Day 3 in Switzerland

While we were in Switzerland, Duane and Garry, our son, had their birthdays. Even though we were in Switzerland on Duane's birthday we found a good Italian restaurant to take him to for his birthday. Food in Switzerland is very expensive and a lot of the German food we didn't care for so we went with Italian food. It was a good birthday dinner.

Our third day we went to another town called Gimmelwald. Don't get it mixed up with Grindelwald because the names are similar. Even though they are similar names, the towns are completely different. Gimmelwald is so small and quaint that there aren't any commercial places at all. It is just simple and small homes and farmland. It is the ultimate of quiet and peaceful. One can't even drive a car there. To get there you first take a beautiful train ride from Interlaken, where we were staying to a town called Lauterbrunnen. You get out and get on a cable ride which goes really high up to another small town and then get onto another small train which ends at a little town up in the high Alps called Murren. To get to Gimmelwald you then walk on a little path down a couple of miles. The only way to get there is walk or take a cable car.

This is the small train which takes you to Murren.

Here we are walking to Gimmelwald. While I was walking both this time and three years ago when we did this before, I had to pinch myself to make sure this was real. The whole experience seems surreal.

Grindlewald

The second day we were in Switzerland we wanted to take the train up the mountain to the resort town of Grindelwald. The train ride up was a wonderful ride. We were able to see the countryside and all the homes and farms along the way. People there live such quiet and simple lives it seems. When I go to Switzerland I feel like I've stepped back in time many generations. Life seems much less complicated and less stressful. I love the peace I feel in that country.

This is a ski resort so it is much more commercialized than most of the places we visited. Even though it's busier, it still seems very peaceful and laid back.

While in Switzerland, we noticed that Heidi's name was everywhere. She said, "What's with my name? Why is it so popular?" I told her it's just a common name in that country. Also, because of the story of the book "Heidi", it's even more popular.

This was one of my most favorite pictures of our whole trip. It really has cool perspective and gives the feel of relaxing in the Alps.

Interlaken

I am continuing to blog about our trip to Europe. This is my journal so I'm sorry I'm slow but we have thousands of pictures and it takes me a while to decide what pictures best tell the story. This is a picture of Hotel Splendid which was where we stayed at this trip in Switzerland. The room at the front corner under the name "Hotel" was our room. The two windows to the right and left of the door was to our room as well. We had a beautiful view of the mountains from our balcony. The floor under ours was where we went each morning to have a delicious breakfast. We loved staying here. The people who ran the hotel were very nice and very helpful.

After we arrived in Interlaken, we wanted to walk around the town and show Heidi around. We found the bed and breakfast we stayed in three years ago when Duane and I were there before. I love to look at the homes. They all have shutters and window boxes. I love the architecture there.

This is a river that runs through the middle of town. It runs into the lake. Interlaken literally means "between two lakes." It is so beautiful. I can't say that enough.

This is a park and some stores and restaurants across the street from our hotel. The beautiful alps are behind and to the east of this park.

My Busy Week of July 12-17

This is a typical week for a summer week but I did a few things out of the ordinary along with some normal summer activities. To start the week off, I cleaned out my garage. I spent the whole day in the killer heat emptying all the things out and throwing away, cleaning the garage floor and organizing. On Tuesday, I emptied out my very full freezer in the garage and cleaned and organized it also. On Wednesday, I picked up mom and we went to Cedar City to see a friend that I grew up with. Terry Ann Andersen was my dear friend when I was a kid and then we lost track of each other for 41 years. We recently connected again and so she wanted us to come and see her home in Cedar. She lives in a beautiful area 10 miles west of Cedar City. She calls it her Little House on the Prairie.

She has a beautiful home and yard. Here is her pond which has ducks and geese swimming around and chickens running around her yard. She also has 3 little Yorkie dogs which she calls her girls.

The weather was so nice and cool we sat outside and visited in the afternoon. Anything is cooler that here.

Friday we attended a funeral of our dear friend, Terry Henrie. He had a massive stroke the Friday before. It was very unexpected. He was a wonderful man and will be greatly missed by his family and many friends. After the funeral, Duane and I attended the temple and then went to visit his brother Chuck, in the hospital. Chuck hasn't been doing well for quite a while. We hope he will get better soon. That concludes most of our activities for the week.

The Fourth of July

As I said earlier, the boys had to leave two days early so we didn't get to have them for the 4th festivities. Garry also decided to go back home to get some things done around his house and Heidi left for California, so that just left mom and Duane and I. It was much quieter around the house but still enjoyable. The weather was extremely pleasant especially for us desert rats that are used to temperatures around 112. This is the view from our balcony of our condo. Because the flag is up you can't see the beautiful mountains but they are majestically there for us to view each day.

We went downtown to see what was there. They had a colonial village that we visited. Here are a couple of friends we met and conversed with about their lives. Here is Benjamin Franklin.

Abraham Lincoln

Grandma was relaxing and doing a little needlework on the balcony. Later that evening, we went to Heidi's house, even though she wasn't there she let us use her balcony. She has the perfect view to watch the stadium of fire fireworks. She just lives one block up from the stadium. It is the perfect place. Duane, mom and I set up a table and played cards, snacked and watched the show. It was great! Thanks, Heidi:)

Pioneer 2nd Ward Reunion

On June 28th, 2010, our ward we lived in for several years had a reunion in Provo. This was the ward that Duane was Bishop in. Here is the original Bishopric. The man on the right, (Duane's left) is Grant Williams. He was the 1st counselor the whole time Duane served. The man on the left, (Duane's right) is Bill Huff. He served for one year and then three other men also served in the same position, Ron Andersen, Evan Quilter, and then Dana Dean. It was a beautiful evening and we had a luau at the Riverside Park next to the Provo River.

Here are some of our old and dear friends and neighbors. Left to right are Grant and Arlene Williams, Irwin and Piialani Purcell, Duane and I, Sherlan and Pat Ligman, Marie Barton and Bill and Joyce Huff.

This is the group which were mostly kids that grew up with Garry and Heidi. It's really wierd for me to see them now since we've been away for 22 years and when we left they were kids. Now they are grown and have changed a lot but I can still see them as kids.

Most of the people in these pictures were Garry and Heidi's friends and playmates. They were neighbors and our kids spent many hours with them. They are from the families of the Huffs, the Ligmans, the Teeters, and the Purcells.

Week Two With the Grandkids

The second week with the grandkids was spent in Provo. Garry drove up from Colorado Springs and joined us for the week. He wanted to attend a reunion of our old ward that we used to live in. I'll tell about that in the next blog, but we had a nice relaxing few days with the family. This was Sunday morning before church.

Grandpa played a few games of pool with Zach and Tyler. They always love playing pool.

We spent many hours playing different games. Tyler quite amazed me at his math skills. He calculates very well in his head for a kindergartener, going into first grade. The boys love playing games.

One mishap happened during the week. I stubbed my toe and did a pretty good job making it throb. It still doesn't feel normal. I need to watch where I'm going.
I don't have any pictures to document Garry and the boy's hike to the "Y" but they hiked all the way to the top. They had an enjoyable time but Garry said he was pretty sore the next day. We had a fun week while it lasted. Unfortunately, their trip was cut short a couple of days because they were going to ride back to Arizona with my niece, Angela and her family, and they had to get home a couple of days earlier than they had planned for business. We were a little sad, but we did have fun while it lasted. We're grateful to Angela and her husband Jason for being so kind to take the boys back.