Woke up about 8:30 this morning after staying up until 2 a.m. calling home for an hour or so. It was sure good to hear Steve & Eric's voices! They "complained" that they were starving and had no food, and the dishes were piled up to the kitchen window. Somehow I don't believe a word of it...
I let Scott sleep until 10:30, then got him up. We had cereal and juice then got going. We first drove into Spangdahlem itself as there was a cache nearby. How fitting for me to have "Mom's Cache" (that was the name!) be the closest cache to the base and the first one I found in Germany. Then we were on our way to Vianden, Luxembourg to see the castle there.
We ran into some road construction along the way, so had to take some very interesting roads to get to where we were going. Scott is really enjoying driving me along these roads, loves making me "freak out" as I'm not a great passenger to begin with (ask Steve!) Finally found our way to Vianden, then there was a bit more road construction so we had to take another detour to the castle. But well worth it...an interesting castle. It had been in ruin and was restored about 30 years ago.
After we left the castle, I wanted to look for a nearby geocache. It turned out to be over a half mile away so I was reluctant to take that long of a walk (that would be one way then the same to return, of course) since I've been doing a LOT of walking for the last week plus. Scott seemed to take that as a challenge to get us closer using the roads. I'm using the term "roads" loosely as they were narrow and turned into more of a two-track. We finally decided to stop about .3 of a mile away from the cache as the crow flies, and walked the rest of the way. The view from the cache site was excellent! We decided to try the road that went right past the cache (really more of a path, even Scott said he probably would not have wanted to drive there) and that took us a bit off the way to the Blazer. We ended up having to climb a steep hill but we made it. Lots of work for one Luxembourg cache!
Once back in Vianden, we stopped at a gas station for cold drinks and snacks. Then used Scott's GPS to make our way down to Luxembourg City and the American Memorial Cemetery to visit General Patton's gravesite and the rest of the cemetery. Wish we'd had more time there, we arrived only about a half hour before closing. We ran into a few snags along the way as the GPS gave some wrong turn options. One sent us through this tunnel and back through the same town a second time, adding about 15 minutes to our trip. That wouldn't have been so bad except that there was a construction delay in town and we got to experience it twice!
After the cemetery, we headed back towards the base. We hit another construction delay near Trier, but then got off the autobahn and took some secondary roads. We ended up going right past another cache about five miles south of the base. Scott ended up finding this one! I've been dropping trackables, mostly coins, all day, I'm down to six or seven now. I've been dipping them into caches along the way so even if I have to return with a few at least they've been traveling.
Once back to the base, Scott gave me a daylight tour and had to stop by his shop. His friends came out to meet me so then Scott brought me into the shop and gave me the "grand" (all of about 5 minutes) tour and introduced me to those who hadn't come out to meet me. Then, we went to Pizza Hut, ordered a Hawaiian pizza, and brought it back to his room where we've been hanging out watching movies and (me) on the internet. It's really been relaxing just spending time together, I don't have to be entertained every minute.
Tomorrow we plan to go up the Mosel and visit the Burg Eltz castle, and possibly another castle in Cochem. Looking forward to one more day together, then the morning in Trier on Thursday before I leave to go back to Paris (to catch my plane Friday morning.)
I let Scott sleep until 10:30, then got him up. We had cereal and juice then got going. We first drove into Spangdahlem itself as there was a cache nearby. How fitting for me to have "Mom's Cache" (that was the name!) be the closest cache to the base and the first one I found in Germany. Then we were on our way to Vianden, Luxembourg to see the castle there.
We ran into some road construction along the way, so had to take some very interesting roads to get to where we were going. Scott is really enjoying driving me along these roads, loves making me "freak out" as I'm not a great passenger to begin with (ask Steve!) Finally found our way to Vianden, then there was a bit more road construction so we had to take another detour to the castle. But well worth it...an interesting castle. It had been in ruin and was restored about 30 years ago.
After we left the castle, I wanted to look for a nearby geocache. It turned out to be over a half mile away so I was reluctant to take that long of a walk (that would be one way then the same to return, of course) since I've been doing a LOT of walking for the last week plus. Scott seemed to take that as a challenge to get us closer using the roads. I'm using the term "roads" loosely as they were narrow and turned into more of a two-track. We finally decided to stop about .3 of a mile away from the cache as the crow flies, and walked the rest of the way. The view from the cache site was excellent! We decided to try the road that went right past the cache (really more of a path, even Scott said he probably would not have wanted to drive there) and that took us a bit off the way to the Blazer. We ended up having to climb a steep hill but we made it. Lots of work for one Luxembourg cache!
Once back in Vianden, we stopped at a gas station for cold drinks and snacks. Then used Scott's GPS to make our way down to Luxembourg City and the American Memorial Cemetery to visit General Patton's gravesite and the rest of the cemetery. Wish we'd had more time there, we arrived only about a half hour before closing. We ran into a few snags along the way as the GPS gave some wrong turn options. One sent us through this tunnel and back through the same town a second time, adding about 15 minutes to our trip. That wouldn't have been so bad except that there was a construction delay in town and we got to experience it twice!
After the cemetery, we headed back towards the base. We hit another construction delay near Trier, but then got off the autobahn and took some secondary roads. We ended up going right past another cache about five miles south of the base. Scott ended up finding this one! I've been dropping trackables, mostly coins, all day, I'm down to six or seven now. I've been dipping them into caches along the way so even if I have to return with a few at least they've been traveling.
Once back to the base, Scott gave me a daylight tour and had to stop by his shop. His friends came out to meet me so then Scott brought me into the shop and gave me the "grand" (all of about 5 minutes) tour and introduced me to those who hadn't come out to meet me. Then, we went to Pizza Hut, ordered a Hawaiian pizza, and brought it back to his room where we've been hanging out watching movies and (me) on the internet. It's really been relaxing just spending time together, I don't have to be entertained every minute.
Tomorrow we plan to go up the Mosel and visit the Burg Eltz castle, and possibly another castle in Cochem. Looking forward to one more day together, then the morning in Trier on Thursday before I leave to go back to Paris (to catch my plane Friday morning.)
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