Location: Rheinland Pfalz, Germany

So today was a good day. Just the way I like to spend a beautiful Saturday in Germany. First I went to a cadavear museum. It was good, but it wasn't what I expected it to be; it was quite literally bodies opened up to show the insides. Apparently the man who created the way for bodies to be autopsied and then preserved was a native German and therefore they have a museum here to salute him! Germans are smart people, but because of the Haloucast a lot of the Germans moved out of the country and therefore their inventions and discoveries were given to the country they were living. Such as America with the atomic bomb or anything Einstein. ;)

So then as I got back to K-town I had plans to go to the rod and gun club. Yesterday was a friend of mine, Barney's, birthday; the big 2-4 he is. So we went out to dinner yesterday as a group of friends, but today he wanted to go shooting. So I told him I would go. I've been looking forward to it. I've never shot a gun before, but I figured it should be fun... RIGHT????

So we get there, and we're talking to the people about checking out a gun for me to shoot and we decide on a .22 pistol. The pistol was a tiny thing, no kickback, so it worked well. I didn't do so well with the .22; it wasn't in the best of shape and so the aim was a bit off.

Barney had not checked out a gun to help me with my shooting at first and so after I fired off 50 rounds we went and got him a pistol. He went and grabbed a .40 Cal beretta; bigger gun, nice gun, big kickback. So he made me shoot about 15 rounds to get a feel for it. It was a bit of a gun, but it was a lot more accurate. Hit the target everytime and even went right through the cener a couple times. I was soooooo PROUD!!! Barney was pretty impressed too :)

So we spent a few good hours shooting and just shooting the breeze. All in all again, good weekend :) I'm kind of addicted to the power now, I want to go back and get some more practice I figure if I ever go into the military I need to be certain I know how to use a gun huh? I think the next gun is going to be a 9 mil. I'm not turning into a redneck though, don't worry :)

Where in the World is Sara D. Ray? Now you know.

Location: Bitburg, Germany

So here is the post I've been waiting to write ever since about August. Tawni will be happy to see this one ;)

Back in August one of my friends, TJ, and I took off to Bitburg. Bitburg is an old Army post city and now that the Army has pulled out of there it is good for one thing... SKYDIVING!

So here we are getting all suited up, you can see my tandem jumper in the back with me, he's little but so cool. Pretty simple right? Well, yeah, but then they put the harness on ya, and they gotta lift ya to make sure it is on good and tight... Here's a picture of TJ getting lifted. Poor guy.

We then headed out to the plane; in the briefing they told us to duck so as not to hit our heads. Do you think I remembered that? No. I ran smack into the wing. Not fun. The plane is actually way little; so I was basically sitting right on top of my jumper. I think he actually enjoyed it. haha.

So we get up to our desired height and TJ jumps first; he was closer to the door. They also said it was so that he wouldn't chicken out, they had to make him go first ;) haha! So they open the door (it's been opened the whole time), he puts one foot out, counts to three, and the next thing I know, he's GONE! I was like what the?

Now it's my turn. Trust me, it's an adrenaline rush! Foot goes out, wind is rushing pulling you out of the plane, it's CRAZY! So again, one... two... three... Out we go! Pictures are a coming!

We free fell for about 30 seconds, and then the chute got pulled. My guy let me steer us down; it was cool! So we get to about 70 feet off the ground and he takes the straps from me, and he yells into my ear (so I could hear him), "now let's scare them..." and we begin tight spiralling down to the ground.

Everyone thought we were going to die. It was hillarious! Our landing wasn't the best, my guy being about half my size wasn't tall enough to keep us from crashing into the ground. But the guy TJ jumped with told him that my guy does that with all the pretty girls; so I dunno.

Yeah, that was us jumping. I know it was like 6 months ago, but hey, it was still fun!

Where in the world is Sara D. Ray? Now ya know.

Location: Brugges, Belgium

So for the President's Day weekend I took off and went to Brugges. Originally it was supposed to be Berlin, but Brugges is closer and therefore appealed more to me. :)

So Brugges, what can I say about it? It was an amazing weekend!

Brugges is the only city in Europe that has been completely preserved from the middle Ages. It still has it's complete city wall, and even a moat. Yes, it has a moat.

So we stayed at a B&B about 400 meters from the city and it was really nice actually. So it was cold the first day. I felt so bad because we got out there and about 20 mins into it I was running from the shaddows just trying to find the sun. I think I was a little difficult the first day and I felt bad. But anyhow. So we went to this big tower looking thing, yest that's how we referred to it, because the people who wanted to go called it that.

So much like all other towers in Europe you can climb to the top, but of course for a price haha. Sorry, so up we went and went... and went. But it's not as far up as the Cologne Cathedral. About 3/4 of the way up is a big ole wheel like thing. It's much like you would find in a music box.

So all it is; is the part of the clock on the tower that plays music at the top of every hour. Crazy big, but it's cool to see it go round. Takes an hour just to wind itself up but then it plays for about 5 mins. Then an hour to wind up and then it goes off again. Crazy, but it's cool. So of course I have pictures from the top.

Hmm, so where did we go next? Oh yeah, headed off to the Chocolate Factory; Yes, they have one in Brugges. Brugges is actually one of the biggest producers of chocolate in the world. Crazy huh? But what's cool is on our way to the chocolate factory on the side of the road was parked this...

Dudes, that's an Aston Martin! Ok, so I wouldn't have noticed it if someone hadn't pointed it out to me, but I've never seen one in person... Have you?

So the Chocolate Factory is pretty nice. Free samples as you walk in, and then all sorts of good information throughout the factory. Pretty neat.

After the Factory we took off down to the Lach. It's the lake in the city. Got a ton of Swans and Geese in it. They are not fun! Evil creatures actually. Truly dislike them. Grr to the evil fowels. Ok, sorry.

So that was the Lach. We walked around the town, mind you it isn't that big; so it took us all of 20 mins to walk from one end of the city to the other. We get to the other end of the city and lo-and-behold, another gate. Remember, this is the only city in Europe preserved entirely from the midevial ages.

As we walked along the outskirts of town, we ran into a bunch of windmills. Some of the people I went with think that windmills are soothing. What do you think?

So after walking through the nice park we ran into this building... It's a nunnery, or do they call them convents? I don't know. But it's cool.

The afternoon was nice, just walking around, it really is a nice city. But the weekend spent there was amazing!

The next day it was much of the same, wake up, walk around, see things, eat delicious food, all well worth it. I found a really nice place to stand on top of to get some good aerial shots of the city. Check them out.

That pretty much ends the weekend of Brugges. It was good, and luckily we had good weather for most of it. Definitely on the must sees for people visiting the Western Europe area.

Where in the world is Sara D. Ray? Now you know.