Finding Adventure

I'm ruined. I spent too much time outside, hiking and biking and rope course teetering in the shadow of mountains like this:

Garmisch-Partenkirchen is one of my favorite places on earth. In the 2 1/2 years we were stationed in Germany, we went here at least five times. But we had to go back. For one thing, the Partnachklamm (Partnach Gorge) is there, and I'll never tire of walking beside its roar through the dim tunnels and ledges that make up the trail. Maybe it's the writer in me, but I always get the sensation that I'm IN a story---a very, very good one where there is danger and bold deeds and something to be won if you persevere.

Onward and inward!

Yes, you will get wet.

And then there was more hiking and biking and kayaking and swimming and chilling on a boat in a place I'd never been before: Croatia. Oh, my. Mountains AND water.

Can you make out the name of our boat? It's Bozidar, "Gift From God." And it was.

I was so glad not to be on a cruise ship like the one in the background, but instead on our 100 year old beauty, crewed by accomplished sailors, one of whom made the best cappuccino I've ever had. The kids leapt from the top of the deck,

while I discovered that that same deck was the perfect place to read.

And in both countries, we ate as if we'd never had food before, on patios, decks, and balconies. Food like this,

eaten high up on a mountain, after hiking for two hours, served on a civilized tablecloth-bedecked table with beer and massive cake for dessert. Then on to hike some more.

In Croatia, there were meals that lasted three hours---through the sunset and beyond---because there's always room for one more platter of giant prawns right? (Seriously, one night, after seemingly fifty courses, the whole group burst out laughing when the prawns arrived. REALLY? What were we, a NFL team in training?)

But really, the best part was that I just lived. No writing, no blogging, no mental blogging, no processing. Just absorbing, listening, smelling, tasting, feeling, walking, sleeping, climbing, laughing, talking. There were times on trains when people chatted away around me and I LOVED not knowing what they were saying. It's freeing, being a stranger and an outsider and an observer. Like that is your job.

Which, as a writer, it is.

Now it's time to engage again. I may be ruined forever, but I think I'm also ready. Adventure awaits!