We spent a beautiful four days in the Alps this week! It was our own birthday present – after AMERICANA and our involvment with Kansas and Oklahoma there, followed by a visit of four dear friends from Oregon for two full days of sightseeing, we just needed to get some R&R.
On sunday afternoon we drove to Oberjoch, closeby the Austrian border – a not too impressive little town in about 3800 ft. height, surrounded by mountains and ski lifts. In the off-season it's mostly a destination for hikers. Clouds were hanging low and until we got to see our booked "Panorama Hotel" (see pic) and our large room, we were pretty sceptical about our choice. It proved to be fully worth the money, especially on the first two days of our stay, when it rained most of the time. Then we had a pretty lazy, though active itinerary: sumptuous breakfast buffet - workout in the fitness room - swimming inside and outside - visit of one of the three sauna or steambath - a nap - a short hike - a 5-course-gourmet dinner.
This changed on our 3rd day, when the sun was out and it became warmer. We were fortunate and able to watch a fall "cattle drive" in the quaint town of Unterjoch. A herd of about 60 head was driven down from an "Alpe" - a pasture higher up in the mountains with a cabin, about an hour by foot away. This event in fall (and in spring) is always a big deal in these mountain towns – school is off, boothes, vendors with local food and beer and lots of people watching ...
The cows were curried artfully and decorated with big bells and flowers and herders wore their sunday best. The two girls in the group were probably seasonal assistants, the bearded guys rather the professionals and one of them was taking care of the cabin (which is selling food and drinks to hikers in summer, too, and possibly also producing mountain cheese) year-round.
The cattle was settled and then sorted on a pasture in the town center, where the ranchers were waiting with trailers and trucks to pick up their cows and transport them home (which was not always easy since cows seem to be pretty stubborn!). The breed is mostly "Allgäuer Braunvieh", used both, for milk and beef, and for the most part heifers (and a couple of retired milk cows) are sent up to higher grounds to spend the summer there, to fatten up and get ready for calving. The rough winter they will spend closeby the ranchhouse or in stables.
We were hiking from our hotel's location down to Unterjoch, where the event took place. It was a beautiful hike of about 8 mi. round trip. On that day, which was my birthday, sun was out for the first time and we thoroughly enjoyed nature and peace and worked up an appetite and some aching muscles.
On our departure day the weather changed again (fast changes are common and can be pretty dramatic in the Alps),and on our way back home it started to rain at only 50 deg. F. Vacation is over and we are back to everyday life (without gourmet dinners and breafast buffets) and work ...
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