the one with the road trip to Austria

I guess I'm on a roll.

Really I just looked back and realized the last trip I had blogged (journaled) was Italy. I knew that hand't been the last trip I was on.

Since Italy I have gone to Mallorca, Paris (for the 3rd time), Ireland, and Austria.

All these trips were quite memorable.

The 1st was Mallorca. I was actually very sick the day I left for that trip, but the sunshine of Spain seemed to be the best medicine. Isaac had a work trip so I was looking for a n y o n e willing to travel with me to somewhere warm. It was the middle of March and quite cold in Germany. I ended up chatting with a new client, and we quickly realized our husbands would be gone around the same time. So, after one session (one hour), we decided we would book a trip together.

Five days on an island (the plane only came in and out every 5 days) off the coast of Spain with basically a stranger. I even let her spend the night at my apartment the night before we left! I'm crazy! However, God really has a way of showing Himself to be in all and over all. It turns out she loves Jesus too, and we clicked so well that she became one of my best friends here in Germany.

The 2nd was Ireland. Though I didn't love the city of Dublin, we were able to get out to the coast and w o w. Absolutely beautiful and green just like you'd imagine it would be.

And 3rd was Paris. Again. But I could never complain because I love Paris. We had some close friends (framily) come to stay with us for a couple weeks, and they wanted to see the city of lights. Isaac originally wasn't going to be able to join us, but he booked a last minute train ticket a couple days after I got there (in a romantic story that I won't bore you with the details of).

Anyways, onto Austria.

The usual reason I book trips is because Isaac has a work trip. So, here I was again. Searching for someone to go somewhere with me. A wife of one of my husband's coworkers agreed to go on a road trip with me to Austria to do some hiking.

It was only about a three hour drive, and we arrived at our airbnb in the late afternoon.

We had rented an entire apartment because she had a little one, and the view from my room (and I'm assuming from her's as well) was absolutely beautiful. Realizing very quickly that we were hungry, we headed out of the apartment to find somewhere to have dinner.

It was a really beautiful city, and you can see from this picture that we had picturesque mountain views from dinner.

Yet again, God has His hand in everything, and through our conversation I quickly found out this this lady also loves the Lord. God is so good.

We came up with a plan for the next morning, which included me stopping to get us some coffee and baked goods from a local bakery.

Our first hike was mostly on a bridge attached to sheer rock face. Regina did not handle the grates well. I felt so horrible for her because afterward, her poor pads were bloodied from her walking with her paws spread apart. I saw lots of other dogs along our way who were doing just fine, but not Regina. She low crawled almost the entire way until we were on solid ground.

The views were really pretty though. It felt like something you'd see on the Travel Channel. The water was so incredibly blue against the lush green trees.

After some time we were on solid ground, standing at the base of some mountains.

There was a restaurant nearby, which it's fairly common here in Europe to have restaurants at the end of hikes.

We were a little confused on which way to go when we realized that you could purchase tickets there to head into the Leutasch Gorge.

This had to be the prettiest part of the whole day. The water was an unreal color of blue.

Also, Regina didn't mind this bridge so much.

I mean this looks like something straight out of National Geographic.

In total that hike was about 5 miles. After we made it back to the car, we headed back to the town we were staying in and got some much needed post workout carbs. Pizza. After rereading some of my old posts, I realize this seems to be a theme to my travels. Pizza & coffee & baked goods.

I fed Regina little pieces here and there. Mostly because she was behaving super well, but also because I felt horrible for her poor paws.

We had a relaxing evening back at the airbnb. I always sleep like a rock on these types of trips.

The next day we were actually checking out of the apartment, so we loaded up the car (after I made another trip to the bakery). This morning Regina also got super snuggly with the baby, which I thought was the cutest thing.

We still planned on doing a hike that day, and then just driving back to Germany immediately afterwards. The hike we planned on doing this day again said it would be a 5 mile loop with some a m a z i n g views.

With a little one & the dog, we thought this would be perfect.

After hiking, and hiking, and hiking, we realized the website had been wrong. This wasn't a 5 mile loop, but 5 miles one way. Straight up hill. In the hot sun. With a very unhappy baby.

I just remember I kept offering to my friend that we could turn back, but she was very adamant that we had come too far (though I think we alternated voicing our concerns that this hike could be even longer than 10 miles). But we pressed on.

And o h m y g o o d n e s s am I glad we did, because the views that we saw once we finally broke through the tree line were absolutely incredible.

Also, this little guy came right up to the fence and let me pet him. Regina was scared of him.

I can't get over these views. Totally worth it.

There was a restaurant on top of this mountain run by an Austrian family. We ordered food, because of course we were starving, having hiked much longer than we were prepared for. I love a dish over here called Käsespätzle, which is basically glorified macaroni and cheese. After we had finished eating, we got out our cards to pay, only to be told they only accept cash.

God is just in these trips I go on. And it's so incredible humbling, I can't even begin to tell you.

We combined what cash and coins we had, only to discover we had just enough (within 5 cents) to pay for our food and drinks.

God is real. And He is good. So very good.