I Roamed and Rambled and Followed my Footsteps

Do you recognize those words?  

They continue:

To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts

And all around me a voice was sounding

This land was made for you and me

Here's a few more:

The sun came shining as I was strolling

The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling

The fog was lifting a voice came chanting

This land was made for you and me

Back in the day, when I worked at Philmont Scout Ranch for a summer, we would whip out the guitar and belt out this song with the kiddos.  Corny as it might sound, I loved singing that song.  It was there at Philmont, and at Zion National Park where I also worked for a summer, that I grew an immense love for nature and the outdoors, specifically hiking. 

So, naturally, when I heard about volksmarching in Germany, I became VERY interested.

Volksmarching is a form of non-competitive fitness walking.  Basically, a bunch of people get together and go walking in the great outdoors.  You can choose how far you want to go... 20 km, 10 km, or 5 km.  They have volksmarches every weekend all over the country. 

 So a couple weeks ago I attended our local "Stuttgart German-American Wandering Club" meeting where I learned what volksmarching is all about.  Our local chapter is just one of about 150 wandering clubs in Germany!  

                     

Everyone was really nice, but I was surprised that I was pretty much the youngest one there.  As in, this is a club for people more like my parents' ages.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, but, it just didn't seem like the hippest place to be (no offense senior citizens).  After the meeting I went and joined Ben who was at a nearby Irish pub for a fantasy football draft with his coworkers.  His club seemed a lot cooler.  

Regardless... 

It still appealed to me... getting exercise while exploring the country without having to spend a lot of money!  And what I really want is to instill in my kids a love for nature and the outdoors.

So Saturday I dragged the fam out to our first volksmarch.  We decided to ignore the forecast for rain, because, come on, if we let the forecast dictate our weekend plans we'd never go anywhere!  

After about 5 minutes of hitting the trail, Emily complained that her legs hurt and she was tired.  She wanted to ride in the stroller.  Sigh.    

A potato farmer trying to get the mud out of his tractor tires

One of the club members, Bill, was nice enough to accompany us on our first "march."  We went into the Schonbuch Forest.

To keep the kids engaged there were questions posted along the trail for them to answer on a sheet.  When they turned in the answers at the end, they got a prize. Em was all over it.

The only problem was the questions were all in German.  Fortunately, Bill knew enough to help translate for us. 

One of the rest stops along the way

And as you can see, volksmarching isn't just for the girls.  Is it just me or are my hips about six inches wider after delivering a 9 lb. baby?!?  Double sigh.  BTW, that's beets behind us.  Schrute farm, maybe? 

And our reward afterwards, Black Forest Cake, mmmm...

And Em enjoys a soft breaded pretzel!  Not sure she's so deserving since she walked MAYBE one kilometer out of the 5k walk.  But, hey, it was our first one.  Slowly but surely we'll get there, that is, if I can ever convince them to go again.