The Superlong Hike, 23 May 2010

I did wake up a littler earlier today, around 10:30. Went up to have some breakfast, a broetchen with butter and a few cups of rooibus tea. There Herr and Frau Brause figured out what we would do today. One option, was to drive to nearby Switzerland. The other was an invitation from Uwe to go on a hike. This hike was easy, but would last several hours. We'd walk up to a restaurant and then back down. This sounded good to me, so I quickly finished my tea and got ready.
Uwe and his wife, Heike, picked us up at 11 30 and we were on our way. I brought along my backpack to carry a sweatshirt, waterbottle, and a few granola bars I had yet to eat. The drive took about 20 minutes and we were all very crammed in the car, but oh well. We parked at Schonach, I believe, and started out. Uwe made fun of Heike and Frau Brause for taking so long to look at the map.
The hike was gorgeous, to say the least. We're up in the mountains, alternating between fields (full of dandelions) or forest. Some was a bit hilly, but there was a lot of flat road and trail, too. The trail was either part road and paved, dirt, or a boardwalk to raise us above the swamp. I did take plenty of pictures, they're of course, not yet to be had. First we hiked up to Blindsee, which was actually rather small. But the water was black and reflected the trees and clouds perfectly. Retracing our steps for a bit, we continued towards lunch.
Along the way are hotels and cafes for hikers, bikers, or travelers who get hungry. This we took advantage of. I had "Toast Hawii," toast with ham and pineapple covered in cheese. It was quite good, but there was far too much. I felt kind of bad, but I didn't want to make myself sick. Unfortunately, it isn't custom in Europe to have to-go-boxes, so if you don't finish your plate, too bad. And I'm not sure how it would have faired on the hike back down.
Uwe and Heike and Herr Brause all had either mixed drinks or a beer with lunch. And when we'd taken a short break before, they'd had some then, too. This I don't quite understand, because I had been under the impression that drinking while exercising wasn't a good idea. When hiking you want to stay hydrated, but alcohol is dehydrating, right? Oh well.
The temperature was mostly perfect during the hike. Not too warm and just cool enough I was fine in jeans and a long-sleeved tshirt. On the final descent, it got a little warm, but maybe this was due to the lack of shade. We walked through the other side of town from where we had parked, including the little city park. By the time we got to the car, it was estimated that we had walked around 15 km. I'm not going to convert that right now, but it was fun and now I'm rather tired.
One of the cool things about the hike, was that whereever we were, we were always in sight of a giant wind mill. The kind they've been putting up for green energy. They're completely massive. A lot of the houses, farm or in the cities, have solar panels on the roofs. I find this very cool and wish we could have more like these in the States. I also saw cows, chickens, a bee hive and two paddocks of ponies. There are also a lot of wildflowers here, but you're not allowed to pick them. One last interesting aspect of the flora I saw, were rasberry bushes with tiny, tiny, red unriped rasberries.
Well, I'm at the house now, after looking at my email and facebook. We're all just having some downtime right now. I think there was a hockey game on between Germany and Sweden, but it's probably over right now. I'm sure I'll find something to do with myself.