Bienvenidos Grandpa Bob and Grandma Shirley

Harper and Shirley with el Torre in the background

On Tuesday in the early evening Danny’s parents arrived in el Chaltén!  We were all very excited to welcome them to Argentina.  They traveled a LONG way to get here and it is so fun, especially for our kids, to have Grandpa Bob and Grandma Shirley here with us on our adventure.

The crew

On Wednesday we all went on a hike together in the national park.  The Las Águilas trail starts at the visitor center and went up, up up for a great view of most of the peaks and glaciers in the park.  We were lucky to have a pretty clear day, although the peak of Fitz Roy was hiding behind clouds for almost the entire hike.  As we walked from town Harper and Cal were very excited to help Grandma Shirley carry her hiking poles to the trailhead, but seeing that she needed them for the hike they both found other sticks and rocks to carry along as we hiked.  The sunshine was nice and warm, although the wind was whipping around us and made it one of those days of putting layers on, taking layers off, repeat.  But even with the wind we all made it to the rocky viewpoint at the end and had a little snack.  Bob and Shirley hike just at the right speed for Harper and Cal and with Grandma Shirley telling Harper and Cal stories from Danny’s childhood the time went by quickly.  For most of the time I don’t think Harper even remembered how sore her legs were from the hike we took the day before, but Cal needed a little more carrying and encouragement than he normally does.

Three generations of blue windbreakers

The hills are alive...

On Friday Bob and Shirley graciously offered to spend the day with Cal and Harper while Danny and I trekked on the Viedma Glacier.  We had to wake up early to make the trip so Cal and Harper even spent the night before sleeping over in Grandma and Grandpa’s hotel room.  Cal was “a lot a bit nervous” but after a few tears and an invitation to sleep with his big sister he went to bed.  Unfortunately for us the trip got canceled midway through.  We took the bus to the dock and got out on Lake Viedma for about a half hour when the sea got really rough.  We hadn’t even made it to see the glacier when the captain decided to take us back to the dock.  Apparently the wind was coming in too strong from the south and the waves breaking at the glacier were too big for us to dock there and disembark for our hike.  We were pretty bummed out but Harper and Cal were even more so when we returned to town and met them at the park.  “When we all go to lunch would you and dad sit at another table?” she asked me.  “We really wanted to have lunch at a restaurant with ONLY Grandma and Grandpa.”  Needless to say we all ate together that afternoon, but it looks like Danny and I at least get to go out for lunch on our own someday to make it up to Harper.  Ha ha

Other fun things to report:

-We've gotten Grandma Shirley and Grandpa Bob hooked on empanadas.

-Cal turns 3 in eight days.
-Picnic dinners have become our norm in the hotel lobby the last few nights.  Grandpa Bob may have met his match for smoked-trout eating in Cal.

Sassy Sue