Texas

Four days after Switzerland, I left for the Great State and have nothing but good memories and terrible pictures to show for it.  On the 16 hour flight, I managed to watch 4 movies (including one weird documentary called The Imposter - check it out), a few episodes of Downton Abbey and even get a few winkles of sleep.  Emirates is a supremely comfortable airline, but even with the extra pillows, blankets and meals, I was hurting by the time we landed in DFW.  And even though I had only been gone one year, it felt so weird to be back in Texas.  Everything seemed so flat, but compared to the Rocky Mountains and skyscrapers of Dubai, everything seems flat.

I sucked at taking pictures on this trip, probably because I was on picture overload in Europe.  I stole most of these from other people because I literally have like 3 pictures from 3.5 weeks.

Morgan and Reese, my favorite parts of the trip (sorry friends).  My goal was to make Reese my BFF by the end of the trip because she was scared of me when I got there.  I moved to Denver weeks after she was born and Dubai when she was one, so to her, I'm like the scary new lady that keeps smiling at her and trying to pick her up.  I'm happy to report that we were, indeed, BFFs by the end of the trip.  The challenge now is to not let her forget who I am while I'm away this year. 

Morgan's always my BFF, so no news there.

Sibling time!  Check out the sweet photo of Casey in the traditional UAE wear.  Awesome, eh?  He's posing in the traditional pose, too... serious face looking off to the side. 

The family minus Shannon and Casey F. at BABE'S!!!!!  I had two places I needed to go when I got back - Piranha and Babe's.  I'm embarrassed to say this, but I think Babe's is my favorite restaurant of all the places I've been.  It's at least tied for first with some nicer establishments.

Baby Nate!!  When I found out Alyssa was pregnant, I cried.  She's wanted this for SO long and struggled SO hard to get pregnant, and I'm so happy she finally has the baby she's been dreaming of for so long.  Dumbly, I didn't get a picture of Alyssa, even though I saw her pretty much every other day. :(

More friends!  EJ, Amanda and I had a mini high school reunion.  We haven't all been together in ten years or so, and it was so good to catch up.  I can't wait to do this again next summer!

3.5 weeks in Texas go by so quickly.  I'm so happy I got to see some of my favorite people, and I'm sad I wasn't better at taking pictures of these favorite people.  Oh my gosh, I almost forgot that Casey's mom drove down from Oklahoma to see me!  She got to meet the whole fam (finally).  It's about time for that.  The only two things that would have made this visit better would be more pictures and Casey.  Poor Casey was in Dubai working.

Welp, that's about enough of that.  I went to Texas.  It was fun.  I can't wait to go back.

Switzerland, Sadly

Switzerland, sadly?  Why sadly?  Because, if you couldn't tell, I've been drawing out our summer vacation as long as possible, trying to relive every magical moment, and sadly this was our last stop.  I can't possibly stretch it out any longer and must come to the realization that we are, in fact, back in Dubai, not frolicking through breathtaking European cities and befriending mountain-dwelling cows anymore.  Not that Dubai is all bad.  We're focusing on Dubai positives this year, cherishing our last months in the desert and trying to live in the moment, but even so, nothing compares to the mountains.  Especially Swiss mountains.

The drive from Italy to Interlaken was gorgeous (gorge, as the cool people say).

Oh, how I've missed fresh mountain air.  It instantly lifts my mood.

Happeeeeeeeeeeeness.

And wind.

The view from our apartment in Interlaken.
The first night, we sat out on the balcony for hours watching boats and kayakers go by.  We didn't even explore the new city because we were so tired.  Our excitement for the night was watching two middle schoolers contemplate jumping off the bridge.  After about an hour of standing there, they finally did it.  

The Honesty Shop.

Nobody works here; you just take what you need and leave the appropriate amount of money.  Wouldn't it be nice if this could work in real life and not just tiny mountain towns?

Murren and its beautifulness.  We woke up too late to go to the top of the famous Jungfrau, so we settled for Murren.  I was okay with that because I got to sleep, something we desperately needed at this point in our trip.

A perfect Swiss town with its perfect mountains, perfect sky, perfect flowers, perfect roofs, perfect greenness, and perfect backpacking family.

Interlaken and its surroundings are amazing.  We loved taking the train up the mountain to check out its cute little towns.  The "best" thing we did in Interlaken was a thing called canyoning.  I say "best" because it was basically four hours of me trembling from cold water and fear as we jumped, repelled and slid down a mountain.  Casey loved it, and thanks to him, we did the most extreme version of canyoning Interlaken offers.  I'm glad I did it but will never do it again.  The guides were serious adventurers and most of the canyoners were, too.  I was sure one of the girls in our group would be wimpier than me, but I think I was definitely the most scared.  In fact, they started counting down and giving me a little nudge when it was my turn to go so I would actually jump.  The only reason I was able to do this at all was because I didn't have a choice.  Once we were in the canyon, there was only one way out... down.

If you're dying to see the video, you can check it out here.  I'm Wasp and Casey's Rip Torn.  

After our canyoning nightmare adventure, we drove to Lucerne to relax with the swans.

Ahh... much better.

(notice that my eyes are closed AGAIN in the picture.  always.  why?)

Our second day in Lucerne was one of my favorite days ever.  It started out with these cuties...

(Cows are the coolest.)

had a little bit of mountain happiness in the middle, 

and ended with this craziness...

Paragliding, AHHHHHHHHHH!

After canyoning, this wasn't scary at all!  Notice how I only have one shoe on.  Casey's guide was very concerned about my Toms and wanted me to wear his old stinky boots with no socks.  I told him I'd be okay and had to work really hard to convince him my shoes were a good choice for paragliding.  Welp, it turns out that he was right.  I didn't break my ankle like he thought, but I did lose a shoe on the run down the mountain.  Luckily another paraglider took it down for me :)  My foot was FREEZING on the way down.

Casey started in a cloud and couldn't see much at first, but he was still in heaven.  He's obsessed with flying.  Paragliding was a dream.  I'm terrified of heights but wasn't scared at all for some reason.  It was peaceful and beautiful and just an absolute dream.  I'm trying to pump myself up for skydiving before we leave Dubai, but I don't know if I'm brave enough.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand finally, our last stop on our AMAZING vacation was Zurich.  We immediately took a 3 hour nap when we got there.  The last stop couldn't have come at a better time.  We were e-x-h-a-u-s-t-e-d.

Zurich was charming.  I wish we had more time to explore, but we just couldn't muster up the energy.

Trip highlights: Everything.  Literally.  It was the trip of a lifetime and I can't believe I was lucky enough to visit some of the most beautiful parts of Europe with my love.  When I'm a wrinkly old grandma looking back on my life, I will think of this trip as one of my favorite memories.  I think Casey's my lucky charm.  My life has gotten exponentially more exciting since I met him and every summer gets better.  Paris and Amsterdam in 2011, Bahamas and Dubai in 2012 and European road trip in 2013.  I wonder what adventures next summer will bring!