austrian/turkish xmas

i spent the holidays with the folks in austria visiting my brother and sister-in-law. i was to arrive on dec 16th but before leaving for the airport from hickory i realized i had forgotten my passport in tennessee. i called travelocity to see if i could change the flight. i was told it would be $1600 or $5000 to fly to following day. it didnt look like i would be spending the holidays with the family. fortunately my mom was at the airport and got me on the standby list for 200$ and i flew the next day. disaster averted!!

nathan and alex and i went rodeling (sledding) one day with better results than last time (see austrian mountain crash), enjoyed beer and pretzels at the mountain hut before plummeting down the hill in the dark.







my parents arrived on the 23rd and we performed the famous family Von Spees (Trapp) christmas special for the unsuspecting austrians. it wasnt pretty. out of tune and jet lagged!!



snuggi really


we went to alex's mother's hometown in east tirol, the mountain city, tennessee of austria, and they took me to the world cup of womens downhill ski race.








my mother is a dork


we strapped on skis with skins and skied up to a ski hut. i hadnt skied in 12 years and it took some getting used to but i didnt die and looked reeel tough tumbling down.


pretty tough huh


family with the local blacksmith


nathan and i went to turkey for a couple days to cappadokia. known for cave churches craved into the sandstone.


find the little gnome


nathan incited a spontaneous turkish nights dance party @ the local restaurant


we met some german/maltese friends and hiked with them








amazing ceiling pictographs in the churches