June - a month full of adventures...

To quickly round out the month of May... After Jo's visit, I made a visit to the U.S. to see some family and friends (and our dog Brandy!) in TN & GA. It was a whirl-wind "tour" as these visits always are, but it was wonderful to see everyone. In addition to visiting, I also got the chance to do some biking with friends in the north Georgia mountains and Atlanta - Our friend put together a great story about it here called Hausfrau in the Holler (yes, I am taking the easy way out for this! she just writes so much better than I). More pictures from this visit can be seen by clicking here.

Then came June - The month of outdoor adventures! Since it's hard to describe all the experiences in words, and as they say "a picture is worth a thousand words", I'll just include links to the pictures and let them tell the story! (with a few samples here...)

It started with some biking at a couple local mountain passes: Pragel and Ibergeregg. As you can see it was still a bit winter-ish at the top...
Here in Switzerland you always have to be ready for different things to be crossing the road in front of you -- cows, goats, and sometimes a whole herd of sheep...
We discovered a backroad up one of the passes that hardly had any cars and was full of stunning Swiss mountain and village views that we had all to ourselves...
For more you can read our friend's write-up on this ride here, and more pictures are here.

The next day we did a "recovery hike" up (& down) the Gross Mythen mountain (definitely what I would call an "active" recovery!). It was a beautiful hike, and at the top we were greeted with some snowfall - That's June in the Alps for ya. Before we ducked into the hut shown in the background to warm up, Jeff did as any good Swiss (or Swiss wannabe!) person would do, and played a few tunes on the Alphorn across the valley below...
For more pictures, click here.

The following weekend we went to watch the time trial stage of the Tour de Suisse pro cycling race, which was being held on Klausen Pass. We decided to bike to the pass from home with a few friends, and along the way we "added on" a couple smaller passes, Albis and Raten. Once again we discovered some great backroads with no cars (just a few tractors) and incredible views...

For more pictures from that day (including ones from the local newspaper/website), click here, and a photo story on our friends' website here: Tour de Suisse.

The next day Jeff did another "active recovery" by going running in the mountains for 6 hours with a couple friends. (I guess that's "recovery" after you've recently run thru a desert for a week!?!) I think they got so distracted by the views that they just didn't want to stop...


For more pictures click here.

While he was out "Berglaufen", I was immersed in a full-day mountain biking skills course. It was all in Swiss German, but luckily I had our friend Martina to translate the important stuff for me. I learned a lot, and finally got over my chicken-ness enough to ride down a full set of stairs -- and survived to tell about it!
The following weekend Martina put me to the test again by taking me rock climbing in the mountains. It was the first time in several years that I had climbed outdoors, and the very first time that I did lead-climbing (where you don't have a rope above you the whole time and instead have to clip in to bolts along the way up). Martina is the best and most patient teacher!
Eventually I even got comfortable enough to enjoy the views from the top...After climbing we topped off the day with a refreshing swim in a nearby lake...
For more pictures, click here.

The next day we decided to branch out a little and check out some cycling in the nearby country of Liechtenstein. At just over 60 square miles for the whole country, it doesn't take much more than a day to check it all out! They definitely have the "castle theme" going there...
What we also found there were some wonderfully smooth roads for biking, and some serious hills including a good climb up to Malbun ski resort. It was a really hot day, and a steep climb that seemed to just keep getting steeper, so we plenty of breaks to, um, enjoy the view.

To read our friend's more detailed account of the day, you can click here, and more pictures are here.

The following weekend we stayed a little closer to home and checked out some more of the local roads... We feel quite lucky to have places like this within riding distance from home!
For more pictures click here.

After these long days of biking, running, hiking, etc., it's nice to top it off with a refreshing swim, and it's a cool feeling to just walk down the street and jump in the lake (sometimes very literally cool!).
So that's our month of June in a nutshell. The rest of the summer we will be staying busy with several visitors, so we'll be out and about a lot of the time, but mostly staying in Switzerland -- I think there's still enough to see here to keep us busy for a long time! Can't wait to share it all with more friends and family.

Have a great summer!!

Cheers,
Becky