Black Forest

We are only a 2 hour drive from the Black Forest (in German it is "Schwarzwald" - "Schwarz" meaning black and "Wald" meaning Forest. I love how the Germans combine words to make new ones!!!) but we have taken 2.5 years to get there. On Saturday, we had a nice family outing on a rare sunny day to the wooded mountains of Southern Germany (which included Jared getting to hit the German Autobahn and reach 160 on the speedometer ..... kilometers per hour that is).

The Black Forest is bordered by the Rhine river and is the source of the Danube river. It is named because the trees were so thick that the locals couldn't see beyond the first row of trees (also the inspiration for lots of cool fairytales about nymphs and .... yes .... gnomes). We drove to Freiburg and saw the Cathedral, had lunch and then hit the road for lots of quaint villages in pretty valleys. Also made it to a beautiful lake (Titisee) where the cuckoo clock is made.

We finally found one we liked and took the plunge.

Here are some other memories of our day.