houses and hiking

I think every update starts with "we've been busy". I am beginning to wonder if I just exaggerate our actual busyness or if we really are busy. But, alas, we have been a bit busy. This time it's been looking at houses to buy. Can I just say, this whole idea of buying a house is quite scary to me? I know it's like renting from the bank and hopefully we can at least get some of the money back. It's hard for me to commit to any place and sign my name on any line. We've seen a handful of houses of varying quality. The housing market here, at least the area we want to live, is challenging. It's more expensive per square foot here than the southeast but it's cheap compared to California. But a lot of people in our buying range are trying to purchase here. We found a little house built in 1907 that is in good shape in the general area we want to be. Everything is walkable and there are plenty of parks and large old trees. I guess you could say the area we can afford is "in transition". It can be a little hit and miss in ascetics due age and growth of suburbs in the past. But as with most of Salt Lake City, it's pretty darn safe. As more young folks move back into the city, it definitely can get much better.  Overall, I want to feel confident and care-free about committing. We will be here for at least three to five more years due to work. I know other people do this sort of thing all the time. That is great for them. I am still scared. I realize I am asking my confidence to be based on knowing with certainty the future.

I'll update y'all on the final verdict on this matter in time. But what I am going towards is how desperately I think knowing the future will give me confidence and peace. I think it would be gracious of God to give me foreknowledge in all life matters. When I think about that, I realize knowing would really limit the present moment. Already, a struggle is to not look to the future calendar and count down to the next big thing planned. If I were to know all things, would I really embrace the grace, love, mercy, and joy provided in the moments of life? I doubt I would. I am hoping I can see this need to trust God as a form of mercy and grace in my life. That goes not just for home buying, but all the things I worry that could happen or desire to happen.

There are other things we are realizing that we thought or wish we could control and plan that is ultimately not up to us to make happen. This also is driving me back to Jesus. Trusting. Trusting in a constant, loving, covenant God who is present with us moment by moment.

We always talk about how much there is to do here daily. We often are worn out come Saturday, we rarely go out to enjoy it. Sundays have become with busy with a ton of church responsibilities. However, this Saturday after getting good sleep, we skipped the farmers market and headed for the mountains. We had a lovely hike in the Uintas trekking Lofty Lake loop. Below are a few of the sights.

meadows with streams flowing

 Ingrid is about to take off sniffing

snack break with a view

snow patch, Ingrid flipped out
she loves to run around in snow and stick her nose in it

wildflowers, glacial lake, and rocky mountains. incredible.

So, that is where we are currently. Hope everyone is having a lovely summer.

summertime catch up

Summer has proven already to be a busy season. I am not surprised but I am also surprised. My mental images of summer go between sipping lemonade on the porch, slowly rocking in a chair as the sun sets, to hiking/biking/swimming/camping/cookouts/trips (insert outdoor activity)  and etc. We seem to be busy while trying to mix in some times to relax. Or maybe not just be busy for the sake of doing things but more purposeful activities.

Regardless, I am terrible at taking pictures of life. We have had friends and family come through. We have visited friends. I have little to no pictures of these activities. I'm not sure if that is good or bad, but that is how it is.

We started our post-europe-trip-life with a trip to Colorado for a dear friend's wedding. That was a quick weekend flight and quite busy, since Davis was a groomsman.

After that, we helped host a couple looking into SLC for a church planting apprenticeship. We are excited that they want to come here. We bonded rather quickly and hope it is the beginning of a longer friendship.

After that, friends through our Ridge Haven days stopped for a night on their way to Oregon for residency. Watermelon and board games on the front porch was the activity for the evening.

Shortly following, Davis' mom and sister came for about a week each. We had little time to show them Salt Lake City after our work days ended and their essential oils conference set them free.We are always grateful when family makes the trip to see us.

Since the 4th of July fell on a Friday, Davis got a free three day weekend. These opportunities are rare for us. Usually holiday weekends are used for flights and family visiting. We decided to use this time to head back to Colorado to catch up with some friends. One family of our dearest Fort Collins friends had very recently moved to Denver. We wanted to catch up with them some more, see how their new life was going, and hopefully be an encouragement as they start this new chapter. We talked a few of our other Fort Collins friends to come down and have a traditional "colorado family" gathering of food and chatting.  We also decided bomb pops necessary to celebrate, regardless of their dye#352745 content. Happy birthday America! We sat at a park overlooking the Broncos stadium but due to kids bed times and what not, we left before the big show started. However, from the hill in the park, we could see all the rogue fireworks in the surrounding neighborhoods.

this bunch is awesome. so dear to my heart. (eric and sarah had already left)

my best of all friends, viola

After two nights in Denver, we made a quick hop up to Boulder. Another Ridge Haven connection/life long friends have made this pseudo-utopia their long term home. It's a cool place for sure. But these guys are the real draw for us.

i stole this picture from lora

We biked to the farmers market, tried a few samples, picked out lunches, and picnicked in the park. Lora and Andrew have a little girl due to arrive mid-September. We had lots of fun guessing the name and sharing in their excitement After that adventure, we went to relax on the only beaches available in these parts. We soaked up the sun and water at Boulder Reservoir. Davis' hair took on a whole new look post swimming.

troll hair

We had a lovely dinner out on the town followed by board games. The next morning we headed home through Fort Collins. We stopped at a favorite coffee shop for juice. Funny, right? I love a well balanced  fresh vegetable juice and the Bean Cycle has one of my favorites. We also grabbed sandwiches and reminisced on our first summer of marriage spent figuring out life and Fort Collins. The smells that day, funny enough, asphalt and nature, took us back four years.  I say nature because I don't know what combination of what makes Fort Collins smell that way. But it's definitely unique in my mind. We wouldn't go back to that time but it was a tender moment reliving that time. It would be interesting if you could time travel and just experience certain moments  for maybe an hour. I would do that but I don't want to start over.

downtown fort collins from the bean cycle

The long drive gave us ample time to listen to books on tape, talk, and just observe. We both realize SLC is growing on us. We contemplate the idea of what it looks like to live somewhere whole-heartedly, not keeping the option to leave always in the back of your mind. It's hard to imagine putting roots into our transient community here, especially when our families aren't here. Anyways, that is another thought for another day.

We are entering nearly a two month lull of no planned visitors and travel. We want to do a little camping, swimming, hiking, and so on. The fall is starting to look busy with weddings and visitors. We are excited to establish a routine again.

Fussen

oops! I was looking at some pictures the other day and realized I skipped a set of pictures. Hating the thought of not sharing everything so you wouldn't miss a moment of the trip, I am finishing today. It won't be too much to read. Fussen is the town we stayed in after seeing THE castle. It turned out to be pretty awesome on it's own. It actually has it's own castle and monastery.

swanky-ish but very comfy hotel with an awesome breakfast

didn't notice this face until I took the picture
Oh, crazy ludwig!

After providing Davis adequate time to recover from our long walk to the castles (his knee was hurting), we headed to the town to look a bit and find some dinner. 

main street through town

around the corner to the castle

up to the castle

photo op on the way up

photo-op on the way down
i think this photo looks like it should be in a study aboard brochure

The castle was very different from the others we saw. Like people, castles come in all shapes, sizes and colors :)

painted castle

it was closed for the day but we walked around the courtyard

I think it says 1403 under there...

wall and castle from the other side

painted windows

tower at a gated entrance

After poking around the castle, we walked back down the path to the old catholic church just near the entrance. We walked in and look around there too before strolling all over the small town to find a quiet dinner location.

smaller town still epic church

all the art in all the churches were fantastic

out the window of the church, I spy a little industry

Our walk took us to the river, around the back side of town and by the monastery. We also found a very nice view of Fussen and it's red roofs.

painted buildings

a portion of the town on the other side of the river

part of the old wall and cemetery

part of the monastery and the old wall

hello Fussen, you are cute

wanderings

We wandered back through the streets, eventually settled on a dinner spot. We enjoyed delicious German food, beer, and wine. The wine was such a great deal. Three glasses for four euros. Winning!

davis' head for size comparison

Just because we had such a good deal for dinner, we felt the need to get extreme desserts from another shop down the street. After the overload of food, we waddled back to our room to rest and carry on to Nuremburg the next day.

the last stop on the vacation train: Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Our final stop, before the Frankfurt airport, was Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Yes, it is a tourist spot. It has been for over 100 years. In some ways, that is nice. We could just let go of trying to fit in and enjoy. We did fit in a little better than some tour groups anyways :)

So, this little Mid-evil walled town has remained largely unchanged for over 500 years. It's famous because it has not changed. Yes, sure they have plumbing and telephones but everything looks the same without the smells and filth of the olden days. Even other Germans come to see it, much like we go visit Williamsburg.


We stayed at a Rick Steves recommended guest house built in the 1500s run by a very friendly and talkative older German fellow (and there is free breakfast). It was more of accident for us, since we mostly used TripAdvisor. Now, we joked about all the people who walked all over Europe with their heads stuck in Rick Steves books, not to miss a thing but are missing things because well, you know. In Rothenburg, we went into a shop that had a 30 year relationship with Rick Steves.  We honestly accidentally picked his favorite shop (we are bad at souvenirs it was next to our dinner spot) and seriously had some good giggles over his stardom in this place. The shop owners were extremely proud of this connection. We also over heard another girl tell everyone in her tour group that she tried the ice cream flavors he recommended and they were fantastic apparently. All in all, he knows lots of great places to see, stay, explore, and also is good at picking out ice cream. He just isn't totally our style. Moving on...

no elevator here

the street Hotel Spitzweg is located

beds and beams

little top corner window was our room

We walked around town a bit before settling down for some dinner. Literally everyone and everything recommended the Nightwatchman's tour here. It started at 8pm and we had a little time to spare so we enjoyed a slow dinner.

who knows what everyone was looking at

For the record, the tour is totally worth it. Even though every other tourist is doing it, you should. It's a nice, funny, and interesting walk and talk showing the history and details of Rothenburg.

twilight lighting is fantastic

just two americans on a tour

So in brief, why Rothenburg is stuck in time... A long time ago, 1300s-1500, this town somehow ended up as a crossroads for trade routes. It was big for towns at the time and wealthy.  This can be seen especially in the grandeur of it's old churches. They are as big and as nice as places like Munich and Nuremburg. However, the sided with the wrong side during one of the thousands of wars from way back when (this time the Peasants War) and lost. Thus, starting a decline. Rothenburg went through a spiritual transformation soon after, becoming Lutheran after the Reformation. It then lost the money and power connection to the Holy Roman Empire. Time stops as everyone is too poor to do anything but survive. Fast forward to WWII. The city was ordered to be bombed in 1945 because some German forces were hiding there and Hilter mandated all his men to literally never surrender, even though it was basically a lost cause. Well, we bombed part of the city, not most of the cool part though. Then some higher up American commander remembered his mother had visited this city way back when it was a hipster's vacation location and bought a painting of the town. This guy grew up looking at the painting and was very saddened at the thought of blowing it up. Somehow he worked out a way to get the Germans to surrender and ordered the allies to not bomb the city. After the war, the town basically asks the world to donate  funds to rebuild the city that was bombed. Now, basically it is one of the best preserved and most visited places ever. And they like tourist because that is how they make money now and the world basically helped them rebuild.

So that is my version of the story, probably not 100% accurately remembered. It's a cool place regardless. So here are a bunch of pictures :)

one of the towers on the wall

After the tour we walked around more on our own. Started with a section of the wall. We finished our evening with some wine and beer before heading to bed.

view from the wall

another tower

davis and the wall

town

davis liked all the water features
this one had St. George and the dragon

famous little section of town

around the corner from our hotel

from the wall

old stuff..

davis at an entrance

Second day, we walked around city and country side. It was the perfect day to wander around and enjoy our last full day in Europe.

what we assumed to be old toilets

me at the famous spot

wandering through vineyards

old church out side of town

old double bridge

aint that quaint?

post card perfect rothenburg

old defensive tower from 1300s. doesn't seem too
defensive but it is cute

wanderings and i love greenery

We of course went into a few churches. It was a Sunday, so we waited until the afternoon. However that morning, we sat outside of one church and listened to the congregation sing. It was rather beautiful and comforting.

this guy is from the 1200s

Franziskanerkirche
former monastic church turned evangelical-Lutheran by
the reformation

After a lovely long day in Rothenburg, we took a train to Frankfurt. There we bought gummy bears and chocolate to soothe our sad hearts as vacation came to a close.