Chamonix

This morning we went to Bob and Aruna's for a fabulous pancake breakfast with them and Jules, and their friend Kimberly from the states and her son Levi. Then we all piled into our cars and went to Chamonix for a day of light hiking. He spilled the news to Bob and Aruna, who already suspected from our last hiking trip together (I guess backing out of the 2nd leg of the hike due to "feeling a bit tired" is kind of a clue). They are super excited for us. =)

Anyway, we got there and rode the cable car up and got started on our hike around 2pm or so. After a ways we stopped for lunch. I was already feeling myself fading a bit, and Zach reckoned we were about halfway to our destination and then we'd have to hike back, so after we finished eating I decided to head back on my own and let them continue on. I was pretty tuckered out by the time I got back to the lift area, so I laid down on a bench and rested with my eyes closed for a bit, then found a launch chair by this outdoor restaurant and read some of my book as I waited for everyone else to return. I had pretty sweet views of some gorgeous mountains, so I couldn't complain. =)


Our backdrop while hiking.

Pretty flowers along the way.



Light falling on snow, during dinner.




After the hike we met up with Graham, a friend of Kimberly's that lives in Chamonix, and his wife Caroline, and his mother... whose name I now forget. But she was really sweet. Graham's Scottish and Caroline's Brittish so we had some fun accents around. We had a very nice dinner together, everyone in the group was so nice, and Caroline's 7 months pregnant so she and I talked baby talk a bit. =) Zach and Graham exchanged emails. It certainly would be fun to have friends in Chamonix, both for hiking in the summer and Zach snowboarding in the winters... though I guess we'll see how much boarding he does after February. ; )

By the time we got home it was past midnight, and we're both pretty beat after a long, but very good, day. However the restaurant next door's having a 50th birthday party for the owner, which is great, but now it's 12:15am and the live band's still playing (The Beatles, Elvis Presley, James Brown, and the like). I'm curious to see how long they last... I'm kinda wanting to go to bed soon.