Schmidt's Adventures

We have been walking daily with our hiking boots on, small packs and even a trekking pole. The state park provides great opportunities to hike on various terrain and provides some good elevation changes. This will help us prepare for our hike on the classic Haute Route across the Alps. The Skyline trail with the three sets of stairs is an especially good workout. Try to get at least 5 miles per day and will add a mile everyday ( weather permitting)  until we leave.

Starting to gather the "stuff" that will make our trip a bit easier or at least lighter and more compact. This includes luggage locks and tags, waist wallet (to stash cash if needed) microfiber travel towels and wash clothes to name a few. I even found locators which I will need to try out and set-up before we go. I have been reading my books and learning more about the area and how we will fill our days. Discovered that when we arrive in Geneva, we receive a free transportation pass to use during our stay. Sweet!! Speaking of sweet- after the tour at Cailler Chocolate Factory in Gruyeres, we get many samples and they say to make sure to save room for the best chocolates at the end. YUM!!!!! I think I have already gained weight just reading about the various types of chocolates made and can only imagine trying each and every delicious morsel. We are traveling as light as possible, but I have a fold-up bag that will become my carry-on if needed to bring home goodies.

August 3, 2015 The start of our adventure A friend of mine said I need to start a blog so she can live vicariously thru our trip to Switzerland. We leave in 28 days and are getting excited. Doing more research on what we will do during our "sightseeing" days before and after our hike on the Haute Route which will take 13 days. We have never traveled for such an extended amount of time. (28 days) We received our packet of information from Alpenwild; train tickets, luggage tags, itinerary and a list of pre-planned day excursions. Printed the suggested packing list and I just hope it will all fit within our luggage constraints. I figure, we will be meeting new people everyday, so it won't matter if we wear the same things over and over. So far, I am very impressed with the Swiss transportation system. You can get everywhere via bus, train, cog railway, ariel tram, or boat. We plan to try them all! So, this is it for now. I may write just before we leave and then I will...