I'm US-bound!

After 3 days back at work, I'm on pleasure bent again, this time going to the US. This definitely hasn't been my most productive week ever. I think by the time I had recovered from vacation and got back in to the groove at work, it was time to think about leaving again.

It's hard to believe that it's been 7 months since I came to Zürich- it's definitely the longest time I've ever been out of the US. I'm quite looking forward to the conference in Denver (which I like to call nerd-fest), although I have some work still left to do on the two talks that I will be giving.

In Denver I will also get to see one of my best friends from my days in Boston, who works only half a mile from where the conference is being held! (I do think that I have been quite lucky in ACS's choice of conference locations. The three times I have gone to an ACS conference, one of my best friends has just recently moved to that city.)

As strange as it sounds, one of the things I am looking forward to the most in Denver is getting my hair cut. I haven't gathered up the courage to get my hair cut here in Zürich yet- the prospect of trying to explain in German what I want has just seeming too daunting to me thus far, which means my hair is getting a little wild and wooly. I've actually had a hair appointment scheduled for over a month!

Now, to pack...

Our road to the Wallis.

From Lauterbrunnen, my parents and I made our way to the Wallis. We decided to go up and over the Grimsel pass, which was quite an exciting drive!

Once we were over the Grimsel pass, we headed in the direction of the Furka Pass to see the Rhonegletscher and its ice grottoes.

View of the Grimsel Pass (right) and start of the Furka Pass (left).

Rhonegletscher!

The area under the white canvas holds the ice grottoes.

Ice grottoes.

I am quite sure that I will run out of superlatives to describe the scenery, but, rest assured, the glacier was ginormous and wild and quite beautiful. From there, we made our way down the valley and to Mühlebach, where we stayed in a 300-year-old Walliser house. Apparently people were quite a bit shorter 300 years ago?

Standing in one of the taller doorways.