Missed Sharad in this pile-up...perhaps he was napping...or strumming....or skateboarding...or texting :)
If life is a box of chocolates, I should be enjoying the one I am eating.
Wondering what ordinary days would be like if more energy was consumed in experiencing the current moment? Not thinking about the next thing or the last thing, but the present thing. Does this make for a better person?
For a simple example: tonight when a hostess put two forks in my take-out, I wouldn't have wondered as I walked home if she thought the quantity I'd ordered was enough to share, if I looked like I wouldn't be eating alone, if she was absent-minded, if she wasn't concerned about wasting the restaurants supplies, if she thought I'd recycle them, or or or...but seriously the placement of 2 forks vs. 1. Preposterous. That deserved no investment of time. I would have moved on to enjoying the festive feel of downtown during the holiday season, the liberty of breathing the crisp night air on a free evening, feeling the base emotion I see in the street beggars eyes....I don't know.
Thinking about thinking....isn't there a word for that? I'll stop. But the goal of finding the present remains.
How did I forget in these short months the gratification that throwing necessities in a bag at the last minute with a camera, guidebook and my kindle brings?? Even though the purpose of the trip was work and I realize the benefits of living responsibly, the feeling is real!
Anyway....love Switzerland. And these pictures don't express it, but that is just the way it is. Oh I love Seattle too. And lest you think I use the word "love" lightly, I do not. And all of my expectations? Fulfilled.
Berne. A place I'd enjoy going back to. Cobbled streets. Low-key. Attractive. Quiet. Cafe-hopping. Came upon a theater late one night with people going in. Wandered in. Woman had an extra ticket. Turns out her husband sang the leading role of the King. Random! 
Fresh pretzels in a train station can only be matched with a slab of chocolate! Curious fact: the Swiss eat a world-beating 11.6kg per person each year of chocolate, compared with 5.4kg in the US. Perhaps because their chocolate is so much better? Super-smooth.
So here's something I really enjoy: going to a train station, watching the names and times flip, looking at the map and choosing where to go. Delight. Could ride the rails and stare out the windows for several days easily. One day went to Lausanne...home of the IOC and Evian water factory and spa. Lausanne is in the French part of Switzerland on Lake Geneva. Very green. Energy-green too.
And so...swiftly on to Interlaken through the Bernard Oberland and a night in Lauterbrunnen,..a one-street town which seems idyllic sitting under sheer cliffs at the base of a valley with a waterfall. Picture-perfect. And then a 3 hour train ride up to Jungfrau (the top of Europe) and seeing the North Face (Eiger). Wow.
It is peculiar to me that the Swiss have cable cars, cogwheel trains, funiculars and gondolas to get to the top of hills and mountains. No longer does man have to labor to get to the top of glorious peaks. Makes getting up high a little less grand, but a bit more achievable. Hmm.
On to a single night in Luzern and meeting friends and coworkers. Luzern is on the edge of a lake and quite picturesque. Wooden bridges...one of which burned in recent years making tile #31 (William Tell) absent. Famous weeping Lion was another "sight"...in short summary of history, Switzerland got rich by sending mercenaries to fight for other nations and the lion weeps for it's lost. 
Oh Schaffhausen. Cobbled streets. Considerable charm. Quiet during the week. But something happens on the weekends! Easy to imagine running by the river with a big dog here down to the Rhine Falls every morning. Some dare-devil must have kayaked these by now? Looks doable. Falls are creepy cool at night too. I digress. Here for work...don't understand why the town is un-congratulated among work-fellows.
Went to Konstantz, Germany on a day trip. LOVELY in the evenings...people sitting around by the water. I noticed repeatedly that the Germans and Swiss seem to be ok dining or sitting outside, even when the weather is inclement, they just add bundling. Not a weak folk. And if bicycles are any gauge of a nation's health, Germany and Switzerland are doing ok.
For my final day in Switzerland I spent time with friends in Frauberg. Lovely morning, hike to a castle at the top of a hill with special ladies and then down to dinner and a night on the river in Zurich.
Anyway, Switzerland...didn't milk a cow...didn't learn to yodel...didn't see the Matterhorn or snowboard at Zermat...didn't make it to Lugano...but did heartily enjoy. Must return! Must retire?
How I love Stevens Pass in the fall. Whoever raves about the leaves in the East should come here too....
Took this picture in the back seat...1 hour out of Oroville, the cake was consumed :)
Quick trip, but very glad to be able to go...and to have gone! Just a few pics of these people I love....
Missed the rest of you family....
Jolyn was game for a hike and so we tried one close to Seattle: Cougar Mountain Wilderness Peak Loop. This is us at the summit. No view. Hence, no sense of achievement. And then we read in the hiking book:
"The high point is where the trail dead-ends at a bench in a circular grove of tall trees. Lacking a view or even a single exposed rock, Wilderness Peak hardly passes for a summit, by most definitions of the word."It's about the journey, Kateen...not the destination. Really???
Renuka came and the Mariners won :)
Tried an ionic cleanse...I think I'm ok with a certain level of toxicity. Not real sure what happened there, but it's a pretty cool science experiment if nothing else. The lady said as we were putting our feet in the water: "you may experience slight euphoria." Even at the suggestion of such, I did. What else...stellar acrobats! NANDA. Pictures here don't describe. Would love to see again...and personable too!
Come back soon, Renuka! And bring the fam too :)
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The Upper Enchantments via Colchuck Lake and Aasgard Pass is a decent hike to glacier-polished rock and ice, sparkling lakes, and the jagged edge of the Stuarts range. Notably Aasgard Pass with 2,300 feet elevation gain in 2/3 of a mile is a bit challenging if one's hiking boots aren't fitting so superbly...but anyway.
GLORIOUS day!
Thanks Justin for the panoramas! I do need an iPhone 4.
If only these goats....mountain sheep...whatever they are...were just a little more friendly. Curious creatures. Hanging out up there rain or shine.
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