We had our first "real" snow of the year! After a crazy day on Friday, it finally fell in spurts through the night and into Saturday. Friday was a crazy day for me (Marc) - I participated in the final portion of Das Abzeichen fur Leistungen im Truppendiesnt, the German Armed Forces Military Proficiency Badge. I had already done the shooting and "sports" portion, Friday was just the 30 kilometer (18 mile) roadmarch in under 5 hours. Aside from some blisters and some REALLY sore muscles, I did it. Good to have that done. Although the weather was pretty crappy - rain, then sleet, then hail, then rain, then sleet. Even some lightning and thunder. Easily the second most miserable road march I've ever done. Like I said, good to have that done.
So Friday night, while I was recovering, it started to really snow. On Saturday morning, I got up good and early to get out and get a shot of the local ruins. Ruine Frauenberg is only 10, maybe 15 minutes away and has been around since 1320. It is open to the public and free of charge - Germany is pretty amazing. Ian and I found the perch overlooking the castle ruins on a previous trip out there, and I knew I was waiting for a morning just like this.
After I went home, I picked up the kids and we went back out there so Ian and Leah could have some fun in the snow. And did they ever have fun! There is a path that runs along the Nahe River very near the Ruine Frauenberg that I had been wanting to check out, and this was the perfect time. Ian and Leah had a great time running in the fields on either side of the path playing in the snow.
After our trip along the Nahe River, we went up to the Ruine for a look around - we were the first (probably only) people to get there in the snow. They wanted to climb the stairs to get to the top - but the stairs were a little slippery so we just stayed at the bottom of the towers. The picture below is of the kids standing in the only entryway to the Ruine.
We hope everyone is well out there! Enjoy the photos (we'll try to keep up a little better than we have been!).
Marc
3 comments:
I had a question on how to make the pictures look bigger...click on the picture and you will get a better view of the pictures.
Um, the second worst road march? What was the worst??? Mike & I LOVE the pic of the ruins. SO cool. Ian is getting huge!
It was during the Mountain Phase of Ranger School. It was March/April in the mountains of northern Georgia and late at night - which means COLD! High 30's, low 40's (F) and we got absolutely dumped on. It rained so hard, the wind was blowing - there was just no way to get warm. It's funny, I've met some graduates of my class at completely random times - when we get to telling the story of that roadmarch we figure out that we were in the same class together. A platoon was pseudo-struck by lightning, the town was hit by a tornado, and everyone universally remembers that roadmarch as the single coldest, wettest, most miserable roadmarch ever performed.
When you guys come over I'll take you to the ruins - they are VERY cool!
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