What a treat it was to discover one of the longest and deepest wild water ravines in the Alps—the Liechtenstein Gorge in Austria! The gorge is obviously ancient, but it was first developed as a tourist attraction in the late 1800’s by local residents. Water has cut through the rock here to create a chasm that is 300 meters deep (nearly 1,000 feet)! After paying the entrance fees we started along a boardwalk that winds its way up a...

In the far southeastern state of Germany’s state of Bavaria is a beautiful natural lake, Königssee. When we arrived to the lake, we found a huge parking lot that was thankfully not all that full. We’ve heard this place can get extremely busy, so we sighed a breath of relief. We walked by the little tourist shops towards the lake shore… and I again contemplated the purchase of some traditional local costume (j/k…although I...

While visiting the amazing Hohenwerfen Castle in Austria, we stumbled across an Israeli couple who mentioned they were headed to a “Cow” Festival in the nearby town of Wagrain. They said it was a celebration for the cows coming home–returning from grazing in the mountains for the summer. A festival about cows?!  Ummm—why not?! (After all, my husband did grow up on a dairy farm!) Off we went to the small town of Wagrain, which...

While we were in Austria, we decided to visit the Hohenwerfen Castle, about 40 km south of Salzburg. It’s surrounded by the Berchtesgaden Alps, and has been towering over the town of Werfen for over 900 years! Admittedly, one of the coolest things about Europe is driving around and seeing castle after castle nestled into the mountain tops. We could have opted to take a footpath up the mountainside, but decided the funicular suited us...

I’ve now finished my travelogues for Asia, and I’m hopping back to Europe where we traveled in Fall 2012. When I’m done with Europe (there is a lot to write about there) I will hop back to earlier that year in Guatemala, Belize and Southern/Central Mexico where we also explored extensively. I’m sad that I’m writing about my memories when they are not terribly fresh, but at least I have photographs to help me record my memories in...

So much happened in 2012, that I get overwhelmed trying to remember it all. So, Jared and I thought we’d go through our photos and make a small monthly collage of our life happenings…but that proved to be even more overwhelming! How do you sum up so much in only 5 monthly photos? 2012 was by-far the most amazing year of our lives. We experienced so many new places and cultures, as well as learned and grew as individuals and as a...