A long awaited hike.

 

 

It seems to me the parts of pregnancy lately that have gotten to me are the mental parts, the feelings of being limited in what I can or cannot do...

 

{25 weeks, 3 days pregnant}

 

...call it selfish, but I really miss riding my bike through the hills, valleys and mountains of our region, as I do running and hiking as well.

 

 

So yesterday we decided to try to correct this feeling, in a safe and responsible way, by taking the telecabine in Crozet up to a higher point in the Monts-Jura. The Jura is the mountain chain that runs behind our house, and separates the Rhone from the Rhine, extending through France, Switzerland, and part of Germany.

 

{Looking out over Lac Leman and Genève}

 

I was so happy to get up on the mountain we love so dearly, to breathe some fresh air, too cool off a bit (it's been hot again lately), and to stretch my legs over the gorgeous mountain paths.

 

{Pregnant Standing Bow}

 

 

At 25 weeks and 3 days pregnant I felt pretty confident hiking around on this part of the moutain, as the trails are much more manicured and flat, more like walking paths, rather then incredibly steep and often slippery paths such as behind our house.

 

 

We took it slow and brought a picnic lunch with us, and figured we'd play it by ear, depending on how I felt.

 

 

We hiked around for about 2 hours and put in just over 2 miles on the trails before stopping for our picnic lunch.

 

{Not to be left out, Doc's bump update}

 

We didn't get to the top of the mountain (we had about 30-45 minutes more up to go), but it did me a world of good to breathe the fresh mountain air, see all the cows (it never gets old), do some impromptu Bikram yoga poses, and to stop and (literally) smell the (wild)flowers.

 

 

I think Homekid liked it too, because he/she behaved the whole hike! (Unlike while food shopping the day before...) If only Homekid would be as nice to mama when we're out food shopping at Migros! I think Homekid hates spending a Saturday afternoon in Migros as much as mama and papa.

 

 

For our picnic we brought a quinoa tabbouleh (look for a recipe post on this dish later this week), some sparkling lemonade, carrots and cucumbers, a loaf of bread, cherries, watermelon, and some cervelles de canut that Doc made, (fresh cheese with shallots and red wine), a recipe we got from a recent post by A Cup of Jo. (We need to tweak the recipe a bit to match our palettes, so once we've perfected it I'll be sure to share!) Many thanks to Doc for carrying all of that food and a liter and a half of water throughout the whole hike!  

 

Next weekend, so long as the weather holds up and I'm feeling up for it, we plan on going on a different hike up in Gex, to another part of the Jura Mountains - I can't wait!  

 

How was your weekend? Did you go out and brave the heat in your part of the world? I'd love to hear about it!

 

A la prochaine friends!

 

Honey



Behind.

Je suis desolee for the lack of posts lately, Dan's been super busy with work which has somehow made me super busy by association. I have a ton of pictures to share, from snowboarding through Dracula clouds in Crozet to giant chess pieces in Geneva. So without further ado...


This past Saturday I had the pleasure of going snowboarding/skiing with my friend Maura (from over at Pardon My French) and her family, like I had the week before. However, unlike the week before it was significantly colder and way windy once we got into/above the clouds...


It was so windy and cold that after about an hour of almost being knocked off the side of the snow area into the dead grass part several times, we decided to take a break and have lunch in the little ski-chalet-house-thingy-with-a-fireplace-and-jazz-playing-and-vin-chaud-to-boot.


After our little break it seemed like it had warmed up a bit outside/wind had died down (or maybe it was the vin chaud), so we took to the slopes for round 2...



And then the Dracula clouds set in...




[See ya, Swiss Alps!]

Fearful of the threat of becoming an everlasting vampire cloud ourselves, we scurried home. Yay for getting a second snowboarding day in at Crozet and for escaping those elusive Dracula clouds!


The next day was of course, market day...




So what else? Well, I bought two Reine-Claude trees this week to add to the Duggan Terrace Orchard...and carried them back up the mountain...


...Reine-Claude's are in the plum family. They're like the slightly less cool cousin of the Mirabelle...



And I even got in a very cold day in measles-infected Geneva to hit up les puces...



...where we played some chess and drank some hot cocoa.

I guess I was busy afterall!

A la prochain friends...

Above the clouds.

On Saturday, I went skiing/snowboarding with some friends in Crozet (they ski, I snowboard). Crozet is one of the next towns over from us, and only about 10 minutes away by car. (I honestly had no idea we were so close to the slopes.) It was grey and foggy in the morning,but after taking the telecabine through and up above the clouds, it was beautiful, sunny and warm.


Due to the fact that spring has hit us about 2 months early here in France, they've had to make some fake snow to allow for skiing/snowboarding conditions...hence the distinct line above of where the snow ends and the dead grass begins.


[Swiss Alps off in the distance.]

Saturday was also my first time on my snowboard since I took a snowboarding gym class at Penn State - which I just realized was back in January/February of 2002! It was scary at first to re-learn and remember how to ride, but after about an hour or so I started to get my bearings back a bit. I'll also mention, for the record, that back in 2002 I had only just learned how to turn on my snowboard, and could just barely make it down a Blue slope, so it's not like I was coming from an illustrious snowboarding career to begin with. That being said, by the end of the day I was able to make it down a pretty steep blue slope without falling, and was loving every minute of it.


The hardest parts of the day? Dealing with my bindings. I have step in bindings that are supposed to be easier and faster to get your boot locked in, but instead I spent half of my time trying to do so. I also fell twice as much on that task than I did actually snowboarding. Maybe it just takes time to get the system down, but I remember always having trouble with it. Le sigh. Any suggestions from anyone else who may have step-in bindings?


I had a blast on Saturday, and despite the fact that I'm still having trouble moving my arms I hope I get another opportunity to use my board this season. Thanks to Maura over at Pardon my French and family for putting up with me for the day!

A la prochain friends...