunch of you know what). We gave it a shot, for $20 it would at least be fun to paddle around in the ocean. We got to the snorkel spot and jumped into the 3rd best snorkel spot in the world and were amazed again by the life we saw. We swam around for about 30 minutes and were getting tired so we hopped back in our kayak and started back. "LeAnn look!" Brandon said to me. There was a dolphin jumping in the distance! There were A LOT of dolphins jumping in the distance! We paddled as fast as we could and got as close as we could and I jumped in the water... This was one of the most amazing things I have ever done. There had to be 20 or 30 dolphins swimming around down there. Un based by me in the water they swam and jumped and kept playing. A mama with her baby swam by and they all got so close to me I couldn't believe it. Brandon finally jumped in to and couldn't believe his eyes. It really was an indescribable experience, and one that I will never forget. We swam with wild dolphins, and they were exactly what I imagined they would be like, playful, happy, and not one bit afraid of me. I was in awe.

HAWAII

Just got back from our honeymoon in Hawaii! We spent two weeks there, one on the big island and one week on Kauai. What a great trip! We did a ton of snorkeling and hiking. Of course many other things in between! Here is a new website with photos from the trip! enjoy

Bmorrisphotos.com

Palisade, CO

Brandon and I are off for another excursion. First stop is Palisade, Colorado - wine country! We left the dog at home and will have the next few days to ourselves. On the agenda as far as I know is wine tours, and probably a lot of fishing. We have been in the car for nearly 5 hours and I am ready to set up camp and hit the hay. Our first road trip in our new car and it is great! Only a half hour from our first destination I thought I would write an update on what is to come, I can't wait! We love the palisades and our wine. Hopefully we have a nice sunny day tomorrow. I think we'll get up bright and early and get our lines wet before the wineries open, and then hit the countryside! That's all for tonight.

Madison River

Fishing, fishing, and more fishing! I can't tell you how much fishing we did on the Madison River. We fished all day long and into the night and I tell ya, I improved so much last weekend. I ended up growing a bigger appreciation for fishing than I ever had before. I caught less than 5 fish and I still had the time of my life. Fishing was hard because the river was so fast, but when I did catch a fish it was awesome. More to come!

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.