Laura's Life: Adventures from the Fall

Finally, I'm able to make a post! The internet at the school (so also in my apartment) hasn't been allowing anyone to upload photos for about a month and a half. It's been a busy fall at LAS. From some serious cycling (three consecutive century ride weekend rides), to my brief trip to the states in October to my fall cultural in Germany and Austria.

Morgins Ride
The Morgins Ride starts in Leysin, descends into Aigle followed by a flat cycle across the valley to Monthey where the climb begins...the 20km switchbacking climb up to Morgins which eventually drops you into France with rolling hills into Evian and a nice cycle along Lake Geneva and back to Aigle. It's always nice to stop for a dip in Lake Geneva before finishing. On this day, we had a rather large crew that took on the 125km ride. It was a gorgeous day.

Paceline action

Lake Geneva in the back

Me, Erin and Pezz

Verbier
A few more pictures from the Verbier bike race on September 12th

Paris

I went to Paris one weekend in September to see a Mumford & Sons concert. Turns out, this was right around the time of the strikes in France so our train out of Geneva was delayed an hour on Friday afternoon. We only ended up seeing about 5 songs. However, Paris was still fun.

View from inside a cafe

Arc de Triumph

Looking down Champs Elysses

Where's Quasimodo?

Me and Erin at the Eiffel Tower

Faculty Family Weekend
Yes, I do work too. One of the weekends in September is devoted to faculty family. So me, my faculty husband, Hugh, and our ten kids had a BBQ on my porch, made brunch one morning, went to Lausanne and saw a movie and also rented scooters to ride down our mountain with.

Here's Hugh in my apartment with some of our children from Mexico, Kazakstan and Ghana

These scooters were the real deal. Too bad it was cloudy in Leysin that day.

Vermont, USA
I arrived in Burlington, VT on a Wednesday, was waiting outside the airport and in less than 5 minutes already bumped into someone I knew who was just as baffled to see me in the country. In the next four days I managed to visit with friends, have breakfast with Dad at Penny Cluse, go to a wedding in Warren and run a half marathon. On Monday morning, I was headed back out to Switzerland. Can you say whirlwind trip??

The house we rented in the Sugarbush area for the wedding

View of sugarbush...where I used to ski

Mimosas with breakfast

Pictures from the wedding:

Me and Heather, Mason Hall roommates

Me and Keith...one of my roommates from Mansfield Ave

The foliage in Vermont is the most beautiful thing in the world

Me and Tara, post race in Waterbury, Vermont.

The last night supper at Woodlawn Ave in Burlington with the Sharkey's and Morgan

Me and Morgan eating the steak!!

Outward Bound - Germany & Austria

I spent one week at Outward Bound in October with a group of 11 sophomores from LAS. Among the various activities: a ropes course, a zip line, a stream hike...my favorite part of the trip was our three day, two night hut trip into the Austrian Alps. The kids were in charge of planning everything...they planned all the meals, packed all the equipment and even guided us with a compass and map to the hut.

Even amidst the dumping snow, our kids kept good spirits. These two shots are from the first day of our hike. We had to wear snowshoes and avalanche gear. It snowed over a foot (30cm) that day.

On the first day (after spending one night in the hut), we trekked out into the mountains for a day hike. Here are some views from the day.

And there's our hut

A self timer-ed group shot at our lunch break

Back at the hut by nightfall with a warm fire, hot tea and good food. It was a clear, bitter cold night and the moon was nearly full. This picture does not do the view justice.

Outside, looking in...Erin is enjoying the warmth of the hut. Did I mention that the outhouse was about 100meters from the hut? Oh, and there was no running water. Water had to be drawn from a well about 300-400 meters away from the house and carried in...we let the kids do that.