A full day yesterday (July 4). The weather behaved until around 4:00pm giving us enough time to see and do everything we wanted.

We got up early yesterday, before breakfast was being served at hour B&B, to do a hike up in the Black Forest near Badweiler. Our hotel was only about 100 yards from the start of a trailhead. We spent about an hour walking uphill deeper and deeper into the forest. It was a perfect way to start the day and get the gets drained a bit before we sat down to eat.

After breakfast, we packed up and headed south into Switzerland. We drove through Basel and Bern on our way to Interlaken for lunch. We stopped there to get some money (Swiss Francs … they don’t take Euros) and get some food. Because the Franc is so strong against the dollar, everything is just ridiculous expensive. As a rule of thumb, you can safely double any price you would expect to pay for things in the US – and at tourist prices at that. Our pizza dinner for 5 cost us about US$70. Gas is about $8.30/gallon.

After lunch, we drove up into the Swiss Alps to visit a town called Grindelwald – originally a popular ski resort town, but nowadays also a popular summer activity resort with many miles of hiking trails across the Alps. We wanted to hike the Black Forest in the morning and hike the Swiss Alps in the afternoon – and did just that. The views and beauty are everything you have heard – Brenda kept referencing Alaska since so much of it reminds her of the prettiest parts of her childhood. These are the first “real” mountains the kids have ever seen and so even these jaded punks let out a few “ooh!” and “wow!” statements when they thought no one was listening.

Then the rains came and we made our final drive to where we’re staying, another resort town called Sörenberg. More on that tomorrow.

Running in the Black Forest, near Badenweiler Germany.

Josie stopping to smell the flowers.

Lake Thun, Switzerland – the deepest blue lake we’ve ever seen.

Up in the Alps … more fireweed. Get in for a picture, kids!

Logging roads in the Alps.

Upper Grindelwald Glacier at the top of the photo.. This spot was particularly dramatic, because the wind would blow off the glacier and down into that channeled valley. It felt just like standing in front of an A/C unit, where if you moved off to the side 50 feet in either direction, the wind was gone.

We got to do more 4-wheeling. The hiking areas where we visited were only accessible by logging trails.

(More cowbell for Jason.) The cowbells were surprisingly loud. I think they might drive a person mad after awhile.

Holden in his favorite spot, with iPad in hand … while the rest of the family is out exploring.