Mont Pelé and Mont Tendre

Vauban Dwight Peck's personal website

Summer 2007 -- Alison's visit in September

You may not find this terribly rewarding unless you're included here, so this is a good time for casual and random browsers to turn back before they get too caught up in the sweep and majesty of the proceedings and can't let go.

Our Alison's here from Santiago, Chile, for a month of meetings at her European Southern Observatory headquarters near Munich and at conferences in Madrid and Manchester, and has scrounged a week free for a visit to the Old Dad in Switzerland.

Monts Pelé and Sâla

16 September 2007, starting off from Les Pralets, we're bound for a scramble up Mont Pelé's little partner on the upper right.

A view of Mont Sâla

Stuffing a few Twinkies and Oreo cookies into a backpack in case they become necessary later

Alison scrambling up through a few rockbands on the front of Mont Pelé

Since her telescope in Chile is at 5000 metres altitude, Alison never gets out of breath, and just keeps scrambling.

Alison and camera, stalking photographic game. Mont Sâla in the background.

Alison spots photographic game. Me.

Mont Sâla looks inviting -- we'll go there now.

A view of La Dôle to the south

Eager for some more scrambling in the forest of the Jura

Ali on Mont Sâla

The Combe des Begnines stretching off to the northeast

Lake Geneva in the background, and our car down on that dirt road just 250 vertical metres below

Dad lost in contemplation

Mont Tendre

17 September 2007: A new mom, trying to get the newborn to get up and get on with life, such as it is for ruminants

Alison digging out her camera

Mom Cow almost giving up -- newborn looks perfectly healthy but just disinclined to start eating grass non-stop as a way of life

Mom is nearing desperation, trying to reason with the kid has got nowhere, and now she's looking around for moral support

A few friends break off eating grass non-stop and come over to lend a hand . . . well, to lend support.

Everybody seems to find the Swiss live munitions warning signs hilarious.

Goodbye, Alison. Come back again soon. We'll still be here, eating grass.

Alison and the Château du Joux

Alison Beth Peck