Paddling the Green River

 As part of my quest to paddle the length of the Green River, we headed for Fontenelle Reservoir and the river downstream.  This is north of Green River Wyoming.

Mike on Fontenelle Reservoir

We drove on Sunday.  My Subaru got 20 miles per gallon, due to the headwind and the sea kayak on the roof.   We drove to Slate Creek Campground, downstream of Fontenelle Reservoir. The campground was very basic, an outhouse and a few picnic tables, but it was free, and generally quiet.  Mike had brought his grill; I used it to warm up burritos from home.  The boat ramp was fairly busy, generally fishing guides with boats.

On Monday we dropped off a car at the boat ramp near the Fontenelle dam, and headed north.  Our put in was the small campground north of the reservoir.  We loaded our boats, and put in around 9am, with a good current.  This current moved us well until we got to the reservoir, which was way down.  The map indicated that we could paddle directly to the dam, but we ended up following the old river bed, due to the low water.  As usual, the wind picked up around noon.  We arrived at the boat ramp around 2 pm, and started the shuttle.  We paddled about 13 miles.    Dinner for me was more burritos from home.

Tuesday we planned a shorter day, 8 miles from Dodge Bottoms to Hay Farm.   We got on the water about 8.  We saw a river otter, a beaver, and mature and immature bald eagles.  This section went through the Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge.  The terrain is pretty flat.

Osprey nest

Wednesday we paddled from Lombard Ferry to County road 4, about 13 miles.  We took out at the historic road 4 bridge, now food traffic only.   The bridge had an osprey nest, with a little one.  At the takeout, the mom was there, nice to see.  We did run aground some, and the current was about 1.5 miles per hour.  

When we got back to camp, we decided to head to the KOA at Green River, where we could get a shower.  We ate at Showgunz Pizza.

Thursday we drove home, with a bit of a tailwind.

I am close to completing the Green River.  I have one day south of County road 4, and then four days south of Vernal Utah.

Valladolid and Ek Balam

On Monday, we left the beach and headed inland, to Valladolid. We made a brief stop in Chemax to see the church. We discovered that Google knew nothing about one way streets in Chemax. ;-) We decided to visit Xkopek, outside Valladolid, for their Mayan Bees Tour. We had lunch there. Our guide, Edwardo, was good and taught us about Meliiponario bees, different than the honeybees that we typically think of. These are smaller, and each species has its own characteristics. None of them have a stinger, but one of them tends to get in people's hair, one is kind of a parasite on other bees. We walked down into their dry cenote, perhaps 30 feet deep; the humidity makes for better habitat for bees. We might call a dry cenote a sinkhole. Theirs has a well in the bottom. The original owners used a rope and a bucket to pull water out of the well. They created a hole in the overhang area, and lowered the bucket perhaps 30 feet to the bottom of the cenote, and then another 20 feet to the level of the water. But that way they did not have to walk to the bottom to draw water. At the end of the tour we sampled honey and various honey products.

After the tour, we drove to our Hotel Peregrina, where we got a nice large room. We headed to the main square and had a good but expensive dinner at El Atrio del Mayab. The waiter passed the allergies issue to the manager, Ishmael, who told Sandi what she could have. We ate in a garden area of the restaurant, with a nice ambience. The square was busy, with many tour buses, locals, and tourists. There were two young men dressed as Mayan dancers, taking photos, and later dancing.

Tuesday, we had breakfast at a hotel next door to our hotel, and headed for the ruins at Ek Balam. Richard's guidebook to the architecture of the Yucatan was obsolete, because of the restoration work at Ek Balam. We hired Natilio as a Spanish language guide. He walked us through the ruins, including the ball court, and the huge building they call the Acropolis. The center has a stairs like a pyramid, but the building is just huge, perhaps the second largest Mayan building by volume. It is 500 feet long, 250 feet wide, and 100 feet high. Richard had to climb to the top. 

 We then headed to the town of Ek Balam, where we were to meet our tour guide, Edwardo. He took us to people's houses to see them work. The first house the lady had a treadle Singer that she used for machine embroidery. Sandy bought a blouse from her. The second house there were two ladies showing us the chocolate process. They make chocolate as part of the day of the dead celebrations. The third house the lady demonstrated hammock making. Our guide said that everyone in the village sleeps in hammocks. Sandi bought a shopping bag made using the same technique. We drove back to our hotel, and had a very good dinner at the Osteria della Nonna. The owner/cook knew exactly what to do with Sandi's allergies, and showed Sandi her box of gluten free pasta. Sandi felt very comfortable there, and the food was good.

Wednesday we visited the women's handicraft center Zaci, on the north side of the central plaza, There were several rooms with mostly clothing. Sandi bought a couple of embroidered blouses. One lady had a huge selection; she represented 8 women in her neighborood who did embroidery. Richard was tempted by sandals, but did not buy. We walked to the Murem museum of ethnic clothing, showing ethnic clothing from all over Mexico, including some used only in ceremonies or celebrations. Unfortunately, most clothing had no label at all, no indication of what part of the country it was from, no indication of who wore it and why. 

 We continued to the Casa de Venados, a couple's massive collection of Mexican crafts and art. The dining room chairs had portraits of figures from Mexican history; Richard enjoyed going around the table naming each person, but he missed a few. It was really an incredible collection, including some commisioned pieces. Some of the emboidered pieces were of the same style as pieces in our own home. We walked back to the hotel and headed for the Cancun airport, as Sandi wanted to be there early. The last part of the drive was in the dark, and near Cancun the traffic was very heavy, and the signage poor, so we missed our turns a couple of times. We settled into the Courtyard Mariott for our flight the next day.

The flight home on Thursday was routime, but the cold weather was a bit of a shock

Akumal in the Yucatan

View from our room

On Monday morning, we got up early and drove to the airport. We arrived at the terminal three hours early.  The plane pulled away from the gate, but the captain said that there was a problem with one of the engine igniters. We went back to the gate, and the mechanics went to work. The captain came out of the cockpit to explain the situation. He did not want to take a long flight over the ocean if everything was not working right. The passengers stayed calm, and after a couple of hours, the engine was tested and all was well. We were about two and a half hours late, which meant that we would be driving in the dark, which I try to avoid in Mexico. We waited for almost an hour at the Cancun airport, mostly waiting for our bags. We picked up our rental car, and started driving south on the main road. We were a little appalled by all the commercial development at Playa del Carmen, which seemed to go on for miles. We arrived to our hotel, Del Sol, around 9 pm. We drove to the commercial area in Akumal, and ate a good dinner at Turtle Bay. We were very tired.

Imelda

On Tuesday, we slept in. Our hotel has traditional Mexican décor, with a fridge and a coffeemaker. Most importantly, our patio is perhaps 100 feet from the water, and a great place to hang out day and night. We walked to Imelda's Ecocina, where we had a good breakfast. , and then drove to Tulum. We got pesos, and shopped at La Comer, a huge modern fancy grocery store. We were able to buy some gluen free food for Sandi, and various other food and drink items The security seemed heavy, with many men in dark coats. We drove home, and relaxed in our room or on our patio. We decided to walk to the nearby La Buena Vida restarurant for happy hour and dinner. Our waiter tried hard, but there were no vegetables that Sandi could eat; all were cooked in butter. Her fish was good, I enjoyed my tacos. One of the regulars had a dog wandering around; the dog hung out at our table looking at Sandi. Sandi bought a couple of bar T-shirts for Christmas gifts. Across the street was a several small shops. Sandi bought several t-shirts from Julio, a graphic designer who silk screens his own designs.

Wednesday Richard slept in. We walked again to the Ecocina for breakfast. We asked someone about the turtle park, where one could snorkel with turtles. The plan would be for Richard to snorkel with a guide, while Sandi sits on the beach. Richard was able to log in to get some OLLI classes, but Sandi's class was full. We have learned that if you really want a particular OLLI class, you need to be on your computer the moment registration opens. The beach had a lot of sargassum seaweed, with employees shoveling seaweed back into the ocean.

Our tire was leaking, so we drove into Tulum to the Enterprise place in town. The nice gentleman drove us over to the tire shop, where they removed the screw, and patched the tire. He told us about Ichkabal ruin, a large ruin near Bacalar, a few hours south. I might visit it as part of a ruins focused tour of the Yucatan.

We had dinner at La Lunita, an upscale restaurant further down the beach. We were well taken care of, and the food was good. It was right on the bay.

Thursday Richard slept in. We drove to town, looking for the Cenote Santa Cruz (Holy Cross). We found it, and made a reservation to come back at 3 PM for a private tour. We ate at Taco Maya in town, relatively nice for a taco place, but not fancy. It was very clean, and the food was simple; they worked with Sandi to give her a chicken breast grilled in olive oil. After lunch, we came back to the cenote, but the guide was not there, he had apparently blown me off. The lady let us walk to see the cenote for free; there was a group swimming there. Sandi had never seen a cenote. We stopped and made a reservation to swim with the turtles Friday morning. We drove to the end of the beach road, and walked out onto the rocks at the point. Sandi agreed that it was a cool place. The waves were small, bouncing off the rocky shore, which was not easy walking. We had dinner at Surf Cowboy, near the end of the beach road. The food was not bad, but salty.

Friday we got out of the room at 8:30 to meet Richard's guide, Carlos, to snorkel with the turtles. Sandi went into the park and had breakfast while Richard snorkeled. Richard saw five sea turtles of different sizes, as well as a couple of sting rays and an octupus. It was interesting to see a fish cleaning barnacles off the shell of the turtle. Due to the many people touring the park, they used ropes to create lanes to organize the snorkelers. The solo tours were in a separate area, hardly any other snorkelers. The group tours looked kind of crowded, with clusters of folks around a guide. It was quite pleasant to sit in the restaurant, in the shade, watching the activity. Richard took a nap after snorkeling. We walked back to the commercial area; on the way Sandi bought an embroidered blouse and a turtle to add to our collection. We had a good dinner at Taverna; Sandi thought it was the best of the trip. The place was busy. Our server was a carpenter moonlighting as a waiter.

Saturday Richard had hoped to snorkel, but we woke up to a cloudy day with waves and more seaweed. We walked to the end of the road, and looked at Yalku, a private lagoon, with gardens and sculptures. We bought some bakery items from Que Onda, which had almost sold out. We had lunch at the Jungle Cafe, on the edge of a mangrove swamp. We went to mass in town with the locals and a few foreigners. We ate dinner in the room.

Sunday we had a good breakfast at the Jungle Cafe, where we watched birds. The place was busy. We decided to drive to Tulum, and then on to Sian Ka'an, a UNESCO biosphere reserve. We stopped in town for cash and gas. The road in the park was full of potholes. We stopped at the bridge, where a few people were fishing. They pointed out a crocodile, perhaps 6 feet long, next to the mangroves. We continued on to find a place to walk on the beach, no other people in sight. We drove back through the Hotel zone, a crazy busy place, which extended almost to the park. We had dinner in the room.

Boating in the Tetons - August 2025

 

We left Fort Collins on Wednesday, and drove to Lander. The Mountain Range RV park was not as nice as it was the last time we were there. We had dinner outside at the Gannett Restaurant, part of Lander Bar and Grill, and ice cream at the Scream Shack.

Thursday morning we hooked up and drove to the Wind River Wild Horse Sanctuary. Our guide was from France, and loved horses. These horses are rounded up by the BLM to prevent overpopulation, and some of them end up here. A few are adopted, but most spend the rest of their lives there on the farm. We then went back to Lander because Richard was having trouble with his eye. He saw the nurse practitioner, got a prescription, and got out of town around noon. We drove through Dubois, where we stopped at the NAPA dealer, and then over Togwotee pass, into the valley of Jackson hole. We headed for our campground at Gros Ventre, and chatted with Mike, who had left Lander earlier. We went to mass, and had dinner at Snake River Brewing.

Friday, Sandi and I went to the visitor center to get boat permits and inspections. In the afternoon, Mike and I paddled on Slide Lake in our sea kayaks, mostly looking for the outlet of the lake. The lake was created by a landslide in 1925, blocking the Gros Ventre River. I went to Dornans to get gas. Sandi cooked us and Mike a good dinner. Russ, Carol, David and Joan arrived, and we agreed that we were not boating on Saturday.

Saturday morning, Sandi and I drove into the park. We had intended to hike, but the parking lots were overflowing. We took some pictures from scenic overlooks. In the afternoon, we drove into Jackson, filled up the tank, visited the yarn shop, and went to the art fair. We chatted with various artists at the fair; Sandi bought some earrings. We had dinner at Snake River Brewing, and then went to mass. We made it back to camp to find that it had rained quite a bit. More people arrived, Karen, Mark, Aaron, and Marci. We had a planning meeting, and agreed to paddle the Snake River on Sunday, from Pacific Creek, near the Moran entrance, to Deadmans Bar.

 

Sunday, 13 of us paddled from Pacific Creek to Deadman's bar. The river was moving well, class 1, easy.

Monday, about a dozen people put in at the Jackson Lake Dam. We checked out the oxbows. Some folks were getting out at Pacific Creek, but our group paddled on to Deadman's bar, against the wind, hard work. Sandi went to look at historic Mormon Row. When we got to Deadman's bar, we found out that the key to the shuttle vehicle was at the put in. There was no cell phone coverage; I used my satellite communicator to text Sandi to come get us.

Tuesday, seven of us left camp at 7 am to go to String Lake and Leigh Lake. We got there early to get a parking space. The lake was glassy, all was quiet, it was a nice paddle. We paddled to the other end of String Lake, through a couple of narrow areas, to the portage to Leigh lake. The portage was relatively short, not much elevation gain. Leigh Lake is quite large, right at the foot of Mount Moran. We paddled to the West end, had lunch, and paddled back. As we got closer to the put in, we found we were in a beach scene, with lots of bathing suits, paddleboards, people walking in the lake, etc. Kind of a shock after seeing it early with almost no one there. This was my favorite day so far, great scenery, few folks until we returned in the afternoon.

Wednesday, Richard decided not to paddle, as he was tired. We decided to drive into town and run errands, including gas, propane, laundry, groceries, lunch, and REI for a wide brim hat.

Thursday we had a half dozen people for the run on the Snake from Deadman Bar to Moose. The river ran quickly, and we had to focus to stay clear of the downed trees and stumps. There were a lot of decisions where the river forked into two channels. We understood why the Park Service discourages folks from running it. We saw a pair of Sandhill Cranes on a sand bar. We all really enjoyed the paddle.

Friday, we had such a good time on Thursday we decided to do it again, with 8 boats and 9 people. Another beautiful day. We capped the trip off with a group dinner at Dornan's chuckwagon restaurnt.

This has been a great trip. People were very appreciative for Mike organizing the trip.

Saturday Sandi and I went early to String Lake, for a hike to Leigh Lake. String Lake was beautiful with a reflection of Mt. Moran. We chatted with a park volunteer who has lived in a patrol cabin on Leigh Lake. She and her husband are responsible for checking on the campsites on and near Leigh Lake, from Memorial Day to Labor Day. She said that some campsites are booked in early January, but the rest are available the day before. We saw Leigh Lake and returned to our truck. We headed back to our campsite, ate lunch, hooked up, and left. We let the campground office know that we had left early, so someone else could use our space. We headed back over Togwotee pass and the continental divide, but went to Riverton instead of Lander. There was a huge contrast, with Lander a cute tourist town, and Riverton a commercial center. We stayed at Wind River RV Park, an older park. The lady running it is nice. We attended mass in St. Margaret's Church, and ate Thai at a restaurant near the church. The left hand turn signal on the trailer was not working. After some troubleshooting, we decided to just head home and fix it there. We drove out to St. Stephen's mission; the church is beautiful on the outside, and Sandi says that it is just as beautiful inside.

The drive home was routine. We ate at Anong's Thai Cusine in Rawlins; we have enjoyed the Anong's in Laramie. All in all a very nice trip. Sandi had a lot of time to knit and read, and I got in a lot of paddling.

Avignon and surrounding area

 

On Tuesday we left Carcassonne and started driving to Avignon. Much of the driving was on good roads or toll roads, but not all. Navigation continues to be a challenge, as the signage does not always correspond to what Google Maps says.

We stopped in Pezanas to see a statue of the black Madonna. We had a nice lunch, but the church was closed. The sign outside the church discussed the history of the church and mentioned the black Madonna.

We parked our car in the underground parking structure near the Palais du Papes, and walked to our Kyriad Hotel, which is comfortable. We had dinner at a restaurant on the Plaza de Horlodge

Wednesday we started the day with the tourist train, just to get a feel for the city. We had lunch at Festicafe, and then went to the Palais du Papes. It is a huge place with lots of stairs, which was tiring for Sandi. Most of the rooms were empty, but they provided ipads loaded with augmented reality software that showed what the rooms would have liked at specific times in history. There were some areas of murals, but photos were not allowed. They had set up a stage and stands inside for the upcoming theatre festival. We walked away from the tourist area and had a good kebab meal at Aux Delices d'Anais.

Thursday we ate breakfast at the hotel, as usual. We drove to the Pont du Gard, a UNESCO world heritage site, an impressive aqueduct whose height is the same as the Statue of Liberty. They had a very good museum explaining how water functioned in Roman towns, and how the aqueduct was constructed. We then drove to Nimes, to see another UNESCO site, the Maison Carree, a Roman Temple. We walked to the Roman Arena, which held up to 24,000 people! They are still using it for events.

Maison Carree

Friday we ate breakfast at hotel and took a hop on hop off bus tour of the city. We got off on the island in the Rhone River and had lunch. The tour largely had us circumnavigating the city outside the wall. We went back to the room and rested It has been unusually hot, 95 to 100 degrees..After a nap, we walked to the Cathedral, and then the Museum of the Petit Palais, which had a very nice exhibit of paintings from the Avignon era.

This image is one of the paintings from the Museum of the Petit Palais.  It depicts two legends of St. Eloi, the patron saint of blacksmiths, who is kind of a patron saint for Richard.   One legend has him tempted by the devil disguised as beautiful woman; he noticed her cloven hoofs and pinched her nose with hot tongs.  The other legend has him shoeing a horse, that did not want to be shoed.  He got frustrated, cut off the horse's leg, and then miraculously reattached it!

Saturday we went first to the Halles Market in Avignon, and headed for Orange, to see the Roman Theatre, a UNESCO World Heritage site. We had a picnic on a bench in Orange. The Theatre was somewhat interesting, but very hot. We learned a little about the history of Roman Theatres. We stopped at the Brotte Wine Museum in Chateauneuf, and learned a bit about wine, including a lot about their wine and technique is the best. They do not machine harvest. We headed back to the hotel, and then out for dinner. We went out the front door and looked at the menu for the restaurant next door; the waiter directed us to a table. After Richard sat down, he realized that he did not have his wallet. We both went up to the room to look for it, when the front desk guy knocked on our door and returned the wallet. It turned out that the waiter dropped it off at the hotel, and later said that someone found it in a public restroom nearby. But how did the wallet end up in the restaurant that we were in? We strongly suspect the waiter.

Sunday we drove to Isle-sur la Sorgue; we parked a long way from town, due to market day. The church was plain outside, but beautiful inside, and the bishop said the mass. We had a good lunch of charcuterie, and a tomato mozzarella salad. The town is known for canals and waterwheels.  On the way back, we stopped at the police station to report the theft, which Richard did in French. His French has been improving on the trip. We had dinner at the Opera restaurant.

Monday we decided to change it up from history, and visit the Ornithology center in the Camarague. We enjoyed seeing the rose colored flamingos, spectacular in flight, with pink legs. We also saw many other birds, but were generally unable to identify them, despite having a bird app with European birds.

 It was very hot, so we decided to go to the nearby beach at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. We had a pleasant lunch at Bistrot Cafe Noisette, where we chatted with the owner, who enjoyed the US but said the food was bad. We walked over to the beach, and started driving back. We stopped to take photos of the famous Camargue horses and bulls. We continued to Arles, where we walked around the Roman theatre and Arena, adding another world heritage site to Richard's list. On this trip, we visited ten UNESCO World Heritage sites! Perhaps a little over the top......

Tuesday we crossed the Rhone to see the gardens at the Abbaye of Saint-Andre. They are built around the ruins of the Abbey, and are quite large. They are showcasing the plants of the Mediterranean, and promoting biodiversity. They were elegant gardens, and are still somewhat elegant, if wilder. There is a chapel dedicated to St Casarie, who was a hermit there. The current gardens started as a project 100 years ago, with successive family and friend supervision. We enjoyed our visit very much. There were great views of Avignon and the surrounding area. We filled up the car with gas. We had lunch at Festicafe again. We rested in the room in the afternoon, and had dinner at La Cuisine de Papa. The day was again very hot, over 95F; we were happy to be inside in the afternoon. We have been saying how much nicer it would have been to have normal temperatures, in the 80s. The heat wave has lasted about a week, and continued after we left.

Wednesday we headed for the TGV train station, to drop off our rental car and take the TGV high speed train directly to the Paris Airport, which should have been very convenient. Things kind of went downhill from that point. We took the wrong turn to find the rental car return, so ended up driving the wrong way on an airport road. At the train station, we learned that our train was late, but had trouble finding more information. We got on the train, but then found that the baggage area at that end of the train was full. This is where our four bags caught up with us. Luckily someone helped us haul bags to the other end of the car, where there was still some room for bags. The train station was in the airport, but we had trouble finding the taxi stand, even after asking several people. This day was like many things in France, you have to slow down, be patient, and realize that things are never easy, even if you speak decent French.

We got a taxi to our hotel, which was the Nomad Roissy. Nomad has kind of a strange décor; the shower enclosure was spiral shaped, and you could program the color of the shower light...... We walked to a local Kebab shop in the village of Roissy. Charles De Gaule airport is often described as being in Roissy, but this was the first time that I got to see the original village of Roissy.

Thursday we took a private van to the airport. We were told to head for the Mobility Assistance office, where we ended up waiting for two hours for a wheelchair. At least one person there just blew off any concerns, did not seem to care. As we were getting closer to boarding time, Sandi wanted to just start walking, but I argued that with the assistance, we would get expedited past long lines. Finaly our excellent helper arrived with a wheelchair, and we made it through immigration and customs. In France, they scan your passport when you arrive and when you leave. You end up in one line for immigration, and another line for customs. When we got to the gate boarding was going on, using buses to transport passengers to the plane. We were taken to a lift vehicle, similar to those they use to stock planes with food. We entered the back door, kind of a unique way to board a plane. Our flight home was routine; Richard watched movies, Napoleon, and a French comedy. We landed in Denver, took a bus to our car, and drove home. We were quite tired, with an 8 hour time difference.

Carcassonne

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Saturday we drove south, over the Black Mountains. We stopped at a picnic area, and a plaque commemorated a Resistance attack on the Germans. I was skeptical of the claim that they killed 50 Germans without losing a man; a lot of the claims about the Resistance fighters in France seem to be made up after the fact.

We drove to the hotel, which was not open yet, so we went to the walled city in Carcassone, and walked around. We ate lunch and later some ice cream. Sandi bought an Occitane cross from a jewelry maker in the reenactor camp. We also chatted with a bowman in the reenactor camp. On our way out, we chatted with a group of French Foreign Legion retirees, who were having a reunion.

Foreign Legion

 We headed out to find mass, but the Cathedral did not have a Saturday evening mass. The priest suggested Sacre—Coeur, which did have a 6 PM mass. We drove to the hotel, where Kathy was very helpful. The hotel is very nice, four stars. We had dinner at the Pampa Argentinian restaurant. Sandi ordered a hamburger, medium well, but it came almost raw, and Sandi could not eat it. The manager stopped by, and when he heard the story, said that the waitress did not really speak English, so there was a communication problem. He had them cook up another burger, well done. But well done in France is medium in the USA. So we had a lengthy chat about the differences in cooking in the US and France. We need to ask for “tres bien cuit”, very well done, but even that may be redder than we like. We were very tired at the end of the day, did too much.

Filling the lock.

Sunday we ate breakfast at the hotel, and took the boat tour on the Canal du Midi. The Canal du Midi is a Unesco World Heritage site, and was constructed around 1670, making it one of the oldest canals still in operation. (Using Google maps in town was frustrating, as the street signs did not match what Google said.) We enjoyed the tour, where we went through two locks, and listened to our guide give her talk seamlessly in French, Spanish, and English. We had lunch at La Rotunde near the canal.

Next we headed to Lastours, where there are four Cathar castles close together. A British couple lived next to the parking lot, and guided us to a very tiny road, where we could see the castles from a distance. We later drove to the Belvedere, where we were able to see them well, across the valley. We returned to Carcassonne, and had dinner at Ami Bagdad. The owners we loveable; they were refugees from Bagdad. They gave Sandi a mini cooking lesson.

Demon at church at Rennes-le-Chateau

Monday got off to a bad start when Richard turned down the breakfast buffet at the hotel. Many bakeries are closed on Monday, and even restaurants that are open for drinks may not serve food before noon. Sandi was very unhappy. We tried and failed to find a bakery, and went to the Basilica of Notre Dame de Marceille in Limoux, for the Black Madonna, but it was closed for lunch. We saw huge fields of grapevines as we drove. We headed for Rennes le Chateau, on the top of a hill, and ate a good lunch at La Escondida, with a great overlook. We visited the chateau and church, where the priest did a lot of building. There are many stories about where the money came from, including a lost treasure; signs prohibited digging within the city.  Reportedly Dan Brown got ideas from this story.

We returned to the Basilica, and found the Black Madonna. Many miracles are attributed to the Black Madonna. Richard wanted to see the exvotos, which are thank you notes to God; however, the museum and store are only open certain days in July and August. We continued to the abbey of St. Hilaire, which dates to the eighth century. We were tired when we got home; we went to the supermarket and picked up bread and cheese for dinner.

On Tuesday we said our goodbyes to Kathy, our host at the hotel. We started driving to Pezanas, in search of a Black Madonna. We found the Convent of the Ursulines, which the sign said had a 13^th century black Madonna statue. However, the church was closed. But we had a good lunch at a local street cafe. We continued to Avignon and found our hotel. We had dinner on the Plaza de Horlage, near our hotel, and wandered around a bit. It was a relatively easy day, partly because we were often on toll roads, not narrow country or mountain roads.

Aveyron - France Profund

Aveyron – the French Countryside.

On Sunday we took an Uber to the Montparnasse Train station, and caught a TGV (high speed train) to Toulouse. Only part of the trip was on the high speed rail network, so it took 5 hours to get to Toulouse. The INOUI train was very comfortable, with a bar car. We picked up an Enterprise rental car at the train station, but when we pushed the start button, nothing happened. It was a hybrid, so they explained that the engine does not start until needed, we only needed to put it in gear.

Our drive was partly on a toll Autoroute, and then on roads that became progressively narrower and more twisty. We arrived at John and Alison's house without difficulty. They have an old stone house, hundreds of years old. They have a “maisonette” or guest house, which is where we are staying. The beams are hewn, not sawn. The stone walls are at least 18 inches thick. Alison fixed us a nice dinner.

We are in the department of Aveyron; Rodez is the largest city, with a population of 25,000. We are in a tiny community, surrounded by other tiny rural communities. The closest store is about 10 minutes away.  Alison thinks that we are in "deep France", or "France Profund".

They do have fiber internet. There was no wifi in the mesonette, as WIFI signals do not go through thick stone walls. I suggested John order an outdoor WIFI extender, which I installed in the window, and provides decent internet inside their guest house.

Monday we did a little work around the yard, and then visited a local antique shop. Alison fixed us another nice dinner.

The church was painted everywhere

Very fine stone carving

Tuesday Sandi and I went to Albi, which has an unbelievable brick cathedral, reportedly one of the largest brick buildings in France. The interior is painted everywhere, and there is an incredible amount of very detailed limestone carving. This is a UNESCO World Heritage site. We also visited the Toulouse-Lautrec museum, where we saw his early work painting people and animals, and also his better known work with printed posters promoting books or performances. We visited a religious goods store, run by a loveable franciscan friar, who looks at his work as evangelization, as young people come in to talk.

Wednesday we drove two cars to Rodez, for the farmer's market. We had a fine meal at Touosto. Sandi and I walked to the Musee Fenaille, which ranged from stone age artifacts to Roman busts to medieval church objects. The day was very hot, so in the afternoon we relaxed in our cool stone house.

View from the castle

Castle drawbridge

Thursday we drove to Belcastel, which we liked very much. We started at the reconstructed castle, with somewhat hokey animatronic monsters, but it was cool to see the castle. We had a picnic from Alison that we ate near the campground, which looked very nice. We visited the chapel. Then we stopped in a couple of craft shops, where Sandi bought a few items. We also visited the blacksmith shop, which also had exhibits on fishing, making sabots (wooden shoes), as well as art carved from the trunks of trees.

Friday was a longish drive to Conques over small twisty roads, which took us over an hour to drive 35 miles. We had a good lunch at an organic restaurant. The church was very medieval, and did not have the opulence that we saw in Albi. The monks finished singing midday Vespers as we arrived. We visited the treasury of the church, which had a number of impressive artifacts from up to 1000 years ago. We also visited the museum, which included tapestries depicting Mary Magdalene.  Conques is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Richard enjoyed chatting with some French pilgrims. The drive seemed even longer on the way back. The area is called the land of 1000 valleys; it seemed we went up and down a good percentage of them. ;-)