February 27th - Queenstown, New Zealand - Day 195

Today Peter and I did something no rational human being would ever do. We jumped off a 141 foot high bridge which spanned a beautiful river gorge with only a rubber band tied to our feet - yes today we bungee jumped.

But I am getting ahead of myself. In actuality this day started VERY early. Stacie and I woke up at 2:30 in the morning in order to register Lea for summer camp. The camp fills up within minutes so you have to register online as soon as registration is possible, which for Lea happened to be this morning at 3:00 AM. We wandered upstairs and got set up for the mad dash to registration. We actually got up too early and were just sitting there nervously watching the seconds tick off. When the clock struck 3:00 (7 AM in Boise the prior day) we clicked on the register button, found the right link within 5 seconds, clicked it and were greeted with "Sorry, this Camp is full - click here to join the wait list." The camp had literally filled up in under 10 seconds. I was a bit crushed and a bit pissed. We dropped Lea on the waiting list and then went back downstairs to go to sleep. Stacie was able to get back to sleep after a while, but I was wide awake and after about 40 minutes of tossing and turning I decided to get up. I sat and worked away for hours as the house slept. I had not slept much the night before either because our neighbors were trying to recreate the Hot Tub Time Machine party at 2:30 in the morning.

Once everyone was up we checked the forecast and found out that it had changed to be mostly rainy over the next several days. We decided to try to get some activities ticked off our list while the weather was good. Peter and I had booked a bungee jump for Monday, but it would now be raining on Monday so we decided there was no time like the present. We called AJ Hackett (the company that created the sport) and changed our reservation to 1:00. As soon as Peter hung up the phone I started getting butterflies. I really had no desire to do this, but Peter wanted to so I was along for the ride. Given the lack of sleep over the two prior nights, my nerves were already pretty fried and I struggled to settle down.

We all loaded up into the car and headed about 20 minutes out of town to the bungee site at the Kawarau Bridge. This is the first bungee site in the world and is literally where the activity was created, which is pretty cool. When we pulled up I was astonished. The infrastructure is incredible. There is a huge welcome center built into the side of a cliff packed with technology and merchandise - this is clearly big business in Queenstown. We immediately tried to check in, but were told we were a little early, so we wandered out to the viewing platform to watch some people jump. Watching the first person jump was not helpful. It's a pretty big fall and the thought of jumping was truly starting to frighten me. However, I was trying to play it cool, because Peter was really nervous as well and it showed.

We finally got checked in and headed over to the jumping spot to get in line. They have two cords they use for jumpers, one is for lighter people and one for heavier, so as you can imagine Peter and I had to split up. His line had about 6 people in it, mine was empty :-( so I would be up first. Stacie and Lea wandered down to the viewing platform and got set up to take pictures.

I kept telling myself, just get up there and jump, don't hesitate. Before I knew it I was putting on a climbing harness and my guide was calling me down onto the jumping platform. Fortunately, they had Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon playing, which actually did calm my nerves a little bit. I sat on the platform and the guide made small talk while wrapping my ankles in a hand towel and then he wrapped the towel with an ankle harness. He was done securing me to the bungee in about two minutes and then screamed out 81, which was my number - it was time. I shuffled over to the edge of the platform.

My guide made me wave to their cameras and then said 3-2-1 bungee and I leapt off the platform.

The feeling in the first second of free fall was like nothing I have ever experienced, my heart was in my throat and I was screaming a little (I actually did not know it at the time, but Stacie and Lea were sure to remind me). I have cliff jumped many times in my life, but this was completely different - it was flying. Since you actually dive off the platform, not jump, you are falling head first, which makes the experience even more terrifying. However, after the first second, it was really peaceful and quiet. For the first time since Peter had hung up the phone, as I was rushing to hit the water, I was strangely calm and exhilarated, not scared. Then the cord started to pull taught and all of a sudden I stopped falling and reversed course.

I was pulled upward and then was falling again - it was awesome. Once I stopped bobbing up and down I was lowered to a raft and it was over. The whole thing probably took 30 seconds, but it was an incredible 30 seconds and well worth it.

I ran up the trail to meet Stacie and Lea, and told them it was the best thing I have ever done. I was so excited and relieved. I then ran up to Peter to tell him to stop worrying and make sure he enjoyed the jump, because it was amazing.

Peter was up about 10 minutes later and jumped without any hesitation (or screaming) and did a perfect swan dive.

He came up from the trail grinning ear to ear and confirmed it was indeed the most incredible feeling.

For the next 45 minutes as we collected our certificates and drove back to Queenstown we could not stop talking about how amazing it was.

When we got back to the house, we ate a late lunch and then I laid down for a nap. When I woke up we decided to get some exercise so the whole family went for a hike up the Queenstown Hill Track behind our house. It is such a wonderful trail, with a big climb, amazing views and super easy access for us. We do it almost every day.

We got back and Lea and I ran to the grocery store for some supplies. Ate a really simple dinner, and watched a Downton Abby (which has become more of a comedy for us than a drama). We love to make fun of the characters as they are overly dramatic. I think Jimmy Fallon and Downton Sixby was our inspiration.

Then off to bed for a few hours before we had to wake up again at 2:30 to register Peter for camp. Not to spoil tomorrows daily dump, but Peter did get in - thankfully!

If you ever have the chance to bungee, do it, you won't regret it!

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February 26th - Queenstown, New Zealand 194

Lea’s POV

Today we got a huge storm, in the morning my parents went on a hike and then for the rest of the evening we stayed in. Then at night my parents talked while my brother and I went down to get candy and meet some people. Because we only had 5 dollars it was a struggle, so we ended up getting bon bons, and eating all of them.

Then we were faced with our next problem, meeting new people. It isn't exactly easy because you don't have a conversation starter, the only thing we could think of was “Hey we got candy” which we figured was kind of a stalker move so we didn't go with that one. We ended up just walking around and then going home. So overall I think today was a boring day with a good ending.

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February 25th - Queenstown, New Zealand - Day 193

Peter's POV

Today I woke up late. I don't know what anyone did before 11 o-clock because I didn't wake up until then. Because it is summer for me I am waking up later because I don't need to do school. I assume that they were working. I woke up and my parents and I went for a hike up the hill behind our house. When we got to the bottom we were surprised to see that it was already 2 o-clock, we raced back to the house and went to play frisbee golf. We decided to another high stakes game, where if Lea and I won than we would get to go to the Cookie Bar but if my parents won then we would have to cook dinner. Because me and my sister lost so badly in the last round my parents gave us a 6 stroke lead.

After one hole me and my sister had already lost two strokes and were up by 4. We managed to regain a stroke on the next hole but once we got into the part of the course with trees on it we were all tied up. One hole later we were down by one. This is when we start falling apart every time. My parents decided to ask us if we were up for starting over the game and they would give us a four stroke but if we lost then we would have to do dinner for two nights and if we won we would get to go to the Cookie Bar and do one nights dinner. We took the bet and started playing again. We were up by two going into the 17th hole and up by one starting the 18th. After about 4 shots our fate was sealed, we were doing dinner for 2 nights in a row.

After we got back from frisbee golf my parents changed and waited to go out while me and my sister stayed in and watched a movie. Over all it was a good day.

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February 24th, 2015 - Queenstown, New Zealand - Day 192

Peter's POV

Today was massive day, we woke up around our usual time, but today we didn't get to work. We hopped into the car and drove 45 minutes to the trailhead of the Routeburn trail. We planned to walk 8 miles of the trail after the walk we were planning on going to get Ferg Burgers. We bagan the walk and were immediately overtaken with dense forest and the bluest river that I have ever seen.

After crossing the river we were eaten up by the forest. This forest was like nothing I had ever seen before, it looked so old. There was no dirt anywhere to be seen the whole floor was covered in a carpet of moss. The dirt that was attached to the tree roots had fallen away and moss had grown in the top forming a cave like thing.

Don't get me wrong, the forest was beautiful but it was very different from anything that I had ever seen before. The Routeburn trail is a hiking wonder, the trail seems almost impossible to maintain, the forest is always fighting to take over the trails. The trail cuts across a lot of rivers and gorges.

The scenery was so beautiful that it took us about 2 hours and 10 minutes to walk for miles. When we got to the point that we were planning on turning around it was 2 o-clock. We sat on the shore of a blue river for a little bit then turned around and walked back to the car. Because we were not stopping to take pictures we shaved an hour off of the time.

When we got into town we dropped my mom off at Ferg Burger and went to find a parking spot.

If you have ever been to Queenstown you know that Ferg Burger is amazing even before you order your burger. The reason that I say this is because the line is stretched out the door every hour that it is open. We were told that the wait was about 25 minutes after we order, and the line that stretches out the door is just to order!

The line actually went surprisingly fast and we were ordering within 15 minutes of getting there. Once we made the order we went to walk around while we waited. The wait went fast, we were in the car driving towards home with warm burgers in our hand about 20 minutes later.

The burger was easily the best burger that we have had on the trip maybe the best burger ever. We ate the giant burger at about 5:30, our plan was to have it for lunch. We finished off the day with a movie called the Kings of Summer.

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February 23rd, 2015 - Queenstown, New Zealand - Day 191

Back to the gardens! Today was Stacie's day to visit the gardens of Queenstown. She had done some research and found a couple of gardens about 20 mins aways towards Arrowtown. Both gardens were by appointment only and fortunately we were able to schedule the appointments back to back.

We got in a quick hike as exercise, showered and then headed out for our first appointment. After a little Google Maps mix up we were able to locate our first stop - Blair Gardens. We pulled in and were quickly greeted by their charming owner of 41 years - Janet. Janet told us that she and her husband had bought the property from the original owners and it was basically an open field with a small house on it. Over the course of the last 4 decades she has worked tirelessly to create a wonderful garden setting on their 12 acres of land. The amount of work she has put into the place is staggering, especially when you consider she has done it all on her own.

Stacie went on a personal garden tour with Janet while I sat under a nice tree and read a book.

Here are some pictures from the garden (Stacie will put up more in her Gardens section)

We then headed over to Chantecler, which is a much larger and much more eclectic garden. This time Stacie went on a self guided tour while I did my favorite thing and went grocery shopping.

Stacie's tour took a little over an hour and I showed up just shortly after that with a car full of groceries. She told me that while some parts of the garden were really nice, the overall feel was muddled and a bit confused and she preferred the intimate and personal nature of Blair. She is getting to be so good with all things garden/landscape design related - it is really fun to watch her grow.

Here are some pictures of Chantecler:

By the time we got home it was 2:00 and we were starved. We ate a quick lunch and then figured out the Oscars were on. We flipped it on and settled in for a little mindless entertainment. However, after about 30 mins I was restless and Peter and I decided to go play frisbee golf again. This time we actually bought our frisbees, instead of renting them, so we had to learn how to throw our new disks. We got the hang of it sometime around hole 15 :-) but had a lot of fun learning.

Fish tacos and a movie wrapped up another wonderful day in NZ.

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February 22nd, 2015 - Queenstown, New Zealand - Day 190

Today was a big day for the Gomberts. The day started early with Stacie and Peter parasailing at 8:00 AM. We all woke up early and headed down to the marina at 7:30 to drop the parasailers off. Then Lea and I headed up the lake a ways to a place we thought we might be able to get some good shots of Peter and Stacie while they were in the air.

The morning was cool, but there was little or no wind and a perfect blue sky. We found our spot just out of the main bay and set up shop. A curious lille black duck waddled by to say hello.

We sat there trying to keep warm until the sun came over the mountain and instantly heated everything up. A few minutes later we could hear the rumbling of the boat motor come to life and then we saw them moving out of the harbor and getting some air into the parachute.

Another couple were the first to take flight, which gave me a little practice shooting the activity, and then Stacie and Peter were on deck. The whole operation appears really smooth and fun. Before we knew it they were up in the air.

The boat does a big lap around this portion of the lake and raises and lowers the riders to give them a bit of adventure.

The entire ride takes 10 to 15 minutes. Peter and Stacie reported it was a ton of fun and highly recommended it to Lea and I (which we are still considering).

After the parasailing, we headed back to the apartment for a little work and then we went back out for the frisbee golf rematch we had postponed from yesterday. We decided to change the teams up a bit and went for parents against kids. We also made the match interesting by betting. If the kids won they would get desert at Cookie Time, if the parents won the kids would cook dinner and do the dishes. Well, lets just say the parents were highly motivated to have a night off from cooking and jumped out to an early lead we never relinquished.

When we got back, Peter decided to take his Final Exam for Biology, Lea did several lessons, and Stacie worked on her class assignment. I took a nap :-). Peter finished his exam and is now officially done with school for the year.

The kids cooked a great pasta dinner and then we walked into town to celebrate Peter finishing school with a shake from Cookie Time.

He will be off of school for almost 6 months unless he chooses to take another class - crazy!

A VERY full and fun day in QT.

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February 21st, 2015 - Queenstown, New Zealand - Day 189

Today was supposed to be a pretty simple day. Stacie and I wanted to get in a good workout, so we were going to do the hill climb behind out house twice, then in the afternoon we were going to head down to have a frisbee golf rematch. The double hill climb happened and it was indeed a very good workout. However, in the afternoon clouds rolled in and we had rain for the first time since we arrived in Queenstown, so we bailed on the frisbee golf.

Most of the day was spent watching the clouds roll in and out of the valley and working on various projects. It was nice to have a down day and to see some clouds. Too much sun and perfect weather can really take its toll :-).

The day was capped off with another beautiful sunset!

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February 20th, 2015 - Queenstown, New Zealand - Day 188

Today was a big day day for everyone. Lea and Stacie were going for a hike together while Peter and I were going to rent mountain bikes and try out the legendary trails of Queenstown.

We had a nice breakfast and then Peter and I geared up and walked down the hill to the bike shop. It took about 5 minutes to rent our bikes and we were off. We had a 7 mile ride out to the trail system (aptly named 7 Mile) and we started off at a brisk pace. It was so nice to be back on a bike again. If there is one thing I really miss on this trip, it is exercising on a bike. My knees are really taking a beating with all the hiking and skiing we have been doing.

We jumped off the road as quickly as possible and took the Sunshine Bay trail, which runs right along the lake. The trail is well maintained, but I knew quickly we were going to be in for some technical riding for the day. Loads of tree roots, exposed granite and a constant up and down flow made for challenging riding. All this while getting used to new bikes which have the brakes reversed (in NZ the front brake is on the left). We had a few moments of frustration, but about 45 mins later we were at the trailhead for 7 Mile.

We jumped on the main connector trail and slid down a steep rocky hill. At the bottom we started working our way along the lake and quickly thought we were lost. The trail was even more technical and the going was rough. About 15 minutes into the trail system we started seeing other connecting trails and felt better about where we were. We stopped and tried to get a picture, at a viewpoint over the lake, but the lens was a little foggy.

Once we got on the main trail systems the riding improved greatly and we started having a wonderful time. The 7 Mile area is a big series of interconnected trails for advanced riders, which made it equally challenging and enjoyable. We wandered around trying different trails and found our favorite (Kachunk).

Then we stopped for a little snack and a rest.

In total we spent about 2 hours exploring the 7 Mile trail system and then headed back out to the road for the 7 mile slog home.

The ride home seemed to take forever with hills continuing to challenge our tired legs. The entire ride took 4 hours and for a couple of guys who have not been on bikes in 6 months, we did pretty good overall. A couple of falls, a couple of scrapes and bruises, but overall we came home safe and smiling.

The rest of the day was mostly recovery for us. The girls had a great hike and a good day of getting things done.

I love having an adventure that tires you out, and today certainly falls in that category.

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February 19th, 2015 - Queenstown, New Zealand - Day 187

Peters POV

Today we decided to go to Arrowtown. After driving for 20 minutes we made it to the town. We parked the car and went to walk around the town, the town is an old mining town, and still looks like it in some ways.

We walked around the stores and down the roads, just exploring the town. After walking around the town for a while we found our lunch place. We had an awesome meal outside at the Fork and Tap. Lea and I had burger's while my parents had salads. The whole meal was great.

After lunch we decided to go an a hike near the town. We drove to the trailhead and headed up. The hike was hard, I was wearing pants and it was very hot. When we made it to the top we were greeted with wind. We were all tired and hot so the wind cooled us down really well. After walking down the trail we got in the car to go get ice cream. I got a cone called gold rush, it was caramel with crunchy fudge balls. It was delicious. After we got ice cream we walked down to the Chinese settlement, which is where Chinese gold miners settled in Arrowtown.

When we got back home we hung out for a while then went to dinner at an indian food place called Spice Room, in my opinion it was the best indian food that we had gotten on the trip. When we got back home we watched an episode of Downton Abbey and a Modern Family.

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February 18th, 2015 - Queenstown, New Zealand - Day 186

Today started off pretty much the same way every day has here in NZ. We got up, did a little work, and then went for a hike. This time it was just Stacie and I as the kids stayed home to do some schoolwork. We made it to the top and ran into some people talking about Milford Sound. We have been discussing if we should go there, so I asked the two couples if they enjoyed it. They all did, which confirmed our desire to make the 4 hour one way trek sometime over the next couple of weeks. Then we started talking with one of the couples and found out they were from Park City. We had a really nice conversation with them, which was a great change, because we rarely end up talking to other people for more than a minute or two on the trip. It's one of my big regrets, but it is not a natural thing for any of us to strike up conversations with strangers, so it does not happen as much as we would like.

We made it back down, had a quick lunch and then decided to go out for a round of Frisbee Golf in the Queenstown Garden. They have created a great course which is free to play and a ton of fun. Peter and Stacie took on Lea and I in the Championship of the World!

The course winds though the forrest surrounding the garden and along the lake shore. It is a complete 18 hole course and it is really well done and a ton of fun. The comedy factor was high as we all bounced our frisbees off of trees right in front of us and nearly threw them into the lake. The match was tight all the way through, but in the end Lea and I squeaked out a victory.

We walked back up the hill to our house, had a nice dinner and called it an early night. It was a fun day in NZ

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February 17th, 2015 - Queenstown, New Zealand - Day 185

This morning we all decided to take a hike on the trail behind the house. The trail winds up the mountain behind us for about 1000 vertical feet through a dense pine forrest and then the remaining 800 feet are on a wide open mountain top with stunning views of Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu and the surrounding mountains. It's a really challenging hike straight up the mountain with almost no flat parts, so it is great for a workout and for the views. The round trip on the hike is about 1:30 mins, so by the time we were back home everyone was getting hungry for lunch, but unfortunately, I still needed to go to the store. Peter and I changed quickly and ran out for a big grocery run. We spent $330 (NZD) which is about $254 for a couple of days food and a little wine. Everything is expensive here.

After lunch we headed back out for a cruise on late Wakatipu. We had read on TripAdvisor about how much people loved these cruises and thought we would give it a try even though, guess what, its expensive. There are several highly ranked cruises, but we decided to go on the TSS Earnslaw, which is a 1912 Edwardian vintage twin screw steamer and one of the oldest tourist attractions on the south island. It also happens to be the only remaining commercial passenger-carrying coal-fired steamship in the southern hemisphere.

Queenstown is known as the adventure capital of the world and we were so excited to get on with this 90 minute adrenaline packed adventure.

We found a table and settled in, trying to calm our nerves down as the steam engine stirred to life. Soon we were off, zipping though the water at the breakneck speed of like 15 miles an hour. With our hearts in our mouths the kids looked around and asked "uh is there anything else to do?" We went and watched they crew shovel coal into the fire, walked to the front of the deck, went into the little museum they have on the boat and then settled back into our table.

"Hold on everyone - I am going to blow the horn"

Halfway through the trip the real adventure started as we arrived at the Walter Peak High Country Farm. The farm and restaurant looked pretty cool and we were excited to do a little exploring - until Stacie asked if we could get off and have a look around. Turns out you can only get off if you are having dinner there.

"No soup for you!" Saying goodbye to Walter Peak Farm

So we thought we would mix things up a bit and we went and found a different table to sit at. That got our blood flowing again. Then the kids upped the intensity by actually eating ice cream while riding on the boat. Stacie and I thought this was really reckless, but they are teenagers and at some point we just need to let them make their own mistakes. Turns out they were able to get the cones down without much of an issue other than this guy trying to take a bite:

We pulled into the Queenstown harbor exactly 90 minutes after departure. We were all dripping with sweat, our hearts pounding, but we could finally breathe again. If you were able to make it this far without getting completely swamped in my sarcasm, you will understand that I had more fun writing this post than I did on the TSS Earnslaw.

We wandered home slowly and had a nice dinner before watching St. Vincent, which we all enjoyed. As we were wrapping up the evening the sunset was again stunning. I could look at our view for a lifetime and not get bored.

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February 16th - Queenstown, New Zealand - Day 184

Peter's POV

Today was another average day in Queenstown. Everyone woke up and hopped on the computer. My parents and I went on a walk up the trail behind our house. When we got to the top we were rewarded with an amazing view of the lake. After standing at the top for about 10 minutes we decided to start heading down, on the way down we saw a herd of what we think were mountain goats.

When we got back to the house Lea was ready to go swimming out on the lake. We headed down but when we got to the lake we found it freezing cold. We walked back up the hill and had lunch. After lunch we played a couple games around the house. Around 4 my parents went out to walk around the gardens and go to dinner. My sister and I stayed in the house an watched a movie. Another good day in Queenstown.

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February 15th - Queenstown, New Zealand - Day 182

Peter's POV

Today everyone woke up and started working like we normally do. After about an hour of working my parents decided that they wanted to go and get a work out. They were going to go to a hiking trail above our house, me and my sister decided that we would stay home and get some work done. As one of our activities today we wanted to go paddle boarding out on the lake, it was my job to find a paddle board rental place and book it. After looking for about an hour, I found a paddle board place on Lake Wanaka. I called them and got us four paddle boards, when my parents got back I told them the plan. After looking to find where we should pick up the paddle boards my dad soon found out that I had booked them on Lake Wanaka not lake Wakatipu. Lake Wanaka is about an hour away. I cancelled our boards and found a place on Lake Wakatipu. We walked down there and found the rental place easy.

We got 45 minutes out on the paddle boards...

After we got back to the shore we got our stuff and headed to the store to get something for lunch. After the climb up the hill, we made ourselves some lunch and decided not to break our streaks of naps. After the nap, we got up and worked for a little bit longer, had dinner and went for a walk down by the beach.

When we got down to the beach we found a rope swing that went over a creek.

The scenery around the creek was amazing.

When we were done walking around gardens we headed back up to the house for a game of trip trivia.

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February 14th, 2015 - Queenstown, New Zealand - Day 181

Valentines day in New Zealand and we don't have anything special planned. Stacie and I have never been big V-Day fans, so this year would be no different, but we were hoping for a great day. I woke up typically early at 4:40 and had the house to myself for a while. Stacie got up around 6:00. We did our normal morning thing and by 11:00 we figured we should make a plan for the day. We decided to try the hike we were shooting for yesterday again and this time the kids were coming along with us. We did a little more research this time and figured out we had stopped well short of the trailhead yesterday and just needed to keep going up the road a ways. This time we found the trailhead with ease and set off at a brisk pace to see how quickly we could complete the loop. The sign at the trailhead said the trail should take us between 2 and 4 hours, however, the trail we were on the day before was supposed to take 45 minutes and we did it in 15, so we were a little skeptical of the estimates.

The trail was incredible and I was like a kid in a candy store with my camera. I could have taken a thousand pictures on this hike and slowed us down to a crawl, but we all wanted some exercise so we hustled along and I did some speed shooting.

The girls on the first of many bridge crossings

Trail winds through old growth forrest along a crystal clear spring fed creek. The area is an old mining claim and our initial destination was the cabin of Sam Summers, who owned the claim.

Dad slowing everyone down for another picture

The walk up to the cabin took about 45 minutes, including a side detour down a tunnel sluice which was used to dump the tailings back into the creek. Walking through the tunnel was dark and cold, but very cool.

At the exit of the tunnel the kids wanted to follow a tiny trail down to the creek, so of course we did just that, and I am so glad we did. At the bottom we found a little oasis.

After 15 minutes in our little spot, we decided to keep moving. We arrived at the hut about 5 minutes later. It is still used as a campers hut today.

We looked around for a short time and then set off for the rest of the trail. Just after the cabin the trail crossed another bridge and provided a perfect view of a perfect waterfall.

After the waterfall was the steepest and longest climb of the trail and by the end of it, we were all feeling it. I kept lagging behind taking pictures wherever I could.

When we were nearly done with the trail we noticed these red mushrooms hiding back in the pines. They were so bright and cute you just expected a Smurf to come around from behind one at any moment. We looked them up once we got home and found out they are Amanita muscaria or Santa's Shroom. They are considered poisionus, but are mostly used as a hallucinogenic.

The hike was just incredible and we considered it to be our first real New Zealand adventure. On our way back into town we stopped at the Saturday market, which was mostly arts and crafts.

The rest of the day was mellow and we wrapped up with another half game of Pictionary. It really was the perfect day.

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February 13th, 2015 - Queenstown, New Zealand - Day 180

We are all still adjusting to this new time zone and unfortunately I had to get up at 3:30 AM this morning for a board call back in Boise. In some respects it was not all that bad because I was already awake and just needed to get out of bed and make a pot of coffee, however, the early wake up call would catch up with me later.

The call went well, it was nice to see and hear from my fellow board members and hear about the progress we are making as a company. After the call the family was up and we had breakfast and settled into our routine with a little school and a little work. It's so nice to have a consistent morning to count on and a hell of a view as our back drop.

Stacie and I were hungry for some exercise so around 10:00 we headed out for a hike we had found, not far from town. Unfortunately the site describing the hike was not too specific about where the trailhead was and as a result we ended up on the wrong trail, which was not all that challenging and did not provide for much exercise, but did have some nice views.

We tried everything we could to find some steeper sections, but were out of luck and out of time. Stacie needed to be back in town by 12 for a hair appointment. We made it back in plenty of time and while Stacie went to get her hair cut I needed to lay down and catch up on a little sleep. The danger in this type of nap while trying to adjust to a new timezone is in taking about a 3 or 4 hour nap and then ruining the upcoming nights sleep, so I made sure to set an alarm and get up 30 mins later. Waking up was nearly impossible, but I did force myself out of bed and took a shower to wake up.

The kids had been cranking away at school most of the day and Peter was getting ready to take his last module exam for science, which he planned on taking this afternoon. Lea was mixing between school and talking to her friends. One of the big benefits of this timezone is the fact that at 11:00 AM here it is 3:00 PM the day before in Boise, so the kids can easily chat with their friends and they are loving being able to connect so easily.

Since the kids were going to be occupied I wandered down to meet Stacie after her haircut (by the way she chopped her hair off and looks amazing!). We wandered around town and looked at all of the super nice and expensive things Queenstown has to offer. It is such a cool town - I just love it here.

By the time we made it home we needed to start making dinner. So we opened up the doors and grilled pork chops out on the deck, which was fantastic.

We wrapped up the evening with a game of Pictionary, which was a ton of fun and filled with a ton of laughs. The sunset this evening was incredible. The clouds were just right to make for some beautiful views. Here are a couple of shots:

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February 12th, 2015 - Queenstown, New Zealand - Day 179

We woke up today after a great nights sleep. It is so nice to make it all the way through the night while you are trying to adjust to a new time zone. Two nights ago I woke up at midnight and never went back to sleep - that was miserable.

I had a Balihoo Operations Review from 9 to 1, so I was going to to be out of commission for most of the morning and beginning of the afternoon. Stacie had scheduled a facial during this time, so she was going to be out for a while as well. The kids decided to work on school. After we were all done with these things we were going to go get some exercise by taking a long hike. However, once we were all done and had eaten lunch we were all dragging. A hike probably would have woken us up, but instead we laid down just to rest our eyes for a minute, but it turned out to be more like three hours.

When we woke up we felt great, but had lost most of the day and still needed to go to the grocery store. Stacie and I jumped in our car and we headed back towards the airport to go to the main grocery store. We found it easily and got everything we needed with relative ease. I cannot understate how nice it is to go into a grocery store and read all the labels in English and to be able to find all of the ingredients we need. New Zealand is definitely the country most closely resembling the US and it is a welcome break for us.

We were walking back to the car and we talking about walking around the area for a while when Stacie asked - "by the way, what time is it?". I looked at my watch and was stunned to see that it was 6:30. The sun sets at 9:06PM at this time of year down here, which so reminds me of Idaho in the summer, but we are not used to it yet.

We scrapped walking around and hurried home to make dinner. We made a delicious pasta with shrimp and had a nice long dinner and went to bed. A good relaxing day, but not what we had planned....maybe tomorrow we will start our Queenstown Adventure.

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February 11th, 2015 - Queenstown, New Zealand - Day 178

Lea’s POV

I woke up to the sudden sound of my moms boots stomping down the hallway to my room, I knew what she was here for and I would say I was not very excited, like at all. Every kid, teen, or even adult will know what I am talking about, when you're in a really good dream and you get waken up by someone it is the most frustrating thing in the world. Anyways when she woke me up and I simply said “Yeah I will be out there in just a minute” right after I said that I fell back asleep. Three times I woke up, two times I fell asleep. It was 4:28 am by the time I was completely wake, 5:00 am was the departure time from the house, I hurried and got on my super cute outfit that I had bought yesterday, then I packed my bag and moved all the bags to the car. We all got into the car 15 mins earlier than our departure time , which proved very helpful when we got to the airport. On the drive to the airport my brother and I talked A LOT where my parents only spoke when they we figuring out the directions. When we got to the airport we had no clue where the terminal was so my brother and I volunteered to sprint around the airport to find the terminal. When we found the terminal we saw the BIGGEST line I have ever seen, not only that but there was no certain line. Then we had to sprint back to the car, then we grabbed our bags and went to the terminal only to be greeted by the line. My dad was dropping of the car at the rental car place and then running back. We had tried to ask around to see where the line was exactly, our Idea was to have Peter stand in one line and then we stand in the other shorter line. There were these people who didn't exactly know what line they were in, so every time we moved or the people moved in front of us my mom would shove the cart really close to the people in front of us so the people waiting couldn't cut us. She told me “I will be so mad if these people cut us, common Lea you got to be on it!!” When my dad arrived we had moved about 1 foot and Peter has moved about 10 people. This is when getting there early had proved to our advantage. We had to let a few people pass that had earlier flights, we finally decided to move to the line Peter was in, we were moving a lot faster after that. Because we hadn't eaten my brother and I went to get to muffins and an orange juice to share. We finally got out of the line and headed over to the security which was very easy. During our traveling experiences we have met many very nice security guards and people that work at the airport, but in this airport there was this one security guard, who in the early morning still had managed to say goodmorning to every single person who went through security, what made her different was she seemed like she actually meant it, which made a difference. We found a water fountain right next to our gate, I finally thought the plane gods was giving us a gift, then there was a line to get onto the plane which is completely normal because we were early so the gate had not opened yet, so my brother and I went to go sit down on some couches while my parents played words with friends, then we found a dollar on the couch and decided to play a little arcade game. This was where I was starting to get freaked out because everything was easy and fun, and after our last miserable flight I was thinking that the plane gods wanted to pay us back. But I was wrong when we didn't win anything from the arcade and it was way past the time when our scheduled boarding time was. Then the announcer came on and told us that our plane would be delayed from 7:00 to 8:00 and It was already about 7:30 so it wouldn't be that long, then the person I was playing in words with friends was WHOOPING me it was like 34 to 135. We waited and waited and got more and more delayed. When we finally got on the plane we were expecting to take off soon but instead we took off what felt like 4 hours later. To add to that something was poking me in the back, someone was kicking the back of my chair, there was this INCREDIBLY smelly person sitting close to us AND if you wanted to have the food and drinks you would have to PAY! Our scheduled landing time in queenstown was 8:45 we got there at 10:00-10:30. We got our turquoise blue car ( which I loved because my favorite color was turquoise blue) and our apartment was only 6 mins away. The drive was amazingly gorgeous and when we got to our apartment it had such an amazing view. My brother and I immediately thought that the big upstairs bedroom was our parents so we rushed down stairs. I went in one room and peter went in the other. I had the veto so when I saw the first room I knew I would be using it here. Then Peter rushed into the room that I was in and told me to choose my veto now without seeing the other room. I knew something was us so I ran into the other room only to see the biggest bathroom ever. With like a jacuzzi bathtub a huge closet and a big bed. This was like a dream come true, I obviously started to chose that until peter had to yell “Hey guys check this out!!!” they came down stairs and while mama said cool dada said “this isn't yours” after that we had a lot of talking until they finally claimed the room mine. When they left I started FREAKING out, I wish it would have ended there. But then I heard “Lea! Don't start unpacking!” After more and more arguing they told me that they would be taking the room. So I walked up to my new room, disappointed.

After we finished packing we decided it would probably be the best idea to go out for lunch. So we hopped back into the car and drove down to go eat lunch. The first one to spot it was dada then everyone nodded in agreement, at first I had no Idea what they were talking about but then I saw it. THEY HAD A STARBUCKS!!!! We found a parking place and went to a cool place called Joe’s Garage which for a while I had believed was built in an actual garage. It was very cute and the food was AMAZINGLY good, we were very hungry because our breakfast was only a few things. After that the boys went to the grocery store while my mom and I went to the doctors. I had to go to the doctors because there was wired dots on my chest, that wouldn't go away. Anyways we waited for the doctor and when we were finally called they took us away for two mins then sent us back to the waiting room when they finally called us back again they prescribed an anti-fungal cream ( which I made fun of) then we also asked how much melatonin was and it was 72$!!! We had a great evening and finished off the day by the last newsroom.

Playing charades when I accidentally wrote on myself.

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February 10th, 2015 - Auckland, New Zealand - Day 176

We woke up to a beautiful sunrise on our first full day in New Zealand. Thankfully we all slept pretty well through the night, which was a big deal given that we were now 12 hours ahead of Argentiere. So when we went to bed last night at 9:30 PM our bodies still thought it was 9:30 AM. This must be the most difficult time zone adjustment possible and I think we have all been dreading it, but at least night one went smoothly.

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) we still did not have an internet connection, so Stacie and I had a nice cup of coffee and then went out for a walk along the beach. We are staying on the west side of Auckland in a little town called Glendowie. It's a pleasant little suburb and other than the issues with the house we are really happy to be here. The intent with Auckland was not so much to have a real destination stay, but rather to just break up our trip down to Queenstown and allow us a little time to get used to our new time zone, so we did not have a big sightseeing agenda for the day or even for the stay. Our flight tomorrow morning leaves the airport at 7:00, so we are going to have to leave the house about 5 AM - meaning today is our only real day in Auckland.

We went on a nice walk, although the bay we are on is not exactly beautiful. In fact Auckland, itself is not all that impressive, it's just another big city. It reminds me of Seattle and San Fran combined.

After our walk we decided to go find a coffee shop with internet so we could update our family on our safe arrival in NZ. Stacie and I went while the kids made their breakfast and showered. After a bit of exploring we found a great little coffee shop in St. Helena Bay, which is a very cute town. We updated a few things and then headed back to the house to pick up the kids.

The benefit of having to go to a coffee shop for internet - a great cappicuino

We headed downtown Auckland to have lunch and do a little shopping. Our lunch was really good, but expensive like everything here in NZ. We have found the people here to be the most friendly of any place we have stayed and had good conversations in every shop we went into.

After shopping we headed back to the house and did a quick change over for dinner. We headed back to St Helena's Bay to find a place to eat. We settled on a cute little bar right on the water. Unfortunately the food was not nearly as good as the location, but it was twice as expensive as it should be, so that was fun.

We still had a good time and laughed a lot both at dinner and on the car ride home. It seems to me that these moments of laughter are becoming more frequent as the trip progresses. Don't get me wrong, we still have arguments, selfishness, grumpiness, and all of the other typical family issues, but we also laugh more than we ever have, and I for one cherish those moments.

We made it home, packed our bags for the 30th time in the past 6 months and went to bed both dreading and excited about another day of travel.

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February 7th through 9th - Argentiere France to Auckland, New Zealand

You might be asking yourself - a Daily Dump for three days? That does not seem right, but in our minds the past three days were smushed into one as we traveled from Argentiere to Auckland. Here is what the travel agenda looked like

Pickup at Apartment at 3:20 PM 2/7 (3:20 AM in Auckland) - 1:30 min drive

Flight from Geneva to London 6:50 PM 2/7 (6:50 AM Auckland) - 1:45 min flight

Flight from London to Hong Kong 10:00 PM 2/7 (11:00 AM Auckland) - 11:30 hour flight

Arrive in Hong Kong 5:00 PM 2/8 (10:00 PM Auckland) - 4 hour layover

Flight from Hong Kong to Auckland 9:00 PM 2/8 (2:00 AM Auckland) - 11:00 hour flight

Arrive in Auckland 1:00 PM 2/9 (1:00 AM 2/9 in Argentiere)

Total planned travel time was about 33.5 hours.

Things started off really well. Stacie and I had planned on doing our climb to mid station at Grand Montets one last time on the morning of our travel. She was a little worried about having enough time to get everything we needed to do complete before pickup, but we thought the exercise on a massive travel day would do us good. We made great time up the mountain and were at the top after 1:35 mins, which was a full 15 mins faster than our previous time. We hustled back down and started working on the to-do list, which included packing our bags, returning our skis back in Chamonix, and preparing our ski gear to ship home. This last point was proving to be the most difficult. I had found a service called SendMyBag.com which seemed perfect and the most economical. I placed our order a couple days prior and arranged for the manager of the property we were staying in to keep the bag until they picked it up. However, I had not received confirmation of the pickup as of 9:30 that morning, so I called. After checking the details the agent told me, “yeah, sorry, we can’t pick up from that zip code” WHAT! This was a BIG problem as we had all of our ski gear and now it was potentially going to be stranded in Chamonix. Fortunately, they would pick up from Chamonix and I was able to quickly change the pickup location to the office of our first rental agent Chamonix All Year, who were great and happy to help. Now all I needed to do was print and laminate our shipping labels and customs forms and figure out a way to attach them to the outside of the bag. I was not aware that I needed to do any of this until the night before, so I was a little panicked at being able to get all of this done in a tiny little resort town. Peter wanted to take one more run before leaving Chamonix so he headed over to GM, while the rest of us hurried along with our duties. He was going to help with the return of the ski gear and I needed to wait for an email with my shipping labels, so between all of that it was 11:30 before we could leave for Chamonix. We had until 3:30 to be back for the pickup, so we had plenty of time, except for the fact that EVERYTHING in Chamonix closes between 12:30 and 3:00, so we needed to return our stuff AND print and laminate the labels in 1 hour. Unfortunately the bus to Chamonix was late so we did not end up arriving into Chamonix until 12:10, which gave us 20 mins to finish. I dumped most of the gear on Peter and told him to run to the rental store and to not let them close, and I ran to the office supply store for the printing and laminating. The office supply store was dead and the lady behind the counter super helpful, so I finished there quickly and ran to the rental store with the rest of our gear. Peter was there and it as it turns out, they do not close for their siesta on Saturdays so we were in no rush. We got everything returned and could finally breathe again because things appeared to be under control.

We jumped on a bus back to Chamonix and made it back there by about 1:30. We found the girls sitting in the stairwell of the apartment with all of our bags. The cleaning crew was inside and the girls had moved everything out of their way. As soon as we walked in Stacie said - “um we have a little problem - the zipper on the bag broke”. I nearly lost my shit. After all this running around and changing of plans, we were going to be derailed by a freaking zipper. As it turns out the zipper was broken, but it broke in a great place and with a little maneuvering we were able to make it secure - another disaster avoided.

Peter and I were starving, so we left our bags in the stairwell and headed to La Petite Verte - the restaurant in our building, for lunch. Peter had the Tartiflette, and I had an Omelette, and both were fantastic. Since we still had time to kill we ordered coffee and the kids ordered desert. Peter ordered a hot fudge sunday and Lea ordered Flur de Sel, which was Ice Cream with hot salted caramel and some kind of crunchy biscuit. Peter’s was very good, but Lea’s was the most incredible dessert I have ever tasted - hands down. We could all tell Peter was a little disappointed, and in what I consider to be one of the most generous acts I have ever seen, Lea gave her big brother the worlds best dessert. I could not have been a prouder papa. I know it sounds a little silly, but these little things are what make this trip so special. When does a 13 year old girl give up some that incredible to her brother? As a teenager I would have been gloating and saying “oh Julie - this is the best - too bad you didn’t order it” rubbing every ounce of my superiority in her face, and here she was being incredibly generous and kind - like I said a proud parent moment.

In Geneva before waiting for flight number 1

We finished up our last wonderful meal in France and then went to wait for our ride to the airport. The shuttle showed up a little early and we were off. We dropped off the ski gear bag in Chamonix and headed to the Geneva airport. Everything went smoothly, tickets, security, customs, spending our last Euros on overpriced snacks in the airport, boarding, takeoff and then it happened. About halfway through the flight one of the flight attendants came to our row and said the dreaded words “Mr. and Mrs. Gombert?” At that point I knew something was wrong. Flight attendants don’t come up to you mid flight with good news like - "guess what I just spoke to central reservations and we have upgraded you to first class for the remainder of your journey”. I looked up at her with a pleading look as if to will her to say something good, but instead she said “your flight to Hong Kong was just canceled”. I put my head in my hands and sighed. So far on this entire trip we have not had one flight even delayed. I have not written about it, I have not talked about it, because I felt like it was a streak of good luck and I did not want to jinx it. Well the streak was over and it could not have happened at a worse time - our longest travel day of the entire trip. The attendant saw my despair and quickly moved in to reassure me - “oh wait, it’s not that bad, we have already rebooked you on a Virgin Atlantic flight that leaves at 9:30, so you will be departing 30 mins early.” OK, I thought, things are looking up, we will not miss our connection and we get to fly Virgin, which I have only heard good things about. However, I knew there was still one problem - seats. Having traveled for 20 years for business I know one thing - the difference between a good seat and a bad seat on a 2 hour flight is something that can be annoying, but manageable. The difference between a good seat and a bad seat on a 12 hour flight is the difference between sleep and misery. Since we were being rebooked, I knew our chances at a good seat were slim and none.

We landed safely at Heathrow and hurried through the airport to try to get to the Virgin desk as quickly as possible. We went through security and I got stopped because of some camera equipment that triggered a cavity search of my bag. While I was putting my bag back together, Stacie and the kids headed off to the Virgin desk, by the time I got there our fate was sealed - middle seats for 12 hours, there was nothing to be done about it. We accepted our fate and were happy to be on a flight rather than having to deal with a complete re-booking. The flight left on time and was really pretty easy in the end. We arrived into Hong Kong a little early and were happy to be back on our original itinerary.

We noticed that Hong Kong airport had a United Club and my membership was still valid for another couple of weeks so we headed over there to wait for our flight. This United Club was far better than most. They had real food, including Sushi, Teriyaki Chicken, Fried Rice, and a whole bunch more. The food was not great, but it was good, free and plentiful, so we were happy. Better than that, they had showers. Nothing makes me feel better and more refreshed than a shower. Peter and I took advantage, while the girls passed. It felt incredible to be somewhat clean.

After a couple hours in the lounge it was time to head to our gate. Our flights had been delayed about 40 mins, but that was not big deal. Now, Hong Kong airport is HUGE, so it took us about 20 mins to walk from the lounge to our gate. When we got there, we were still a little early, so we took a seat and waited. Once they announced boarding everyone seemed to run to get in line. By the time we got in line we were dead last out of 300 people. It was at that point when Stacie turned to me and said “I think I left my other bag back at the United Club”. It was another oh crap moment. We had about 30 minutes to take off and a bag full of stuff we needed back about a mile away from us. The bag was just a plastic grocery bag with some medication, food and Stacie’s neck pillow, but at the time (sleep deprived) it seemed important. So I handed Peter my backpack and said “I’ll be back” and started sprinting. By the time I reached the United Club I was drenched in sweat and out of breath. I tried to convey what was going on to the receptionist, and she jumped up to help, but looked confused. We ran back to where we were all sitting, and big surprise, the bag was gone. I told her the bag probably looked like trash and was thrown away, so she went to the cleaning crew as I started digging through the trash bins while looking at my watch thinking about how much time I had left. People were looking at me like I was a junkie scrounging for my next fix. I was sweating like a pig, tired from my last flight, dressed in yoga pants and a flannel digging through trash cans in what is supposed to be a refined place of peace for weary travelers - it was not a shining moment for me.

The receptionist came back with that “sorry crazy man, but I can’t help you” look on her face and told me nobody had seen anything. At this point I thought I had about 25 mins to get back to the plane, however, I had somehow confused the departure time as 9:50 instead of what it actually was which was 9:40, so I really had 15 minutes. I decided I needed to give up and started my O.J. Simpson impersonation (the Hertz commercial, not the murderer part) and started sprinting back to the gate. When I got 100 yards away there was an agent who asked if I was Mr. Gombert. I confirmed and she raised her walkie talkie to her mouth to confirm I was on my way. I got there just before they closed the door. It was 9:32 for a 9:40 international flight, not a good move, but I was on. I relaxed and started heading towards my seat, which was 59K, however, when I got to 52K I saw Peter and Lea sitting together in an Exit row. “Hum", I thought, “why are they in the wrong seats? And where is Stacie?”. Peter looked up, completely flustered and said “they just moved us without telling us why”. I was at the end of my rope and nearly turned from Hertz O.J. to Brentwood O.J. instantly. I found Stacie in the next isle looking equally as pissed. It turns out that when Cathay Pacific canceled our flight from London to Hong Kong and then rebooked us, they could not tell if the 4 HOUR layover in Hong Kong was going to be sufficient for us to make the flight, so they unchecked us in and gave away our seats - nice - well done Cathay. Now Peter and Lea - 13 and 15 were responsible for the safety of the rear of the plane by manning the exit row and Stacie and I were sitting apart from one another and were probably in middle seats - I say probably, because they did not actually tell me where my new seat was.

We caused a big commotion on the plane complaining to anyone we could and refusing to take our seats. We were those people on the plan you look at and want to kill because they are being unreasonable crazy people who are delaying your takeoff. However, if they knew the backstory of the canceled flight, the middle seats and the random changing of our new seats for this 11 hour flight they might be more on our side. I have to say in 20 years of flying I have NEVER had my seat changed without permission unless I am being upgraded, so I was furious (and tired). We held out until we got seats together, but they were in the middle of the plane, not the window and asile we booked. We sat down and fumed for about 45 minutes, replaying the whole thing and then decided to put it behind us and get some sleep. We sleep most of the way to Auckland and woke up with only a couple hours left.

We landed a little late (thanks to us), but we were safe and all received to be at our destination finally - it was 2:30 PM Auckland time on Monday, 2:30 AM in Argentiere - 35 hours after we departed. We cruised through immigration and went right to baggage claim. All we wanted at that point was to get our bags, get our car, and go take a nap. However, Cathay had different plans for us. Once again they figured we would be better off with a change of plans, so they decided to leave our bags in Hong Kong. In reality, I think Cathay Pacific (which Peter aptly renamed Crappy Pacific) was just looking out for our best interest. I mean who would want a clean set of clothes after 35 hours of travel? They believe deeply in the adage of what does not kill you makes you stronger and like to help their customers to gain this perspective when traveling. Suffice it to say I will NEVER travel on CP again.

We picked up a voucher for our incidental expenses and then headed to get our rental car, totally frustrated and exhausted. We got our car with relative ease and found our rental house about 30 mins later. The house has a beautiful view overlooking the ocean, and half of the house is really nice, the bedrooms and bathrooms, however, are not nice, but for two nights we figured we could manage.

We decided to go walk around Auckland for a while to pick up some necessary supplies given we did not have our bags. We finished our errands, and then had a good dinner at a local pub. When we got back to the house we figured out we had no internet access so I had to contact our host to see what could be done. This took a little while, but I finally go through and as I sit here on Tuesday afternoon at 11:52 AM our bags just arrived 5 mins ago, but we still have no internet. Regardless we are here safe and sound and looking forward to another travel day tomorrow to get down to our real New Zealand destination - Queenstown.

Mishaps while traveling are part of what you expect, and can even be fun sometime. You hope to handle these difficulties with grace and dignity. I can’t say I handled this situation exactly how I would have wanted to, and maybe there is something to learn from that, but right now I am still fuming at CP. I don’t mind when bad weather or mechanical issues throw a wrench into your plans, but when an airline just treats you like a piece of meat to be shipped from point A to B, they deserve some ire, and in this case we were ground chuck.

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February 6th, 2015 - Argentiere, France - Day 172

Peter's POV

Today is our last ski day in Chamonix, my and my parents woke up and headed out for our last couple runs at La Tour. We hopped on the bus and headed out. When we got to the top of La Tour we tried to ski a run that we saw on our way up that required a log traverse like thing.

When we finally got into our line we found a couple tight turns of nice snow but decided that it was not worth the long traverse.

Capped off the last run of the day with a big cliff

We did our last couple runs and got into the house before lunch. In the afternoon we decided to go and see the Aiguillie du Midi which required a 20 minute bus ride to Chamonix, then a 30 minute cable car ride up to the top. When we got to the cable car station we found no line and asked the person at the ticket booth if our ski passes would get us up there. He said that they would but there was no visibility.

After getting to the mid-station of the cable car we found that the sky was cloudless, except for a little cloud around the Midi.

After a thrilling ride to the top we were coming up a nearly vertical cable into the station, when the cable car suddenly lurched then stopped. I looked at the door to see if it was opening but the platform was about half way up the door from the floor of the car. I tuned to see the driver taking out his phone. About half a minute later the cable car started slowly rising until the we were level with the platform then the doors opened.

We walked through tunnels of rock and came to a bridge linking the two peaks of the Midi. We wandered around for a couple more minutes until we came upon an ice cave where someone was blowtorching the ice to create a wider opening. This was the exit to Valley Blanc. We walked around a little bit more and headed down the cable car.

When we got to the bottom we were all freezing so we hopped into a cafe to grab a couple coffees and hot chocolates. We walked around shopping for another hour or so then grabbed a bus home. After getting back to the apartment we packed up a little bit and called it a night.

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