Maccagno Italy

A beautiful Sunday and a quick 30 minute drive to the Italian shores of Lake Maggiore, and we were ready to do some rock climbing.

On our way to the rock.

The view of Lake Maggiore from our climbing spot.

Paul setting the anchors on top as we scope out the routes.

Emily getting after it.

A pre-marriage trust building exercise.

In a bit of a jam.

I made it.

The easy part...going down.

Some more beautiful scenery.

Paul (the expert) giving Kaycee and Emily some advice.

Maccango and Lake Maggiore

Headed down to the lake for a swim.

Great timing Emily.

After a short brisk dip we headed back home.

Zurich Switzerland

A free Saturday called for a spontaneous day trip over the Alps to Zurich. Spring time is a great excuse to go anywhere in Switzerland for stunning scenery.

Appearently it was a Swiss holiday weekend...good thing we were going north as everyone else headed south.

Passing Lake Lucerne.


The Swiss National Museum


Grossmünster Cathedral (left) Limmat River (center) Fraumünster Cathedral (right)

Kaycee and Emily on a shopping bend.

With such good looking people in the picture I found it was a nice balance to have the Grossmünster Cathedral in the background.

The architecture was much more stereotypically 'Swiss' as opposed to the Italian Swiss look in Lugano.

After a full day of good food, shopping, and site seeing, we headed back over the 'hill'.

The rolling green hills outside of Zurich.

Milan Italy

With all the warm weather around a day trip to Milan was in order.

Not sure who these guys were but there were a lot of them and they all sported these flashy feathered hats.


Emily striking a pose to show up all the wanna-be models.

One of the many relaxing spots downtown.

Walking through the Galleria Vittonio Emanuele II.

All of the sudden this band struck up in the middle of the Galleria and drew a large crowd.

Em and I in front of the massive Duomo di Milano.

After walking around the center of the city we headed back to our car and had to fight through the growing crowd of crazy fanatics of the Inter Milan soccer team. It turns out this was a very important match that set them up to win the European Champions League the next weekend. Just driving through town on game day makes me want to see how much crazier it is inside the stadium.

Relaxing back in Lugano. I'm sure I've posted this view before, but it never gets old for me.

One of the fury eight legged friends found in our apartment.

Spring ride through San Groto Botanical Gardens

Dusk from our back patio.

Lugano/Pazzallo-Alpe Vicania Bike Loop

After a great week in the south of France, Emily and I spent the second week of her break exploring some of the surrounding areas of Lugano. As Emily spent her last day with Amy in Como Italy, I jumped on my bike and headed to some new trails on the next mountain over. Little did I know that this was going to be a highlight of my last two weeks.

Few Captions Needed...Enjoy!

Looking across the hillside towards Emily's school.

View from San Groto Botanic Park.

Looking into Italy and the foothills of the Alps.

Do you think he thinks about his height all the time?

Headed home after 5 hours of perfection.


After thoroughly enjoying my bike ride, I couldn't wait to take Emily there...so we went two days later.

Tasty pit stop.

As we enjoyed our beers we order another round and asked for a food menu. The waiter asked us if we would like a cheese and meat plate to snack on..."sure why not?" 45 minutes later we asked for our check to see that 4 beers and a snack plate was 70 Francs ($70) seven for each beer and 42 Francs for the cheese and meat! Asking the waiter if this was right he smiled and nodded, all the while the guys sitting behind us got up and flew away in their helicopter....Ah ha!

Nike vs. Nature

Sunset over Lake Lugano.

Gelato mustache on Lake Maggiore.