In the Drome, France

8/17 – Friday

One more morning at our favorite café… the hot chocolate is the best. We bought a whole kilo of it. We took off fairly early and headed south toward Dijon. We arrived at the hotel outside Dijon at 7:30. The “Premier classe” motel was bare bones basic: a tiny room with one window, a tiny prefab bathroom, and three beds with metal frames. No pictures on the walls, nothing but the necessities. It reminded us of a ship cabin - We went on in to town and picked up Celia, Keith and Rebecca at the train station.

8/18 – Saturday

Loading the luggage this morning was a challenge. We were packed all the way to the ceiling. The five of us shoehorned ourselves in and drove toward Dieulefit. On the way, we passed by a dramatic mountain range, then went up and over a high hill with many switchbacks. We arrived at the house at about 7, and were greeted by an enthusiastic Scholten family. They had prepared dinner. The house is very nice, with plenty of bedrooms and a nice outside patio with a view of the hills nearby.

8/19 – Sunday
After having tea, melons, and yogurt, all nine of us drove away toward Nyon.
There we experienced another French market. Pottery, lavender, soaps, and clothing were plentiful. Our last stop of the day was a “cave du vin” where one could taste and buy. Jan spent a long time talking with the lady there about the different wines. We tasted by sniffing, then tasting, holding it in our mouths and spitting it out. Jan bought quite a few bottles of wine, which wasn’t very expensive, between 4 and 10 euros per bottle.

Fill 'er up! People came in with large containers to get their wine.









8/20 – Monday
We ended up going on a hike from the house, into Dieulefit, then up to Montagne des Ventes – 600 or so meters of elevation gain, and steep. We were able to see Dieulefit as well as the next valley, up toward the Foret de Saou, a rugged mountain range. We stopped at a viewpoint and ate bread. The way down was really steep and difficult. We finished the walk by walking back into Dieulefit, eating ice cream, and looking around at stores.


In Avignon, "sur la pont"


We took a drive and then a very steep hike at ForetdeSaou. What a view!


Some of the joys of the market in Dieulefit!


















Celia and Keith at nearby Poet Laval.

16 August - Route du Vin

16 August – Route du Vin
As we left the hotel on the way to our favorite boulangerie, we were delighted to discover that there was a market in Obernai. We spent at least an hour sampling cheese and sausage, buying bread and fruit, and looking at the wares of the many merchants. Then we headed by car to the “route de vin”, heading south today.
In addition to visiting several medieval towns, we hiked to the ruined castle Bergstein, where we ate lunch overlooking the villages we had just driven through.

15 August - Strasbourg

8/15 – Wednesday
A day in Strasbourg

Getting Alsaced

Yesterday we arrived in Cologne, Germany in the morning and drove to the Alsace region of France. Below are pictures of Obernai, where we are staying. With the help of coffee in the morning and melatonin at night, we haven't experienced much of the discomforts of jet lag.

On Day one we visited the castle ruins of Fleckenstein. This castle fortress was built right into a rock.

Day two began with a lovely breakfast of quiche, pastries and cafe au lait. We drove the route du vin through beautiful contryside and villages. Here is the gate of Rosheim.

Most of the towns have a medieval town well.

We drove to the top of Mont de Odile, where there was a monastery set on a spot with cliffs on three sides. We took a walk along a wall built by Celts.

We ate grapes, took pictures of grapes, and sampled some wines.

Sunny and hot vacations

Fresno in June? Yes, it was very hot, but a pool in the back yard – and air conditioning - helped us stay cool while visiting our friends Sheila and Jeff. Jeff was participating in a music festival featuring works by Beethoven with the Fresno Philharmonic. We went to two concerts.

BANKS LAKE

This is a very beautiful spot in Eastern Washington. We camped with a bunch of friends and enjoyed hiking, canoeing, swimming, jet skiing and rock jumping (well, it wasn’t a very big one). Oh, yes, and eating – community meals and campfires with s’mores. We all succeeded in waterskiing on one ski, but one of us didn’t stay up for long. I hadn’t skied in about 20 years. At least I didn’t get sore.

View from the top of Steamboat Rock at sunset.

A Job for Joann?!?!

Yes, for the first time since Celia was born, I have a paying job. (part time.) It all happened rather suddenly. One day back in May it came to me that I needed to get a job. There were a number of reasons for this. I have felt the need for a new challenge, and for someone to hold me to higher expectations that what typically happens in a volunteer position. I also had formed some bad habits of being somewhat obsessive about the house and garden, and over-responsible for things I shouldn’t be taking responsibility for. I also felt the need to be around other people more.

The obvious choice for me was to return to teaching in some way. Though I haven’t taught for pay in 26 years, I find myself continually drawn to teaching in my volunteer work, and I have always really enjoyed it. Over the course of the next few weeks, I talked to a number of people who were involved in some form of teaching. I also checked to see what was necessary to renew my certification, and found that I have a life-time certification! What a surprise.

Because I love working one on one or with small groups, I thought about doing private tutoring, but decided that I needed to find a place to tutor where I could receive training and work with other people. So I checked with a couple of tutoring centers and decided to work for Sylvan Learning Centers. I have gone through their training and am beginning to teach, though very part time at this point. I am learning a lot about what is involved in prescriptive tutoring.

My ultimate goal is to work in some sort of tutoring program for disadvantaged children (similar to my work at First Place) with improved skills in diagnosing and setting up learning programs specific to the needs of individual children. I may take some classes this coming year toward this end.

Joann

Greenwater River Trail

The snow is still deep high in the mountains, so we have been hiking the lowlands. Late in May Dan, Colin, and I hiked the Greenwater River trail. We did get into the snow, but were able to find our way by following the tracks. The river was very full and new plants were shooting up everywhere.