The Jennifer Road Trip

Our friend Jenny Rich has been hanging out with us for a few weeks. It has been really great to have her around. We have all had a lot of fun with her.

I posted a couple of weeks ago that Elisa and I had some "daddy-daughter time" while Jenny and Jennifer went on a road trip together. This post is an account of their adventure together - taken from Jenny's point of view.

Oi!

After a day and a half of rest, I've finally downloaded my pictures from the trip to Gramado, Aparado da Serra (aka awesome canyon with waterfall), and Canela. We've shopped, survived a horrible rocky road (not the ice cream...), made friends with a chef, enjoyed nature, and met some really nice store owners. Overall, it was a terrific trip, and I think Jenn and I are both really thankful that we shortened and redirected the trip a bit.

Gramado: think Fredericksburg or Boerne. This really cute little town is home to many German immigrants. It's in the hills, and many Brazilians come to Gramado for vacation in the winter to experience "cold". So, even though it was 80 degrees when we were there, we still saw people dressed for winter in coats and scarves. Strange. Gramado is also home to an incredible fondue restaurant that Jenn and Sascha bring all of their guests to. We took 3 hours to eat lunch... and then they had to roll us out of the restaurant. We even outlasted 2 other tables of people that arrived after us. The picture shows the meat course. After lunch we strolled around town in the various little shops, ate a light dinner, and checked into a hotel where all of the staff knew Jenn by name and where we got a discount (she had planned a few conferences and retreats there). There are benefits to being a creature of habit.

Aparado da Serra: The next morning we leisurely ate b'fast at the hotel (lots of pao de quiejo--think cheese bread meets susie souffle meets yummy crispiness...mmmmm). Then we headed to the canyon, which was a 2 hour drive through the hills. We stopped in a tiny town with a visitor center before tackling the incredibly rough and bumpy 40 min drive to the canyons on a rocky road. When we finally got to the national park, we thanked God that we made it safely, paid our entrance fees, and were rewarded with the nicest paved road in the country of Brazil, I'm convinced. What a treat! I think Jenn's still recovering from that road.

The canyon was incredible. We walked around the canyon for most of the afternoon, and the weather couldn't have been better (see pics of canyon). On the walk, we decided to change our plans once again, and instead of driving to another canyon the next day, we decided to head back towards Gramado and stay in Canela, which is very similar. And what a good decision that was!

Pictures of the canyon

Canela: oh, Canela. How I loved Canela. Oh boy, here we go. We ate dinner at this fabulous German restaurant that is run out of a house. The family that own it was hanging out in the front yard when we got there, and said they opened in about 15 more minutes. They let us come in anyway and for a long time, we were their only customers. So that meant extra special service! The chef (his name is Norbert, yes it is) came out and talked to us on multiple occasions, and when we were stuffed with German goodness, he asked if we wanted dessert. But both of us were so full that we couldn't have fit any more in, so we said we'd come back the next day after lunch. He said they'd close around 2 or 2:30, so come before then, and we planned on around 1:30pm. Then we headed back to the hotel and I crashed by 9pm. What a good day!

Fast forward to another lovely b'fast at the hotel, then shopping around town where we met lots of nice store owners that waved bye to us as we left. We found a cute flower shop that had all sorts of dried flower arrangements, including dried lilies, hydrangeas, leaves, etc, etc, etc. We spent lots of time in there, and even went back later that day....

Fast forward again to the German restaurant after a snacky lunch. We didn't get there until 2pm b/c of some ATM difficulties and we only had 17 reais between us... which was not quite enough money for 2 apple strudels and 2 coffees.... and Norbert said that he had a stack of dishes that needed cleaning... and I just assumed that we would SPLIT one apple strudel and have water, but both Jenn and Norbert said that would not be possible at all, whatsoever, how could I even suggest such a thing! So he ended up giving us free coffee. Later on as Jenn and Norbert were swapping recipes for American chili, he asked if we had tried his brownie...why no we hadn't.... and he brought us out a sample to try. He had even drizzled the plate with chocolate and added powdered sugar (see pic of Norbert with brownie). :)

Oh what a good day. We left Canela full and happy and planned on stopping in Gramado at the ATM, but on the way we were stopped by a blitz--which is the military police in the middle of the road randomly stopping cars and checking for registration and licenses. It almost ruined the day and our car was close to being impounded... but after praying for mercy, we were able to be on our way about 30 min later...

"The Blitz"

We got home, cooked a quick dinner, and headed to a Bible study across town. We've been recovering at home ever since.