Thursday, March 21, 2013

Fall fun and visit with grandma.




My mom came for a visit in the fall and since I've just recently gone climbing to Mt. Aiguille, I thought it would be cool to go hiking somewhere nearby so we could have some magnificent views.  After searching on the internet, I found a nice little hike to take the kids and my mom along.   So the plan was set, but the weather did not seem to cooperate in the morning.  We woke up to a complete whiteout, and despite the worries that the day was ruined, I was stubborn (as I can be:) and decided to go for it with some hopeful and optimistic attitude.  As we drove on the highway, the fog got thicker and I almost missed the turnoff....  To make things even more interesting, we came to road block in a tiny village because some dude was repairing his roof.  Basically, the only road that existed was blocked, with no warning or sign for a detour prior to reaching the village.  Being a dedicated GPS fan, I was now absolutely stumped!  But only for a few seconds; I ended up asking one of the workers how to find my way along some random dirt roads which was a 15 min detour that brought us back to the other side of the village.  Fun times!

And guess what, it was well worth all the trouble, because soon enough, the fog was thinner and as we drove closer to our destination, the skies above got bluer.  It was going to be a beautiful day after all. 

A small plan of our little hike!

The fall colors as usual did not disappoint, we were well above the fog/clouds in the valley, and the temperature was perfect. 




And sure enough, when we hiked out of the forest, we did get to see some amazing views, including Mt. Aiguille and the Vercors range.

Beautiful Vercors.

Mt. Aiguille!



Reaching the summit.


Mom, enjoying the hike.

The summit photo.


The way back down was not as pretty because there was no real path in the forest and it was steep.  So I would recommend to probably take the same path back for beginner hikers.  But anyway, we made it and everyone was happy when we saw the car again.  (I was happy that we didn't get lost, because my sense of direction can be a bit wishy washy sometimes - so as the leader of the trip, I felt responsible of course :D

~~~~~

Within the next week, the weather changed dramatically.  We received the first dump of snow in the city, but that didn't hold us back of course.  We just pulled out our winter gear and went outside to play!



I then went around and took photos of our garden and around the house, because it looked like nature didn't have time to hibernate for winter yet....





Poor roses bending down with the weight of snow.


Tea time?



View from our window.


Our window.

As the snow conditions seemed really good, I decided to drive up to Saint Nizier du Moucherotte to do some sledding with the kids because there are a few perfect hills there. 




Punk snow man.

In the air.....



And that's all folks!!

Fall in Grenoble within one week, before and after snow, photo taken in the same spot.