June 7-14, 2014
Even after barely over a month of the road, it was already wonderful to be able to see familiar faces. Upon hearing about our trip, my parents decided to try to meet us along the way, and settled on coming to Switzerland. They traded in one of their timeshare weeks and got a nice condo at Portes du Soleil, a ski/summer resort on the French/Swiss border.
We planned to meet in the town of Monthey, an industrial/commercial town that happened to be the closest with a train station to where we needed to go. My parents had rented a car and planned to pick us up there for the drive up to the resort.
The towns were not even 5 miles apart, but the drive from the valley to the condo took a good 40 minutes. During our first trip up I was serving as the navigator, and my dad kept saying we must be almost there. I had to try to temper expectations without lowering the mood. Lots of switchbacks on a narrow road. Needless to say, we saved trips down the mountain for special occasions.
There are worst places to be "trapped" than on the top of a mountain in the middle of the Swiss alps. We were lucky that the friendly manager of the resort -- Ernest -- upgraded us to a full two bedroom unit instead of just a one bedroom with a murphy bed. After cramped rooms in Paris and Annecy, it was nice to have so much space! The unit also had a patio with a gorgeous view of the Dents du Midi, a collection of peaks that towered over the resort from across the valley. Since we weren't quite in summer season yet, very little was open in the town. Exhausted after a long day of travelling, we stumbled in to the only restaurant that was open and had our first (and as it turns out, only) taste of Swiss fondue, made with local cheese.
It was unseasonably warm and sunny for Switzerland in early June. There was still plenty of snow in the hills, but the temperatures pushed into the high 80's with bright sunshine. Since we were in the middle of the mountains, there were miles and miles of hiking right outside our door. While driving was difficult, if you just set out to walk, you could get to the other towns in less time than you would think. Our first day there we did a tour of a neighboring village and then hiked up and over the ridge line to see the Lac Vert, which was still mostly covered in snow. We did continue and hike to France, just because we could.
Even after barely over a month of the road, it was already wonderful to be able to see familiar faces. Upon hearing about our trip, my parents decided to try to meet us along the way, and settled on coming to Switzerland. They traded in one of their timeshare weeks and got a nice condo at Portes du Soleil, a ski/summer resort on the French/Swiss border.
We planned to meet in the town of Monthey, an industrial/commercial town that happened to be the closest with a train station to where we needed to go. My parents had rented a car and planned to pick us up there for the drive up to the resort.
The towns were not even 5 miles apart, but the drive from the valley to the condo took a good 40 minutes. During our first trip up I was serving as the navigator, and my dad kept saying we must be almost there. I had to try to temper expectations without lowering the mood. Lots of switchbacks on a narrow road. Needless to say, we saved trips down the mountain for special occasions.
There are worst places to be "trapped" than on the top of a mountain in the middle of the Swiss alps. We were lucky that the friendly manager of the resort -- Ernest -- upgraded us to a full two bedroom unit instead of just a one bedroom with a murphy bed. After cramped rooms in Paris and Annecy, it was nice to have so much space! The unit also had a patio with a gorgeous view of the Dents du Midi, a collection of peaks that towered over the resort from across the valley. Since we weren't quite in summer season yet, very little was open in the town. Exhausted after a long day of travelling, we stumbled in to the only restaurant that was open and had our first (and as it turns out, only) taste of Swiss fondue, made with local cheese.
It was unseasonably warm and sunny for Switzerland in early June. There was still plenty of snow in the hills, but the temperatures pushed into the high 80's with bright sunshine. Since we were in the middle of the mountains, there were miles and miles of hiking right outside our door. While driving was difficult, if you just set out to walk, you could get to the other towns in less time than you would think. Our first day there we did a tour of a neighboring village and then hiked up and over the ridge line to see the Lac Vert, which was still mostly covered in snow. We did continue and hike to France, just because we could.
We mixed in hiking with some day trips down to other nearby locations. Our first big trip was to Gruyere, known for its cheese. There we toured the factory and explored the beautiful old city. One town over was the home of Cailler (now owned by Nestle), the famous Swiss chocolate maker who first invented milk chocolate. At the end of the tour there was a tasting. It was a huge room full of all the different types of chocolate that they make, from milk to dark to white, with different ingredients mixed in. It was all you can eat, with one rule: nothing can leave the room. We may have eaten ourselves nearly sick. Lisa was in heaven!
We also made a trip along the southern shore of Lake Geneva (Lac Leman) to check out the small towns there, including Evian, where the water comes from. Since we'll be away so long, my parents treated me/us to a birthday/anniversary meal at a cafe overlooking the water. We finished up the day with a swim at a beautiful beach in a park on the way back home.
During our time there we were also treated to two nights with a full moon, rising between the peaks of the Dents du Midi, with a perfect view from our patio. Photos do not do it justice. It is amazing to watch how quickly the moon rises when there is a tall fixed frame of reference. We befriended a local cat who came to our door after we met her in town one night. We never fed her but she kept coming back, greeting us every morning and evening and keeping watch over the hill as we slept.
In between hiking ourselves ragged, we held a Wright family ping pong tournament reminiscent of those we used to hold in our old basement. It was a all very close, but I (Curt) emerged victorious! Our week in Champoussin was wonderful, so it made it that much harder to part ways with my parents in Bern. They were headed on to Austria to start a two week tour of the Alps, and we were continuing on to the Bernese Oberland. Thanks Mom and Dad for a great week!
We also made a trip along the southern shore of Lake Geneva (Lac Leman) to check out the small towns there, including Evian, where the water comes from. Since we'll be away so long, my parents treated me/us to a birthday/anniversary meal at a cafe overlooking the water. We finished up the day with a swim at a beautiful beach in a park on the way back home.
During our time there we were also treated to two nights with a full moon, rising between the peaks of the Dents du Midi, with a perfect view from our patio. Photos do not do it justice. It is amazing to watch how quickly the moon rises when there is a tall fixed frame of reference. We befriended a local cat who came to our door after we met her in town one night. We never fed her but she kept coming back, greeting us every morning and evening and keeping watch over the hill as we slept.
In between hiking ourselves ragged, we held a Wright family ping pong tournament reminiscent of those we used to hold in our old basement. It was a all very close, but I (Curt) emerged victorious! Our week in Champoussin was wonderful, so it made it that much harder to part ways with my parents in Bern. They were headed on to Austria to start a two week tour of the Alps, and we were continuing on to the Bernese Oberland. Thanks Mom and Dad for a great week!