Beautiful Sights

It may be 30 degrees colder here than Iowa, but that doesn't detract from the fact that it is so much more beautiful out here than the flat, boring Midwest! Out here they have winding roads that carve paths through the mountains and through beautiful old growth forests and you can see mountains and valleys in most of the directions you look on a clear day! It's so amazing how beautiful a few large sized rocks can look if you're not used to seeing them!

Yesterday we traveled to Lindau, Germany near the Austrian and Swiss border by the Bodensee. It was Sunday, so all the shops were closed, but even with that, there were so many picture taking opportunities in Lindau and during the drive to get there and back, I don't feel like we wasted a day because we couldn't browse the local goodies, which seems to be a big part of any vacation. ...you know admiring the local crafts and foods that you don't have at home.

I was able to take a lot of good pictures and post them on Flickr. I have some that are only visible to friends and family when they log in, so if you have an account, log in before viewing! I also upgraded to a pro account so that I could organize my pictures into sets. They limit you to 2 sets if you have a free account. So I figured it was high time to upgrade. And besides, it was only $25 for the whole year :)

I've had cold cuts for most of my meals out here so far. I think it is far more common to eat cold cuts out here than it is in the states. It isn't bad though because they have so many varieties of sausages, salamis, hams, cheeses, and breads that you can eat cold cuts for several days and never eat the same thing. That is nice in itself, however, I do wish I could get a hot local meal :)

My dad was introduced to pesto the other day. I bought a jar in the store, and now my dad has been putting pesto on almost everything. I guess you can say he likes it. He even put it on his picked fish sandwich! I'm glad that my dad likes it so much. He even asked me to keep introducing him to foods I like that he hasn't tried. That made me feel good because it lets me know that he appreciates my opinion :)

And so with that I think it's time to add pictures and let you all be jealous of how beautiful it is out here. I wish you all the best and I hope you are having as much fun as I am!

clicky!

More Ozarks

Today We had a pretty event packed day. First we went go-karting on a wooden roller coaster-style track. We all really enjoyed bumping around so much! That ended up being a random detour on the way to the "Inspiration Tower." The tower is a location where you can see all the way to Arkansas and also view all the scenic mountains and the lake nearby. It was a real trip! I got some really good photos taken there, so that was nice.

After that fun we went to the local Super Wal-Mart with the intention of buying pork chops and cooking them for a late lunch the way my mom used to when I was younger. Unfortunately, by the time we got back to the hotel, it was nearing 4PM and we decided just to skip lunch and just have a small snack. I ate a banana. Para continuar, we then went to The Talking Caverns cave and had an awesome tour. I really appreciate nature much more because of it! Before the tour I bought some Ammonite and Orthocerid fossils that they had for sale because I thought they looked so cool. Neither of them are native fossils in Missouri, but I couldn't help myself, they looked so cool! The Orthocerids are from Morocco. In the cave I thankfully got off a couple good indoor shots with no flash. That was pretty difficult especially since the exposure required was about 4 seconds on average.

We came back from the cave starving for dinner, but instead of eating pork chops, we all decided to go out for dinner because we passed so many good looking restaurants on the way. We ended up choosing a seafood place with a horribly depressed waitress but good food. I ended up having the tilapia with a white wine sauce with mushrooms and lump crab meat. I really enjoyed it.

And now here I am writing this...

clicky!