Halfway House Hike

On Tuesday just after noon one of the girls I arrived with, Lisa, and I left the Abrams Complex for the Halfway House on Kramer Mountain. The German translation I believe is St Martin Hutte on the Kramerspitz. It was a beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky and a slight breeze. We started on the steep paved path just outside the complex and after about 15 minutes came to a clearing with a chapel and memorial to fallen soldiers. A perfect picnic spot with an amazing view. After exploring for a few minutes we continued up the trail on the steep path that turned from blacktop to gravel after a short distance. There were lots of switchbacks the further up we got. We had to stop several times to catch our breath. About an hour after we left the complex we arrived at the Halfway House. We made use of the bathroom and found a table outside. Almost everyone of the 20 or so people there had a beer and some were eating a range of German cuisine. Lisa got a beer and I continued to chug my water. We took some pictures and took in the awe-inspiring view. I had to work from 5-10 that night so I didn't stay for more than a half hour before I left Lisa with her beer and started my trek back down the hill. It was alot cooler so I put my fleece back on and made the decent in about 40 minutes. Wednesday and today my glutes and shins are sore but I've been stretching and taking some meds to help. Will definitely make that hike again. Some of the pictures didn't turn out as well as I'd like because the sun was sooo bright. And you'll find one picture with the small amount of snow on the side of the trail. Click for the pictures.... http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2081665&id=44801562&l=7f67e9886c

My Address...

For those of you that actually know me send me an email or comment here and I'll give you my mailing address. It's an APO address so its the same postage amount as if you were sending something to New York.

Garmisch, Germany!

So I made it to Germany! I left New Hampshire on Sunday afternoon, flew to Washington DC and then took the overnight flight to Munich or "Munchen" and arrived almost an hour early thanks to a tail wind. I sat next to a gentleman who I believe(what I could hear over the roar of the plane and my half asleep memory!) works for the Army and had lived in Germany for a total of 12 years and was last at the Edelweiss Lodge about two years ago for a conference. So we chatted about Edelweiss for a little bit. My mom paid for me to upgrade to Economy Plus so I had some extra leg room which was nice and made sleeping a bit more comfortable. Once I arrived I had no issues with my passport, they didn't ask to see any of my paperwork. But once I got to baggage claim and waited for about a half hour I figured out that one of my bags was missing. So I filled out the paperwork and took my other bag out through Customs and waited for Jay and Ben from the resort. We got a bite to eat and waited for 5 others, Melissa, Merissa, Lisa, Caitlin, and Nicolas, to arrive on the flight from Chicago. One more, Mike, would arrive several hours later because of missed or delayed flights. Ben took us in one van for the 2 hour ride to Garmisch. Most of us fell asleep for atleast a few min and evidently my eyes were half open which I was sleeping! Creepy! We awoke to see the snow capped Alps around us. It was cloudy for the tops of most but still awe inspiring. We were brought to the dorms which are called Abrams and were given some rules and our key. My roommate, Melissa and I went to our room but our bags were in the other van still at the airport so we couldn't unpack or anything. We then got a tour of Garmisch and stopped at a grocery store for some things for our dinners. Trying to figure out the types of cheese with everything written in German was interesting! We were then brought back to Abrams and had the afternoon free. The 7 of us that all arrived together went downtown at 430 in search of a place for dinner. We wandered around and finally found a local place. I had Wiener Schnitzel! I think it was the first time I'd ever had it. We then walked back and unpacked a little, took a shower, but my missing bag still hadn't arrived and wouldn't until 9:55pm. I made my bed with the sheets that were in that bag when it arrived and promptly went to sleep. I got up at 6:45 to get ready for orientation. We had breakfast and lunch at the resort and lots of paperwork, meeting the General Manager, a tour, sizing for uniforms, etc. We got back to the dorm mid afternoon, unpacked a little, then we were going to walk around downtown but one of the older staff that lives in the building picked us up and drove us around, we went to a bar and had beer(yes I had one) and then he showed us where some key stuff was and then went back to Abrams, hung out, and went to bed. Today was up nice and early again and to the resort for breakfast, then we went to the actual base and did ID cards, bank account setup, shopping at the commisary and px. When we got back we did room inspections and finished unpacking and sorting out items we bought from another staff member that's leaving. Tomorrow morning I work at 6am. I will be a "waitress" at the Market Station restaurant. It's a buffet style that's open for 3 meals a day. We get 3 sets of uniforms that are laundered for us on site and lockers.
Some pictures on Facebook... http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2081230&id=44801562&l=12a6e25656

Geo-caching

So mom and I have been out with my gps on all kinds of adventures lately. We've started geo-caching after Justin and Emma introduced me to it. So far we've found 13 caches around New Hampshire and Massachusetts. We took Shadow with us the first time and found the cellar of what used to be Marchmont Castle. Mom researched alot of history behind it and the people that owned it. We went biking along some of the rails to trails some parts still had the large wooded ties in the ground making it very bumpy. The second half was nicely paved. Our most recent trip was on the rails to trails in Rindge and one cache was set way back in the woods and we had to cross several streams. Luckily we didn't bring Shadow on that trip and neither of us got wet.
I plan to bring my gps to Germany and will see how it goes in Europe!