Thank heavens for friends who know the area to take you to places you’d never think to spend time seeing. Plus, what a breath of fresh air to tag along on a great trip I didn’t have to plan all on my own!
Rachel said simple things like “Allgau, hiking, camping, beer, a weekend away, time with a friend” and I was 100% in! What a treat after always traveling alone and never knowing what was in this ‘all-goi’ (pronunciation assistance for my sister) area.
We left late morning Saturday on our way to Austria. In all of my brilliance and planning expertise, it was until roughly 2 hours into the drive that I realized I had forgotten my hiking shoes .. for our hiking trip. Solid start, Brytani.
We got to Haldensee, (much to my surprise we were in Austria .. clearly I was slaking in the attention to detail portion of this trip) and took a lift up to a hiking trail. The trail was simple and easy, but full of beauty with perfect landscape views of the mountains. We stumbled upon several cows enjoying their afternoon. They were giant, friendly, and completely unaffected by the presence of humans. We made it to the furthest hut to get a snack, but before I could make it inside though I saw several horses making their way over a peak and I stood frozen and amazed at the beauty of wild* horses (they all had bells around their necks). I took off after them and was nearly in tears as one quickly walked right up to me to receive all the love I could pour out. I was upset I didn’t have an apple, skittles, or laffy taffy to share like I used to always give my horse during shows back home. I eventually made my way back to Rachel to get a beer and slice of cake. We made our way back down and stopped at the Haldensee for Rachel to take a quick swim and then made our way to Comfort Camp in Gran. I’ve never camped in a van like hers before but it was WAY cool and was so fun to cook dinner and sit outside and chat all night.
Day two was a quick pack up before making our way to Vilsalpsee. This place was beautiful. We started around the right side of the lake headed out to a waterfall. The waterfall was less impressive than one could hope but it was a nice day nonetheless. We stopped and had a picnic lunch on the way back and stopped again at a hut for beers and pie. There is another really steep hike up to another lake, but my feet were not up for it in Rachel’s generic tennis shoes for the second day. We stopped to put our feet in the water and relax a bit before making our way back to the front and rushing to catch the cute train ride shuttle back to the parking lot. Eventually got back and settled before driving all the way back to Bad Urach.
What a fun weekend to relax, see something new, and spend time having good conversation with a sweet friend. It’s the small things that make the best moments to recharge and refocus.
So, Live; Through Travel 