Bavaria, part one

We spent a lovely week in Garmisch, Germany in August.  I'd heard from many people that the Bavarian countryside was gorgeous, and by golly everyone was right.  This is a huge area for winter recreation and has been home to the Olympics, but for this not very snow-oriented person the summer was the perfect time to go.  Hiking, biking, alpine sliding...good stuff.  Following are pictures from the location that hosted the 1936 Winter Olympics. 

"Guys, seriously, there really are no seat belts" says Mr. Friends of Safety MTB

The track of doom (or so some of us thought)

I'm glad Brian managed to get a picture of Kate and I, as the automatic camera at this place couldn't capture us.  Too fast you are thinking.  Nope, too slow.  Yes, I rode the brake the whole way down but have never been on one of these and it looked a little freaky.  Don't worry, once we realized it was safe (and really fun) we beat even Brian's best time.  We are a couple of super cool girls.

Olympic ski jump

Inside the Olympic stadium

Hot day+ice cream+no napkins=one big mess

Below are pictures from a beautiful hike we took to the falls.

Gorgeous horses for the lazy people (or tired or handicapped or us on the way down because Brian had to check into his conference and we were running late)

I love these people

funky restaurant half-way up

Here we have scenes of and from the Olympic ski jump.  As I mentioned a bit ago, we were running late but I had to climb those steep evil stairs to the top of this thing.  Brian and the kids stayed below.  Well, Brian stayed below and the crazy kids climbed up the front of the jump.  Sam to the tippy top white line you see in this picture below and then slid bobbed rolled all the way down.  Awesome. 

That's a Bender kid you see between those two red lines.

Some kid who's mom was nice enough to let him join her on the climb to the top

The view from the top of the jump.

There you have it.  More from Bavaria, we've got castle pictures!