Garmisch, Germany

We headed up to Garmisch, Germany this weekend to attend the 173rd Airborne Brigade Ball.  It has been raining SO much in Italy, so we were very thankful to have absolutely beautiful weather for our trip.  

To be honest, during the drive up I wasn't so sure if the weather forecast was going to hold true.  The first half of the drive looked a lot like this.  Foggy, rainy, and nasty.  When we got to the hotel, it was a little cloudy and overcast, but much nicer than the weather we had been having in Italy.  

Then, on Saturday morning we woke up to this!  It seriously could not have been any more gorgeous.  

The mountains in the distance are part of the Bavarian Alps.  The highest peak in these mountains (and Germany, for that matter) is Zugspitze and that's what you see in the picture.  

Since we didn't have much planned during the day on Saturday, we decided to wander around a few trails and just enjoy the views.  I think it's safe to say that Germany has some of the most beautiful landscapes.  

On a recent trip to the zoo with my Pre-K class, I saw a teeny tiny little baby goat.  It was only a few days old and one of the cutest thing I had ever seen in my whole life.  Ever since then, I've been slightly obsessed with these animals.  So, naturally, when we passed a little goat farm I made them stop the car so I could take a few pictures.  I'm not lying when I say I want a family of goats.  

Another thing I couldn't help but do on this trip was sing every song from The Sound of Music.  I can't say that John Ralph and our other friends were impressed, but it was all I could do to keep from running through the fields belting Do-Re-Mi.  

Saturday night was the 50th anniversary ball for "The Herd", and was a nice way to bring an end to the deployment.  The guys got to spend some time with the other soldiers they deployed with, and the wives all had a chance to get dressed up.  This was one of the better pictures of some of the guys.  John Ralph is fourth in from the right.  

Here are the better halves.  I thought all of us wives cleaned up quite nicely.  (I'm third in from the right.)  After dinner, we did our share of dancing, where I laughed harder than I have in a long, long time.  

We definitely plan on going back to this part of Germany before we leave Europe.  Overall, I thought it was a really great weekend and event, and I was honored to be a part of such an important Army tradition.