What Ever Tomorrow Brings. I'll Be There.: October 2011

Sunday, October 30, 2011

A hike in the Alps.

Yesterday Nina and I went for a very nice hike above Arosa. Up to this beautiful lake. That was frozen over pretty well. Had some cliff bars for lunch, and then we slid our way back down. Haha! I would love to have a video of us trying to get down these icy/snowy hillsides. It was really steep! And difficult! Now, Arosa is already way up in the mountains. We walked up even higher, you'll see in the pictures below. Nina took the prettier ones. :) She is an AMAZING Photographer. It runs in her blood.

Dad took this, of me hard at work not doing school. Notice the AP History book in the background.

The day before the hike. I got to help them in their Photo Shop. By help I mean be an utter nuisance and mess up just about every job they give me! But I had a grand time! And I learned so much. I love my Swiss family!

This Museum was built in 1590 something. Same door handle? Possibly.

Swiss hut.

My hiking Buddy. She carries my coat. ;)

Master Photographer hard at work.

Ah, The Alps.

This is the frozen lake we hiked to. Such a beautiful day.

Haha, Dachsound.

Oh little town in Switzerland! This is where I am staying, Arosa. The Homberger's house (where we started the hike.) is further down the valley. Out of site. Just a little ways below the big Hotel that you can see in right/middle of the picture.

Nina Photo.

Nina Photo. This one is my Favorite!

Nina Photo.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Hey Switzerland, I'm back!

Just got back to the the land of cheese and chocolate. Not much to tell of the adventure yet. I have mostly been doing school, and just walking around the charming little town of Arosa. Here are a few pictures

A sleeping snow monster.

The streets of Arosa.

I made some duck friends.

And some more duck friends.

I think they only like me for my bread.

Sofia's sister, in Arosa.

Right before I took a digger and bloodied my shin. Yep. I'm still just as graceful as ever.

Church tower in Arosa.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Oh Oh! And off we go!

Daddy (Paul Claus, Google him. It's neat.) and I are sitting in the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. I have tickets in my hand, tickets to Seattle- Where we will meet up with Mommy (Donna) and my sister Ellie (Google them too, it's fun to be a stalker.), from Seattle we fly to Zurich. Watch out Switzerland, you are about to be invaded! By the most unapologetically geeky, homeschool blogger girl in all the world. Yeah... I know, that's preeeetty geeky. But it works for me. ;)

So here we are at the preverbal doorway to ADVENTURE! Off we go!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Calamity Gulch. Great name, right?

Yesterday, I got the amazing opportunity to fly with Loni Habersetzer, to the frozen saddle of a mountain just a few miles from my lodge. Then hike down scree fields and moss covered gullies, into the deep slot canyon called Calamity Gulch. Now, you may be wondering why you would want to hike down into a place with a foreboding name such as this. The answer is GOLD! It's what makes men go mad, isn't it? There is an abandoned mining camp deep in this valley- I have not been able to find much of anything on the history of this particular mine. I did find out that prospecting occurred as early as 1909 and and there were intermittent small-scale surface mining for several years in the early 1900s. No one knows why or when it was abandoned. But it was obvious that they invested copious amounts of money and time to this project. There are rumors that it turned out to be a fairly lucrative operation.
The site includes one cabin that is fairly large for the era, and very well furnished. There are also many signs of a woman living there- which is very unusual. Plenty of classy fine china, and hand painted glasses. Not exactly the kinds of things you would find in a stag mining camp.
Anywoozle- Here are a few pictures. Which I am having a hard time loading in order... So they are a little bit hodge
podge.