A Sunny Weekend

Hello again. It has been raining here for what seems like weeks!! It makes me want to....huhm, procrastinate? The forecast calls for 4 days of sunshine! whoo hoo! Last week I was the recipient of a beautiful new bike and a bike trailer for the little people. We went out one day after school and got drenched b/c I lost my keys and we were searching forEVER for them. They were at the police station. I had actually left them in an office I had visited. Haha. Back to the bikes....Hopefully we will have the nice weather promised to go on a trip! I am thinking maybe to the Vogelstang lake. It is about 2 miles on the trails. The only concern is the uphill to get over the Autobahn. My fingers are crossed that I make it without embarrassing myself having to get off and push the bike and kid in tow.

There are amazing bike trails around Mannheim and Germany in general. Every place that we have visited has them, and they are extensive. I am thinking that you could pretty much get anywhere you want in this country on bike/trek trails. Germans take their health a lot more seriously than Americans. I have a map of the Rheinland-Pfalz area, but am unable to find one for Baden-Wurttemberg. That will have to be my mission. The Army's OutDoor Rec center usually have them, but the services in this community are seriously lacking. Not only have there been many cuts to programs all together, but the ones that remain are limited, have absolutely no customer service (bowling alley), or they just don't care about our families anymore. I digress.

We might just pack a lunch and go explore. That is one of my favorite things to do. You never know what you will find when you aren't looking. I want to find my way to the Neckar River. The confluence with the Rhine is right here in Mannheim. One trip on my must do list is to bike the whole length of the Neckar. It is more than 200 miles, but will make for a great vacation adventure. That will take some more planning. Maybe more on that next time. I hope everyone reading this has a fabulous weekend!! Tschuss!