European Road Trip :: Day 5 :: Hiking in the Swiss Alps {8km with the Littles!}

The weather prediction wasn't looking very good on our first full day in the Alps... it was supposed to thunderstorm at lunch time. But what do you do when you have 3 little guys that wake up at 6:30?... We decided to head out on a trail, and if the weather turned we would turn back/abandon ship. The owners of our B&B directed us to this "kid friendly" hike, called Re-Ra-Rätikon that looked great!

We started out in the little town of Pany. There were these fun signs with "a beaver" on them that the kids had to find, then games with directing balls through tunnels to a certain goal. It was all in German, but we kinda figured things out as we went...

The views were gorgeous!

We almost missed this truck with a game on the back, and an opportunity for the boys to take the driver seat!

We made some friends on the trail...

The kids were such troupers, but around nap time, Alex got on daddy's shoulders and said, "good night!"

My favourite was the wooly calf!

The boys did so well... we were about 1/2 way in when we realized there WAS no way out... we had hiked 4km, so it was either the same distance back to our car... or to the end of the trail! We troupped on...

The boys LOVED finding the game stations!

This one they had to find a hidden picture in the woods...

a man's face

Almost done... I obviously didn't read the details... that this "kids trail" was 8km long! It probably took us 4 1/2 hours, but we made it! The end destination was St. Antönien, but we had left our car in Pany. We hadn't really pre-planned this one out! I tracked down some girls who were mountain biking, who told me the bus came in an hour. We were thankful there was a bus, and pretty much didn't care how much it cost to get back to our car with the littles! (ended up being about $8/adult)

In the meantime we found this SUPER FUN play place for the kids. Switzerland does kids well! 

It had all kinds of different pulleys, and water pumps... but the very best was...

the ZIP LINE!

The kids all loved it! even after their 8km hike... they didn't want to leave. But we didn't want to miss the bus! The bus driver was nice and we basically got dropped off right by our car.  By God's grace IT DIDN'T RAIN... i started praying like crazy around noon... and the first raindrop hit our car as soon as we got inside! That night it POURED. But we had an AMAZING day and a great ADVENTURE!

Stay tuned for our last 2 days in Switzerland!

Next up ~ the Lake town of Lugano {Italian Switzerland}

Here is yesterday's post from our first day in the Swiss Alps ~