Homecoming is always such a fun time of year for the girls. Both of the girls looked beautiful in their new dresses. Emma went with her friend and teammate, John. They went just as friends and had the best time with some of their fellow teammates. Abby went with her group of girlfriends and had a blast. Apparently Homecoming this year was a step up from last year’s dance. Their biggest complaint – not enough slow songs. ABBY emma
Official time: 4:03.38 (6th in my age group) After a difficult week of not feeling great I showed up for this race and gave it everything I had. It was fun to start in Wave 1 with Zarya. I was strong but not overly fast up to Hydro and through the W’s. I hit all of my racing goals up to Barr Camp but then I lost some steam. I died a bit on that next 3-mile section. This was the only section that I didn’t train on over the summer. It was also the most difficult mentally to get through. I tried really hard to keep up with some of the other runners from my group that ended up passing me on this section, but it was all I could do to keep moving, even if that meant hiking fast. I recovered a bit when I hit A-frame and tried to run more than I did the previous 3 miles. I never stopped and tried to run as many runnable sections that I could. During the last half mile, I literally told myself to put one foot in front of the other. I was so grateful for Mike and Madeline who came to the top to cheer me on. I was also grateful for the many amazing friends at Striders who I was able to train with and who all did an amazing job! Madeline's birthday started out with me bringing donuts into her classroom for all of her classmates. I brought an assortment of donuts so that each of the kids got to pick the one they wanted. Then Madeline passed out some goody bags we had put together with bubbles, glow sticks, and ring pops. Madeline later told me that everyone really loved the donuts and the party bags.
Since this was an odd year, we celebrated with a family birthday for Madeline. Her biggest request was that I make a Pikachu cake. It had been quite some time since I had decorated a cake so I was relieved that this cake would be fairly easy to do. Madeline loved it and that is all that mattered. For her birthday this year she got Anna and Elsa barbie dolls from Grandma Anne and Grandpa Franz and a mermaid barbie doll, ramen squash mallow, little figurines, and a new bike from mom and dad. She was so excited by all of her new toys. We headed up to Denver to ride the Cherry Creek Trail with the girls. We somehow made it to 7 miles before we stopped the first time for Madeline. Then we rode another few miles to the lake and played for a while. We knew the way back would be a little harder for Madeline, so we made sure to take lots of breaks. She really got the hang of her new shifters which was a game changer for her. We stopped at Kneaders on our way back to break up the ride and to eat lunch. The éclair was just the energy boost that Madeline needed to finish the last few miles of the ride to the park. It really was a fun day with the girls and an impressive long ride for Madeline.
SWITZERLAND ANNIVERSARY TRIP . DAY 1 (AUG 3-4)
SWITZERLAND ANNIVERSARY TRIP . DAY 2 (AUG 5) SWITZERLAND ANNIVERSARY TRIP . DAY 3 (AUG 6) SWITZERLAND ANNIVERSARY TRIP . DAY 4 (AUG 7) SWITZERLAND ANNIVERSARY TRIP . DAY 5 (AUG 8) SWITZERLAND ANNIVERSARY TRIP . DAY 6 (AUG 9) SWITZERLAND ANNIVERSARY TRIP . DAY 7 (AUG 10) SWITZERLAND ANNIVERSARY TRIP . DAY 8 (AUG 11) SWITZERLAND ANNIVERSARY TRIP . DAY 9 (AUG 12) SWITZERLAND ANNIVERSARY TRIP . DAY 10 (AUG 13) EMMA’S ELITE BYU XC CAMP (AUG 7-10) FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL (AUG 14-15) SHOOTING WITH THE FAMILY (AUG 19) NEW DECK (AUG 21-29) EXERCISE IN AUGUST (AUG 2-31) SLICES OF LIFE (AUG 1-31) Madeline and Grandma Anne had loads of fun doing puzzles while Mike and I were in Switzerland. | I had such a bad reaction to whatever stung my toe in Lucerne. It was so red and so swollen that I ended up having to be put on antibiotics. | Mike has loved having his new truck and he loves the self-drive mode. We even tried to see if Andrew would fit in the frunk. | Andrew and I had fun bowling at the Summit while he was visiting. Then we headed to Costco to get him a hot dog. | Madeline loved playing video games with Andrew while he was visiting. | I love pulling up photos on my phone and seeing the cute selfies that Madeline takes of herself. | Abby and Emma went to the high school to paint Emma’s senior year parking spot. It turned out different than what they originally planned to do but it still looked amazing. | Everyone loves my homemade bread and so every week I keep making it. | Madeline jumps at every opportunity to go to Scheels to see the animals and play the car game. She gets so excited when she wins. | I went to Castle Rock to have lunch with Michelle and Karen. It was so nice to be able to catch up. | We are an EV family now. It was comical to see both of our cars side by side and get excited by the fact that neither one of us ever has to go to a gas station again. | I loved being able to go to the temple with Vicki. She has become one of my really good friends. | Madeline has really loved riding bikes in the evening after dinner. We usually head around the block on the sidewalk but one particular evening we rode all the way to the gravel trail. | I love when Mike sends me photos before he heads into the OR. He is such a badass. This was an exciting month of training for the Ascent and getting ready to go hike in Switzerland. I spent the first part of the month training on Barr Trail, Red Mountain, and Iron Mountain to help my body get accustomed to running up for an extended period of time. I was able to sneak in some mountain bike days at Section 16 in Black Forest and Red Rocks. On one particular run coming down the backside of Red Mountain I slipped and cut up my leg pretty bad. It didn't hurt all that much but startled me more than anything. My pride was a little hurt after that though. So glad Caryn was with me and had a wipe in her water bottle holder so I could clean myself up a bit. Other than that, I had no falls coming down Barr Trail during the many extended runs I did on that trail. By the end of the month, I made it all the way to Barr Camp on one of my runs and did it in record time.
After a summer of avoiding the deck stairs because we deemed them unsafe, we decided it was time to redo the entire deck. We have spent too many summers re-staining the deck just to make it look decent. After all the hail storms and adverse weather in Colorado, a wood deck just isn’t practical. We went ahead and upgraded to a composite deck with iron railings. We had them replace all the support beams and the other posts. The end product looked better than we could’ve imagined. No more staining for us. This deck will be maintenance free and should last the rest of the time we live in this house.
Andrew came to visit for a few days before heading back to school for the fall semester. One of the things he always requests to do when he comes home is to go shooting. We decided to make it a family afternoon adventure. Since not all of us can fit in Mike's new truck we had Andrew drive the 4Runner. We made our way up Mt. Herman road to the top to find a good spot to go shooting. Everyone loves shooting and the older girls usually end up shooting the rifles the most, but today's adventure found them trying out the handguns and loving it. Of all us girls, Abby made it closest to the bullseye with the handgun. Madeline just stuck with Grandma Candace's rifle, and she became really good at loading the bullets all by herself. After we were done shooting we drove to the end of the trail and enjoyed the amazing view. Then we stopped by the coolest playground in Woodland Park to let Madeline run around for a while. It was the perfect way to end a fun family adventure in the woods!
The older you get the more you dread the first day of school. Madeline, on the other hand, was so excited to head back to school so that she could be with her friends all day. Mike and I along with my parents all headed to the elementary school to wish Madeline off on her first day of school. I love how the elementary school has all the kids line up on the playground in their classes for the first day. It is a time for the parents to see which kids are in their class and to be part of a fun send off. It was a real treat to have Grandma Anne and Grandpa Franz there this year. The older girls choose to sleep in. Surprise Surprise! So, naturally we took a group photo the next day when the older girls had to go to school. MADELINE Second Grade with Mrs. Lindgren, Landsharks Run Club, Cello lessons Excited to meet new friends Most concerned about becoming stronger in math Favorite class is Library and Science ABBY 10th grade, Sophomore, Theatre Club, HS Musical, Honors World Literature, Chemistry, German 2, AP US Government, Geometry, Lifelong Sports, Study Hall, Seminary Excited about being part of the theatre club Most concerned about tests Favorite class is Theatre 3 and AP Gov EMMA
12th grade, Senior, Cross-country and Track Teams, Kokopelli run club, Violin, Piano, Chamber Orchestra, English National Honors Society, German National Honors Society, AP Calc AB, AP English Literature, AP German, US History, Women's Weights, Lifeguarding, Seminary Excited about almost being done with high school Most concerned college decisions Favorite class AP Lit Our last breakfast in Europe! Nooooo!. Mike had four or five croissants and cried as he finished the last one. How will he survive without fresh butter, jam, and delicious, delicious bread? After breakfast, we headed to the train station. We caught the train to Zurich where we changed trains and headed to the airport or flughaffen (one of Mike’s favorite German words along with gemüse and genau). We checked our bags, thought about taking the 4,000 dollars and staying another night since they oversold the flight, but then decided family trumps money. We then headed back down into the flughaffen train station, where we stocked up on Luxembergli, treats at the Migros and Orange / Peach Capri Sun! We drank our Capri Sun on the way to security, breezed through that, Passport control, the Duty-Free shops where we picked up some last-minute gifts, then took the train to the E gates. We waited for our Delta flight knowing that we were leaving croissants, fresh jam, cheese, butter, alpine meadows, and tasty fresh water behind us until the next time we are lucky enough to come back to a land where we can’t understand what people are saying so we are free to enjoy the beautiful world all around us.
Our last day in the mountains. Breakfast was grand and our Alpine Cosplay friends sat at the table next to ours. After breakfast, we packed up our stuff and caught the train to Spiez, then on to Bern where we switched to our train to Lucerne. Sara was bent on getting Madeline a cute dress from the French kid’s store and Mike just wanted to amble around. Both got their wish, and we even ran into the missionaries along the lakeshore. We ambled, shopped, and ambled. Now part of the mass of tourists trying to milk Lucerne for all its worth. None of them knew that we were not just regular tourists, but bad ass hikers that had conquered the king’s trail! None of them would have cared much anyway as they were all busy trying to buy fancy watches, kitschy knives, and take the perfect selfie. Our goal was to eat treats as we ambled and so we ate chocolate, Luxembergli (The champagne ones are gross btw), breads, and anything that looked tasty. We also were on the hunt for that Orange/Peach Capri sun as we hadn’t found it at any Coop or Migros since the first day. We tried on clothes, looked in fun stores at unnecessary stuff and just enjoyed a really hot afternoon in Lucerne. After some rest at the hotel watching Big on the British channels, we went out and got Pizza at La Bestia (it was really good) and wandered around town a little more to work off all that pizza. We walked past a concert by the lake, and then the unthinkable happened. Sara got stung by a bee on her toe! This emergency called for ice cream, and we got some tasty Gelato to help calm the nerves. This only helped a little, so we headed back to the hotel and watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 and 2. In all, that’s a perfect way to end the day for us. Lying in bed, watching a good movie as we iced Sara’s poor toe. leaving kandersteglucerneGriesap to Kandersteg via the Hohturli pass The monster day. Yesterday was a beast. Today was the beast’s ugly brother from out of town. Fortunately, it started with breakfast where we had the most wonderful Muesli ever created. It was divine. We packed up our stuff and picked up lunch from the hotel and headed up the path. And up it was from the start. Through beautiful forest, by the river, by waterfalls we hiked past endless spruce trees until we emerged onto the side of the mountain. The sun was high in the sky, and it was hot. With over 4,700 feet of climbing to the highest pass on the Via Alpina, we had a long day ahead of us. We headed up until we came to the first farm and restaurant of the ascent toward Hohtürli / Blümlisalphütte. When we arrived at Oberi Bundalp, we ate some chocolate, used the restrooms, listened to the swine make horrible noises, and then headed on pretty quickly so we could gain the summit by lunch. The hike from the restaurant got real steep, real fast. Fortunately, there were benches along the way which we took advantage of as our legs were tired from the prior day. The last part of the hike was up steep, steep steps, the Swiss incline! Sara decided to strut her stuff and basically ran up the last 250 meters to the summit. Mike just did his best not to fall off the mountain, but still managed to pass people on his way to the summit. After a brutal ascent, the reward was amazing views of the mountain’s glaciers and a cool mountain hut where we had lunch. They had a restaurant there and people were eating sausage, hashbrowns, and drinking beer. I don’t know how the Swiss hike so fast while eating such heavy food. They are a remarkable people in both engineering but also functioning highly while eating food that is clearly not on any diet plan.
After taking in the amazing views, we started out on the long (and I mean really long) steep descent from the pass to lake Oeschinesse. The descent was long, steep, and rocky with crazy steep grades. So naturally, there was some lunatic mountain biking down it. He had mad skills, because we could barely walk down it. By the time we got to the lake, we were pretty exhausted. None the less, Mike stripped down and jumped in the water and Sara soaked her feet. It was a nice moment to regroup for the long descent to Kandersteg. The lake was beautiful and the cliffs staggering. However, our favorite part was the ice cream. Without it, we would not have made it down the final steep descent to town. We skipped the gondola to show how bad ass we were and wandered into Kandersteg exhausted but thrilled we made it. We never did see that other American family. For all we know, they are still trying to find Griesalp. Kandersteg was gorgeous. The views of the mountain pristine. Our hotel was delightful and the dinner perfect on the patio. The lamb was exquisite, there were some people in old school Swiss outfits (like Cosplay for Alpine folk), and the guy sitting next to us just enjoying life. No phones, no distractions, just the perfect Alpine air, beautiful views, and delightful food. Our view from our room’s balcony was probably the best of the trip in many ways. Not as grand as the Eiger, but just perfect. The little church in the field had a light go on as the night settled into the valley. In our minds, a little Swiss lady was playing the organ as people sang hymns in that little church thanking God for this wonderful place. Emma has attended BYU XC camp in years past but this year they opened up a new camp for Elite girl runners. She roomed with a girl named Brie who was living at the Naval Base in Yokosuka and so they had loads of things to talk about since Emma lived there when she was younger. There were about 40 girls at this camp, and all were pretty serious runners which was amazing. Some of the girls on the BYU XC team came and talked with the girls. Emma even had two of the girls sign her Vaporfly shoes. This camp was more about inspiring these girls to make running a fun part of their life. During a time trial on the track each of the girls got to wear a BYU jersey and take a photo with Diljeet Taylor who is the head women's XC coach. It was Emma's favorite XC camp of all time.
Wengen to Lauterbrunnen to Murren via train and cableway Murren to Sefinenfurgge to Griesalp via Via Alpina route The big days begin. From the moment Mike planned this trip, he has been dreading today and the next day. These were the big ones. Wengen to Lauterbrunnen to Murren to the pass and down to Griesalp was our adventure for the day. We ate breakfast, probably the most meager one of the trip, and then headed out early to catch the train down to the valley. There were no clouds in the sky. It was a perfect day for what is commonly known as the most beautiful segment of the Via Alpina. It did not disappoint. The views of the valley from the train were spectacular. Having already done Lauterbrunnen the day before, we headed directly to the gondola, bought our tickets, and headed up the mountain. What a blessing it was to go up to Murren by gondola and train. We met a man on the train who had been hiking in Switzerland but didn’t invest in good socks. Good socks are where it’s at when you’re hiking, but especially in the Swiss Alps. From Murren we headed out into the forest and began our steep ascent up to the pass, the Sefinenfurgge. The views were absolutely amazing. The Eiger, the Monch, and Jungfrau loomed large the whole trip and were soon joined by other mountains, more glaciers, and more peaks. It was staggering in the bright sun with alpine flowers blossoming everywhere. Truly, this was a heavenly place! As we climbed, we ran into a family from America that was not prepared for this hike and clearly had no idea what they were getting into. You could tell the dad didn’t think it through very well before he planned this hike. It was as brutal as it was breathtaking, and they had a long way to go to get to the hotels in the Kiental valley. Half way up, we stopped at a little farm (after busting our way through the herd) and ate some lunch on the bench in the shade. We saw a cowgirl walking with a big stick to go beat the crap out of a cow, or maybe the Americans, but either way, she was a little intimidating. So, we ate lunch, and headed back out on the trail that was now fully exposed in the sun as we crested the peak to the pass. The views from the pass were second to none and we celebrated our summit with selfies and chocolate. From there, we started the long and grueling descent to Griesalp (actually our mountain hotel was past Griesalp, so bonus hiking for us). In all, it was a beautiful hike, but a brutal descent. In stark contrast to the American family, was an old Swiss lady we saw hiking up the mountain at a perfectly steady pace. She caught us on the descent as we were filling up water at one of the randomly placed water spickets that dot Switzerland’s mountains. She told us which way to go, and we descended into the woods toward our hotel. We did finally see some goats, one of which was desperately in need of a good milking. After a long descent, we arrived at the hotel Waldrand, a historic hotel where we got to share a bathroom with two other couples. Dinner was wonderful and we sat outside looking at the mountains and giant waterfalls in the cool summer evening. It was a wonderful meal, and the people were super nice. The menu was all in German and we asked the hostess what one of the dishes was, and she thought for a moment and said, “little moo”. Perfect, we’ll have the little moo and the pork cordon bleu. It was a great meal and a wonderful end to a long and tiring day. With memories of beautiful mountain peaks, we fell asleep listening to the Germans next to us laugh and make commentary that we could not understand at all as we snuggled under our fluffy Swiss comforters. It was bliss.
Grindelwald - Eigergletscher - Jungfraujoch Goodbye Belvedere, Hello trail! One more amazing breakfast and then back out into the wild, well sort of. Because the weather was decent, we decided to go to the top of Europe (or at least the highest train station in Europe), the Jungfraujoch. We took the Eiger Express gondola from Grindelwald and then hoped on the train that goes through the mountain (literally for 20 minutes) in a tunnel dug over 100 years ago. When the Swiss get bored or have a problem, they did a tunnel. The top was cooler than I thought it would be. The views of the glaciers and the three main peaks (the Eiger, the Monch, and the Jungfrau) were staggering. We could have done without the annoying Chinese tourists (not being racist here, but Chinese tourists are the worst since they have no sense of personal space, how to wait in line, or be politely quiet). It was pretty obvious that even the Swiss were constantly annoyed. Undeterred, we enjoyed our tour of the summit, the ice caves, the freezing cold, and the grand vistas. From there, we headed back down to the mountain in the train to a different stop where we had lunch looking back up at the mountains. We then made a critical error. Instead of hiking up the mountain and taking the gondola down to Wengen (or the train for that matter), we then hiked down to Wengen. While there were some good views, this was a rather forgettable hike on a gravel road and our feet were not happy to be going down for many, many, steep, steep miles. Oh well, we made it to the hotel with sad feet. Our hotel that night was quaint (a far cry from the Belvedere), but pleasant. Thomas, the inn keeper was very nice and helpful. Since it was so early in the day, we decided to take the train down to Lauterbrunnen (our second mistake of the day). Where Wengen has amazing views of the valley and is very quiet, Lauterbrunnen was overrun with more tourists. Having already had our fill of tourists at the Jungfraujoch, we weren’t impressed and didn’t stay long. We headed back up to Wengen for dinner to escape the hoards or humanity. Our third mistake was not making a dinner reservation before we left, so we got turned away from the restaurant nearest our hotel. We then wandered deeper into Wengen and stopped at a pasta place that smelled like ass, so we went to a traditional Swiss restaurant (finally not a mistake)! The food was excellent and the couples around us chatty and fun. We sat next to an Anglican pastor and his wife of one year who were very chatty and full of commentary. He runs a church outside of London, but in the summer comes to Switzerland to run the church there. What a gig! Then there was a couple from Greece with their little kiddos. Everyone was quite jovial, so the day ended on a very positive note, especially when the ice cream and apple strudel came out. We gave our unused train tickets to the Greek family, so they didn’t have to walk down the trail to Lauterbrunnen in the dark and returned to our little hotel full, exhausted, and laughing about our conversations with our dinner friends. jungfraujochhike to wengen Kleine Scheidegg - Wengen wengenlauterbrunnenGrindelwald - Grosse Scheidegg Summit - First - Grindelwald Breakfast! Every morning it’s so exciting to get up and have a crazy awesome breakfast. Today was no different and Mike has now eaten his weight in croissants and jam. After breakfast, we headed out on an e-bike adventure! It was a beautiful day, so we headed back up to the pass and then over to First. We absolutely loved the e-bikes, until Mike’s ran out of power. Then it wasn’t so much love as it was suffering, but it was worth it. The views were grand and the suffering worth it. We ate lunch at First after unsuccessfully trying to find some way to charge Mike’s bike. The hotel was gracious when we called to tell us they wouldn’t charge us, so that was nice. The people at the bike shop at First were super nice, but in the end unsuccessful. We ate lunch, Mike hit his head on a ski rack and made a nice bruise, and then decided to go even further up the mountain to the lake. From there, we would take the downhill trail back to town. Little did we know that the downhill trail was this psycho double black mountain bike course with death looming at every turn. Sara, of course, rode it to show up the Swiss people watching, but it was pretty crazy. Fortunately, that turned into a road later on and most of the trip down was super flowy and fun. It would have been a quick trip down, but we had two cow related delays. The cows were on the move and being taken back to the barn, so the whole village showed up to move them. It was quite fun to see and probably the first time we have ever had to wait for cows when we were biking. All in all, it was a wonderfully fun day, with crazy views, fun adventures, and it all ended with a delightful dinner back at the Belvedere. The evening weather was wonderful and the views of the Eiger just staggering. Truly, this is a beautiful place.
Meiringen to Grindelwald via Grosse Scheidegg Summit After such a wonderful dinner, and with a full day of hiking ahead of us, we were eager for our Swiss breakfast. It did not disappoint. There was so much wonderful food in the morning to fuel our day. The chef asked us what our plans were for the day and gave us some hiking advice, which we followed and ended up making the day awesome. He told us there was no rush since the clouds wouldn’t start clearing until nine o’clock, so we took our time then headed out into the rain to take the funicular up to Reichenbach falls. These are the famous falls where Sherlock Holmes met his end. Of course, none of that is real, but the town really markets it like it was a real thing. The funicular was awesome and saved us about 1,000 feet of steep vertical ascent, which was great because we still climbed over 4,000 feet later on. When we got to the top, we got to talk to Peter on FB messenger! What fun it was to talk with him. It always makes our day better. After using half Mike’s phone battery on that call, we headed up the steep trail away from the falls and toward the Grosse Scheidegg pass.
The chef was right, and the hike was staggeringly beautiful along a soft dirt alpine trail, slowly rising toward the pass through lush forests. It was truly magical and didn’t feel like we were climbing as much as we really were. About half way up, the clouds cleared, and we got our first glimpse of the Wetterhorn and were completely blown away. It’s so big and grand that it’s hard to take in. We ate lunch at Rosli by a little hotel on a little green bench. Sara discovered the joy of Orange/Peach Capri Sun and Europe’s version of Sun Chips. From the lunch spot, the trail got more and more Alpine with less trees and more staggering views. We made it to the top, exhausted, but exhilarated by the amazing climb and the views of the mountains. We were so grateful that the clouds cleared up enough for us to see the mountains in their grandeur. With it being late, we decided not to head over to First and take the gondola down, rather we took the Post Bus down to Grindelwald. This proved fun because the bus plays this wonky little horn medley when it comes around the corner, so you know the Post bus is coming. It was entertaining. We walked over to our hotel, the Belvedere, which would be our home for the next two days. We checked into our room, then headed to the hot tub and just soaked away our sore legs and feet. Both of us were sore! We weren’t used to hiking 12 miles a day, so it felt good to sit in the hot tub, listen to loud annoying Americans be loud and annoying, and then be grateful when they left. The Belvedere is a fairly swanky little establishment so for dinner we had another five-course meal. However, there was a problem in the kitchen and the main course took a long time to come out. In all, it was like a three-hour dinner. The main course was pretty forgettable, but we were just glad to be warm, cozy, and looking at the magnificent peaks of the Eiger, the Monch, and the Jungfrau looming large over the village. It was quite a sight to behold. Engelberg to Meiringen via Alpina Route 1 and then took Route 40 With the closest church being hours away, Sunday saw the start of our hiking excursion rather early. We got up, enjoyed a wonderful breakfast with our hotel mates from yesterday (the happy coupe with a baby and the grumpy couple from the Middle East). We checked out, left our bags for the delivery service (Eurotrek) and headed across the street to the Coop to get some lunch supplies. From there, we walked over to the gondola and rode up to lake Trubsee. This would cut off quite a bit of the hike in the rain, which was the right thing to do. At the lake, we found Schmuggli! It was probably the highlight of that part of the trip. We then walked around the lake in the cold rain to the chair lift that would take us up to the pass. Fortunately, the chair lifts had plastic covers, otherwise, we would have been even more cold and wet. It was a fairly mixed sky at the top and it was clearly snowing just a few hundred feet up from our location. Fortunately, we were headed down. Sara wanted to take some quick shots with her camera and promptly dropped her hiking stick in cow crap without realizing it. She then proceeded to smear the cow crap all over her jacket, hat, and hood. I turned around and she was covered in crap, it was raining, it was windy and cold. Not a great start to our long hiking adventure! Fortunately, we recovered from this moment and started hiking down the mountain. The skies would clear from time to time, but overall, it was a rainy day. By the time we reached the halfway point, the hotel at Engstlenalp, we were wet and tired. We stopped to use the restroom, ate some overpriced carrot cake, and met a young couple from the states. They were camping their way through the Alps and looked wet and stinky. She was from Vail, and he was from southern California. It’s good to be young and stinky!
We headed out from our latest Wes Anderson hotel and decided to change plans and follow the lower route to our destination instead of the higher route. This was probably a good decision and saved us from hiking in the snow. We also got to hike down this ravine with amazing waterfalls and followed Gandalf for a while until we found Rivendale. It was such a lush and beautiful canyon that the time passed quickly, until it didn’t. Going downhill for 12 miles gets a little rough on the feet and we were starting to get tired and needed a bathroom. There was a farm selling Alpine cheese and butter. So, we rang the doorbell and discovered that the young girl didn’t speak English, and as our kids will tell you, we don’t speak German. Fortunately, she spoke French so Mike negotiated the purchase of some Alpine butter and Sara got to use the bathroom in the barn. We then continued hiking briskly until we got to the Meiringen gondola. Oh, blessed gondola that took us down the last 1,000 feet to the town. I think we would have been found dead on the trail if we had to go down another 2 miles of steep rocky trails. In all, the first day saw us traveling 18 miles, so we didn’t feel bad taking the gondola down. We arrived at our boutique hotel and gave great thanks for the abundant hot water in Switzerland and their awesome water pressure. After returning ourselves to human form, we headed downstairs for dinner. It was quite amazing. The chef prepared a five-course meal, and we enjoyed every inch of it. From the ceviche (yes ceviche in Switzerland) to the perfectly cooked steak, it was quite the treat after our long, long cold hike in the rain. After dinner, we promptly fell into a food coma. Someone must have taken us upstairs because we woke up the next day in our room. It’s 3 AM and time to get up! At least that’s what our bodies and minds did. Get up, get up, get up! It was still dark, so we laid in bed and probably fell back asleep, but then were fully wake again by six or so. The plan was to go up the gondolas into the mountains and hang out on Mount Titlis, but the day was cloudy and rainy, and you couldn’t see the mountains at all in the morning. The webcams at the summit were totally greyed out, so we decided to head back to Lucerne for a day in the city. But, not before we had a tasty breakfast! Oh, the joys of European hotels where they have amazing food for breakfast. Fresh bread, fresh jam, fresh yoghurt and granola, croissants aplenty, cheese for days, fresh juices, eggs, sausage and of course gemüse! There is nothing like stewed vegetables for breakfast. Europeans really take their time eating in the morning, for lunch and for dinner. It’s a nice way to live. Not a nice way to live was the Muslim couple behind us. The wife was all bundled up and the husband was a douche bag. It made everyone very uncomfortable. I think Sara felt like she had to go liberate this lady from her and take her out on the town, go watch Pitch Perfect 2 and have a girl’s day at the spa, because they were pretty hard core. Obviously, we saw plenty of happy Muslim couples on our trip, but this was a bit hard to see. So, we stopped seeing it and left for Lucerne. The train ride down was pleasant, and we arrived back at the Lucerne train station with no rain and somewhat sunny skies. It was a perfect day for a walk around the town. We saw the Castle bridge first and admired all the pretty flowers. We then admired all the chocolate and bought some Luxembergli. The first taste of these little macaroons are life changing. It was a wonderful moment and we walked from there up to the sad Lion monument that commemorates the lives of Swiss conscripts killed serving French Kings. It was kind of a staggering number in the end. It also seems to be the lion that they based the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe on because he was a dead ringer for Asland. We then walked through the shopping area and back over to the Castle bridge (and crossed it this time) taking the obligate number of selfies. Then it was shopping time for a few minutes (Sara found Madeline some cute clothes that were more expensive than our last car). In a panic, Mike discovered a distraction: lunch! So, we ate fondue and salad down by the river. Following lunch there was more strolling to other bridges, watching ducks surf the rapids, and then off to the castle wall that sits on a hill overlooking the city. The views from the top were outstanding, but the best part (in Mike’s mind) was that there were two little girls from the UK that sounded 100% exactly like Bluey and Bingo. Mesmerized, we unknowingly followed them down the stairs and out into the courtyard where the parents politely told us to “pop off”. No, actually they were a super nice family, and we enjoyed a quick little convo with them. We popped back up the castle for some more amazing views, and some more Luxembergli. We ate these while sitting at the lake watching the swans swim by and wondering why we don’t live in Switzerland. One of the boats on the lake was even named the Wilhelm Tell, so it seemed like a sign. Tired from our day in Lucerne, we hopped back on the train to Engelberg. By now, the clouds had cleared up and we went for a long walk around the town, up into the canyons and marveled at the beautiful views. It was stunning. So much green, so much water, so may mountains! It really is a beautiful place, and we were grateful to be able to see it without being covered in clouds. After our long walk, we found another Italian style place and got a pizza and some dessert. What struck us the most was that everyone else, after they finished their meals, pulled out card games and started playing them at the tables. It was so fun to see friends and families, just sitting playing games after dinner instead of getting back on their phones. Very refreshing. No games for us, however, we were again exhausted, so it was off to bed. train ride to lucernelucernewalk around engelberg |
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