Lindsey is here!

My posts might come to a screeching halt after this, as Lindsey came to visit two days ago, and we leave soon for Paris and Amsterdam - as if Switzerland doesn't have enough to offer!  So you will get some new scenery soon, but for now you just "have" to go back to the Jungfrau region again and look at some more mountains, glaciers, and cows!

First though, here are Lindsey and Darrell making faces on the train from Zurich (where Lindsey flew in) to Bern.

We're so happy to have our girl here!

Yesterday we did some local Bern things including take a picnic to the Martzili pool, and go for a swim in the Aare along with half the population of Bern.  The river is more crowded with floating and swimming people on a hot day than the trails are!

Today we are all up a little after 5 am (not normal for Lindsey, so we get to give credit to jet lag) and so we caught the 7 am train to the mountains.  We were some of the first tourists there and actually ended up having one of those Swiss clockwork days - where there was always a seat for us, we didn't have to wait in any lines, and everything went smoothly!

Step 1 was a gondola ride up the east side of the valley from Grindewald to a place called First.

Lots of green below us as we look back down towards Grindewald

Step 2 was Lindsey and I getting some Lowa "tester" hiking boots.  Here is Darrell unzipping the pant bottoms off his pants (such a handy invention) and Lindsey striking a pose with her groovy boots.

Just another ho-hum Swiss mountain scene

Then we hiked up, up, up to Faulhorn peak.  This minor peak is just under 8,800 feet tall and, you guessed it, there is a restaurant at the top!

After a well-deserved beer, we climbed up a little past the restaurant to the peak and there was an amazing view of course!

Looking down at Brienzersee (the large lake in the background)

We ate our picnic lunch and then headed down, down, down - back to the smaller lake, Bachalpsee.

Bachalpsee with Wetterhorn and Schreckhorn Peaks in the background

Darrell took a series of pictures of Lindsey at Bachalpsee.  Here is my favorite below!

Lindsey ready to dive in

Step 3 - after the wonderful hike, was to get on an 800 meter zip line!  It is called the Flieger and I will have to search for a commercial picture of it - as I was too busy screaming to get any pictures myself!

Pixelated, but you get the idea!

Lindsey actually took her hands off, but Darrell and I were pretty much just clutching on for dear life the entire ride!

Step 4 - we got on these scooter-bikes called trottibikes and cruised down the mountain.  These were REALLY fun!

Lindsey on her trottibike

After we got back to Grindewald and returned our trottibikes and the borrowed hiking boots - we got back on the train to Interlaken and home.  I will just leave you with one last picture of the adventure we didn't do today - parachuting.  You should be able to see four parachutists in the sky above the peak.  They were actually riding thermals UP instead of coming down!

Parachutists over Wetterhorn

Needless to say, we fell asleep early when we got home.  The next blog will probably come in about a week after we return from our Paris-Amsterdam-Zurich trip and put Lindsey back on the plane in time to catch the beginning of her new semester at NAU.  We will miss her!