Some R&R

After working hard for several months as a soldier in Afghanistan, my friend Jay decided to take his R & R with me in Switzerland. Jay came literally the day after Garrett left, so I was a little crazy trying to get things ready, but Jay proved to be an awesome house guest. On Saturday I decided to show him around Lugano and take a hike. We took the funicolare up Mt. Bre, then hiked back down the mountain to a lakeside town called Gandria. We stopped along the way to snack on some chesses, salami, and bread, while taking in the view. Unfortunately Jay took most of the pictures, so I just have a few here.




The next day a group of us (me, Jay, Blair, Allie, Allie's friend, Sam, Emily, Allyson, and Lizzie) decided to head up to St. Moritz, about three hours away. We left pretty early in the morning and made it on the mountain by 11:30. We would have loved to have a whole day, but that just wasn't in the cards. Once we got our rentals, tickets, and took the gondola up the mountain we were faced with clouds surrounding us. I don't know if you have ever skied through clouds, but it is frightening. You can't tell the ground from the air. All you can do is follow trail markers. We could barely see the person in front of us. The first few runs we followed each other pretty closely for safety, then Jay said he had spotted sun up the mountain a bit. We made our way to another part of the mountain and to a gorgeous ski day. The rest of the day was filled with amazing runs, great weather, and even better company.

Once we made it back down the mountain (through clouds again, unfortunately) we decided we needed dinner. We met up with Emily, Allyson, and Lizzie who had bummed around the town for the day, and had some awesome burgers and beer. We headed back home with Blair driving down the pretty scary mountain roads. Sam and I promised we would keep her awake if she drove, so we all sat up front and ended up being the only ones awake in the car. The entire day was awesome and I totally recommend St. Moritz, despite the hype (and no, we didn't see anyone famous).

Here is a picture of me and Jay at the end of the day.

The rest of Jay's visit was pretty low-key for me. I had to work during the week so he did some hiking and some day trips. It was great to spend time with him and I am so sad he won't be able to make it to the wedding. We'll miss you!!!