july 8th

guest bloggers: brent and bonnie

yo yo yo, what up Emeerrika.

july 8th. they day of the hives, part "forever". so here it goes:

(as told by Brent) Duck, still allergic to germantown, woke up at 3:45 in the morning itching her poison ivy/bubonic plague hives and benjamin frequenting the bathroom due to his genetic nervous stomach. (thanks mutt) Bruce was then woken up, did all the work to put them on a train, and they were on their way to the doctor in the next town over at 8:04. ya, 8:04... its germany. Boo and I slept... soundly. sorry hivey. the doctor then called for "frau moser" <--1337, more antihistamines were supplied and they were on their way. (here's what the hives looked like...)

about the same time that married began their trek back to homebase, bruce had risen from his sleep and offered to walk and buy the lunch and snacks for the day. and guess what blog readers? they ran into each other halfway. weird? no... not weird. when there is only one road connecting the two towns, it is not that hard to tell one american from another. anyway, they shopped. they came home. woke boo and I up and we began our hike. no preparation.

(as told by Bonnie) When Ben and Carissa came into our room so early in the morning to tell us they were on the way to the doctor, Bruce noted that we may not be able to make the hike, and that maybe our new friend Christine could just drive us. Though I was concerned for Carisssa, I was secretly beaming inside because (I'm sorry) I HATE hiking and the thought of just being able to drive to the end thrilled me. But, alas, Ben and Carissa made it back and were both determined to make the climb, so the whole group made our way about 11am for what would become a 7.5 hour hike. I'll let Brent tell you about the first part of our journey, because I sort of lost my head about 15 minutes in. Take it away boss...

(the big man) ok. so like boo said she hates hiking, she became mute, no lie, 5 minutes after we all decided to go hiking, and continued to get upset about the idea of actually walking 12 miles through mountains. anyway, enough picking on my soon to be wife....the journey began. We began climbing. walking, climbing, walking in 30 minute intervals stopping for water and fanta. about 2 hours in (1 hour left until the Hohe Asten) we find bonnie to the point of hating everything (including everyone), myself scared that my fiancee is going to throw the ring in my face 4000 feet above sea level for picking on her, benjamin being a loner, and bruce explaining the past 6 seasons of Lost to duck to keep their heads. being a good "potential" husband, i knew that being on the border of Austria, walking a ton of feet up in to the sky, and knowing that there are cows at our first destination, i began praying that there be at least one brown swiss dairy cow in the group. this cow would change boo's attitude for the rest of the trip. i will let boo explain.

(Bonnie) As I type, I'm feeling guilty for being such a poor sport about this whole hiking thing (since Ben and Carissa are running on no sleep and are full of hives AND we are being passed by German hikers that are probably 50 years my senior), but my bad attitude only lasts for a few more minutes because we are drawing near to an opening from our evergreen-heavy hike. As we walk farther, I can see rolling hills of the most luscious green grass you've ever seen. I look to my feet and there are cow patties everywhere. YES! That means there must be cows! I finally see them in the distance and to my surprise, hidden in a pack of slightly obese Guernsey (a dairy breed with red and white spots) cows is a BROWN SWISS!!!!! {side note: for those who don't know me, I grew up showing dairy cows and am an All-American dairy "judger"....like Pedro from Napolean Dynomite. Brown Swiss are my favorite breed of cow and I've been obsessed with seeing one in the Alps (their native land) since I was a child. So this day is kind of a big deal for me} My mood does a 180, which is great for the rest of the group, who have quietly endured my whining. I the begin to tell my future family about what makes the udder of a cow desirable. Here are a few pointers, in case you've ever wondered: 1. udder depth: a saggy udder could lead to something very unfortunate. Like a cow stepping on her own teats. (yikes!) So we like to see an udder that is held above the hocks, otherwise know as the elbows 2. cleavage....teats that point too far out or in make for difficult milking, so one should always choose a cow with squarely placed teats. How do the teats take on this form you ask? A magical thing called the medial suspensory ligament. Essentially, cows with cleavage are the best. 3. capacity: cows need to make milk. and the more the better. so the bigger the udder, the better the cow. for some reason all of the German cows here tend to be on the heftier side, and have very small udders. not very efficient with their food if you ask me. There are many other factors in judging an udder, but for the sake of time, I'll stop there. Just know that God put that Brown Swiss on the top of that mountain just for me and I'm very thankful for it. After practically worshiping this majestic little cow (with her petite horns and cheerful bell around her neck) we walk up to a Biergarten atop the mountain for lunch. Meats, cheese, bread and an odd looking fruit that looks somewhat poisonous are what we have packed and make for a scrumptious meal. (here's what it looks like from Hohe Asten.)

The men conclude our stop here with a glass of the local beer and we merrily (sans my pouting) continue on our way. The remainder of our hike is fairly easy. There is little climbing left to do and we are making our descent now to Bichlersee. Sometimes the trail gets a bit confusing because there are so many crossroads, but because the Germans are avid hikers (and according to Brent, do everything right), there are signs pointing in the right direction and little red dots to follow along the trail. (Here's Bichlersee.)

(Brent) alright. its getting really late here and i am going to make this last part pretty short. Bain and I swam in the 60 degree water while the rest slept for an hour or so. we finished the food, relaxed, and then realized that we have a couple more hours to walk. the worst. being tired of hiking and then realizing that you have to walk "down" the mountain. We walked down towards Oberaudorf, left the trails, continued walking on the side of the roads and out of nowhere we see the car of Christine, bruce's friend from a ways back, anxious to give us rides to where ever we need. We all decided on a dinner place to grab a big beer and some bavarian food in her little town. oh, but wait. its not the 1337 USA. its germany. people dont drive Suburbans. they drive Fiats that fit 4 small sized people. not even one me. so being gentlemen, the boys picked up the bags, put the ladies on their way, and continued hiking. what is the difference between 11 and 12 miles. nothing really.

we got to the restaurant we sat, we relaxed, we chatted with Christine, but most importantly we were done with our hike. dinner was dinner, great as always, but it was funny because the skinniest, most petite girl i know ordered the most manly order of all time. we all are sitting there as our plates began to arrive and "wow that looks good", "nice pick man", "yum" were said. and then comes duck's meal. A roasted pig knee with a giant skewer and knife stabbed in to the top of it, served with potatoes and and delicious sauce. probably 2500 calories on a plate. our jaws dropped in envy, and ducks meal made bruce, bain, and myself look like we were watching our weight. Not Man. Ducks meal = Man. Men on the hike = not Man orders. (she only had about two bites of the meat and three bites of the potatoes, all washed down with a coke light. so i guess it was bains order.... Man!)

anyways, enough of that crap. we ate. we paid. we walked to the ice cream store right next to bastian schweinsteiger's parents store. ate ice cream. and then parted ways with christine. walked another 1,999,328 miles to the train station, bought tickets and returned. finally, back in flintsbach.

boo and hivey came back up to the rooms and showered and chatted, while the MEN came in, dropped the bags and made their way to Beer. delicious beer. i love beer. so much. we sat, like men, with giant steins and schnapps and got a little relaxed. We then returned to the rooms. watched the movie Platoon in german. and snoozed....should have gotten more beer. always should get more beer.