Chamonix

I had the pleasure of spending the past weekend skiing in Chamonix. Without much snow in Leysin, we decided it was best to trek down the mountain and across the valley into France. Beautiful bluebird days, but Chamonix even seemed to have a less than normal amount of snow.

Addie, Darby and me are ready to go


Shredding


We skiied Argentiere on Saturday and had close views to Mont Blanc




Here I am admiring the beauty of western Europe's highest peak


Addie, Paul, Darby and me


Me and Addie






Live video






This is me in a heap of snow as I went down

And after the snow settled...




And there's Addie!


Lunch break


On the chairlift








We did get tired...


...but not enough to stop




Apres-ski




Sunday we skied at Brement in Chamonix so we had a different view of Mont Blanc




Lovin' life




It was a little icy on this run....here's where the fall began


I continued sliding down the mountain and almost took out the camera man, Paul...Finally I came to a stop


This is how much I love Chamonix


And of course, Veggie Booty making an appearance

Sunrises and Sunsets

These are some recent photos (all from January) during various sunsets and sunrises. All photos were taken from my apartment balcony or out my side window. They're beautiful shots, yet the photos can never quite do the real thing justice. We're also all hoping that Ullr will bring us more snow....I don't think we've had a significant snowfall since December.

















And here's a few from daylight...incredible views, but see all the snow we are lacking!!








And the bluebird day slowly turned into a pretty sunset. Check out the moon coming up in the east...

Holiday in the U.S.

As per usual, it was a whirlwind of a visit to the U.S. I was in 11 different airports over the course of 16 days. I landed in Boston and spent Christmas in Connecticut. My flight to visit Kelly in Nebraska was cancelled due to the Nor'Easter. However, I was luckily able to be re-routed before the airport closed. I was re-routed through Toronto, chicago and then Omaha...a 12 hour journey, but I made it.

When I landed in Toronto, I immediately had to go through Canadian customs. That put me in the airport in Canada. I walked through the airport only to find myself in the long line at U.S. customs. When I finally got up to the counter, this was the exchange I had with the border patrol guy: (keep in mind, I had only been in Canada for 20 or so minutes)

Border Patrol: Where ya headed?
Me: Omaha
BP: (surprised) Omaha?
Me: (thinking he was making fun of me for going to NE...the middle of nowhere) Yea, Nebraska.
BP: That's not what is says on here. It says Vermont!
Me: Well I live in Vermont. It's where I'm from.
BP: That's not what it says on here! It says you live in Switzerland.
Me: Well, I live in Switzerland, but I'm from Vermont.
BP: What are you doing in Omaha then?
Me: Visiting my sister.
BP: Does she know you're coming?
Me: Yes.
BP: Where does she live?
(long moment of silence as I pondered)
Me: I don't know
BP: Oh jeez. (sarcastically and not happy) So you're telling me like "123 sister avenue"
Me: Yea, sure.

Border Patrol then crossed out my U.S. address on the immigration form and wrote: "Sister's house; Omaha Nebraska"

BP: Just don't tell anyone.
Me: K. Thanks.

As I walked away, I thought to turn around and say "Uh actually officer, she doesn't live in Omaha, she lives in Lincoln." However, I figured if the government needed to find me, "Sister's house" wasn't going to do them any good anyways.

Here I am with "sister" in Lincoln...riding in style.





And better yet, in the news room reporting the breaking news that the Pythagorean theorem is a hoax


Luca loved me.




This is one of my favorite pictures of Kelly


This one too...with Mom's crunchy potato spice


Kelly and I are toasting the Swiss way

Cooking dinner




And then we ate a delicious vegetarian meal....portabello, asparagus and crunchy potatoes.





This was the first time I'd ever met Luca before. He's the coolest dog!









Texas


The house in Rockport and the swing that Dad built in the backyard



Mom and I spent New Year's together in Rockport...we treated ourselves to a sushi dinner


And we welcomed in 2011 with my homemade breakfast


We ventured in to Corpus Christi for some errands and stopped along the water for a picnic




Uncle Tom then took me fishing with his friend, Ron and Joey














I met Tripp for the first time...notice the Zermatt shirt he is wearing. :)


Pictures from Rockport














On my last night in Rockport (and America), Mom and I rode the bikes down to the beach where we enjoyed a beautiful sunset.




















And finally, packing my bag to head back to Switzerland. One thing Switzerland does not have is Veggie Booty so I like to stock up when I'm in the states....I wonder what TSA thought when they searched my bag.