Texas

Four days after Switzerland, I left for the Great State and have nothing but good memories and terrible pictures to show for it.  On the 16 hour flight, I managed to watch 4 movies (including one weird documentary called The Imposter - check it out), a few episodes of Downton Abbey and even get a few winkles of sleep.  Emirates is a supremely comfortable airline, but even with the extra pillows, blankets and meals, I was hurting by the time we landed in DFW.  And even though I had only been gone one year, it felt so weird to be back in Texas.  Everything seemed so flat, but compared to the Rocky Mountains and skyscrapers of Dubai, everything seems flat.

I sucked at taking pictures on this trip, probably because I was on picture overload in Europe.  I stole most of these from other people because I literally have like 3 pictures from 3.5 weeks.

Morgan and Reese, my favorite parts of the trip (sorry friends).  My goal was to make Reese my BFF by the end of the trip because she was scared of me when I got there.  I moved to Denver weeks after she was born and Dubai when she was one, so to her, I'm like the scary new lady that keeps smiling at her and trying to pick her up.  I'm happy to report that we were, indeed, BFFs by the end of the trip.  The challenge now is to not let her forget who I am while I'm away this year. 

Morgan's always my BFF, so no news there.

Sibling time!  Check out the sweet photo of Casey in the traditional UAE wear.  Awesome, eh?  He's posing in the traditional pose, too... serious face looking off to the side. 

The family minus Shannon and Casey F. at BABE'S!!!!!  I had two places I needed to go when I got back - Piranha and Babe's.  I'm embarrassed to say this, but I think Babe's is my favorite restaurant of all the places I've been.  It's at least tied for first with some nicer establishments.

Baby Nate!!  When I found out Alyssa was pregnant, I cried.  She's wanted this for SO long and struggled SO hard to get pregnant, and I'm so happy she finally has the baby she's been dreaming of for so long.  Dumbly, I didn't get a picture of Alyssa, even though I saw her pretty much every other day. :(

More friends!  EJ, Amanda and I had a mini high school reunion.  We haven't all been together in ten years or so, and it was so good to catch up.  I can't wait to do this again next summer!

3.5 weeks in Texas go by so quickly.  I'm so happy I got to see some of my favorite people, and I'm sad I wasn't better at taking pictures of these favorite people.  Oh my gosh, I almost forgot that Casey's mom drove down from Oklahoma to see me!  She got to meet the whole fam (finally).  It's about time for that.  The only two things that would have made this visit better would be more pictures and Casey.  Poor Casey was in Dubai working.

Welp, that's about enough of that.  I went to Texas.  It was fun.  I can't wait to go back.

Switzerland, Sadly

Switzerland, sadly?  Why sadly?  Because, if you couldn't tell, I've been drawing out our summer vacation as long as possible, trying to relive every magical moment, and sadly this was our last stop.  I can't possibly stretch it out any longer and must come to the realization that we are, in fact, back in Dubai, not frolicking through breathtaking European cities and befriending mountain-dwelling cows anymore.  Not that Dubai is all bad.  We're focusing on Dubai positives this year, cherishing our last months in the desert and trying to live in the moment, but even so, nothing compares to the mountains.  Especially Swiss mountains.

The drive from Italy to Interlaken was gorgeous (gorge, as the cool people say).

Oh, how I've missed fresh mountain air.  It instantly lifts my mood.

Happeeeeeeeeeeeness.

And wind.

The view from our apartment in Interlaken.
The first night, we sat out on the balcony for hours watching boats and kayakers go by.  We didn't even explore the new city because we were so tired.  Our excitement for the night was watching two middle schoolers contemplate jumping off the bridge.  After about an hour of standing there, they finally did it.  

The Honesty Shop.

Nobody works here; you just take what you need and leave the appropriate amount of money.  Wouldn't it be nice if this could work in real life and not just tiny mountain towns?

Murren and its beautifulness.  We woke up too late to go to the top of the famous Jungfrau, so we settled for Murren.  I was okay with that because I got to sleep, something we desperately needed at this point in our trip.

A perfect Swiss town with its perfect mountains, perfect sky, perfect flowers, perfect roofs, perfect greenness, and perfect backpacking family.

Interlaken and its surroundings are amazing.  We loved taking the train up the mountain to check out its cute little towns.  The "best" thing we did in Interlaken was a thing called canyoning.  I say "best" because it was basically four hours of me trembling from cold water and fear as we jumped, repelled and slid down a mountain.  Casey loved it, and thanks to him, we did the most extreme version of canyoning Interlaken offers.  I'm glad I did it but will never do it again.  The guides were serious adventurers and most of the canyoners were, too.  I was sure one of the girls in our group would be wimpier than me, but I think I was definitely the most scared.  In fact, they started counting down and giving me a little nudge when it was my turn to go so I would actually jump.  The only reason I was able to do this at all was because I didn't have a choice.  Once we were in the canyon, there was only one way out... down.

If you're dying to see the video, you can check it out here.  I'm Wasp and Casey's Rip Torn.  

After our canyoning nightmare adventure, we drove to Lucerne to relax with the swans.

Ahh... much better.

(notice that my eyes are closed AGAIN in the picture.  always.  why?)

Our second day in Lucerne was one of my favorite days ever.  It started out with these cuties...

(Cows are the coolest.)

had a little bit of mountain happiness in the middle, 

and ended with this craziness...

Paragliding, AHHHHHHHHHH!

After canyoning, this wasn't scary at all!  Notice how I only have one shoe on.  Casey's guide was very concerned about my Toms and wanted me to wear his old stinky boots with no socks.  I told him I'd be okay and had to work really hard to convince him my shoes were a good choice for paragliding.  Welp, it turns out that he was right.  I didn't break my ankle like he thought, but I did lose a shoe on the run down the mountain.  Luckily another paraglider took it down for me :)  My foot was FREEZING on the way down.

Casey started in a cloud and couldn't see much at first, but he was still in heaven.  He's obsessed with flying.  Paragliding was a dream.  I'm terrified of heights but wasn't scared at all for some reason.  It was peaceful and beautiful and just an absolute dream.  I'm trying to pump myself up for skydiving before we leave Dubai, but I don't know if I'm brave enough.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand finally, our last stop on our AMAZING vacation was Zurich.  We immediately took a 3 hour nap when we got there.  The last stop couldn't have come at a better time.  We were e-x-h-a-u-s-t-e-d.

Zurich was charming.  I wish we had more time to explore, but we just couldn't muster up the energy.

Trip highlights: Everything.  Literally.  It was the trip of a lifetime and I can't believe I was lucky enough to visit some of the most beautiful parts of Europe with my love.  When I'm a wrinkly old grandma looking back on my life, I will think of this trip as one of my favorite memories.  I think Casey's my lucky charm.  My life has gotten exponentially more exciting since I met him and every summer gets better.  Paris and Amsterdam in 2011, Bahamas and Dubai in 2012 and European road trip in 2013.  I wonder what adventures next summer will bring!

Give Me an Apron and Call Me Susie Homemaker

Because I made tortillas today!!  Why has it taken me so long to do this?  Tortillas are practically my favorite food and the one food I've been missing in Dubai.  We have only found fresh tortillas in one store, but it's about 30 minutes away and parking is terrible so we never go there.  We can get "tortillas" here, but they have the longest shelf life ever, and something about tortillas that expire in a year creeps me out.  Now with my new and improved cooking skillz, we can have tortillas whenever we want!  They're so easy - flour, olive oil, water, salt, bam.

Here's the recipe I tried today if you're interested.  Next time (tomorrow) I'll try them with different flour to see if they're just as tasty.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Cow Bells, Donkey Friends and Italian Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeese

ITALY!!  After the 'steins we drove to the mountains of Lake Como hoping for a George Clooney sighting.  We originally planned to stay on Lake Como but by the time we were ready to book a hotel, they were either all taken or too run-down.  We weren't sad for long because we found Il Tivano Bed and Breakfast in Zelbio, Italy.  It was everything we needed in the middle of our trip - comfort, relaxation and peace.

Introducing Il Tivano...

A cute Italian couple renovated this place and live in half of it with their kids and pups.  The other half is a perfectly designed B&B/organic berry/honey farm.

I took a million pictures of this place because I want my future home to be a mixture of this style and old things I find and repaint/refurbish.  It was a beautiful place to spend a few nights.

And - the best part - we were surrounded by cows!

If the owners of Il Tivano got the urge to give me their B&B, I would move here in a heartbeat.  We decided, on this very day as we were sipping red wine on this glorious porch, that we're moving back to Denver next summer and saving for a place like this in the Rocky Mountains.  We're always back and forth with where we want to be, but Il Tivano helped us make up our minds.

We braved the crazy mountain roads to visit Bellagio for the day.  It's just as cute and Italian as it gets.

I'm carrying a bag of desserts in this picture and they were all incredible.  One thing Italians do right is food.  Everything we had in Italy was amazing.

Side story: About 2 seconds after we got to Bellagio, a snarky American teenager looked at me and said, "Yeah, like that looks good," rolled her eyes and nudged her brother so he looked at my outfit...  I was wearing my favorite lace maxi skirt and a black tank top.  I don't know why that was so offensive, but I guess one year in Dubai has made me out of touch with what's cool to wear and what's not.  That's probably the rudest thing a stranger has ever said to me.

Didn't ruin my day, though!

Selfie #236

Oh, just another sunset in Italy...

This was our view from dinner the first night.  Restaurants in Zelbio operate mostly on reservations because they cook everything fresh that day.  We went to two different restaurants during our stay and both were incredible.  The owners were so warm and friendly and couldn't wait to feed us their best recipes and shots of limoncello.  They don't get many tourists up in the mountains, so they were as interested in us as we were in them.  The second night, we asked the waitress to give us whatever she'd feed her family for Sunday dinner.  She brought us two dishes, both completely smothered in cheese, and as I've told you before, cheese and my stomach are not friends.  But, when you're in Italy, how do you turn down cheese?  I decided I was gonna go for it so I could have the full Italian experience... and about 15 minutes later, I had the WORST stomach pains since I quit cheese.  After a night of cheeseystomach, Casey finally started to believe that I have some sort of dairy allergy.  It was totally worth it, though, because real Italian food is amazing.  

And finally, our dinner friend, cutest donkey ever.

Minus the too-skinny roads and crazy drivers, Italy was one of my favorite places on the trip.  Hopefully we'll make it back one day so we can stay a bit longer.

Our Annoying Word List

Big Mama, Casey and I have a list of annoying words people say.  Words like eXpresso, Chipol-te and  acrosst are on there.  I would like to add a special section to the list called "Annoying Words I Can't Spell Correctly No Matter How Many Times I Screw It Up."  Here's my list so far:

1.  lead instead of led - I ALWAYS write lead when I really mean led.  Why?  I'm a teacher for Pete's sake.

2.  probable instead of probably - Again, I have no idea why but my finger always types e instead of y at the end of probably.  This was actually a joke when I first met Casey because I did it like 7 times in emails to him.

3.  Whatever else you notice when you're reading the blog.  Please enlighten me so I stop.

Casey's would have something to do with apostrophes.  All of those years of schooling and he's still missing basic apostrophe knowledge.  It's a mystery I'll never understand.  Maybe his brain is just so packed full of awesomer things he doesn't have any room left for apostrophe rules.

100th post, what what.

Day o' the 'Steins

Hallo!  I'm back after another long break.  Sadly, I don't have a good excuse, unless visiting my family in Texas counts.  I've been having such negative feelings about blogging this month and finally realized it's because Dachau was next up in our string of vacation posts.  Visiting a concentration camp is one thing, but remembering everything you saw and read and then retelling the terrible stories just doesn't sound like my idea of fun.  Finally, I realized (duh) that I don't have to blog about Dachau.  I'm doing this blog for our own personal memory book anyway, so I can leave out whatever I want.  Dachau, I'm leaving you out, at least for now.

These vacation posts seem like they're never going to end, but this was my ultimate dream vacation so I want to make sure I remember every part.  After Munich, we drove to Liechtenstein and stopped in a cute little German town on the way.  This cute little German town happens to be the home of the famous Disney castle.  Supposedly, it inspired Walt Disney when he was creating Sleeping Beauty's castle.  It was the most beautiful of all the castles we saw on our trip.

The town of Schwangau and Hohenschwangau Castle.  King Ludwig built this "tiny" thing for his son so he could have the big castle.

Neuschwanstein Castle, aka Sleeping Beauty's digs.

Proof that we were there :)

And that's pretty much it.  We ate lunch at a cute little restaurant on the lake and then headed for Vaduz, Liechtenstein.

Vaduz was STUNNING.  Liechtenstein is so tiny we never actually knew if we were in Liechtenstein or Switzerland until we arrived in Vaduz.  They have a sweet little vineyard, a castle (of course) and beautiful mountains filled with cows and wooden houses.

Don't you want to live here with a lawn-full of gnomes?

One of my favorite memories from the trip.

We drove up to the tippity top of the mountain and got caught in a traffic jam with cows.  I've never seen anything like this in person, so it was fascinating to watch.  The farmers were wondering why we were excited about a bunch of cows, and I love cows so much that I just wanted to get out and pet them all.  But I will admit that it got a little scary when they started crowding the car.  Thousands of pounds of anything is scary when it's coming at you in herds, even if it's just a bunch of sweet cows.

That's pretty much it for Liechtenstein.  It's tiny and the mountains are magical.  If you're ever in Austria or Switzerland, it's worth a day trip.  On a side note, did you notice I found the "create a collage" button on picmonkey?  I figured this was better than an entire page of pictures.

In Other Salzburg (and Munich) News

I should be sleeping because I have a big day of shopping at my favorite places tomorrow, but I'm all hopped up on caffeine and Tracy Anderson's workout, so I shall blog again.  Has anyone ever done Tracy Anderson's workout?  I'm wondering how all of those weird moves turn into Gwyneth Paltrow's body...

As if I hadn't blogged about our vacation enough, I have another installment for you, Salzburg minus the Sound of Music and Munich minus Dachau.  Both were completely fabulous and we wish we had just a little bit more time in both places.

Salzburg

Salzburg is the land o' Mozart, so our first stop was naturally Mozart's childhood home.

Mozart Gasthaus

Mozart's kitchen, 1750s style.

The first time I tried to take this picture I got a tap on the shoulder from a Japanese tour guide and a mean old look, so Casey snuck one with his phone :)

Mozart's hair!

Mozart's violin and me

Mozart's wallet

Pretty streets, my favorite thing about Europe.

After the museum, we hiked up to Hohensalzburg Castle and only have three pictures to show for it.

One.

Two.

Three.

We saw more castles on this trip than I've ever seen in my life.  I've never really considered myself a castle person, but it's fun to learn about how people lived hundreds of years ago.  This castle was built in 1077.  Shish.

Pretty Sound of Music gardens with the castle in the background.

This unassuming sign led us downstairs to a HUGE beirgarten.

Check out the size of these mugs!

Does anyone actually believe I drank all of this?  

No.

Casey in heaven!

One of my favorite dinners of trip.  Casey tried to order wheat beer and ordered wheat shit instead.  Our waitress thought it was hilarious, told all of her co-workers and started teaching us all the bad German words we could learn.  Good times.

One of my favorite selfies :)

And that pretty much sums up Salzburg.  Because most of our time was spent SoundofMusic-ing, Salzburg is one of the only cities we wished we had more time in.  I would love to go back to tour the salt mines, Hitler's Eagles Nest and, of course, more mountains.

Munich

If I'm being honest, I wasn't totally pumped about Munich.  I wanted to taste a pretzel and drink beer at the Hoffbrau House, and that was pretty much it, but Munich turned into one of my favorite places.

Looky what we found our first day - a market, my favorite!

This one was cute.  A juice, pretzel and cookie and I was happy for the rest of the day :)

Just hangin' out drawing people.

After the market, we headed over to the Englischer Garten to see some naked people.  That's right, naked people.  Our guide book said there are more naked people here than unnaked people.  It wasn't quite that extreme, but we did seem some nekkid folk in the nudist section of the park.  Awesomely, they were wrinkly old men.  All the young people were clothed.

 The rest of the park reminded me of our favorite park in Denver, Wash Park - people everywhere laying out and playing games, dogs, bikes, pretty trees, blue skies, fluffy white clouds, happiness.  We stayed here for a long while people-watching and soaking up the sun.

After a hard day of market-ing and park-ing, we went to the Hoffbrau House.

I made Casey do a jumpy picture and this is what he came up with.  I laughed so hard I cried.

Post-jump satisfaction.

The awesome band

So happeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

I finished my first big beer EVER at Hoffbrau House.  I felt so proud!

Besides visiting Dachau, Mike's Bike Tour was the best thing we did in Munich.  We learned so many amazing things about Munich and WWII.  I came away from it completely impressed by the German people and their resilience.

Our guide was AMAZING.  12x amazinger than our Sound of Music guide.

This unassuming black box is one of my favorite things in Munich.  It's a memorial for The White Rose, a non-violent, intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany.  They were regular college kids like you and me (10 years ago...) who risked their lives and ultimately died to spread the news of concentration camps. Most Germans had no idea what was happening in the concentration camps, so spreading the news was crucial.  They were sentenced to death by guillotine, facing up - eek!  There's a movie about it on youtube called Sophie Scholl: The Final Days.  It's an awesome movie if you're interested in WWII.  

Sophie, considered one of the greatest German heroes of the 20th century.  I'm pretty sure she has more bravery in her eyelashes than I have in my whole being.

 Next stop, the Munich surfers!  This place was so cool and is apparently a world famous surfing destination.  Gerard Butler, Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson have surfed here.

Our tour guide met Jack Johnson a few weeks before we were there.

We weren't allowed to go into this building, but the eagle on the back wall used to have a swastika in its hands.  It was chipped away after the war and left behind a slightly darker swastika stain on the stone.  Creepy.

This window has two of the only swastikas left in Munich.

Munich played a huge role in Hitler's early popularity, so it was really interesting to be in the same places he was.  I'm fascinated by WWII, if you can't tell.

My absolute favorite thing I learned on the bike tour was about a string of bronze cobblestones in Stirker's Alley.

This was another thing we never would have noticed, just a subtle tribute to the brave people of Munich.  It was an ordinary alleyway behind a major street in Munich.  This is probably a weak attempt at explaining it, but Germans had to salute the Nazis every time they walked down the main street.  The Germans who opposed the war could only do one thing to show their opposition - walk down this alley instead.  The Nazis caught on and started questioning people in the alleyway. If they didn't have a legit reason to be there, they could be shot or sent to Dachau.  It's crazy to think something so small as walking down a different street could end someone's life.  Hearing these crazy stories and being in the same places as Hitler and the brave Germans who opposed him was surreal.  I am confident that I would have opposed the Nazi regime if I had lived back then, but I don't think I would have been brave enough to join The White Rose or risk my life to avoid a salute.

We left Munich in awe of the everyday German heroes we learned about, and if you're ever in Munich, I highly highly recommend this amazing bike tour.  It will be four of the best hours of your vacation.