Our Travels to the Mecca

Directions? Check. Empty stomachs? Check. Tide pens? Double check. Gas? Hummmm, it might have been smart to think about that before we headed out of town. We heard the rumors about this Chili's existing about 45 minutes away from Wiesbaden and decided to make the journey on Saturday afternoon. We got a later start than we hoped but we were still excited about the prospect of some real American food, in particular, chips and salsa where the chips were NOT doritos. After driving completely the WRONG way for about 30 minutes we realized we were not going the right way and had to turn around. At this point we should have realized that we didn't have enough gas to get to the Kaiserslautern area. Around 2pm we rolled into a gas station on some random base running on FUMES. Seemed that everyone that lived in a 15 mile radius of this gas station was getting gas right at that exact same time. Ugh. It was nearly 2:30 by the time that we got to the elusive Chili's! I couldn't believe how crowded it was at 2:30pm but at least we got to sit right down. I thought I had died and gone to heaven when our awesome chips and salsa arrived.And yes, that is a big icy diet coke next to the chips. When I was finished with that one, they brought me ANOTHER! This is unheard of in Germany! No place here has free refills and I constantly feel like I am rationing my sips of diet coke through out my meals! Especially since they normally cost over 4 dollars for a tiny bottle! I ordered the Cajun Club and Deaner got a chicken sandwich.I ate so many chips that I could only eat about half of my sandwich but it was still delicious. We will totally be making the journey again when we need a fix of American food. I should throw in there that we NEVER ate at Chili's at home. They don't have many inside the perimeter in Atlanta and with all the other good restaurants there, we didn't often dine at Chili's. I do have a new found respect for it now!! And there is a Macaroni Grill opening next to Chili's in the next few months! Why can't we get these kinds of places in Wiesbaden!? Oh well, probably for the best that we are forced to branch out and try new things! I didn't even have to break out the Tide pen for Deaner!

Last night we had a great dinner with Jon and Steph. It was nice outside and we got to dine on their super nice balcony. It was great company! This morning we woke up and Deaner somehow managed to talk me into take a drive over to a town close to Wiesbaden called Konigstein. There is a castle in Konigstein that we hiked up to and it was beautiful. I was pretty happy because the walk up to the castle was not long at all!! Here are some pictures of the castle.In case you were wondering, yes, Deaner did make me climb up to the top of that castle! The steps were so narrow but I made it alive! :)On the way home I kept seeing these signs.I understand that they are Deer Crossing signs and obviously we have them in the States as well. My question is why in the world are they necessary?! Isn't a deer is going to cross the road where ever the hell it wants to!? This sign in particular states that the Deer Crossing is only for the next 3.5km. Hmmmm, thank goodness the deer here are so smart they know only to cross within that distance to the sign!

I have a busy few days coming up. We leave for Lakenheath, England on Tuesday, come home Friday, and leave again for Rome. So I basically have to be packed for both trips before we leave Tuesday. Wish me luck sticking to my 22 pound bag weight limit! I'm planning on packing and taking my bag to the gym to weigh it! Hope everyone had a great weekend!!