Dahn

We had a four day weekend over President's Day and we we planning on having lots of fun during the time off. It wasn't until the very last day of our long weekend that we finally went out and did something.  The weather was beautiful - sunny and not too cold -  so we decided to explore a little more in one of my favorite towns, Dahn.  We didn't all go out exploring though, Madison had homework that she'd put off to the last minute (she gets the procrastinating from me) and Samantha had a play date planned that she didn't want to miss.  But, the rest of us loaded up in the Dragon and headed out for some fun.

Our first stop was the Teufelstisch, or Devil's Table.  It's a crazy rock formation in the middle of the forest.  The story is that the Devil was walking through the forest and wanted a place to rest and eat.  He made a table and chair out of the rocks and when he was finished with his meal, he took the chair along with him and left the table behind.  We parked down below, hiked up to the rocks, and climbed around for a while.

Natalie had a great time dragging her feet through the muddy dirt all around the base of the table.  She told me she was walking carefully, but I could see the path she'd taken in the mud and it looked very deliberate to me.

Abigail spent most of her time climbing up one boulder just so she could jump off of it and onto the next one.  

I love the little bit of sky you can see through the column of stone on the right.  It's crazy that  two stone columns can hold up that huge boulder.  

Abigail and Natalie took a break from climbing, jumping, and splashing through mud to smile for me.

Then we had lunch at a little Imbiss by the side of the road before continuing on our way.  Our plan was to go the basket factory for a little shopping, but it was a German holiday and it had closed early that day and we were 15 minutes too late to shop.  It was a little disappointing, but I made plans in my head to go again another day that was not a German holiday.

So we continued down the road to the castles instead.  I'd been there once before with Becca, but it was fun to take the girls somewhere new.  The castles aren't much to see anymore, but they're free and there lots of neat places to climb and explore.  I loved the views of the surrounding towns and forests, Natalie liked to climb to all the highest places we could reach, Emily liked imagining which room would be her bedroom, and Abigail checked every well we came across to see if she could hear her echo.

The little space just in front of my feet?  That's the division between two of the castles.  They really were built very close together.  And my shoes?  I've had those since our trip to Ireland with the Kennedy's in 2003 and they are the best exploring shoes ever.

We climbed up this tall, tall ladder to get to the top of a lookout tower.  Natalie was fearless, which was kind of scary for the rest of us.  It was Emily who was the real brave one and set aside her fear of heights and climbed up the ladder and then back down.

Emily before we talked her into climbing to the top of the tower.  Even though this has a nice view, it didn't make the cut as a potential Emily bedroom because it was too small.

There was a huge wooden wheel hooked up to a crane that was used  to transport heavy things into and out of the castle.  The wheel doesn't turn anymore, but it was still fun to climb and play on.

Natalie is the princess of this castle and she has the crown to prove it.

And finally, some fun horses to play around on.