August

August was a deadly month in the BASE jumping community. The deadliest in the history of BASE jumping – since the 1980’s. From beginners to the extremely experienced, there was a period in time where every other day we were hearing of someone else dying, sometimes 2 or 3 on the deadliest day. BASE jumping is dangerous and everybody has their own different personal reasons for jumping. I’ll write about my reasons another time and Dustin will write about his. This month was a bit difficult to write about all the fun we were having during our travels when there was so much death involved in one of the things we love to do so much. We lost friends this month. Close friends and new friends. Our hearts have been broken over and over this month. The ones who we didn’t know, were loved by our other friends. So even when a new jumper died who we personally didn’t know, our hearts were breaking for our friends who did know them. The final count for the month of August was 15. Here is an interesting article written during this time period if you feel like reading further into the topic. It’s not all rainbows and butterflies while we’re traveling so we do our best to stay positive and look on the bright side of things. Since I didn’t blog about our August adventures, I’m going to write this post diary style, by date. Hopefully it won’t be too crazy long!

The Valley – August 1st – August 9th

We made it to Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland without any problems with the dog. We weren’t even stopped crossing the border, so that made it easy! Thank you, Europe! Dustin has been to Lauterbrunnen, or, “The Valley” 5 times now in the last 4 years so he was really excited to show me around. We went to Lauterbrunnen to visit friends and to BASE jump. I did 9 jumps while there. It’s so fun to meet up with friends from around the world who share your passions. The place is a playground for gravity lovers. At any given time during the day, you can look up and you will see BASE jumpers jumping off of cliffs, paragliders soaring around, speed flyers zipping around waterfalls, and tandem skydivers falling out of helicopters. The only downside (in my opinion) is parking our van is a bit tricky. Switzerland is not like Norway where we could just pull off the road and sleep. We have payed for a campground, but it’s a bit steep for parking overnight. We have managed to find a few free places off the beaten path. My favorite one was up a tiny mountain road next to a

pristine glacial river. Our Swiss friend Simon took Dustin on a “secret” BASE jump (meaning Dustin can’t share the location with anyone)! On the drive there, Dustin noticed some incognito spots. We stayed at that beautiful spot surrounded by waterfalls and mountains a few different nights.

I’ve done all my mountain jumps with Dustin until I was in the Valley. My awesome friend, Kristen, was also in the valley at this time. Kristen and I met back in 2010 when I started skydiving at Skydive Twin Cities in Baldwin, Wisconsin. We even ran the Twin Cities Marathon together that year! Dustin was going with some friends to do some more technical jumps not suited for a beginner like me, so I went off with Kristen. She brought me to an exit I hadn’t been to yet, but one my Swiss mentor suggested I do as a beginner. It was one of my favorite and most memorable jumps yet for many reasons, but one of them being I love being with only 1 or 2 other people at an exit point! It was so relaxing from the time

we left the valley floor, during the hike, and at the exit. It’s so nice to be with someone who also wants to enjoy the view and hang out up top for a bit, rather than get to the exit, gear up, and go. We both had a great jump with great landings. Thanks, Kristen for being you!

Simon lives close to Lauterbrunnen, one valley over called Interlaken. Simon is a Swiss Mountain Boy who has been practicing flying sports since he was 14. He practices paragliding, hang gliding, speedflying, skydiving, and BASE jumping. Simon took me on my first paraglide flight while in Lauterbrunnen! I wasn’t sure if I would like it too much, but I have to say I loved it, especially when he did some acrobatics! Him and our other friend, Marcus, came to visit Dustin and I in San

Diego about 2 years ago while they were on a West Coast skydiving trip! Simon even came back to visit this last May before we left. To reciprocate the hospitality we showed him, he brought us to a friend’s house for a traditional Swiss meal of Raclette. Raclette is basically melted cheese over boiled potatoes. The set up for a home Raclette party is a bit like fondue. The meal lasts for hours as

everyone melts their cheese on a special cheese melting thing, puts it over their potatoes and adds whatever spices or toppings they wish.

Overall, Lauterbrunnen was a blast. When we go back there for more BASE jumping,

I’d like to try it out in the spring or the fall as there are so many jumpers or tourists there. It’s a bit overwhelming with so many people there in the summer.

Chamonix, France – August 9th – August 12th

After a fun week and a half in the Valley, we drove to Chamonix, France. Our friends Alex and Karo live there. Kristen was also visiting them. We parked our van outside of their house, which was really funny. Our sliding door opened right up to their living room window. We had to park really close because it was kind of a busy and narrow street we were on. We ended up using the window to get into their house for most of our visit! Kristen and Karo had gone on a hike and while at the top of a mountain, they ate an awesome Fren

ch mountain meal involving bread, tons of melted cheese, bacon, white wine, and some other stuff. They tried to recreate the meal for dinner following a recipe online. 100% awesome comfort food!

Dustin hasn’t jumped in Chamonix yet, and he really wanted to. However, there was a pretty dark cloud over the region. Our friend Alex had been on a few different jumps in the last few months, where the person he was jumping with died. One of these events happened the day before we arrived so nobody was particularly excited to jump. We ended up going on a beautiful hike as a group on the 10th. Bella had a

blast being off leash on top of the French Alps, and it seemed like everyone was able to find some emotional support seeing her so happy and free.

The next day on the 11th, Dustin went with Alex on a mission to hike the mountain to where his friend had crashed a few days before. He wanted to try to find his go pro to see what had gone wrong. It may seem dark and pointless to some, but a lot can be learned from videos. While they went on that hike, Kristen, Karo and I went on a different hike to a glacier. It is breathtakingly beautiful to be so close to a glacier on top of a mountain. We enjoyed the view while sharing a bottle of wine and some macaroons. We talked about life and death and love and being crazy. It was perfect.

On our way down the mountain, we found out another friend, Kat, had died that morning a valley over from where we were. I’m writing this 4 weeks later, and I still don’t have words to describe the heartbreak and pain. That night Karo had to work at the bar next to their house, so we all ended up there for the night. Other jumpers came as well, and Bella was passed around as an emotional support lap dog for the night as everybody cried and cried. I know it started out kind of funny, saying Bella is an emotional support animal (for flying purposes), but she truly has been a sweet, intuitive dog who melts into sad, hugging arms, licks tears, and rests her head on heavy shoulders.

We said our goodbyes with heavy hearts the next morning. Kristen was going back to Lauterbrunnen and Dustin and I were heading to a different part of the French Alps for some speed flying.

Les Deux Alps – August 12th – 17th

Rewind…
In order to explain how we ended up here, I need to tell a story from the summer of 2014. Dustin and I were going to Norway for our honeymoon. He was going to be BASE jumping and I was going to be speed flying, as I was not into BASE yet. Since we didn’t know about the speed flying in the area where we were going to be, I posted in a Facebook group called, “Speedflying World Wide”, basically saying we were going to be flying into Stavanger and asking if there are any local speed flyers who would fly with us. Shortly after one person responded saying, “We live in Stavanger, there aren’t many flyers here, but we charge hard! Let’s fly!” A little bit after that, someone had sent me a private group message. Included were me, a guy named Iain, and a guy named Kristjan. They asked my plans, I said my husband was already there, and I’d be flying to Stavanger in a  few days, then make my way to Lysebotn, and that’s where we would be staying. They responded saying they could pick me up from the airport and had an extra room at their house.

Now, I was keeping in mind that I put the feelers out there in a small flying community. But, being the internet, it’s scary to take strangers up on offers like this! Dustin and I were both unsure with what I should do… should I trust them?!? I decided to go with it and take them up on their offer for a ride from the airport. Dustin was going to take a ferry to Stavanger, and they were going to drop me off with him at the ferry terminal. While we made these plans, Dustin was already speed flying and BASE jumping in Lysebotn. One night, after a day of speed flying, Dustin was sitting around a bonfire with some other people he had just met that day. He said he needed to get to bed to catch the early morning ferry to Stavanger the next morning so he could meet his wife once she was picked up from the airport from some strangers she met online. 2 guys looked at him and asked, “Is your wife Nikki because we’re picking her up at the airport!?!” Turns out, Iain and Kristjan are rad, rowdy humans.

Dustin ended up driving back to Stavanger with them. Ian was the only one who could drag himself out of bed the next morning to pick me up, and he could only recognize me because I had a giant Ozone speedfly bag on my back waiting like a lost puppy! We visited them again in 2015 and took them up on their hospitality offers, then in December of 2015 they journeyed to spend 3 weeks with us in San Diego for some epic skydiving times. Since we lived in our 5th wheel trailer at the time, we put them up in a giant 12 person tent in our “yard” which we ended up nicknaming the purple palace.

Fast forward to Dustin and Nikki do van life in Europe 2016, Iain and Kristjan let us know they were going to be in France at a

speedfly event from August 13-21. We left Chamonix and drove 3 hours to a different part of the French Alps. Ian, Kristjan, and their friend Oddbjørn, had rented an apartment for the week and they offered up space for us to put Bella while we flew during the day and showers! Whoo hoo! For 52 euro, we had a week’s worth of unlimited lift access on the chair lifts up the mountain to fly down. We had a blast!

Germany – Freiburg then Böblingen August 18 – 22

We did car stuff during this time period. You can click on our Van Stuff page if you want to read about our van registration woes!

Italy – August 22 – August 29

On Monday, August 22, we drove from Germany to Italy. This was kind of a bittersweet day for me, because had we stayed in the comforts of San Diego, I would have started school with kids on this day. All my teacher friends and my friends with kids were posting their first day of school pics on Facebook and Instagram. As we drove through Austria, we took a wrong turn in a

construction zone and ended up in this picturesque countryside. We pulled over to let Bella run through a field. It looked like a scene from The Sound of Music. I danced in that field and played with Bella before we got back in the car. Dustin took this picture of me, and I made this my “back to school” photo for the day on Instagram later that night after we arrived in Italy and ate some gelato!

We splurged while in Brento on a little campground. Monte Brento has a beautiful cliff. It’s a great place for beginners like me so I was really looking forward to jumping there. However, unfortunately, I just wasn’t feeling it. I did one jump on Wednesday the 24th. I had fun, I landed safely where I was supposed to. I just didn’t really feel like jumping. We kept hearing of more deaths, some more friends, and it just kind of takes the joy out of it for me. I

t was a busy summer month as well, so again, like the Valley, there were so many jumpers. 2 vans full of jumpers, over 20 people, marching to exit points. I know it’s part of the game, but it’s less motivating for me when there are that many people. I ended up being really negative in my head during this week, and this ende

d up being a week with the blues. These flying sports give you crazy highs and terrible lows. I’m learning to take the lows for what they are – I can’t avoid them and I can’t suppress them. I have to embrace them and sort out the head-space within and remind myself that nothing lasts forever. We ended up at a beach on the 26th where I took this funny picture of Bella.

 

Dustin continued jumping during our time at Brento, then we left and headed to the Dolomites for some quiet mountain time. We hiked, we spent time alone, and I continued to sort out my blues. The alone time was extremely helpful. On one hike I stayed by a river while Dustin and Bella continued on. It was a great 2 hours spent in nature without seeing a single other person. I needed that to recharge my introvert batteries.

Walenstadt, Switzerland – August 29 – September 4th

We left the Dolomites on Monday, August 29 to drive to Walenstadt, Switzerland. On our way there we drove by the prettiest lake I have ever seen! Lake Carezza! My pictures and video don’t show how many blues and greens were in this lake. It was a small lake but I couldn’t get over how many colors there were! Neon green, to robin’s egg blue, to midnight blue. It was breathtaking!

Walenstadt is another jumping spot for wingsuit BASE jumpers. I was more than happy with hanging out this week while Dustin enjoyed some big mountain jumps. On the 30th Dustin was able to jump. He had to wait at the top for a bit for some clouds to clear, but the skies cleared and he could see the whole flight so he jumped He had a great flight. The next 2 days the weather forecast wasn’t looking that good, with fog around the mountain, so we planned for beach days! And beach days we had! The skies over the lake were clear, it was hot, and the water was like a Minnesota summer lake. After our beach day on Wednesday, our friend Marcus came to visit us. He is also a Swiss Mountain boy, and had come to visit us in San Diego with Simon. It was fun to catch up with him and make plans to meet up again later in the week.

On Thursday evening, September 1st, Kristen and Luke met up with us again. They had brought some other people they met in Lauterbrunnen to jump in Walenstadt. Our friend Ben also met up with us. The plan for the next few days was for Kristen and I to shuttle the boys up the mountain so they could do a few jumps a day. I didn’t mind, mainly because I had Kristen to hang out with!

Saturday night Marcus came back to hang out with us. Kristen and Luke were driving Alex’s van (Chamonix Alex), we had our van, Ben has a giant yellow sprinter van, and our friend Brian has a Ford Transit similar to ours. We had fun “circling the

wagons” at the beach for our campsite and hangout spot. Marcus brought a grill and fresh venison. He also brought Dustin and I Swiss gifts. He gave us a couple of jars of mushrooms they picked on their property, and a half of a wheel of cheese from their cow! It’s a good thing we love cheese. I’m writing this less than a week after he gave us the cheese, and we’re down to about a quarter of a wheel!  Sunday morning, the boys did one last jump then we all parted ways.

 

 

Germany – September 5th – September 7th

You can read about our time in Germany dancing through German beurocratic hoops to get our van registered on our Van Stuff page!

Walenstadt, Switzerland Again – September 7

I did it! I’m all caught up! Today is Thursday, September 8th. We arrived back here in Walenstadt last night to meet up with Simon and our friend JP. JP is a stuntman and fire performer. So, naturally last night we got some lessons in playing with fire. I like fire, but I’m too scared to play with it, even knowing I’m being instructed by a pro, so I only did the first few rounds. The first round consisted of holding an open hand, and JP pressing into my hand with his flame. Some the fuel from the wick gets on my hand, so until I close my hand, I am holding fire. For the second round, JP gave us all a wand with a wick at the end. He taught us how to put out the wick with our hands. We dip the wick in fluid, light it on fire, then place it in our other hand, closing our hand from pinky to thumb until it’s extinguished. EEEekkk!!! Each time I was so giddy and squealing and scared! For the next round, we lit our fingers on fire! We dipped our fingers in the fluid, he lit our finger up with a lighter, then we put our finger in our other hand and closed our fingers around it to put out the flame. Next, we lit our finger on fire and passed the fire around the circle. We all dipped our finger in the fluid again. JP lit Simon’s finger on fire, then he passed the fire to me. Before I passed my finger fire to Dustin I freaked out and put my fire out! It was funny, so we had to try again! He lit Simon’s finger on fire, Simon passed his fire to me, I passed my fire to Dustin, and Dustin passed his fire to JP. Success! Next, JP showed us how to put fire on our tongue. This is where I quit and just enjoyed watching. The boys lit their tongues on fire, and put that out by closing their mouths. They also learned how to suck some (lighter?) fluid up through their wand, then blow it into the flame to make it look like they were breathing fire.

***I’m going back to writing in past tense, because as I finish this post, it is now Saturday! I finally have internet and am getting up to date!

On Thursday, the boys did 3 jumps. I spent the day writing all the above, doing some yoga, walking Bella around, and hanging out at the beach where we were parked. Friday morning Simon invited Dustin to go on another jump with him and 2 other Swiss friends. They had about a 4 hour hike before their beautiful jump. Once they all got back, we hung out for a bit, then Dustin and I took off to Italy again!

Italy – Round 2

We arrived back here in Italy last night. We splurged on the same campsite we came to last time. This morning (Saturday) we met up with our friends Rebecca and Jojo from San Diego. Jojo’s dad was with them, he lives in Germany. He drove us part way up the mountain and we enjoyed a nice hour long hike together before we jumped off of this beautiful cliff! We’ve had a lazy day sine our morning. We ate some lunch at a little cafe, then picked up some groceries, then had our daily gelato fix! Yum! We took a little afternoon nap, and now here I am 100% caught up with our blog! I’ll update again later this week as we should have internet for a few days!

Thanks for reading!