This is for everyone we haven’t been able to keep up with while on our travels and for those who wonder what I do all day… You will probably also see a lot or architectural/structural type pictures that Chad has taken stemming from his fascination with “how it was made”. I know our engineer friends will appreciate them…

August 04, 2011

Germany FINALLY!

Well after a year of waiting to move to Germany we are FINALLY here! We were originally set to depart for Ingolstadt, Germany August 2010. Chad joined the "Euro Hawk Flight Test team” in August 2009 after we got back from a 3 month trip in Dubai for another program he was on. Chad is a flight test engineer for Northrop Grumman which is a big private defense company that has contracts with the US government. Basically since our government had something to do with the project it was of course delayed until October 2009 then November then January 2011 and you get the picture… We FINALLY got out here about a month ago (July 11, 2011) for a 3 month stay until October 10th when we will be heading back to Edwards AFB just north of Los Angeles.
So since I’m 3 weeks late on documenting our travels thus far I will get you caught up!
The first weekend we drove down to the Neuschwanstein castle.

                             
It was a fairytale of a castle. It was so beautiful with an AMAZING view of the surrounding Bavarian Alps! The only downfall was the up hill hike...Yes hike and if you know me then you are aware that I had bunion surgeries in November and February and oh yeah… I DON’T HIKE! It was an hour UP HILL hike from the bottom to the top where the castle was located, but it seemed much farther…



Beer BEFORE the hike was a bad idea...

Cute little shops at the base of the Mountain

Chad said he wants one of these

Finally made it to the castle... huge!

View from the "big" castle to the "little" castle

scary bridge
I know I have seen people’s cute European vacation pictures but I don’t know how anyone stays looking so cute after all the hikes and walking that is involved in seeing these beautiful landmarks. I felt (and looked) like I had just finished a kickboxing class by the time we reached the top… and that’s not counting the 5 flights of stairs once you enter the castle. Needless to say I fell asleep in the car on the way home. I have been worried about putting on a ton of weight when we moved here since I want to try a bite of everything but at this rate I may be in wedding shape by the time I get back to the states.
Chad driving on the autobahn on the way home...