Life in the Simmons' Shoes: Summer Vacation Series: Day 9- Partnach Gorge

One more day after this one. Almost done! It's been fun looking back on our unbelievable vacation. My mind was blown every single day. And this day was no exception.

We traveled back from Italy in the morning. It took us a few hours, so we didn't get back to Garmisch until after Noon. We still wanted to make the day fun, so we decided to bike ride to the Gorge close by. We rented bikes from our hotel and set off.

We had to stop during our ride and take pictures of the scenery. It was pretty fantastic.

Once we arrived at the Gorge, we parked our bikes and began our hike.

The Gorge is a trail that goes through a canyon. The water was splashing everywhere. It actually got pretty cold. But it was so beautiful!

The hike took about 15 minutes. Then we made it out on the other side.

We walked over to the water that people were playing in.

We figured it would be nice to stand in. Gee wiz! It was cold stuff! (I don't know that from personal experience, but watching everyone else step in it and cry out pretty much convinced me that I didn't want to go in.)

Travis stepped in it first.

Travis' dad thought he could out-man him. But he too is only human and could only stand in it for so long before his feet would fall off.

Greg took a shot at it too.

And before I knew it, everyone was in the water taunting me to get in. I hate cold water, so I stood firm in my decision to stand on the sidelines to take pictures.

Sidenote: Germans are used to the cold water. A family had their swimming suits on and were splashing and playing in the freezing cold water. The (superhuman) mom laid all the way down in the water and was doing snow angels (or I guess water angels). It was nuts!

We continued to walk on some other trails for another half hour or so. Somebody got tired. Every day was so busy, so Hailey snuck naps in whenever she could.

Another sidenote: Germans are SUPER active. No matter the age. There aren't too many overweight people in Germany (nothing compared to America). People are outside everyday, rain or shine. They ride their bikes everywhere and enjoy the outdoors. I definitely want to be like the Germans and be active with my family. We even saw some German grandparents that told us about their grandchildren. And they were out-hiking us. Walking faster, and probably farther. It was pretty awesome.

Also, Germans aren't as private as Americans. That's probably most foreign countries though. In America, we tend to shy away from public nudity (thank goodness.. haha), but it's not uncommon to come across nude beaches in Germany. We didn't end up going to a nude beach (my eyes are thankful), but we did see countless Germans on the sides of roads and trails "relieving" themselves. When you gotta go, you gotta go I guess. They definitely weren't shy about it.

ANYWAYS, that was a tangent. Back to our day. We headed back down the Gorge, got back on our bikes, and rode back to Garmisch. We walked around Garmisch for a bit and got dinner at a local restaurant. Yummm! German food is pretty darn good.

There was a cute little playground at the restaurant, so Hailey went over with Travis and played while we were waiting for our food.

We had a great day. It felt so good to spend our time outdoors, breathing in the clean air. It was beyond beautiful and another memory that won't be forgotten.

Oh P.S. If I don't tell this story, Travis' dad will hunt me down.

When we were riding our bikes back to our hotel, my legs were crying. I had to pull the trailer carrying Hailey because it only came on a smaller bike. So on the way back, Travis traded bikes with me to relieve me. Travis is quite a bit taller than me, so he had rented a large bike. (Mine was a small). So it was significantly bigger than my bike. It was more like I was riding a horse, but it felt much better on my legs, so I looked passed the awkwardness of having to lean the bike over to touch the ground.

Since I wasn't pulling the trailer anymore, I was much happier. I floated the rest of the way back to the hotel. Well mostly.

As we rounded THE LAST CORNER leading to our hotel, something happened. I saw a curb approaching. Greg was in front of me and jumped the curb with ease. I was overcome with confidence as the curb got closer. I was gonna jump that curb!

When it was time to pull up, I pulled. And nothing happened. Suddenly I remembered that I was riding a bike that was the size of a horse, and this was probably a bad idea. But it was too late. My front tire connected with the curb. And then...

I remember my hang time had to be like 10 seconds. I always said flying would be my superpower if I could choose, and at this moment, I actually experienced it. It was glorious. And then I landed.

Ow. It all happened so fast and so slow at the same time. Luckily, I walked away with only a few scratches. But I took a big hit in my pride. I'm sure the hotel staff are watching the security tape over and over again. I'm probably a YouTube sensation and I don't even know it.

Oh, and no bikes were harmed in the making of this memory.

Travis was pulling the trailer right behind me. So he and Hailey saw the whole thing. These were the faces they made as they watched their wife and mother fly off the bike.