Camping in France

I've finally gotten around to finishing a blog post. [gasp]  I just haven't been in blog mode lately... I just post the photos on Facebook and act like it's sufficient in letting people know what we do and that we're alive.  However, for some reason, I forget to email our non-facebook family members the link to our albums.  :(  I'm sorry.  After this post, I'll be sure to link them up on here.

Last month we went camping in Annecy, France.  It's about a 45 minute drive from Geneva and it is b-e-a-utiful.  On Friday afternoon, we crammed the clown car with every camping essential you'd need for living at Everest Base camp.... for one night... with the dogs... with a chance of rain... not knowing if we'd even find a campsite.  It was highly likely that our evening wouldn't work out well.  We wanted to go because we have planned a couple other more 'intense' trips with friends soon.  Also, Adam was SOOOO excited.  5-year old style.  So this was practice for us.  We want to make it appear that we know what we're doing when our other trips roll around.  Here's a map of our drive, courtesy of Google maps.

We headed off, got through the French border (quite busy during rush hour), found more traffic in downtown Annecy, and made it to our campground in about an hour and a half.... not 45 minutes.  Annecy is a hopping little town!  Most campsites didn't officially open until the Sunday after we were there, but we stopped at the tourist office and asked them which places were open and if they accepted two small beasts. Jackpot.

Off we went again... heading around the lake away from Annecy a little.

Another twenty minutes and we arrived at Au Coeur du Lac... which means 'heart of the lake.'  How cute. We wound up having to drive a little bit further than Annecy, but it was worth it.  It was a great campsite and even had toilets and showers!!!  I know.   That's cheating right?  We didn't take showers though.  Ewww.  I will mention that we were one of two spots that had a tent.  Seriously.  Everyone else had a camper or mini-rv.  We were entertainment for them.  Here's a picture of our spot.  This was taken the next morning after we packed up because I forgot to take a photo of our hard work. :(

Here's a run down of how our night went...

• Tied the dogs to a tree [the PETA freaks scream].  You don't know our dogs.  They're untrustworthy in new situations.  Plus, they lack thumbs and couldn't assist in setting up 'base camp.'  They sat there and looked cute while we struggled to keep our dignity in front of all of the people watching from their campers.  
• Laid the tarp down and proceeded to get out 'the big green monster.'  Our new tent was literally delivered 6 hours before we had planned to go... perfect timing.  This is a picture of it.  This is from Amazon and ours didn't exactly look this perfect when we finished setting it up.  The bottom picture is more realistic.  And yes, you can stand in it.

  

One side didn't cooperate with us.  It was our storage room, so we didn't care.  Saggy-lopsided room wasn't priority #1.  Eating was.

• Rocco escaped.  He heard a scream (from our neighbor's special needs child) and decided he needed to investigate... or save them.  He darted away from his tree and I had accidentally leashed his tag ring instead of his collar ring.  Ooops.  More entertainment for everyone... crazy dog being followed by crazy lady screaming.  I caught him and put him in the car.  He had to get used to the random screaming.  He loves the car, so he was happy as a clam.   
• Decided to let Brontosaurus off  his leash... and roam wild.  He did great and always does better when T-Rex isn't around to instigate trouble.  He followed me around the tent to stake it down.  Look at the sweetness!  

 

• Time to get grilling... the sun was going down.   Adam set our new grill up.  Yes, every single piece of our camping equipment is new.  We're not campers and we don't have a patio for a grill at our tiny apartment.  We have a tent and a large grill stored at our house in Phoenix, but we didn't bring them because we don't camp and we knew we wouldn't have a patio.  The new grill worked like a charm.  Grillmaster Adam cooked up some chicken, burgers, and veggie kebabs.  I may have over packed on food. 
  
  
  
  
  
• Decided to let T-Rex out of the car while the food was cooking.  He LOVES people food, so we knew the vulture in him would make him stay.  His favorite is vegetables, but he'll eat anything... even a bag of raw pasta noodles... or an entire loaf of bread... or even a pack of 8 waffles.  He was obviously ashamed of what he had done.  He got out of the car and followed me closely and turned sweet again.  

•  Dinner was amazing and the boys just lounged around with us on a blanket while we played cards, drank wine, and had a nice little chat about life... and how weird it was to say 'Oh yeah, we just went camping in France for the weekend.'  We still have moments where we don't believe we actually live here.

• T-Rex took off again.  The second time, he saw a young boy running back to his campsite and decided he didn't like it.  He chased him down and gave him a good 'barking at' while the boy peed his pants and scrambled to get into his luxury camper.  More embarrassment. 
• After we finished our bottle of wine, it was time to settle in.  Let me give you a quick reminder of our campsite:  lots of older people, kids, completely gated, a tiny French town, showers/toilets, office where you could buy snacks, ping pong tables, etc.  We were not in the wilderness.  However, once I laid down... the paranoia began.  I was sure that a serial killer was on the loose and targeting the only dummies in a real tent... easy victims.  The shadows on the outside of the tent, the sounds of nature, and the fact that we were sleeping in a bag... within another giant bag... with zippers... outside... all played into my mental lapse.  I didn't sleep a wink.  Seriously.  The movies Friday the 13th and Blair Witch even crossed my mind.

At one point (approximately 2am), I woke Adam up with my heart racing.  I thought I heard footsteps through the grass and our grill being messed with... stolen in fact.  Here's how it all went town

Me in whisper voice: "Adam! [poke, poke] Adam!  Someone is stealing our grill.  I think someone is outside!"    

Adam: [leaps up, unzips the tent in .3 seconds, and rushes outside ready to get the grill snatcher]

Me: [trembling with fear and hoping the grill snatcher wasn't going to kill Adam]

Adam: [comes back in] "Nope.  It's still there... and my socks are soaked."

Me: "I swear I heard someone walking around."

I checked the time and laid back down. 

• 3:00am :  Serial killer threat level: 10

• 4:00am

• 5:00am

• 6:00am: sun rises.  Serial killer threat level dwindles to a mere 0.  

• 6:30am: I woke up because I had to pee and our tent was slowly becoming a sauna.  
• 7:30am:  everyone was up and I was thoroughly made fun of for being such a weirdo and not sleeping
• We decided to take a little walk by the lake before heading out.  Here was our view:

 

  

Cue the mosquitoes.

 

• We got out of there quickly once we realized we were being attacked by mosquitoes.  It was such an amazing view though.

After we got back to our little campground, we took everything down and loaded up the car.  It came down pretty fast and we actually got the tent back in the bag!!!  Woohoo!  We were out of there by noon and on the road back to Geneva.  Once we got back home, I took a shower and then an 8 hour nap.  :)

We'll let you know how round 2 goes.  I'm hoping I'll get more sleep next time.   

Au revoir!

Ashley

We have 6 phone numbers.

We have 6 different phone numbers.  Six.

Why?  You ask.

Before we moved, we heard about this amazing device called the Ooma (thanks GM).  It's a little black thing that hooks up to the internet, our old cell phone numbers, and a landline phone here in Geneva.  Sound complicated?  Try explaining it to everyone.  I made a diagram to help with confusion.

I know that helps me.

So, our original US phone numbers got "ported" to this thing.  When you call those numbers, our cool Swiss cordless phone rings (6-8 hours ahead of your US time).  We often get 3am calls.  Some of our first phone calls went like this...

"Oh cool!  It worked!  It's really you!  This is so weird!  Like, really weird.  How's Sweden?
"Hi!  OMG!  Yeah, crazy huh?  It's actually Switzerland."
"How does this thing work again?"
"Well, we ported our old cell numbers to this box that looks like an answering machine that is somehow connected with...    I think it's witchcraft."
"......

That's 2 phone numbers.

Next, we have 2 Swiss numbers (they start with +41).  I have only recently accomplished memorizing mine and I have no idea what Adam's is.  I'm on par with a five year old.  I consider even managing to acquire Swiss cell phones an accomplishment.  You have to prove you have a work permit or live here... both of which were hard to do in the first few weeks.

Here's what our phones look like:

Check out that one on the right... ain't she a beaut?  Kim Kardashian and Rosie O'Donnell.  This is the phone I was able to obtain as a "foreigner" without a work or residence permit.  We decided to keep it for visitors, but I'm actually using it now.  I did have a Samsung like Adam's, but it met an early death... washing machine accident.  I don't even want to talk about laundry mishaps.  It makes me drink.  I remember loving my old Nokia button one (what do you call them?) in high school, but going from an iPhone to Samsung to Sony (non-touch screen) has been hard.  I find that this little beast challenges my mental capacity daily and I've tried to press the screen more than once.  

The phone number count is up to 4.

Lastly, we have two 'travel' US numbers.  When we arrived in the US last August for our first trip home, we realized we would need to buy new pre-payable SIM cards because our old US numbers were tied to the Ooma.  I can't tell you how many people (probably you) didn't answer because they thought it was a telemarketer.  So, we do mass texts/calls when we visit so that everyone is aware of our phone number.  I like these numbers because I can actually use my iPhone and not Rosie.

Recently, we found out that we have to get new US SIM cards (meaning new numbers) each time we fly in or pay $100 to keep each number while we're away...  seriously.  So, friends and family, when it comes time for our next trip, be prepared for two new Hughes contact numbers.

And the count is up to 6.

A summary for those of you who are still confused:
US people  >  Switzerland Hughes':  call our old cell phone numbers (and mind the 6-8 hour time difference)

US people  >  US Hughes':  Not sure... don't know what our next phone numbers will be and we're not paying $200 to keep the ones we just recently used.  Wait for a text or something.

Switzerland  >  Switzerland Hughes':  You go through this too, so you already know the drill.  Swiss #'s.

Switzerland  >  US Hughes':  Incur outrageous international charges or break into our apartment and call our unknown US travel numbers from our Ooma.  I hope this never happens because a phone call from Switzerland means an emergency... and it would probably involve the two monsters.


Just email us.
Au revoir

First Ski Trip in the Alps

Adam and I are decent skiers.  On a scale of 1-10 (10 being someone who could be dropped from a helicopter, land, and continue skiing down an 89 degree incline), I would say we're both about a 5.  Maybe even a 4.  Or a 2.  Adam might say he's a 9.7 though.

Keepin' it real:  We're nowhere near helicopter status.  

Our skills to date are:

• knowing how to put our skis on
• knowing how to adjust the bindings (and what the numbers mean).  Thanks Youtube.
• standing up in our skis (some people find this challenging)
• carving (going from side to side to prevent death speeds)
• coming to an immediate stop and spraying snow 
• knowing when falling down is the best option
• knowing how to approach a variety of ski lifts without being injured.  I never knew there were so many different types.
• green, blue, and maybe some red slopes  (The rating system seems to be different here because I remember going down 'blacks' at home.  Mmmmm... blacks here are a little different.)

         Alps slope rating system (according to us):

• Green: easy
• Blue: difficult in some areas
• Red: Intensive Care Unit and possible medical rescue (wearing a diaper is mandatory)
• Black: you die

If Adam were writing this post, he would say that I have a tendency to get out of control (or Evil Kenevilish) out there.  He's not writing this though.  A couple years ago, in Flagstaff, I was going too fast, fell, and came close to a tree.  That's what he's basing his opinion off of.  Nothing crazy.  I knew I wasn't going to hit it.

When we moved in March, we kind of missed ski season entirely.  Apparently it was a really short season because the snow started melting sooner than usual.  So, we've had to wait 9 months for the Alps.  We bought our own ski gear because we anticipate several trips this Winter and next.  It was totally worth it.  Now we don't have to rent crappy skis and wait in line.  We can just go.

Since we will be gone for a couple of weeks during Christmas (going home), we decided to try and get at least one trip in.  The majority of big ski resorts/slopes don't open until the 17th, but we heard a few were.  Avoriaz, France was one of them.  We did some research and found out it was opening day, most of their lifts were open, it was only an hour and a half away, and it was cheap!  Woohoo!

Here's our day in pictures:

On the way!

  

 Almost there!  The little blue Wildcat mobile made it!!!  

   

Here's where we were.  Just inside France, next to the Swiss border.  Our ski passes worked for the purple part (Avoriaz: "ah-voor-hack-ee-ay").  You can get one that allows you to go all over, but we didn't expect to be doing 650 km of skiing (that's how much there is).  

A little bit more zoomed in.  As you can see, there are several blue slopes (Easy according to Swiss/French ski standards) and some red and black.  Red means ICU.  Black means you die.  We stayed away since we hadn't been in a couple years.

Yellow dots are the lifts we took.  Orange dots are the slopes we went down (went on most of them twice).  

       

  

The little personal lift.  Put the pole between your legs and ski uphill.   Harder than it seems.

Little cloudy.

     

Teasing us.  Get outta the way clouds!!!  We can't wait for our first ski trip with the full panoramic view of the Alps.  

  

Going up.  And up.  And up.  

  

The little town of Avoriaz.  

  

We have helmets on for good reason.  Cliffs, rocks, and crazy snowboarders/skiers flying down the hill... and because of our own skiing ability.

This picture looks fake to me... it's not.

 Taking a break at the little cabin on the mountain.  Vin chaud (hot wine) and a Nutella crepe.  Yum.

  

  

Finally, some blue skies!

Adam getting artistic with the camera. 

  

  

 Whoa.  So pretty.

Seeing signs like this were encouraging:

  

 

   

And now.  A video.

He did actually do a 360 in that last part.  I thought I got it.  Nope.

The sheer talent that we have in filming is just amazing.  This has got to be the highest quality and most exciting ski video on the market.  You're welcome.  I hope you didn't get motion sickness watching it.  

Ummmm... yeah.  Perfect day.  

It's almost Christmas!!!

Trip stats:

5 solid hours of skiing

58 Euros total ($78) for two lift passes, food, and parking

0 injuries

3 minor falls (skis stayed on)

2 vin chauds

1 Nutella crepe

1 horrid sandwich (bread and fatty ham.. they love that stuff)

90 minute drive from Geneva

48 hours of whining from me.  My knees and triceps are sore.  :(

We had so much fun.  Can't wait for round 2 when we get back!  

Au revoir!