Joe. We are seven months in to our stay here in Switzerland, and if I have any complaints at all, it is that I miss all of our friends and family (F&F). The sad truth is that we didn’t spend as much time as I would like hanging with F&F, even when we were Stateside. Being abroad hasn’t helped matters. As such, I am very appreciative of the F&F who have made, or will make, the journey to visit us here.
We planned a European ski trip last year, and I had been looking forward to a visit from Abe Stein and Jamie Ravitz for months. Seeing my Boyz, and skiing with them in Europe, would certainly help to sate my appetite for quality F&F time. (By plan, I mean we said “Let’s meet in Europe next year”, then Abe took care of all the details.)
The plan was a good one, but the execution was subpar; The worst part was that Abe had to bail at the last minute. Much less bad, but nevertheless unfortunate: There’s no snow in Europe! It seems The West has gotten all the powpow this year.
So that’s the bad; the good news is that I got to hang/ski with Jamie (and bonus friend George, a friend of Abe’s who has now joined us on two ski trips) in France (Chamonix) and Italy (Courmayeur). There was some snow, of course, and we made the most of it.
The lack of snow and our lack of familiarity with the area kept us either on piste, or only slightly off piste at worst…no avalanches, no cliffs, no crevasses.
Next time, we’ll be sure to bring our climbing gear (lot’s of people wear harnesses), shovels, beacons, rods, and axes in order to get the full experience.
Thank you, Jamie and George, for the good times.
Abe – I’ll see you in May!
