I like that boulder...that is a nice boulder (week 4)

It has come to my attention, that when it comes to things that are out of my comfort zone (like making travel plans), I tend to just go along with what other people are doing. I haven't picked a destination and been "YES, there, there is where I shall go, I will find people to go with me, and they shall be my friends". Typically I just lop myself into other people's plans, and it just takes all that stress and tension away. This is how I ended up going somewhere I had never really heard of before, Triberg. It is in the Black Forest, which I had heard of, and we were to go there for hiking, which I desperately needed because I did not schlop my clunky hiking boots here for nothing. It was a one night trip, in Germany, and so it sounded achievable to me.
When we arrived in Triberg, we discovered the train station was most certainly not in the center of town, and the town, in fact, appeared to be a series of maybe 3 main streets. We really only ventured along one street. And bless, that one street had all we needed. We awkwardly checked into our hotel first (I say awkwardly because there was four of us, and the room was for 2, so only two went up so as to not arose suspicion), we went straight to try and find some hiking. So with a quick application of sunscreen, we headed down the street to the entrance to the trail up to Germany's tallest waterfall. We discovered you had to pay 5 euros to get in, we got two people on each ticket. I kept one ticket. (Keep this in mind for it will be important later). The trail to the waterfall was actually quite quick, we stopped for pictures and to eat a lunch with a view. We spent the next hour or so wondering around the branching trails but they were also rather short. We decided eventually a cake break was in order. A black forest cake break. And there happened to be a cafe right by the trail entrance. Here is my summary of black forest cake, keeping in mind we only had one, so....maybe there were better ones. It was meh. The chocolate cake was very dry, and there was maybe too much whipped cream. The rum soaked cherries were interesting. It was worth the try. We did some souvenir shopping after that, and I will admit to caving and purchasing a small cuckoo clock. It was just so cute. And it said Germany. And it was only 9.50 euros. Worth it. After this we went in search of the famed giant cuckoo clock, but it was not found, for even the locals were pointing us in different directions. Sad. It was at this point we decided "lets try and do some more hiking, because so far....we haven't actually done much". So we approached the entrance again, and I realized......I lost our ticket. Whoops. Ticket lady was not impressed. So we decided to just try and wander around the "mountain" and see if we could find another trail. This was a fortunate choice, as we ran into a couple that pointed out there was another trail entrance where the ticket lady had just left. So.....we sneaked into the trail. And this was new trail, so success!!! It was away from all the crowds around the waterfall, and seemed to go on for a while. So we wondered. And it was really, really nice. We saw few people, it was fairly quiet, we stopped frequently for funny pictures. At one point we just sat on the trail, listening to a stream, and basically meditated. It was very serene. I just felt so at peace. No cigarette smoke, no sweaty crowds, no hot cement.....just tall trees, babbling brooks, streaming golden sunshine, and (as the title suggests like Shrek) lots of nice boulders.
Our evening took a turn for the shocking and nerve wracking though. I pointed out, as we crossed this bridge that overlooked a small river/stream, that this would be a great spot to take a picture of everyone's aggie hats. I will point out that I then laughed and said with our luck a hat would fall below. However, the picture was planned. It was shot. All good so far. Carol went for her hat, grabbed the bill...and then we don't know exactly what happened. It fell maybe 2-3 meters below, into the river. Thankfully it got caught on a log, and we could see it holding on for its life. Mary Cate, the hero that she is, decided that Carol and her were going to go down to get it. Keep in mind, it was not an easy path down to the river. It was through a thick, foliage dense ravine with rotting logs. However, with caution, a pokey stick, and a confused glance from a passerby, the hat was successfully retrieved. We warned Carol now that the hat is sacred, and can never be lost again. As worrying as it was at the time, it ended being a great bonding experience, and kind of just really made that hike memorable.
After our hat fiasco, we went to find dinner and somewhere to watch the world cup game. We ended up at a fairly empty outdoor patio (nice that it wasn't busy, but it did get really cold). We got big bowls of spaghetti (except gluten free Carol), to replenish our carbs after the hike. It was actually my  first time watching a soccer game all the way through, so it was nice that it was one that we won. After we beat Sweden, people were driving through the streets honking their horns like crazy, waving German flags...it was quite the spectacle!
That night we fit four people in a bed meant for two, but hey, more bonding time! I had not expected to enjoy our trip to Triberg so much, and I think the fact that Triberg was so small, and we did find isolated hiking paths, made it a really rejuvenating experience for me. It was the breath of fresh air I needed. I wish we had more time to explore the Black Forest, but I am glad we at least made the trek out there.