Saturday we set out on another adventure. This is the furthest that I’ve traveled so far. We wanted to go visit the Black Forest which is known for its beautiful views, dense forests, waterfalls, picturesque towns, and the cuckoo clocks that are made there. There’s so much to the Black Forest and many, MANY places that you can go to visit various parts of the Black Forest. We wanted activity and fun and we wanted to see the waterfalls. My amazing neighbor found a place called Triberg that seemed to fit what we were looking for and we made a plan to head out on Saturday morning. Now, I’m a girl that loves my sleep, plus we both have a herd of kids, so we made the wise decision not to head out TOO early on Saturday. The drive would be about an hour and a half. We left at 10:30 that morning. We made a stop to get some cash because here in Germany its very common at this point for places not to take debit or credit cards. At our house, we didn’t tell our kids where we were going until we were on the drive. We did advise them to dress for lots of walking, cool temps, and to eat a good breakfast. They thought we were going on another Volksmarch and there was some whining and complaining from the Chicadee that went something like, “WHY do we HAVE to go?”
It was a beautiful day and the views along the drive were gorgeous! I didn’t get a lot of pictures because it’s hard to capture while moving.
Traffic was never backed up the entire way. It was a very pleasant drive. The only problem we had was one point when google instructed us to turn somewhere that it was not possible to turn. The road was blocked off. We turned around and got rerouted. This separated us from our neighbors for the rest of the drive, but we both ended up in the town at about the same time anyway. When we got to town, we weren’t sure about parking, because we have a big truck, but there was an option for parking up about midway between the downtown and the top of the mountain.
We found the parking just as we were about to turn around to head back downtown to park. Later we discovered there was outdoor parking in downtown as well. (Throwing this in for my Fayetteville friends: you had to pay for parking in both places.) It was chillier than it had been at home, so we layered up.
We set out up the mountain. Right away it was absolutely beautiful. You do walk right in without paying anything at first, you eventually come to the shack where you pay. For us it was 12.50 euro for our family of five. Plus we purchased some peanuts to feed the squirrels.
It was BEAUTIFUL!!! SoVery Beautiful!!! There were lots of waterfalls. The forest was beautiful and green. We especially loved the big rocks with moss growing on them. The squirrels were hard to catch on camera, but eventually we did. The kids enjoyed feeding them and the birds. The path was very steep at some points. It was an asphalt walkway mostly. There was wooden bridges that made for great picture spots. It was just amazing! We walked to the top, hung out for a few minutes and then headed back down to find the zip line/rope course. There was color coded paths that helped us get around. We did have to ask Chicadee to use her German language skills to ask a question because in one of the shacks the guy told us he spoke no English. We were looking for a big zip line experience……that may exist, but we did not find that. What we did find is a fun rope course where you climb up and cross over various types of bridges up in the trees and at the end of each rope course is a short zip line. They had 7 different courses you could choose from. Course 6 and 7 had age restrictions. Course 6 you had to be at least 12. Course 7 you had to be at least 14. Each course was higher and longer than the one before it. They also had a course much closer to the ground for the younger children to enjoy as well. They had to be able to reach a certain thing at the window in order to participate. I don’t know what height that means they had to be. We had 4 family members participate and it was 47 Euro for 2 hours of climbing. Our amazing neighbor’s 2 super cool sons joined us for this adventure as well. It was SO much fun!
First, we had to gear up and do the training. The training was done in English even though there were people of various languages there. We did not have time to do all the courses in the 2 hour time limit, but I did three of the 7. I think each of the kids did at least 3 as well. None of us tried number 7, we enjoyed being together on the courses and only 3 of us could’ve done number 7. There is no worker that is up on the course with you. You hook yourself up, and unhook yourself, but they teach you very well and you are always secured if you follow their directions. ALL of the kids enjoyed it SoVery much!! With a group of 5 kids ranging in age from 10-17 including boys and girls, that’s pretty spectacular to find. It was so nice to hear them giving each other tips, talking about what was difficult, sharing what they loved, and encouraging each other along. Even our clumsiest kids enjoyed themselves and did not get hurt.
The rest of the group decided to go explore the town, which was just a short walk away while the fun adult (that’s me) and the kids did the rope adventure. There were cute shops with hand made items, there were cafe’s, an Italian Pizzeria, ice cream shops, a beautiful creek going through town, and the house of 1000 clocks. (I was told to be sure I didn’t mess that up)
When we finished the rope adventure, we joined everyone in town. By the way, there’s a bathroom in the middle of town that you don’t have to pay to use. There is no place to use the bathroom on the paths or at the rope course. But the town is a very short walk from the rope course if you take the correct path. The pizza place was very accommodating. They did not have seating available when we first walked in, so we asked if they could save us the next table that became available. They told us they would do that and to come back in about 20 minutes. We ate ice cream first and walked around. The Cuckoo clocks were so detailed!! They even had more modern versions of clocks as well. The shops were closing up, it was about 6pm, so we didn’t get to see as much as the rest of the group did, but we still enjoyed it very much. We even got to catch the ringing of the church bells as we walked around. The pizza was delicious! It’s run by Italians, so you know…YUM! As a family we enjoyed a variety of pizzas, spaghetti, and espresso. They took debit card for payment, but there was also an ATM in town as well.
We all feel that this is definitely a trip worth doing again. There’s more to the rope course. There’s more to the town. We hear there’s even a place a little way out of town that does glass blowing!! Plus, I’d love to go back when I can stop all along the way to take pictures. It was all so amazing to see and experience. I am SoVery thankful that we were able to share it as a family and with wonderful friends. I would highly recommend this to other families. I would suggest packing a backpack with water and snacks (that came in very handy). We packed water, nuts, raisins, and apples. We also purchased some salami at a little place in town. I would say it may not be the best trip with little ones under 5, or just have a great plan for the younger ones. It’s a lot of walking, and some of it is very steep. If your little one is high energy and likes to climb and explore, and is old enough to do so on their own, its perfect! The 6 year old in our group enjoyed the day! I will say that even our rule following, very cautious, video gamer went on and on about how much fun he had. We may have started the day with sluggish kids and one complaining, we ended it with very appreciative kids that had an amazing adventure.
Keri SoVery... 
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