Medium sized update...

So, bunches of stuff has happened, but no one thing was big enough for its own post... so I'm combining a bunch of updates into a single post.

So I took a quick-ish trip back to the states... a year and a half ago, I submitted an application for TSA's Global Entry program, to make it easier to get through security. I hoped to get it all done before we moved over here, but no dice. The first appointment that they had for the interview was the first week of May, this year. Bear in mind, I was looking at appointments in April of 2022.

Our recent trip to Dublin, we had hopes of being able to do my interview there, but that (obviously) fell through, so it looked like I was heading back across the big water.

Atlanta was one of the facilities that could do the interview upon arrival from an overseas flight, and I had a 4 hour layover there... so perhaps I could get my interview done while waiting, right? Well, I went to the booth and was placed third in line, about a 45 minute wait. An additional group of passengers arrived after me, and when the agent called up the first one from that group (effectively skipping my place in line), I went up to ask about it. He'd moved my place in line back, since I had such a long time before my connecting flight. I just got my passport back from him (since I already had an appointment scheduled for the following week). 

I caught my flight to Austin, and stayed with my folks for a few days. While there, I went on a couple of shopping sprees at HEB (we're a Texas family, after all!), and visited with a couple of friends who still live in the area.

I flew in to Nashville, and Cori (and her friend Alyssa) drove over and picked me up. 

While in Knoxville... I visited most of my folks from my old job (both fellow employees and old passengers), and visited most of my old haunts.

While I was in town, I scheduled a trip to visit one of my oldest (and best-est) friends, Larry, who lives in BFE North Carolina, talking Palmer into driving down with me - although the kids are 19 and 21, neither of them have ever met Larry, so I was especially looking forward to this trip. I also arranged to stop and see our friends Sam & Erica on our way by, as they're a short hour and a half (or so) from BFE, NC now.

The day before our trip, I smoked 2 big pork butts on the Traeger, and took one butt to Sam & Erica's, and one to Larry's. We had dinner with Sam & Erica the first night, then took the second pork butt to Larry's the next day.

Palmer & I hung out with Larry (and his wife & mother-in-law) for a few days, then drove back home.

I think I may have picked up a bug while traveling, so I didn't think it'd be a very good idea to visit any more of my folks in Oak Ridge, to avoid passing anything along to them.

I flew back to Austin for a couple more days - my ticket from Germany was FRA -> AUS -> FRA, with AUS -> BNA -> AUS there in the middle.

I flew back to Germany and got over my jet lag within a couple of days.

Both kids flew to Germany the following week. I'd seen a post online a while back about a big festival down in Nuremberg the first weekend in June ("Rock im Park", if you're interested), and Cori was interested in going, and quite excited about it. The number of people expected (close to 100,000 people) gave me hives just to think about, so the wife took one for the team and planned on accompanying her. Palmer came along just to hang out with me in the city while the girls were corrupting themselves.

I can't give you any detailed info about the concerts; Cori got to see the majority of the bands she was looking forward to, and got a picture taken with the lead singer of one of her favorite bands, Bury Tomorrow: 

The final act for the third day was the Foo Fighters, just to give you an indication of the caliber of bands that were there. I will post her pics at the bottom of the page,  so as not to subject y'all to a bunch of pics you're not interested in... but they're down there if you wanna check them out!

While the girls were partying... we'd found a place a little outside of town on VRBO (a competitor of Air B & B), and I chauffeured the girls to and from the concert. The first day, after dropping them off, Palmer and I went to find the local military base...

Back in the 70's, my father was stationed at a base in Germany. I ended up inheriting a stein that he'd brought back, and the decoration on the stein said "Vilseck," which happens to be located next to one of the biggest training bases in Europe, Grafenwoehr. I thought it'd be interesting to make a quick visit to the town and base while we were in the area. We stopped in the (quiet) town and took a couple of pics...

 

Palmer & I wandered around the Exchange and Commissary on the base, and had lunch at the food court (Popeye's Chicken & Taco Bell, respectively), then took a quick pic, then headed back to Nuremberg. 

We found a sporting goods store in town to buy a beach towel and a bunch of supplies that the wife requested (that would be good for them at the festival the following days), then he and I went swimming at a local thermal bath. 

I've gotten to where I really like these; they're usually not too crowded, and have various water sprayers and little stuff to do. This particular one had a lazy river, a big waterfall, and a separate section with 6 hot tubs. There was also a little gate to an area called "Solegrotto," which we didn't figure out the first day. The first day, we swam for a little over an hour, then stopped at a store, and headed to the apartment. I picked up the girls at a convenient meeting spot.

The next day we all headed into Nuremberg to wander around the tourist area together before the first band the girls were interested in seeing. We putzed around, had a quick bite to eat, then Palmer & I dropped them off close to the festival. He and I went back to the pool.

This time, we decided to explore the Solegrotto as well, and it was weird. It was a little basketball court sized room underneath the hot tub area, with a curved ceiling and nothing in there except a pool, with abstract patterns being projected onto one of the walls. We got in, and immediately found that the water was extremely salty - probably close to Dead Sea salty. I was unable to keep myself underwater for any amount of time, which was pretty handy, as I had shaved that morning, and the microscopic cuts on my face (left by any razor) were stinging and burning. Palmer and I agreed that we could feel our skin drying out while we were still in the water. Interesting sensation, but we didn't last long in there, not more than 10 - 15 minutes. 

Afterward, we headed back to the apartment, and I went down later that night to pick the girls up.

The following day was Sunday, and nothing is open in Germany on Sundays. We all headed to the base, just for something to do. We wasted about as much time as we could there, then headed back to the apartment. The only bands that the girls were planning on catching on Sunday were playing late - the Foo Fighters started at 9:00. I dropped them off at about 8, then picked up McDonalds for the boys.

The boss and I coordinated their return trip, I left the apartment a little after 11:00 to go back and get them, I guess there was one other band that was playing at the same time as the Foo Fighters, they went back and forth between the two bands.

This morning, we got up at around 9:00, packed up and drove the 2 1/2 hours to get home. 

Palmer will be here for 3 weeks, Cori will be staying a bit longer. We have a couple more trips planned, so watch this space!

Now, as promised, pics from the festival!

Pic	Band Name
	Bury Tomorrow
	Motionless in White
	The true star of the whole show, vacuuming the stage between acts
	Kings of Leon
	Arch Enemy
	The Architects, featuring some random guy's hands
	Motionless in White
	Jack Black (from Tenacious D)
	Foo Fighters (much more crowded than the others!)