One of my BFFs, Shawn, had a 3 week course in Munich and decided to take an extra week off for an unnecessarily complicated adventure. So off we went to Austria looking for snow.
Climbing the tower at Innsbruck.
The first few days brought 150km/h wind in the mountains and no snow in the valley,
so we had to improvise a little
This is the entrance to the Swarovski Kristallwelten Museum. It was described to me as a crystal museum but It's really a "sparkly space" museum. There is no way to explain it, the place truly must be experienced.
A key to any adventure is staying hydrated.
The state of the world when museums have a selfie place marked.
Shawn the romantic, he just couldn't resist.
We planned to paddle board inside a glacier. Yes, I said paddle board, the glacier has a river inside of it and you can pay to paddle board on it.
Unfortunately, wind also closed the ski lift to that goes to the glacier and we decided to go sledding instead. Some people crashed more than other in these old school sleds.
On day three we committed to snow shoe our route (since there was no wind), but the low clouds, ski lift operators, and Alpine Hutte manager discouraged us from hiking into the unknown. But they give us some safer recommendations.
We finally found some snow and we showed all over it.
Funny how once we gave up on our original plan the weather cleared up and the doors of opportunity opened for us.
Shawn trail brazed.
I took the rear and made sure we didn't leave anyone behind.
Shawn is a such a sucker for a mountain dog.
Our Alpine Hutte. I love that places like this still exist in the world.
Hopefully I'll be able to find more of them.
The Alpine Hutte dining room.
Mmmm. Austrian Alpine food.
No dehydrated food required.
What's better than hiking up hill all day?
Sledding down that hill on your Poporutscher
(Translation: Butt Sled)
Come to find out, tobogganing is a national sport in Austria. We hiked to the top of Maria Waldrast and found a whole lineup of adults doing their high-speed racing down this run.
This is the track we raced.
More Yummy Alpine food.
I dropped Shawn off at the Innsbruck train station and headed off to my next adventure...
Almost, unfortunately...or fortunately....I forgot my passport and had to drive 7 hours home just to turn around and spend another 3.5 hours driving back to the Memmingen Airport for a 0600 flight.
The fortunate part is I got to spend 3 hours with Jill and the kids on Valentines evening. So I'm blaming cupid on my passport forgetfulness.
So, off to part 2 of the vacation marathon!
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