Into the wild

As I hiked my way up the Swiss Alps, I looked down below on a huge glacier field. In awe, at the same time I couldn't help but think of home, just a little bit. What, I wondered, is the difference between these beautiful, impressive mountains to those of the Sierra Nevadas? Why is it that I marvel at something so far away from home, when I could see almost the same thing a few hours from where I grew up?

Well of course, you have the excitement of greeting people in another language. But then again, I think the most amusing difference is a silly one. As a child, I used to complain constantly when we went hiking. To convince us that it was worth getting to the top, my dad always said, "Come on everybody! At the top of the mountain there's A&W rootbeer floats!" (For those of you who don't know what a rootbeer float is, just imagine a beer instead, although it has nothing to do with rootbeer....anyway). We'd always walk to the top, knowing, and then discovering of course, that his logic was flawed.

However, I discovered that this is not necessarily the case in Switzerland. As I trudged for 3 and half hours to the top of a peak, passing up weary backpackers right and left, I finally made it. To my amazement, in the horizon, there it was, a refuge (where this photo was taken)! But not in the sense that we have in America, where it's a stone shelter for emergency situations, with nothing much to go with it. No, this refuge not only had indoor seating and flush toilets, but you could order hot "rusdie" (think hashbrowns, American readers, except better), and to my amazement, BEER. I guess Dad had to be right sometimes. I have to admit the view was quite amazing, as I sipped at my beer, watching the hikers put on their ice clamps and grab their axes, heading up towards the glacier. As I finished the last little bit of what was in my mug, I thought, wow, this sure doesn't happen too often in Cali!