Birthday Weekend Trip to Edelweiß Resort

What a long and lovely weekend it has been!  For my birthday, Jeff took us on a surprise vacation to Edelweiß Resort and Lodge!  

The view from in front of our hotel:

The mountains surrounding this area are so beautiful and simply breathtaking...photos just can't capture the majesty.

We spent the weekend exploring  Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and were able to get in some mini-golf, a photo shoot, a gorge hike and two carriage rides! 

Here are some photos from our adventures!

The Olympic ski jump from the 1936 Olympics!  This was the starting point of our hike to Partnachklamm (Gorge).

The empty hand of this statue used to hold a famous Nazi symbol, the swastika. We were told that Garmisch and Partenkirchen used to be two separate towns, but in order to win the Olympic bid, they had to be combined, and by the eloquent persuasion of Hitler, the two mayors agreed to join into the hyphenated town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.  

Here was where we got the tickets into the Gorge...

...and the entrance to the Gorge.

They used to use this gorge to send giant logs down from the top of the mountain, but many times the logs would get jammed up so many lumberjacks lost their lives being sent down to loosen the jams...there was a memorial set up for the lost lives at the beginning of the gorge (I just failed to take a photo). 

At our turnaround, there was a nice area for the girls to dip their toes...icy glacial water...very clear and beautifully aquamarine water.

And the baby and I did the hike, too...here's the sweaty proof.  

It all took about three and a half hours...even with wee-legs walking most of the way...in her fast-paced, dawdling manner.

As for the photo shoot, we need to wait for the actual photos, but here are some sneak peeks from our own cameras:

Some other random shots from the weekend:

The girls enjoyed the carriage ride and meeting the horses.

Ballroom dancing?

Venturing around town.

Playground fun!

She crawled into this thing...and I just watched...bad mommy.

Sweet napping Alpine baby.

All in all, it was a wonderfully relaxing, fun-filled birthday weekend!  

Happy birthday to me!  :)