Castle Hohlandsbourg

Castle Hohlandsbourg is a castle ruin reclaimed and preserved. We walked the old castle walls, checked out their museum, learned lots about castle life from their displays, and listened to some great music.. all while keeping an eye on the angry skies overhead.

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Black Forest Trails and the Balzer Herrgott

A morning feast in Brend was the perfect start to the day, especially as since getting into the woods and hiking on some trails are part of the plan! We take an easy-going trail through the forest to the Balzer Herrgott tree carving, and just let ourselves get in touch with the forest that surrounds us.

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The Black Forest

From the legends we have read since we were kids, the images of picturesque little German villages, and our love for nature all combined into our fascination with the Black Forest. It has long been a destination both of us have dreamed about, and we are finally here! We stood in complete awe surrounded by the towering trees and green moss in the forest, drove a long woodland road to our remote hotel, found a waterfall in a cute cuckoo-clock village, and had a wonderful sausage dinner. The night ended perfectly with the best clear, starry sky that we’ve seen in years!

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Hiking Through the State Park

Today seemed like a great day for a hike!  Sure, it’s a bit warm … and by “a bit warm” I mean it’s sweltering hot.  That great fireball in the sky has been cooking everything in its path, especially all the plants on our back patio.  I doubt they are surviving this summer.

But the good thing about being in the woods is all that wonderful shade.

Philly has its share of nice parks.  Fairmount Park is the main one, and it’s definitely huge.  While we do like to bike through there it isn’t really a “hike through the woods” type park.  So where do you go to get away into the woods when you live in the heart of a huge city?

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