Life Lately April 2023

I don't know about anyone else, but I am tired. Physically tired, yes, but I'm talking about mentally and emotionally. Things have just felt really heavy and it's like I can't get out from under it all. I know there are times like this in everyone's life where so many things seem to be happening at once and you feel like you can't come up for air. I'm hopeful that the dark skies will clear soon.

April was a mixed bag. We started the month in Switzerland, which was a fabulous trip, and then also enjoyed a quick trip to Canada. One pretty cool thing was that C went hiking with my dad in the Grand Canyon. My dad goes with one or both of my brothers just about every year, but C had never gone with him before. This is not a leisurely sightseeing trip, but rather an intense "hike to the bottom of the canyon and back out in one day" excursion. Going down, their trail was about 7 miles with an elevation change of almost 5,000 feet; they came up on a different trail, which was almost 8 miles with an elevation change of almost 4500 feet. They did it in about 16 hours, with the temperature at the bottom of the canyon close to 100 degrees and the temperature at the top at the end of the hike in the 40s. This is not an adventure for the faint of heart! This was C's first time doing it, and I'm so incredibly proud of him! My dad, on the other hand, has done this THIRTY TWO TIMES. 32!!!!! I'm truly in awe.

While C was away, I took Avalanche to daycare three days in a row because things at school were just crazy busy and I didn't want to leave him alone at home for 10+ hours a day. He did great and was excited to jump out of the car each morning, which I took as a very good sign. If you'd told a few months back that I would be a person who takes their dog to daycare, I would have rolled my eyes, and yet here we are.

We also took Avalanche to Ocean City, MD because dogs are allowed on the beach until the end of April. We thought he would be all about the water, but we could not have been more wrong. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with the ocean. He was, however, happy to sit on the sand and take in the sights, sounds, and smells.

We spent a couple of weeks helping my mom move - she stayed in the same facility, but transitioned from temporary respite care and is now a full-time resident. That meant moving her things - furniture, clothing, etc. - from our house over the course of many trips. We were packing her stuff, disassembling furniture, loading up our cars, driving out to her place, moving stuff in, reassembling said furniture, and unpacking belongings. Most of this happened in the evenings after we'd worked all day, so it was grueling, but other than a few things we still need to get, she is settled in her new apartment now.

Two happy things from the month:

1) After far too long, WDW started selling annual passes again, so we jumped at the opportunity to become passholders again. We won't activate them until August, but we have plans to go one weekend a month next school year, which is something we did during the 2008-2009 school year.

2) The Toronto Maple Leafs won a playoff round for the first time since 2004. If you aren't a hockey fan, you might not understand the enormity of this, but trust me, it is a HUGE deal. The disappointment year after year after year was so frustrating...and we know there's no guarantee they'll advance any further, but for now, we are reveling in this victory!

always judging

he continues to tolerate being loved on
when he is getting out of the car

spending the day sleeping on the driveway
#adorableweirdo

exhausted from fun at daycare

only 4,000 miles away from my goal for my car

Happy Tails to you!

Avalanche Meets His Grandparents

We left for Canada a little after 4:00 am yesterday morning and we got home a little after 8:00 pm this evening.

That's a total of 40 hours.

It's a ten hour drive each way, meaning we were at C's parents' house for only 20 hours.

While all of that might sound a little insane, there was a really good reason for this weekend...this guy:

We'll be taking a lengthy trip starting in mid-June and we don't want to put Avalanche in a kennel for an extended period of time. C's parents kindly agreed to watch him for us while we're gone, but there was one issue - they hadn't even met him yet! We wanted to take him up there not only so introductions could finally be made, but also so he could get to know their house a little bit. The next couple of months are pretty busy with testing season and the end of the school year, so we figured even if we didn't have a lot of time, we should take him up there this weekend, since we had two unencumbered days.

He did SO well in the car and C's parents adore him. Despite his aloof nature, he instantly fell in love with C's mom, which was beyond precious! Seeing him interact with them and be so comfortable at their house made me feel a million times better about being away from him for so long in the summer!

C and I are pretty tired from such a crazy weekend, but it was totally worth it!

They are the best!!!

Happy Tails to you!

Spring Break 2023: Zurich

Our final Swiss city of the trip was Zurich; we arrived by train on Saturday morning and stayed until this morning when we had to head to the airport for our flight home. We stayed at Hotel Adler Zurich, which is a small, charming place and while we loved our room and the location was ideal (less than a ten minute walk from the train station), it is in a very busy area, so it was quite noisy all the time. We had a cute little balcony, but didn't spend any time out there because of all of the noise coming from the shops, cafes, and restaurants below. Also, the bell situation all over Zurich is ABSURD...they ring very loudly for fifteen minutes straight at least twice a day! Have you ever listened to loud clanging bells for fifteen minutes straight?!? Not a fan! It is a nice city, although I definitely prefer the smaller towns of Bern and Lucerne to the larger cities of Geneva and Zurich!

I will say that I CANNOT WAIT to retire so we won't have to travel during holidays!

Over the course of this ten-day trip, we stayed at four different hotels, and visited seven places across the region, taking a total of 15 train rides, which I absolutely loved. Trains are one of the greatest things about Europe, as evidenced in this pic:

passenger trains lines
USA vs. Europe

My few complaints are the same that I've had in most other European countries. The first is the prevalence of smoking. Disgusting. Everywhere we went, we were inhaling second hand smoke. The second is that I found many of the people quite rude. They will walk right into you on the sidewalks, push past you to crowd onto escalators or elevators or trains, and stop dead in the middle of a space, often in large groups. We were warned by a friendly shop employee that people there walk extremely slowly and are in no hurry to get anywhere, and he was absolutely correct! Also, in comparing Switzerland to the many other countries we've visited where we don't speak the local language, I found it to be the least accommodating to English speakers (which struck me as strange, given how multi-national it is). I don't expect people to speak English by any means, but the obvious annoyance we encountered throughout the week was a bit much. A little kindness and a little patience would have been very appreciated. All I can say is that I'm super grateful to live in a world where Google translate exists! Despite these complaints, I would return to Switzerland in a heartbeat and we were fortunate to come across very nice locals everywhere we stayed!

For me, the two highlights of the trip were definitely visiting Jungfraujoch and driving through Liechtenstein. The entire trip was a dream come true and I'm glad we were able to see different parts of the country! The scenery was beyond spectacular and I was in awe every single day!

this guy is the greatest travel planner on earth...
the day before we left, I was asked if we were going
to certain places and I couldn't even say yes or no
because he plans everything and I just go along
for the adventure...I am so, so, so fortunate in every way!

Our flight home took nine hours and it was a great flight with a very nice crew. When we landed at Dulles, it was a totally different story. I have long sung the praises of Dulles, especially compared to Reagan, which I strongly believe to be one of the worst airports around. However, I was not at all impressed with Dulles today! We have Global Entry and based on previous experiences, it should have been about ten minutes from getting off the plane to getting through customs to getting our luggage and leaving the airport. Instead, it took more than 75 minutes in what can only be described as a complete debacle being mismanaged by buffoons. We were so anxious to get home so we could pick up Avalanche and the sheer incompetence on full display was infuriating. I will still commend Dulles in terms of domestic flights, but based on today's experience, it clearly cannot handle lots of travelers arriving on international flights!

Speaking of Avalanche, he had a great time at the kennel...we got a report card and pictures every day and it looked like he made some friends! It was interesting to watch as the week went on because he started strong and seemed to enjoy all of the socialization, but in the final few days, it appeared that he'd had enough. He takes after his mother - an introvert who likes socializing for a little while, but when we're over it, we're OVER IT! LOL! He was so excited when we picked him up a few hours ago!

early in the week

mid week

end of the week

happy to be back in the car with us

Back to reality for now...although we're already looking forward to the quick weekend trip we have scheduled at the end of next week!

Happy Tails to you!