Arches & Marches, Ridges & Bridges

Aloha all,

Southern Utah is even more spectacular than I realized. It’s also good for our post-Germany diet and detox plan. We’ve been hiking a lot (due to Utah’s beautiful scenery) and drinking very little (at least partially due to Utah’s strict liquor laws). Sandra and I had been to some of the highlights in this area 26 years ago on a whirlwind road trip. Back in 1993, we covered more miles in three weeks than we have on this entire trip since May. I also came though here on the road trips with my nieces. It’s always been spectacular, but this time around, we particularly enjoy that we have no time constraints at all. We can always stay as long as we want, visit anything that interests us along the way and we are never in a rush to get to anywhere specific. We can really slow down and smell the roses. Well, not literally roses since they don’t grow here, but we do occasionally stop to smell the ponderosa pines. Did you know that they emit a butterscotch smell from their bark?

Yes, we are still very comfortable here in Utah

But while it’s nice to have the time to visit some lesser known sites, we also went back to the big national parks in the area: Capitol Reef, Canyonlands and Arches. But first we continued to get our kicks on route 12. This truly scenic highway through and around the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument offers so much more than just beautiful vistas of this rugged and remote area. We hiked along, across and even in the Escalante River to a natural bridge that we had all to ourselves. We were also lucky to get a great campsite at the Lower Calf Creek Campground and to meet a very nice young woman from Quebec, giving us the chance to brush up on our French while we hiked to a beautiful waterfall together. Surprisingly, we have heard more French than German lately. No idea why.

Making friends and practicing our french
 at Calf Creek Falls

We arrived at Capitol Reef National Park in the afternoon, did the scenic drive and almost continued on because the campground was full. Luckily, we realized that spending just half a day in a national park is not our style. We found some free BLM land outside the park and came back the next morning to really see the park. First on a ranger guided hike, which was educational, enjoyable and entertaining as always.

Slot canyon on a ranger guided hike in Capitol Reef NP

We hiked to some small slot canyon and overlooks I did not know existed and we did the spectacular Grand Wash trail through a steep canyon. Usually you’d have to hike down into a deep canyon for those kind of views, or walk through water like in the Narrows at Zion. Here, you can drive to either end of the wash and hike along the surprisingly flat and totally dry riverbed. 

Grand Wash in Capitol Reef NP.
Yes, the small dot is Sandra

I will admit: Another highlight of this day was that the remote campground east of the park, which warned that there is no cell service and no wifi, actually had a wifi signal so I could get some work done. Not that I enjoy my work as much as the hiking, but it is what allows us to enjoy ‘the best of both worlds’.

We had enjoyed the Hoodoos at Bryce Canyon so much that we decided to also visit their cousins, the Goblins at the Goblin State Park. Goblins like Hoodoos are formed when columns stay behind, protected by harder rock on top of them, when everything else around them is eroding away. It makes for some pretty interesting shapes. Just to give you an idea how much we enjoyed walking around the Goblins: They also had a disc golf course in this park, but we liked the goblins way better, not only because we had some terrible throws and a hard time finding the tee boxes, also because the Goblins are really cute.

Goblins State Park

Goblins come in all kinds of shapes!

The small town of Green River might not be the epicenter of civilization, but it was the first time we were on an interstate since the day we left Las Vegas and we needed a day to take care of things; doing laundry, getting propane and most of all:  buying and installing new batteries for Joy. It was getting to the point where we did not dare turn on a light at night in fear the battery will not make it through the night. Now we enjoy the lights (and even the furnace on cold mornings) even more.

Sandra enjoying the view over Canyonlands

We remembered Canyonlands as a pretty remote national park and I did not expect big crowds after Labor Day. But I guess word is out how spectacular it is and that the fall is actually ideal, since it’s not that hot anymore. Canyonlands has three distinct areas separated by the Green and Colorado River. We  got lucky and got one of only 10 campsites in the park’s most accessible area, the “Island in The Sky”. That’s a very appropriate name since it’s on a plateau with panoramic views into the canyons below almost all the way around. The canyons stretch for miles and miles. One could even argue that it’s a better view than from the rim of the Grand Canyon, since it’s not as deep and therefore the inner makings of the Canyonlands are visible; but after our epic week rafting through the Grand Canyon this summer, I can’t get myself to say that anything is better than the Grand Canyon. 

Canyonlands National Park - not as dangerous as it might look

Besides to some great viewpoints in Canyonlands, we also hiked to the ‘Upheaval Dome’. I remembered from my trip with Ronja how refreshing it was that the scientists don’t know how it was formed. I am usually so amazed that humans can figure out exactly how a mountain was formed many million years ago. But not here, at least not yet. I am glad to report that they still don’t know, even though they think it might have been a meteor.

Dead Horse Point SP - 26 years later

But I can’t blame the geologists for not knowing what happened at Upheaval Dome so many years ago. Apparently, Sandra and I don’t even remember what we saw 26 years ago. That was the last time we had been to Dead Horse Point and we both remembered looking down at the horseshoe shaped turn in the Colorado River below. In fact, Sandra has a picture of us at this very site on her nightstand in Maui. We both remembered seeing the whole turn of the river below. But to our surprise, in real life, part of the view of the river is blocked by cliffs that I am sure have been there for more than 26 years. To our amusement, we overheard another couple saying the very same thing. They were also surprised that the view they remembered was now blocked. This is how little you can trust human memory. I guess in our memory we combined the still very spectacular view we saw with some aerial photos we saw later. 

Delicate Arch in Arches NP

Arches has always been one of my favorite national parks. Judging by the fact that the next campground availability was for February, I guess I am not the only one. But of course we had to go back there anyway to make sure that the Landscape Arch and the Delicate Arch are still standing. 

Yep, even Landscape Arch is still standing!

We got lucky with a campsite, too. There is a small campground along the Colorado River just 5 miles outside of Arches. It was already completely full when we got there in the morning, but this nice couple from Quebec offered to share their site with us. So not only did we get a site, we got a great deal and another chance to practice our rusty French. And the site was large enough that we were able to accommodate even a third RV from our special guest Annie who came to visit us from Aspen for a few days.

Fun to see our friend Annie from Aspen...and her perfect bacon!

Annie suggested a hike south of Moab we had never heard of. Since it was her birthday and we are always up for something new, of course we agreed and it turned out to be very special. It’s already a treat to walk along a little stream in a desert canyon. Then we had somewhat randomly agreed to walk for two miles before turning around. At exactly 1.99 miles according to my apple watch, we heard a waterfall. We climbed down into the little canyon and found this perfect cave with a perfect waterfall. It was so perfect and so private that I was even able to wear the appropriate suit for Annie’s birthday. 

Our own private, perfect waterfall!

Afterwards, we went to the “Hole in The Rock”. This house/apartment/dwelling, whatever you want to call it, is built into the sandstone rock. The couple who built this actually lived in it for decades, they even had a restaurant in there for a while. It seemed so comfortable that I am surprised there are not more houses like this. Maybe living in it is not as comfortable as it appears. The family who bought it has never lived there, but preserves it as a cute and quirky tourist attraction.

Next, we went to “The Needles”, which are also part of Canyonlands National Park. This is a little more remote and required a ten mile hike to get to the actual needles, but the landscape is just beautiful and we were again lucky and got the last available campsite. We liked it so much that we stayed two nights and got to go to two very interesting evening campfire programs about the food of the ancestral publeoans and about water in the desert. I learnt for example, that 100% of the water of the Colorado river gets used, meaning with very few exceptions, not a single drop of this mighty river makes it to the Pacific!

Viewpoint at the end of our hike
to the Needles in Canyonlands NP

We left Canyonlands via the scenic Harts Draw Road, found a nice Steakhouse for our farewell dinner with Annie and camped at a spectacular BLM site right by a lake all by ourselves. Yesterday, Sandra and I went to the ‘Edge of the Cedars’ State Park and Museum. They have some great exhibits about the rich native American history of the Four Corners region. We are still pretty clueless about this arguably most important part of America’s history, but at least we know a little more now. Not many presidential sites in this area, so we have to broaden our historic horizon a little bit. The only presidential connections we heard of around here are the National Monuments that Trump has shrunk and that’s just sad. And as I wrote before, we are interested mostly in the first 44 presidents.

Today, we visited the Natural Bridges National Monument. In case you want to know what the difference between an Arch and a Bridge is: Natural Bridges are formed by flowing water while Arches are formed by any other form of erosion. Either way, the end effect are beautiful sculptures, which make for great hiking destinations and photo opportunities. 

Natural Bridges NM

We already spent over three weeks in Southern Utah. At the pace we are going, we might not even make it to Oklahoma on this trip. That would mean our state count would still be at 49 and we’d have to go on another trip next year. Who knows, maybe it even works out that we see our 50th state on my 50th birthday. For now we just take our time and smell the ponderosas or whatever else we find along the way.

Aloha,

Chris & Sandra

A walk in 8 parks, thinking of Mormons and Morons

Aloha all,

it’s not just a walk in a park, we’ve been back on the road for only two weeks and we’ve already walked in 8 national and state parks. Maybe it’s just like with the pretzels: Because I miss the good soft pretzels in Germany, I might overdo it a litte bit when I am there. But then again; is there such a thing as too many pretzels…or too many national parks?

Let's get Rocked! Def Leppard concert in Las Vegas

We flew back into Las Vegas and Def Leppard greeted us with a bang! It was my third time seeing them, my T-shirt from the 1992 tour is real vintage by now. Sandra has been listening to them even longer. It’s pretty impressive that they have been doing this for 42 years and are still going strong. Obviously, they are no spring chickens anymore, but they sound as good as ever. And it’s mostly the original members, but what do you expect from a band that keeps their drummer after he looses an arm? Another perspective: Even their “newest” member has been with the band longer than Jim Morrison has been alive. What a fun way to start the second half of our road trip!

Looking from Red Rocks Canyon to Las Vegas

 It was still very hot in Vegas, so when we had seen enough of the water fountain shows at the Bellagio, we drove up into the mountains. First to the very scenic Red Rocks Canyon and when that got too hot, further up to the Spring Mountains. We did a really fun hike into a slot canyon there, but we were not the only ones trying to escape the desert heat, so the campgrounds were full.

Slot Canyon in the Spring Mountains

The next best campground happened to be at the huge Clark County Shooting Complex just outside of Las Vegas. This campground overlooks the Strip, but is far enough to be very tranquil...until about 7am. But you can’t complain about people shooting at a shooting range, so we thought we join them. Neither one of us has ever fired a real gun, so it would have been something really special to do on our anniversary. Unfortunately, our German attitude got in the way. We felt it would be wise to get at least a short lesson before we start shooting, but lessons were not available that day. Maybe we’ll do that on our next anniversary, if we can’t think of anything more romantic.

Instead, we had a very nice anniversary lunch on our way out of town. My silly humor almost ruined the lunch though: It was 110F (about 43C), so I thought it was funny to ask for a table “outside in the sun”. The hostess did not blink an eye. You should have seen my face when she actually escorted us outside. Well, we all had a good laugh and then enjoyed our lunch in cool, air conditioned comfort. Usually, we are not big AC fans, but somewhere in the triple digits, my attitude changes dramatically. 

Sunset at Snow Canyon State Park

People often ask us how we find the places we go to and how we decide what to see. Usually, it’s a combination of looking at maps, listening to fellow travelers, stopping at visitor centers and researching online. But I want to add ‘dumb luck’ to the list. The only reason we went to the Snow Canyon State Park was that it was the most affordable campground we could find with electric hookups to run our AC in Joy. But what a beauty this little park turned out to be. We went on a great sunset hike and another one the next morning, both to spectacular viewpoints on top of petrified dunes. What a hidden gem!

Less hidden, but still a gem: Next, we went to Zion National Park, where we got really lucky with the campgrounds. Two out of three days, we even got to camp right next to the river with our own little bathing spot. We had been to Zion before, but I got to go further into “The Narrows” than I had been before and we got to do the famous “Angel’s Landing” trail for the first time. It’s less than 6 miles, but very steep and dramatically scenic. The last part of the trail goes along a ridge with a 700 foot drop on one side and a 1000 foot drop on the other. But for the parts where the trail is sometimes as narrow as 28 inches (71cm), they installed a chain to hold on to. I am not as fearless about heights as I used to be, without that chain I would have had to stay behind and wait for Sandra to return. From the top, you have a great view of Zion Canyon, including the rock slide area right across. For those of you familiar with Zion: The whole Weeping Rock area is closed indefinitely due to a massive rock slide that happened just two weeks ago. You can  watch the video a hiker took from Angels Landing (just search for ‘Zion rock slide cable mountain’), it’s a true miracle nobody got killed. Luckily, the popular trails below were closed for unrelated maintenance. The rock slide happened in the afternoon, normally there would have been dozens of hikers on those trails. Some guardian angel must have actually landed at Angels Landing and watched out over the hikers that day! He also protected us on the way down. There is a sign at the beginning of the trail, advising hikers how many people have fallen off the trail (9 since 2004). There wasn’t a lot of space for double digits, so I am glad we did not add to that number.

Angels Landing
Yep, the trail goes up that ridge behind us.

We also joined as many ranger programs as we could, including a ranger walk with only one other German couple, a bus ride with a ranger to some places the regular shuttle does not stop at and three ranger evening programs about rock climbing, animal adaptions and arches at Zion. I am constantly amazed by the consistent quality of these programs. The National Park Service might struggle with the budget cuts and with the overcrowding due to its own success, but in my view it’s still America’s best idea. 

Red Canyon, just outside of Bryce Canyon NP,
 if you want to avoid the crowds

On our way to Bryce Canyon, we stopped at the Red Canyon campground for a night. What a nice surprise that was. It’s almost as pretty as Bryce and on our morning hike we only met one other person. That’s a striking difference to the Angels Landing trail where it was super busy even though we started off before sunrise. Red Canyon is perfect if you want to avoid the crowds at some National Parks. I like most humans, but if want to stay away from them, there is still plenty of unspoiled, quiet beauty left in this country. We are so grateful that we have no time constraint on this tour and can linger in an area for as long as we want.

Colors and Shapes of Bryce Canyon
The gods most be crazy!

It’s been 26 years since Sandra was at Bryce Canyon. I had been there with Ronja three years ago, but since it’s one of my favorites, I was happy to go back and hike the hoodoos with Sandra again. Those formations and colors are just unbelievable. I have a vague idea how they have formed, but it all still looks unreal to me. On the first day, we looked at some view points and did a ranger led walk along the rim. On the second day, we did a longer hike through the hoodoos with a really nice lunch break at the historic lodge. That night we were invited to a little private star party by a fellow camper with a professional grade telescope. On the third day, we drove to the end of the road to see the other view points. They are not as spectacular as the ones in the main amphitheater, but we met a few very nice humans. Mostly a couple from the Jura region in France, who took a picture of Joy, because they were trying to collect license plates from all 50 states and we were the first “South Dakotans” they saw. We meet Germans all the time, but it was way more special to meet people from the Jura, where we had just gone with my parents a month ago. I think they were pretty excited, too, that someone knew their little home town. Hopefully we get to visit our new friends next time we go there.

Our new friends from the Jura region in France

Our last stop in Bryce Canyon was at the Mossy Cave. But more impressive than the cave was this ‘artificial’ waterfall. One more proof how industrious and hard working the Mormons are. Mormon pioneers dug ditches for two years in the 1890’s to divert water to the valley they wanted to settle. It’s still flowing there today, providing the residents with water and us with a nice photo opportunity.

Speaking of photo opportunities: Our next stop was literally named for that: The Kodakchrome Basin State Park is called so because Kodak came out with their color film just in time to capture the colors of this pretty area. We got to camp, hike and take pictures there.  All very nice, but surprisingly, the shower facilities were the highlight of the park. I’ve stayed in 4 star hotels with less luxurious showers than this remote state park; or as a fellow camper put it: Come for the scenery, stay for the showers. I actually went back to take a picture of the shower, but you’ve seen pretty showers before, so I rather include a picture of the campground in this beautiful setting. :

Kodakchrome Basin State Park

Now we are at the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. We haven’t seen much of it yet, in fact we won’t see most of it at all, because it’s very rugged and remote and Joy does not handle unpaved roads that well. This area was the last area of the mainland to be mapped for a reason. We went to The Escalante Heritage Center that tells the story of the so-called ‘Hole-in-the-wall Expedition’, which made the Lewis & Clark expedition look like a walk in the park. 

Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

Only a mormon would look at this landscape in the 1800’s and think: Let’s go through here and see who we can convert. 

And only a moron would look at this landscape in 2019 and think: Let’s take away some of the protection of this land and open it up for commercial use. 

You might have read about it in the news or you can guess who that moron is. Trump wants to shrink this National Monument to almost half its size. I’m not sure whether it’s because some donor or buddy wants to profit from deals that would be available if the protection of the National Monument is taken away or whether it’s only because Obama had enlarged it and he enjoys reversing anything Obama did whether it makes sense or not. Overall, on the road it’s a lot easier for me than at home to ignore all the silly drama Trump produces. But when it comes to my beloved National Parks, it gets under my skin. But for now his plans to shrink this park are still held up in the courts and hopefully will be for a while. And if our sampling of opinions of park rangers is any indication for the next election, it looks pretty good that someone else will be in charge before the courts decide. But park rangers might not be representative of the whole electorate and we have not made it to Oklahoma to poll some regular folks yet. 

Aloha from the still truly grand Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument,

Chris & Sandra

European Detour: Food, Friends & Family

Aloha all,

it’s been about 15 pounds since our last post. I’m not exactly sure; we don’t dare to step on a scale after going through this ‘culinary trifecta’: One week of eating at my favorite restaurant in France, one week stuffing ourselves with the German comfort food of our youth around the Lake of Constance and one week of enjoying the hearty Bavarian cuisine and drinking Bavarian size beers. In some places one liter (32 ounces) is the only size they serve! Our stomachs don’t feel like it, but we actually did more than eating and drinking during the past three weeks, so let’s catch up:

Our daily aperitif at the Hotel Alpages in the Jura

My parents have a favorite little hotel in the Jura region of France. Every time we go there, I think of the German proverb “Leben wie Gott in Frankreich”. It literally translates into “Living like god in France”, the phrase I came up with while looking for an English equivalent, is “Living the Life of Riley”. I don’t know who Riley is, but I am surprised we didn’t meet him at that little hotel in France.This seems to be the perfect place to spoil yourself. It’s the most charming, family operated hotel in a beautiful, uncrowded region of France and it’s home to my favorite restaurant in the whole wide world! It’s not super fancy, but super good! 

 Just a few samples...I usually don’t take pictures of my food,
but it's my favorite restaurant in the world!

You can’t be a picky eater there, since there is no menu to choose from. Your room comes with breakfast and a five course dinner, which is always “chef’s choice”. That way I get to try things I would never order and I’m loving it! Our expectations were so high from previous visits that they were hard to beat, but every single course on every single night was spectacular. I’m not really a foodie, but it is just that good! 

Sandra at the Lac D'Etival in the Jura

Luckily there are plenty of hiking options and lakes to swim in the Jura for us to work up an appetite. The beautiful landscape, with multiple plateaus, rock walls, waterfalls and lakes, was formed 150-200 million years ago. In fact, that’s where the Jurassic period got its name from. I had missed this the first three times I was in the Jura. Ironically, the son of our hotel hosts was wearing a Jurassic Park T-Shirt…and seemed to be equally unaware of the connection. Or maybe my French is not as fluent as I think it is. 

Paradise for moss-lovers

On our way back to my hometown we stopped in the town of Ensisheim in Alsace. This visit was way overdue since the street I grew up on is called ‘Ensisheimerstrasse’, but I had never been to the namesake town. It’s not a particularly big or famous town, but we had two more connections to Ensisheim on our road trip this year: Ensisheim is the sister city of Castroville, our favorite Alsatian town in Texas, where we met so many friendly people three months ago. And when we visited the meteor crater in Arizona, Ensisheim was mentioned because one of the earliest recorded meteors came crashing down in Ensisheim in 1492. As promised in the museum in Arizona, we were able to view a piece of that meteor in the old town hall of Ensisheim.

We spent a few days in my and in Sandra’s hometowns, visiting friends and family along the way in the Black Forest. As much as we love our life on Maui and on the road, every now and then it is nice to re-connect with our original homeland, our families and our past. We feel blessed that we have friends and family who welcome us with open arms even after being absent for years. We wish we could meet all of our friends on every visit, but there never seem to be enough time.

My parents on the "Mainau" flower island

We wanted to avoid that Sandra’s mom spends 16 hours a day in the kitchen cooking for us. So Sandra, her sister and I took her mom to a hotel at the Lake of Constance for six days and bought one of those tourist cards that turned out to be a tremendous value. It’s pretty impressive that Emma kept up with our program, which included four gondola rides to different peaks in the Alps, three observation towers, three museums, several boat rides, a canopy walk and even a tour of a zeppelin factory. And not just any zeppelin factory; Friedrichshafen is the original zeppelin factory, where even the infamous ’Hindenburg’ was built. Looks like they implemented some improvements to the construction since then. It was fascinating to see a zeppelin close up; I had no idea how they are constructed and how light they are. Even the newer, much smaller zeppelins are about 8400 cubic meters, roughly 100 times larger than an RV, but they weigh about the same as Joy.

We visited the zeppelin museum and the factory in Friedrichshafen

My favorite of the various gondola rides was the one to the “Säntis” in the Swiss Alps. I am sure the view from the peak would have been even more impressive if we had hiked up to 2500m. But we had a very nice 84 year old excuse with us and we all enjoyed taking the gondola to the summit. I’ll be happy if I am still able to go there when I am 84, even if it’s with a gondola. At about $60, the gondola is pretty expensive, but with our “BodenseeCard”, we basically saved more the more we spent. 

Love is in the air at the Säntis

At the summit of the Säntis there are a variety of viewpoints, a little museum with a movie, various restaurants, cafes and plenty of options for little trails to walk. We did not have the perfect clear alpine panorama, but the view into the surround valleys was awesome and the clouds moving in and out made the view a constantly changing spectacle. 

Gondola to the summit of the "Hoher Kasten"

The second gondola to the “Hoher Kasten” was equally impressive and by then the clouds had cleared and we could see from Switzerland to Austria and Germany. Just for variety and to get even more value out of our BodenseeCard, we also went to the summit of the “Hochgrat” where we saw pretty much exactly nothing, but at least it was cold enough that I was able to enjoy a “Glühwein”. 

With Sandra's mom at the summit

The other absolute highlight that week was “Rigoletto” on the lake stage in Bregenz. I am not a huge opera fanatic, but I do enjoy an opera at the right location occasionally. So far my favorite had been “Aida” at the Arena Di Verona with an actual live elephant on stage. Now my all time favorite is Rigoletto. Or maybe I should say my all time favorite stage is the “Seebühne” in Bregenz. I knew they had a stage built over the Lake of Constance, but I had no idea what kind of stage! Luckily, the day before the show I met someone on my little walk at the summit of the Säntis who told me about the backstage tour of the stage in Bregenz. That way, we got to see the back side and hear the back story how they built this amazing set and how it operates.

Rigoletto on the Lake Stage in Bregenz before the show

For Rigoletto, they built a 45 foot head on the floating stage. Together with the massive hands it looks like Rigoletto is peeking out of the lake. That’s already impressive, but during the show, the whole thing comes alive. The eyes open, the head and hand moves and at the appropriate moment, the hand even raises the middle finger. And when Rigoletto is loosing his face in the story, the Rigoletto head is literally loosing his face: the nose falls off and the 8 foot eyes come out of their sockets. At one point, the balloon in the left hand soars to almost 200 feet above the lake!  Half a dozen times, actors end up in the lake. Oh, and the singing and acoustics were really good, too. What a spectacle! I think Verdi would be tickled that his opera is still performed 168 years later, let alone on a scale like this!

The same stage coming alive during the show

On our way to Munich we stopped in the city of Ulm. Sandra’s cousin is the commander of the fire department and gave us a very personal tour of the main fire station. I had done a similar tour on Maui. But after seeing the top-of-the-line equipment in Ulm, if I had to choose one, I think I’d rather be stuck in a burning building in Ulm. 

Yep, that's me, Sandra and her cousin up there!

On our last few European tours, we never made it back to Munich, so this time we made a point of spending more time there to visit our college friends. Plus, it’s still one of our favorite cities in Germany. 

I love the Olympic Park in Munich 

We spent a wonderful afternoon in my beloved Olympia Park, close to where we used to live and still my favorite place to work ever (I admit mostly because it let me attend all the big concerts and sporting events for free). Of course we went up the Olympic Tower (because we always do) and we visited the new memorial for the 1972 terror attack during the games. 

Memorial for the 1972 terror attack at the Munich Olympics

There was no real memorial yet when I worked there in the 90’s. As a tour guide, we were free to talk about the attack, but we were asked not to dwell on it. Now they went above and beyond to design a really deserving memorial. It’ gives a lot of background information and it is architecturally so inviting that I can see by-passers unknowingly walking in and learning something about the history “by mistake”. I learnt that the newspapers on the following day had incorrectly reported that all the Israeli athletes were freed, when in fact they were all killed in a botched police ambush. I truly think that the 1972 Olympics were both, the most joyful and the most tragic Olympic Games.

So nice that our friends don't forget about us!

 We also got to take quick dips in the Starnberger See and the Isar, use an e-bike for the first time, visit a few beer gardens, dine at a lovely Lebanese restaurant, see our old home and sample “Weisswurst” ice cream, which surprisingly, I did not like. It was really good ice cream and tasted like the really delicious Bavarian sausages, so who would have guessed that sausage and ice cream does not go well together? I also found out that the Munich city hall has an observation tower, which I had never been on and the university has a memorial for the “White Rose” Nazi resistance, which we did not know about. And just to make us feel home, we also saw the two urban surf spots.

Surf Spot in the Englischer Garten in Munich

Munich has been called the beer capital of the world and obviously, many American breweries have German origins. But over the past 20 years, I feel that American craft beer has caught up and in many cases surpassed German beer. We were glad to see that the craft beer wave has gone full circle and is now coming back to Germany. I always said that the Germans have been drinking the same (good) beer for centuries while I can have a new and delicious beer at the Maui Brewing Company every time I go there. This was our first visit back in Germany where we saw at least one new, interesting, local beer choice in pretty much every place we went to. In that spirit, we also did a very in-depth tour of a new, tiny, organic brewery and we participated in a private beer tasting of eleven local lagers. I have to admit that I picked the one as my favorite that tasted most like an IPA, which are not very popular in Germany yet. So from a beer point of view, I moved to the right country.

Beer tasting with our friends in Starnberg

It was such a pleasure to re-connect with our friends and family! And even though we still prefer living in America, there is much we like and miss about Germany. I am constantly in awe going back home: When things are still as they were 25 years ago, I am amazed that they have not changed in our absence. When things are different, I am equally amazed that it’s not the way it’s always been. And yes, I do realize that things being the same or things being different are the only two possible options. Now we are back in Las Vegas to continue our road trip in Joy….and to start our diet and detox.

Aloha, Servus & Auf Wiedersehen!

Chris & Sandra

Joy without Joy in Europe

Aloha all,

we are so enthralled by our road trip that we feel we could keep driving around the US mainland forever without running out of new places to visit. But this month we mix it up a little bit with a detour to Europe. First we spent a few days in Stuttgart to celebrate Sandra’s sister’s birthday with her and her mom. My favorite trip took us to Schorndorf, where we stumbled over the birthplace of Gottlieb Daimler, which offers a little exhibit about him and Mercedes Benz. The main highlight was an exposition with spectacular flower arrangements and beautiful gardens; and a roof top bar:

Sandra with her mom and sister at a roof top bar in Schorndorf

Our timing was also very lucky so that we were able to attend the diamond wedding anniversary of Sandra's aunt and uncle. Happily married for 60 years, now that's a fun challenge we gladly accept!

Wedding picture of Aunt Rose & Uncle Jörg with Sandra's parents

My brother’s family has long moved from Sweden to Switzerland, but they still spend their summers up north. So we flew to Sweden to visit them in their charming summer cottage. It might not have flush toilets, but it has its own little disc golf course, which in our family is way more important. Our first day was my nephew’s birthday. We went to an escape room which he won in an impromptu scavenger hunt and we were actually able to break out of the room with four minutes to spare. 

Successful Escape Room with Hannes on his birthday

 Since Hannes is now the star disc golfer in the family, we played three rounds of disc golf on his birthday, instead of the usual two. And he celebrated his birthday in style with a hole-in-one on the last basket. 

We are not the only disc golfing family in Scandinavia. It’s a fairly popular activity and we stopped at a disc golf super store that sells more discs than I every imagined existed. For us it was the equivalent to the proverbial “kid in a candy store”. I wish I could tell you how many discs we bought, but by brother has sworn me to secrecy.

Three happy kids in the Disc Golf Super Store

Sweden has a lot of lakes and those lakes have a big advantage over the ocean around Maui: Calm enough water that even beginner Stand Up Paddlers can feel like they know what they are doing. We were actually inspired to buy two SUP boards on Maui, I’m only afraid that $600 later, we’ll find out that our progress in SUP skills will be wiped out by the tiniest waves.

I love Sweden....in the summer!

Even the destination for our 5 day trip together was determined by the quality of the disc golf courses. That might be the reason why we made it to Finnland for the very first time. The best disc golf course in Scandinavia just happens to be on the remote island of “Lappo” in the Aland Islands, so that’s where we went. These islands are geographically and culturally half way between Sweden and Finnland. We visited a historical site, a fort that the Russians built and lost to England. As always with European history, I was quickly confused, but I like the end result of the complicated history: Aland is now a demilitarized, semi autonomous, Swedish part of Finnland and the buffet on the ferry to the islands is spectacular. 

Aland Islands

In order to get to the disc golf course on Lappo, we had to drive across the main island of Aland and then take another ferry. Lucky for us, they have another disc golf course and a brewery along the way, making the long journey very pleasant. From Lappo we took two day trips to other islands by bike. To one of them, there is a free on-demand ferry service. Even for just a family on bicycles, on a push of a button, the ferry comes over and takes you to the next island.

Carfree and carefree days on Lappo

For the next day trip, we rented an ATV because 20km is a little long to push my niece, who is still struggling with her knee after yet another surgery. What a great excuse to cruise around the islands on an ATV. I felt a little guilty disturbing the peace and quite of these remote islands with this loud machine, but boy was it fun! And what were we supposed to do? Leave Ronja behind?

ATVing in Aland

The running joke when we play disc golf is that my brother suggests that we play ‘just for fun’ without keeping track of the score. But my nieces and nephew are just as competitive as my brother and I. We all play at pretty much the same level, so I don’t think we’d be able to play without comparing scores, even if we tried. But we played well over a dozen rounds, including specialties like an overhead, lefty, blindfolded round, a round from the lady’s tees, an early morning round and one that we didn’t start until 10pm (I love the long Scandinavian days in summer), so by the end of the week, I think everybody won something and everybody screwed up a putt that was easier to make than to miss.

The best 7 disc golfers in the family:
Hannes, Petra, Sandra, Chris, Ronja, Linnea & Jan

Next, we went to my home town of Breisach. Besides the obvious pleasure to see my parents, we also did some sightseeing together. In Freiburg we went up the newly renovated church tower, saw and heard the enormous church bells at noon, enjoyed the view and visited the botanical garden for the first time. About time I see the botanical garden of my birth place after visiting gardens all around the world.

With my parents in the church tower in Freiburg

My parents are very good tour guides and tailor each trip to the interests of the guests. Coming from America last year, they took us to the home for Bartholdi, who built the Statue of Liberty, but I had no idea that there is another American connection so close to my hometown: Selestad is a picturesque little town in Alsace and they have a historical library with the very first document mentioning the name “America” for the newly discovered continent. Amerigo Vespucci was not the first European in America, but opposite to the vikings he kept pretty good records and published them. And opposite to Christopher Columbus, he knew where he was. I would somewhat enjoy America being named after my namesake (“United States of Christophica” sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?). But given the fact that Columbus never set foot on the actual continent and still thought that he had been close to India until he died (as I just learned), makes the name America a pretty reasonable choice.

Spiral Staircase in Selestad, Alsace

The same little library provided another treat for us: The best virtual reality experience I have seen anywhere so far. We visited ten of the most interesting libraries of the world, all while sitting in this small historic library in a little town in Alsace. Both the content of the presentations and the technology of the VR experience were spectacular.

"La Bibliothèque, La Nuit" - Virtual reality library tour

Next we got to spend 5 days in my parent’s favorite little hotel in the Jura region of France. The restaurant at this hotel is my favorite restaurant in the world. I might wait with my next post until I figure out a way to include some smells and flavors in this blog.

Aloha,

Chris & Sandra