Cheese, Army Knives, and Everything Swiss

Okay, so Switzerland with her Alps is most likely the most majestically beautiful sight I have yet beheld. I spent the weekend in a small touristy Park City-ish town in Switzerland named Kandersteg. We had finally reached the camp ground in Kandersteg after a 6 1/2 hour drive, and this was the first picture I took the moment I stepped out of the car:

Seriously! I just have to point and shoot and the landscape takes car of the rest. It's absolutely beautiful here! The small town is so...darling. The only adjective I can think of to describe it. It was so gorgeous there in the middle of nowhere, tucked safely between some towering mountains within the Alps mountain range. Kandersteg was awesome.Stephanie, the girl that so graciously let me tag along with her to this Christian retreat for the armed forces, and I drove there Friday night and caught the end of the "meeting" or I so lovingly call it,"fireside." They had a wonderful singer guest that led the meetings with his guitar and songs. It was really fun, learning what Jesus had done and continues to do for them in their lives. I was the only LDS member there, but I never once felt out of place, and I made many friends.
Saturday we spent our day among the Alps. We took a lift to this BEAUTIFUL lake that is made by a glacier on the top of the mountain above it. We took the 3 hour hike to the top of that mountain to the base of the glacier. It was a demanding hike, but most of us made it. We even ate and drank at the small cafe at the top. (They fly the food there everyday by a helicopter, cool huh?) You can imagine I tasted the BEST 6 dollar coke in my life right on top that mountain.
There were many groups that made it up to the top, this was the first of the groups. Yay! We were a bit frazzled. Notice the Swiss flag in the back ground, my favorite flag ever! On the way back down the hike we ran into a crisis. A woman sprained her ankle half way down and we had to call in the Swiss search and rescue with their helicopter to save her. It was so cool to be able to see it all take place. The EMT that helped her get on the helicopter just made it a complete Swiss experience! (She had long blonde hair in pigtails, so Swiss!)
On Sunday morning I signed up to go paragliding that afternoon. It was awesome!! I took a lift up the face of some HUGE mountain and hiked a little to this small field on the top of the mountain. I kinda freaked out when my young Swiss paragliding pilot told me we were going to run to the end of the field and float off the mountain. It turned out it wasn't too bad, and totally worth it. The view of Switzerland gets even better when you're floating above it. It was AWESOME!

My time in Switzerland was so neat! I loved every minute. It was nice and cool at night and not too hot during the day, and I enjoyed the food (Wow! I know!). I also bought myself a shirt that is fashioned after the awesome Swiss flag and also I bought about 50 lbs of yummy Swiss chocolate. It was spectacular!