Hiking the Swiss Alps - Suprising Amount of Cow Bell

 In July, I hiked Mount Pilatus, located in the Swiss Alps, near Lucerne.  Mount Pilatus overlooks Central Switzerland.  As always, Wikipedia can tell you all you need to know. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilatus_(mountain)  Wikipedia can also tell you things that you do not need to know - ex. a medieval legend maintained that dragons with healing power live on the mountain (I did not see any dragons).

Admittedly, I am using the term hike loosely because I only hiked down, I did not hike up.  Coming down was much faster and easier than I am sure it is to go up, but due to time constraints, I will never know. I do know that my quads burned after coming down.

If you are only hiking down, or not hiking at all, which is a surprisingly popular choice (or maybe unsurprisingly), the recommended journey to get to the top of Mt. Pilatus and back down is three-pronged. Your journey begins with a boat trip across Lake Lucerne. From the lake, you can see the beautiful view of the snow-capped Alps.  Some of the peaks are 14,000 feet.   This boat journey will take you to the base of Mt. Pilatus where a cogwheel train awaits passengers to go up in small groups.  The cogwheel train is the steepest in the world.  My understanding is that we were at a 45 degree angle heading up the mountain.  I am not scared of heights, but this ride made me nervous.  I have a sneaking suspicion it was steeper than 45 degrees in certain sections. Also, at this time I must note that goats are amazing creatures.  Goats were popping out of cracks and crevasses next to the train tracks.  I don't know how they didn't fall off the mountain.  Maybe they do, but the ones I saw were quite agile. When you reach the end of the cogwheel train, you are at the highest peak of Pilatus, which is just shy of 7,000 feet.  If you look at the below picture, you can see a tiny speck in the clouds.  That tiny speck is the gondola you can take back down the mountain in segments if you opt not to hike down.

The entire train ride up, you hear cowbells and at certain times, see cows! This totally threw me.  Apparently, the cowbells allow the cow owners to find their cows.  I guess this makes sense, but I was shocked that I could hear them even at the top of the mountain.  So. Much. Cowbell.  An alternative to finding your cows would be not to allow them to roam the alps.  But kudos to the bold cows who are willing to hike the alps with no fear.  I question the judgement of the owners, but I was born in Delaware, so maybe I am likely skewed in my perception that cows should be on flat, fenced-in land.

The views from the top were breathtaking.  There is a route around the top of the mountain that you can hike.  It has a small wire for a railing, and honestly, it was a little dizzying, so after about three-quarters of a mile, I turned around and returned to the lookout at the top of the mountain.  These pictures from the top really capture the view.  You can also note that people are hang gliding.  They are doing so by literally running and jumping off the side of the mountain right next to you.  It is a little nerve wracking to watch because you wonder what happens if they don't catch air.  Luckily, we didn't have to witness that type of problem.

We took the gondola part of the way back down (there are three places you can get off the gondola) and then got off and began hiking down the mountain, which took about 3 hours.  Despite being at slightly lower altitudes, it was still quite steep. 

Hiking down the mountain, there was not much taking out the camera because we wanted to watch our footing.  When we got closer to the bottom the hike began to weave us through the farms of a small town that is outside Lucerne.  Once we reached the center of the town, we needed to catch the bus back to Lucerne.  We confidently got on the incorrect bus and rode that for a while before we realized we were not going in the right direction.

I love a good hike, and it was a great way to burn off the cheese and chocolate that comes courtesy of all those loud cows.  There is nothing I can say that will do the views justice, and no great tips or epiphanies I can offer about hiking, so I am just including a bunch of pictures of the view.  Though the pictures also can't do it justice, they certainly do a better job than my words.

The views looking down on the lake from Pilatus.

More views from the top of Pilatus.

Flowers on the mountain.

Cute little farm town we hiked through towards the bottom of the mountain.

The Masters - 8 Miles of Following Golfers

For a few years I have been trying to get tickets to the Masters Tournament through the Masters online lottery system.  These attempts were not due to a profound love of golf, but rather my husband loves golf, and I enjoy pretty much all live sporting events. The online lottery system is great because it is controlled by the Masters Tournament, which means if you "win" the opportunity to purchase the tickets, you can purchase the tickets at face value, rather than the astronomical prices you find on Stubhub, or other resale vendors.  Finally, in 2017, I won the opportunity to purchase tickets...two to be exact...for the first day of the practice rounds in 2018.  I immediately scooped them up.

Now, with everything that happened in 2017, looking for a hotel room for the 2018 Masters ended up on the back burner until very close to the event.  Finally, I got on hotels.com, and the closest remotely affordable hotel room that I could find was in Aiken, South Carolina.  The city appeared  close - 30 to 40 minutes from Augusta (where the Masters takes place). My friend Jill and my mother both told me that Aiken was very cute and charming.  I booked a room at one of the few places left there. 

Now, I am going to assume there is a cute and charming part of Aiken, but that is not the part where we stayed.  We arrived at our hotel, which was actually a motel, around 1am.  We see that there is a tequila bar in a strip mall next to the motel that appears to be closing for the night, or kicking people out. It really wasn't clear.  We check in and pull our car around to the back of the motel so that we aren't parked on the tequila bar side (though that is where our room was located).  In the back parking lot is a couple having sex on top of their car.  I suppose they didn't have time to get into their motel room?  Love, so charming.  We get into our room and realize that there is no insulation on the motel room door, so we can hear everything happening outside.  Everything.  I have stayed in some pretty questionable places over the years while traveling, but this is the first time I have "slept" with the television blaring and the chair in front of the door.  My husband is by no means a small guy, and he fully supported this decision. 

We woke up bright and early to continue our journey to the golf tournament. When we got  to my car in the morning, we looked at the car next to us.  It was a silver Impala with tinted windows and a ton of bullet holes in the side.  Now, I am the first to admit that I do not fix dings and scratches on my car right away, if ever.  I figure that given where I live, my car is going to be crammed into parking decks next to Suburbans that have decidedly deemed themselves "compact," and my car will get hit by other car doors on a regular basis.  That is DC driving. But if I were to get a real hefty dent, or someone were to hit me, I would do my best to remedy the situation.  I couldn't help but wonder how many bullet holes you have to have in your car to make the call to at least cover them up, if not repair the holes.  Based on my limited knowledge from inspecting the Impala, the total at the very least must surpass a dozen.

We left cute and charming Aiken and headed to Augusta.  The weather was gorgeous, and as expected, the course is beautifully manicured with azaleas everywhere.  You may be wondering how this all leads to exercise.  In total that day I walked 7.75 miles following around amazing golfers. 

One of the best things about the tournament is that you can't bring cell phones in; however, you can bring a camera to the practice rounds. I cannot think of another place where no one has electronic access for 8 or 9 hours straight.  Even if you opt out of bringing your phone somewhere, usually someone else has a cell phone.  The 1980s imposed lifestyle forced people to talk to each other, which was wonderful. 


Example of a real conversation that happened while watching Fred Couples (below walking with Tiger Woods).

Random person, "How old is Fred Couples?"  Stranger next to you, "I think 50s or 60s."  Teenagers also listening nearby, "I think like, 80." (F- you, teenagers).  Needless to say, without Google, humans interacted again, which was great.  There were also phone booths, which I haven't seen in a good decade.  One guy was getting tormented for calling his wife from the phone booth.  One of his logical friends, who was genuinely looking out for him said, do you think your wife wants to hear from you enjoying 80 degrees in the middle of a workday when she is working surrounded by snow and slush (I'm guessing they were from Boston)?  That friend had a very good point. 


I think the practice rounds are the way to go.  It is easy for me to say that because I have never been able to get tickets to the tournament rounds, but hear me out.  You can cover a lot more ground (close to 8 miles), and you get to see a lot more golfers up close.  We were up close to some of the best golfers in the world, and it was day one of practice, so the golfers were still perky and congenial to everyone. 

I recommend trying the lottery system and wearing comfortable walking shoes.  I have a new appreciation for golf, and the walk was a great workout.  Even going slowly, walking that far certainly burns off gross pimento cheese sandwiches.

San Francisco - Hiking the Muir Woods and Devils's Slide

San Francisco is regularly ranked as one of the fittest cities in the United States. Oddly enough, it is usually behind Minneapolis and Boston.  I say oddly because if lived in Minneapolis or Boston, I doubt I would leave the house most months out of the year.  I have to wear a heavy pea coat whenever the temperature drops below 65 degrees.  I am assuming those cities get extra health points for all the snow shoveling? 

My husband and I went to San Francisco at the end of December through the New Year this past year.  We went because after the loss of our son, we just wanted to escape life.  Of course, you cannot escape such a horrible event, but I think most people get the urge to leave wherever they are when something goes wrong in their life - losing a loved one, losing a job, the end of a relationship, fill in the blank.  In my opinion, getting away is a bit of a double-edged sword.  Wherever you are, you are reminded you would not be there but for the unexpected event.  Our New Year was supposed to be spent adjusting to sleepless nights with our newborn son.  Instead, it was spent hiking around the West Coast.  And that is something that we had to, and still must, grapple with when we do things people with a new young child do not get to do.

But in spite of the emotional complexity that comes from an escape, is also good to try and distract your focus, if only for a moment here and there.  In this case, San Francisco was a beautiful distraction. That is why we hiked a lot, which in hindsight, I do not recommend to any women who are 7-weeks post-emergency c-section, but to say I was thinking clearly would be a total lie.  And I don't regret it. 

The city in itself is a hike with all the hills.  I vaguely remember the city being hilly from being out there when I was 14, but largely, I only remembered the sea lions.  This time, the hills were extremely noticeable.  The city was great, but even better was hiking around the Muir Woods and up Devil's Slide.

To blatantly steal from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muir_Woods_National_Monument), the Muir Woods is an old growth forest 12 miles north of San Francisco.  The tallest tree in the Muir Woods is 258 feet tall, and the trees range from 500 to 800 years old.  One is allegedly 1200 years old.  Most of the pictures don't do justice to the scope of these trees.  I have included the picture of me hugging the tree.  I am 5'8", and I have extremely awkwardly long arms, making my wing span even longer than 5'8".  As you can see, I am barely a blip on the corner of the tree. 

I think Muir Woods is amazing because it provides you with the self-awareness that all humans need every once in a while - the world is much bigger than ourselves.  These trees have been here for hundreds of years and will be here long after we are gone, which is somewhat comforting.  We are little specs in a big and spectacular world and life continues on.  I am not sure exactly how far we hiked. 
There are a number of trails we did not go down that weave through the woods.  It was very quiet.  One added bonus - there are no cell phones - which automatically gives points to any place that I go.

The other place that I have to highlight  is Devil's Slide (on the right).   The hike is relatively short.  I think 3-4 miles round trip (but I honestly cannot recall because the trip was a blur).  

I am including the Wikipedia link again for your convenience (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Slide_(California)), but there is a sign at the entrance giving you the gist of this portion of hiking.   This hike is up road and gravel that used to be a portion of the Route 1 California Highway until 2013.  This portion of road suffered from tons of landslides over the years that kept requiring this portion of route one to be closed.  In recent years (corresponding with the increase in cell phone usage), people were also accidentally driving off of the cliffs.  Not joking.  Though short, it was probably one of the most beautiful hikes I have ever taken. These pictures are unfiltered.  The water is just naturally that beautiful.   Apparently, if it is the right time of the year, you can see whales on their journey up and down the coast for breeding.  It was the wrong time for us, but it was still stunning.

I cannot recommend San Francisco and the surrounding area enough, especially if you want an active trip that will require some exercise.  It is tied with New York as my favorite city in the US (sorry, DC), and up there as one of my favorites in the world. 

I don't have much else to say because I cannot remember much, nor can I do the scenery justice; therefore, enjoy the ridiculous amount of pictures.

On loss

Harrison, my perfect son, was born On November 11, 2017.  For the most part, he looked like his father, but he did have my crooked pinky toes, which informed me that my toes are not from years of wearing absurd high heels, but just me.   See his adorable toes.  They were perfect for kissing.  He also had a beautiful head of blond hair. Unfortunately, right at birth it was clear that there was something very wrong with Harrison, and we lost him on November 16, 2017.  I won't get into details because those details are both private and sad, and believe it or not, this post is not meant to be sad.

For the purpose of this posting, it is important to note that I had a perfectly healthy pregnancy.  After extensive testing and treatment done at DC Childrens', the best the doctors could figure is that something happened between week 36 and 37.  This is no disparagement of the doctors' knowledge.  The team was amazing.  Every doctor, nurse, social worker and employee there is an angel on earth.  There just simply is no answer.  There is no way we will ever no what happened, and there is nothing that I could have done to prevent whatever happened.  I learned this happens in about 2 out of every 1,000 pregnancies.  I head phrases like "lightning striking" and "one in a million." I can never describe how horrific cliches like that are when you are hearing them referencing your child in this type of situation.

All of that background is to emphatically drive home that life is fleeting.  Everyone says that, and deep down we all know it, but I think we forget how unexpected things that can happen.  Maybe that is for the best.  I don't know.  I am not a psychologist. I am also not an expert on loss, but from what I have gathered encountering it more times than I believe one should have to by my age, loss is so painful because life is so wonderful. 

When you lose someone, you mourn their absence; however, I think for me (and for many), I also mourn that they no longer get to enjoy all the amazing things the world has to offer.  Everyone has experienced something where they wish someone they cared about could also be there to enjoy the moment (whether that person you want there is living or not).  That is because when you love someone, or even like them, you want them to enjoy all of the joys that life has to offer. 

You are mourning not only the loss of someone in your life, but all the experiences that they will miss going forward.  In the case of a newborn child what they will never experience is vast and tremendous.  And at times, soul crushing.  You spend months leading up to your child's birth imagining what your child will experience, especially when it appears that all is healthy and good to go.  You envision everything from Halloween costumes and the first time eating cake, to what they will be when they grow up.  Again, it is crushing.  But it would not be so crushing, but for all of those wonderful things that life offers the living.

Contrary to what news would lead you to believe, this world is a fantastic place filled with fantastic people.  I can think of numerous things that put a smile on my face that don't make the news: 1.  Thin mints in the freezer; 2.  Happy couples snuggling on the couch; 3. S'mores; 4.  Friends spending all day at a winery catching up; 5.  The beach; 6.  Traveling new places; 7.  Traveling home; 8. Sunsets; 9. Sunrises (though I see far less of those); 10.  Fun workout pants; 11. The smell of fresh cut grass; 12.  The smell of newborn babies; 13.  Hearing someone with an infectious laugh.  The list of the little and big things that make me and everyone else happy on a daily basis is endless.  That is because the world is full of so many good things.  The world is undeniably a beautiful, enjoyable, kind and hopeful place.

I remember sitting in hospice with my father when he only had a few hours left.  My mom had to step out to go do something and the nurse came in and spoke to me.  She asked if my dad had any unfinished business, or any regrets.  I confidently said no.  She asked me how old I was, and I told her that I was 29, although anyone who has had a sick parent knows that your age doesn't matter. You are always a child when it comes to them.  The nurse told me that I was too young to understand how fortunate my dad was to be in that position.  And that is true.  Four years later, and I am still probably far too young.  But what I do think I know is my dad was in that position because he savored everyday.  He did not hesitate to experience new things.  He saw, ate, or did whatever he wanted to do.  Not in a gluttonous way, but in a way where he profoundly understood that life was not permanent.  One of his friends approached me after shortly after my dad received his cancer diagnoses, and the friend told me my father had said that no matter what happened, he had lived an amazing life.  And he did live an amazing life, but it wasn't a passive coincidence, it was an active choice.  He always had a smile on his face by choice.

I think about this and I think about the loss of my son, and I ponder how these experiences have and continue to shape me.  I have concluded that each day we are surviving, and I don't mean that in the sad way.  I mean that in the most beautiful way.  Every day that we are here, we have managed to escape the perils that make life so painfully short.   I think the most important thing that I have learned in my life is that you should make an active choice to celebrate surviving every day.  And I don't mean throwing yourself a personal party everyday and going into credit card debt buying yachts. I'm not insane.

I mean truly appreciating that you made it because everyday is such a gift that not everyone gets.  Everyday is an opportunity to watch a sunset, look at the stars, hug someone you love, eat thin mints out of the freezer, or do countless other things that make you happy.  For me, it is savoring time with my amazing friends, family and husband.  I also will continue to make a point to travel to see as much as I can of this wonderful world in however many more trips I get around the sun.  I will also continue to blog about exercise, eat too many baked goods, enjoy fresh air and try to take in every new experience that I can.

I have no recommendation on how you decide to celebrate surviving everyday, but please do so.  If not for yourself because that just isn't you, then please do it for someone else who is no longer here.  You are free to do it for my son.  For all those memories he will not make and experiences he will not have, I intend on doubling down on the memories I make and the experiences that I have in order to honor him.  That is how I can continue to take care of him as his mom and celebrate surviving another day.