Gimmelwald Day 2- Hiking the Schilthorn

Over breakfast (homemade bread, jam, and hot chocolate) at Hotel Mittagorn, we decided to hike to the top of the Schilthorn for our second day in Gimmelwald. Tim, the Hotel Manager, showed us his favorite route up and then we set off with our trusty map. To the top we go!

We started through the forest behind our Hotel and then came to a beautiful canyon and waterfall, which the trail went right under. 

At the barn, we turned left (before hand, we thought the directions were pretty unhelpful, but they made perfect sense during the hike).

The next part was a pretty good climb to get up to a peak, but then we walked along the ridge line  and it was my favorite part of the hike.

Up more elevation to this pristine mountain lake. We skipped some rocks and then up we went.

 I took a picture of Paul by the lake then he took a picture of where I took the picture from. 360 degrees of beautiful.

The last part of the hike was pretty brutal - dark crumbly rock and a lot of elevation to climb.

We got to the top and this way our view.

At the peak there is a restaurant that was used in the filming of a James Bond movie. There is a tram that goes all the way to the top, so even though we'd just spent hours climbing one of the most difficult hikes of my life, people were enjoying the same view without spending any energy except some Swiss Francs. But, they did have delicious food so there's that.

Through the telescope of the prettiest peaks - I think this may be the Eiger.

The difficult hike (full of great one-on-one time with Paul and lots of good conversation) was worth every minute of that beautiful Swiss Alp view. 

Gimmelwald Elevation: 4,485 ft (1,367 m)

Schilthorn Peak Elevation: 9,744 feet (2,970 meters)

Vertical climb: 5,259 ft

We enjoyed our last night in Gimmelwald but it was bittersweet, we didn't want to leave that beautiful place. Here is Paul on our room's balcony.

Another delicious meal by Walter with more great stories from his 90 years of life.

And then off we went the next morning. We had some time while we waited for the tram so we played on the slide.

 I have thought about Gimmelwald every single day since we left there. My heart aches for that place.

2013 Bucklist

I wrote a "bucketlist" for 2013. Paul doesn't like the term because he thinks a bucketlist is only for pre-death experiences. It was more of a 2013 fun--to-do-list.
I didn't check off everything (and those I didn't are moving to the 2014 list).

1. Boat/kayak/canoe on the Raritan.
Status: Nope. Hopefully next year. We did enjoy a lot of towpath bike rides next to the Raritan. I'm grateful to have a big beautiful river next to our home.

2. Travel outside of the U.S.
Status: Yes! Our best trip to Germany and Switzerland which someday I will finish documenting here. 

3. Sew something new
Status: Yes!  I made a car seat cover for Celeste's new baby, and recently had lots of fun Christmas projects (a rabbit, a super-teddy bear, felt mistletoe, and currently working on a little birdie).

4. Hike on the Appalachian Trail
Status: Yes! A ten mile anniversary hike in PA, and we also did some hiking on the AT in Virginia. 

5. Visit an East Coast National Park
Status: Yes! Beautiful Shenandoah. We saw bears, beautiful mountain/hills, and even got to see some Cougars play football.

6. Finish at least one book each month.
Status: Yes! Including a last minute finish on New Years Eve (every other month was easy, but December was busy.) A few years ago my mother-in-law gave me the box set of Harry Potter so I wanted to reread all those this year, which took a lot of my reading time, but I got some other great books read as well:

January:
Matched
Crossed
Reached
Unbroken

February:
Tigers Curse

March:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

April:
Tiger's Quest

May:
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

June:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

July:
Tiger's  Voyage
A River Runs Through It
Tiger's Destiny

August:

The Rithmatist

Heidi

September: 

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince

October:

The Book Thief

Into the Wild

November:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

December: 
A Wind in the Willows

7. Enter a bike race.
Status: Half. I entered, but I didn't end up racing. Paul and I had a lot of excuses not to drive down to Maryland the day before he left to Germany, so it didn't happen. I did, however, join a women's cycling team and went on a group ride with a lot of really tough ladies. 

8. Learn to play tennis.
Status: Yes! We played several matches with our friends Kristin and Aaron, and my dad and I played when he visited in November.

9. Get involved with Family History
Status: Not so much. I did a bit of Indexing, checked out the new family search, and have also done some research for a family tree that I am making. More next year!

10. Go to the New York City Temple
Status: Yes! What a great place. 

11. Learn more about tree identification
Status: Nope. But I'm excited to. My dad always knew the names of trees and I want to be more like him.

12. Go Horseback Riding
Status: No. :( But it is going to happen.

13. Visit the Rutgers Astronomy Observatory
Status: Yes! It was great. I got to see the moon, Betelgeuse (a red super giant star), Jupiter and it's moons, and the Pleides star cluster (which I always call Christine's Cluster because I've always loved it and it looks like a birthmark in the sky to me). It was FREEZING in the tower (mid-December) and I was alone (because Paul was in Florida) but I had a great time!

Goals and lists are my favorite. Here's to next year!