A group of friends from work and I headed down to Garmisch Germany for our extended weekend. The military owns a resort down there that caters to military families that makes for an easy vacation spot. The area offers several outdoors activities as its situated right in the mountain range of that area.
At the base of the castle 
The scaffolding really takes away from the beauty of it. The first day we chose to visit the Neuschwanstein Castle. This gigantic castle is nestled in bewteen two mountains and was Walt Disney's Inspiration for the 'Disney Castle' seen on all movies, products etc. We got a guided tour through the castle and ate lunch in the tiny village at the bottom of the mountain. No picture taking was allowed in the castle, which was a bummer. In the morning a heavy fog was surrounding the valley but as the sun came out it burned it all off and we went back to the bridge and took some good pictures.
you don't need to know German to read all the signs 
Neuschwanstein Castle The following day Allen, Zach and I went south for some white water rafting. We had to drive into Austria into the Oetz Valley do get to a higher point on the Inn River. After the hour drive we arrived and they got us going by getting us into our wetsuits and protective gear and then we loaded up and headed up to a flat part of the river. We needed the wetsuits because right before we shoved off we 'tested' the water and coming down from the mountain it was clear and COLD! After a short safety brief we hit our first rapids where the picture at the top of this post if from. Afterwards, in calmer water, the guide tipped the boat on purpose to let us feel what it felt like. Once I hit the water my heart almost stopped from the extreme temperature drop. Once I got used to it though it wasn't so bad and was actually having more fun floating in the river than on it. We don't have too many fast moving rivers in Kansas.
After 10 more sets of rapids, 14kilometers and about 4 more excursions outside the raft we shored and our afternoon was complete. After talking to the guide we were informed that these rapids were easy and should come back in June-July when the melted snow off the mountains is in the greatest volume, the rapids get to be 15 feet!
That night we ate dinner at an authentic Austrian restaurant which included yodeling and real 'slapdancers' dressed in the Austrian hillsmen ensemble as dinner entertainment. Picture below is one of the dancers and myself, a huge fan.
