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| View from the castle ruins in Velburg, Germany |
I seriously planned to blog this
entire trip from Washington to Germany, but I very quickly realized that with
our time so limited, blogging would not stay at the top of my priority
list. So, I figure I will try to give
everyone a quick update of what the past month plus looked like for the West
Fam. It has been wild, crazy and we’re still not completely settled in Germany,
but we are beginning to feel like we are on the downhill slope.
We left Washington headed to
Georgia on May 30th. We spent
a couple of days exploring southern Utah, made a quick trip to the Big Texan
and Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, TX and then pretty much headed straight for
Georgia. Thoughts on the trip:
1.
Southern Utah – AWESOME! BEAUTIFUL!!!
I would love to go back when we get another chance.
2.
Cadillac Ranch – Nothing like teaching your
children how to graffiti at a young age!
Also, I am quite sure that walking across a dirt field in the middle of
crazy winds has to be one of the more miserable things I have ever done. It gave me a new respect for what my hubby
went through during his time in the sandbox…on top of the whole war thing.
3.
The Big Texan – Food was good. Hotel was cheesy awesomeness. Loved that they had a fenced in doggy
area. Cory and Grayson both woke up sick
the next morning. Can’t say for sure it
was the restaurant as it could have been the gas station chicken fingers they
had for lunch.
4.
The rest of the trip – lots of driving, the
shortest stay ever at a Motel 6 and thankfully, a safe trip home.
Once we got to Georgia it was a
whirlwind of trying to see everyone we wanted to see and that wanted to see
us. This consisted of multiple trips from
Cairo to Columbus and back again, a quick trip to the beach and an even quicker
trip to Six Flags to see our besties from Athens and their kiddos. Before we knew
it, time was up and there were so many people we didn’t manage to fit in our
schedule. L I guess it is always that way when you live
far away and have limited time at home. All too soon, it was time to head to
Germany.
Cairo to Tallahassee
to Conyers to Baltimore to Germany
July 7: Get up at
5:45 a.m. and go to Tallahassee to pick up rental van to drive to
Baltimore. We would have flown from GA
to Baltimore, but Hobbs, our very large German Shorthaired Pointer required a
GIANT kennel and there wasn’t a flight from GA to Baltimore that could fit it
in their plane. I think it is safe to say we love our dog, or are just gluttons
from punishment. Then stop in Conyers, GA to pick up USDA paperwork that allows
us to take Hobbs to Germany. (Side note:
This was the biggest pain ever.
It had already required multiple vet visits, multiple faxes back and
forth to the USDA, a drive up to the USDA the prior week and then the stress of
making sure we made it to Conyers on the 7th by the time they closed
at 3 p.m., providing they didn’t decide to close early like they did the week
prior). I also spent approximately 3 hours on the internet in the car
attempting to find a hotel near the Baltimore airport that would accept our
giant dog without charging us 5 million dollars. We finally made it into Baltimore at about
1:30 am. It was a super-long day and we
were exhausted, but on the positive side, driving through Washington, D.C. at
night was pretty cool. Also, I learned
that the Pentagon is a lot closer to the White House than I ever realized.
July 8: Get up early
and go to pick up aforementioned giant dog kennel. As we didn’t have room in the car for all our
luggage and the dog, we had to ship it to a friend’s parents’ house to pick it
up. Thanks, Amy’s Dad! Then, we had to run to pick up an extra
suitcase for all our odds and ends that wouldn’t fit into our suitcase. Go back to hotel, reorganize everything and
pack all suitcases and carry-ons. This
brings our total bags to: 5 checked
suitcases, 2 car seats, one stroller, one backpack carrier, one duffel bag, two
laptop bags and 5 carry-on bags. Kids
had to carry on their own backpacks!
Since we wouldn’t all fit in the van, Cory, Hobbs and Grayson rode in
the van to the airport while Lila, Collis and I took the shuttle. We got to the
airport about 9:30 pm. Then we proceeded to wait in line for what seemed like
FOREVER! Okay, maybe it just seemed that
way because we had three kids and a giant dog kennel we were toting around. Got everything checked in with one of our
suitcases weighing in at 69 lbs. with a 70 lb. limit. WHEW!!!
After that we had to wait until almost midnight to hand over Hobbs to
the folks to put him on the plane. Then,
it was off to clear security. Yep, it
was another rather insane moment or two.
Get to the gate, load the plane and get everyone settled for our 1:40 am
takeoff. Our plane was HUGE and had two
stories. It was pretty cool! Our flight attendants were fantastic,
bringing us bottled water before we even took off. Grayson was asleep before takeoff and the
other two kids followed shortly behind and slept pretty much the entire 7 hour
and a few flight. Once again, I can’t complain even a little about the
flight. We were served two meals and the
crew met our every need. Grayson and I
got a row to ourselves, so he was able to stretch out and sleep comfortably.
July 9: Flight landed
in Germany at about 3:30 pm local time (12:30 GA time). Then it was quite a few hours of hurry up and
wait military style. Hobbs apparently
spent a lot of the flight howling/barking as he was hoarse when he barked when
we got him back. I didn’t even know dogs
were capable of getting hoarse, but it happens.
We cleared customs (so much easier than I expected) and then sat down to
wait and find out the next steps. As our
base was a good distance from the airport and it was getting late, they put us
up in a hotel for the night. This
required about a 30-45 minute bus ride.
We couldn’t get Hobbs’ kennel to fit under the bus, but luckily our bus
driver was super nice and allowed him to ride on the bus with us. We got to the hotel, had an awesome German
meal at their restaurant and got everyone settled for the night. I was worried we wouldn’t sleep as it was
still 6 hours earlier, but I guess the benefit of an overnight flight and
super-long day was that we feel asleep pretty easily.
July 10: Get up at 10 am to get on another base. Unfortunately, this bus driver wasn’t as nice
and we had to find a way to fit Hobbs under the bus for the ride to out next
destination which was 8 hours with stops.
Luckily, once again, he seemed to be doing fine on the other end and we
did get to take him out once and walk him a bunch. After the long ride, we met
up with our sponsor who brought us to our hotel where we
will be for the next
few weeks until we get our house. 5 beds, 1 room, no phone, but a HUGE
tub! I’m happy. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at this
awesome Greek restaurant right around the corner and then to bed.  |
| Group selfie!!! |
July 11: Cory had to
go to work, so I was a little freaked about the whole foreign country, not
speaking the language and having to drag around 3 kids and a dog all day. Luckily for me, I met up with our neighbor at
the hotel who also just got here and her three boys who are a little
older. We decided to hike up to the
castle ruins in the town we are in. The
locals told us to just keep going uphill.
Well, we did for a bit and then apparently we ended up going AROUND more
than up and went all the way AROUND the hill where the ruins were located
before a local on the other side told us to go UP…I guess we didn’t get it the
first time. After about 2 hours of
walking we finally found the ruins and the view was spectacular. We all loved it and then came back down for
lunch at our hotel, which was delicious. Then it was naptime for the kiddos
while we waited for Cory to get home. We
ended the day with another dinner at the Greek restaurant before settling in
for the night. Lesson of the Day: Everything is easier with a friend, even if
both of you are lost and end up on the scenic route. It just isn’t as scary as doing it by
yourself.
July 12: Today, Cory
was with us so we decided to hike back up to the ruins where he could see. Now that we knew the way, it only took us
about 30 minutes instead of 2 plus hours.
J
Of course, we did see a lot more of the countryside when we got lost yesterday.
It was still awesome, even if my calves were still killing me from yesterday. We
also ran into this great group of Germans.
They spoke very little English and we spoke even less German, so it
resulted in lots of laughter, hand motions and shrugged shoulders. The older gentleman that was with the group
actually helped Grayson down the castle stairs by holding his hand and then
carrying him. I guess when it comes to
toddlers, there is no language barrier. After seeing the ruins, we did some
more exploring around town and figuring out where everything is located. Tomorrow, some friends that are already here
are picking us up and taking us to their house as everything is closed on
Sunday for the most part.
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| Castle ruins - Velburg, Germany |
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| Huge Cross on a Hill over Velburg |
This trip has definitely been a wild ride. A little (okay a lot) stressful at times, but
still pretty fabulous. We are surrounded
by beautiful old buildings and while being in a hotel in a local village has me
way outside of my comfort zone, I am getting more comfortable by the
second. So far, we have realized that a
lot of Germans speak at least some English and seem fairly accepting of our
attempts at German, albeit with a southern twang that I am pretty sure doesn’t
exist over here. The produce in Bavaria
has been nothing short of amazing. I’ve
yet to see a leaf of iceberg lettuce (gag) anywhere and every salad I have been
served as been crispy and delicious. We
are trying to make sure we learn a few more German phrases every day and
looking up phrases that we don’t understand when we get back to our hotel
room. We finally got our cell phones set
up, but still need to get calling cards to call back to the states. We are
walking…A LOT and trying to no get ran over.
This is definitely not the most pedestrian friendly area. A lot of the
streets are super narrow with no sidewalks, so you have to pay attention. On a
plus, though, our dog can go with us pretty much anywhere, except the grocery
store. He has been to eat with us
wherever we go, which is nice. We should be in our house by the end of the
month, which from what I understand is near a chocolate factory. I guess all the walking will help to balance
out the chocolate eating that I am sure is to come! I am sure I missed 100 different details and
will try to keep the blog more updated moving forward. Much love and miss you all!   |
| Building in Velburg, 1400 |
