We were looking for a hike that avoided the snow up the in mountains, so in that sense, this was a failure. There was a good 6 inches of snow at the trailhead up to about a foot at the town site, but the hike was mostly flat and we were able to walk in the footsteps of the few people who went up ahead of us. It was a beautiful day, a pleasant drive, and well worth the trek.
Category: Photography
Fall colors
The Pacific Northwest doesn’t get the fall fireworks show that the East can get, but we do mountains much better and also, there are larches. I had never seen them before, but these are deciduous conifers and if you time it right, you can see them in full, bright yellow color up in the mountains.
These are all from Cutthroat and Maple Pass in the North Cascades. The yellow trees are larches, the bright red bushes are huckleberries and the haze is the remnant of wildfire smoke.
New Mexico
Back in the fall I took one day to make a loop through the Jemez. This is a favorite day trip of mine and each time I get to see a little something new. This time I took a side road up to see some tunnels through a steep pass that I’d never been out to see before.
Canoeing the Dordogne
Back to some France photos. This is something I think I would not have thought to do if I were left to my own devices. We took canoes down the Dordogne valley, past some adorable cute towns and stopped for ice cream along the way.
Wrecked Ships
I mentioned the abandoned ships north of Jetty Island recently and discovered that a friend had never noticed them before. They were sunk to try to divert water in the channel back when ‘they’ were trying to turn the Snohomish south to make Everett a freshwater port. That failed, but the ships remain.
I took these photos 2 years ago when I paddled out to see them with a friend.
Prehistoric Caves
In addition to the mushroom cave, we went to 4 other caves during this trip: Lascaux 4 (reproduction), Font-de-Gaume, Chauvet-Pont d’Arc (reproduction) and one more where the kids went spelunking and rappelling (and I did not!).
The ones that I went to are all caves that have famous cave paintings in them. Lascaux is the most famous, but I think the Chauvet-Pont d’Arc paintings may be more beautiful.
The reproductions were interesting. I had some hesitation about going, thinking ‘why would I spend my time going to a fake cave, better to just see the real one and skip the others.’ I’m glad I didn’t do that.
For Lascaux 4 and Pont d’Arc, the process of making the reproductions was just fascinating. They are full size, to-the-millimeter, faithful reproductions of the inside of the cave. To the extent possible the paintings were replicated using original techniques. My favorite bit: they hired a ‘professional nose’ to visit the caves and replicate the SCENT – which is now pumped into the replica, so that it will feel even more like you are in the real thing. No photos are allowed inside the full reproductions (or in Font-de-Gaume – the only original cave I visited) so all of my photos are from the museum at Lascaux.
This was not the only place, but Lascaux 4 was the first place we encountered armed military guards. They’ve been taking things seriously since the terror attacks.
In Lascaux 4 the most common animals were aurochs and horses (17,000 years old). Reindeer were the most common food but were not depicted with nearly the same frequency. In Chauvet-Pont d’Arc is by far older than Lascaux, at over 30,000 years old and had good preservation as the entrance to the cave was blocked for tens of thousands of years. Font-de-Gaume has some as old, and is primarily a bison cave. No photos were allowed here. I bought a book, but the photos don’t do it justice. The drawings aren’t in as good condition but in the dimly lit cave, with a light playing over them, much as it must have been with crude lamps when they were drawn, the animals seemed to reveal themselves more clearly.
Common to all the caves: predators were rare and were always ‘hidden’ they were in the shadows, in the cracks, hard to see. Humans were rare and crudely drawn, especially compared to the beauty of the horses and bison.
PS We got lost looking for Pont d’Arc cave and accidentally drove past the actual Pont d’Arc – a natural bridge, and the original cave sight, although we didn’t know it at the time.
PPS We also drove past some signs indicating that the road would be closed for the Tour de France, but I didn’t get a shot of it 🙁
Jardins de Marqueyssac
This is a chateau and large garden on a ridge-line above the Dordogne river. Normally open during the day, it sometimes opens in the evening for a candlelit view of the gardens along with music. I would go back in a heartbeat. I’d love to also see it during the day.
As we were about to walk in, the light glowing through a grape arbor caught my eye.
Inside, in addition to musicians, there were ‘fairies’, colorfully lit fountains and these little goblins popping out of the earth. In the daytime there was a mini rope-net course for the kids to play on, but we didn’t have much time there before it became too dark to see.
Château de Chambord
The main word that comes to mind is “ostentatious”. I mean, building a giant, spired, wood-paneled, fake-castle/palace as your summer home (or in this case, hunting lodge) is alway ostentatious, but this one really seemed to do it more.
Just look at it!
It was only used for seven weeks total by the builder (in the 16th Century), in part because it’s completely impractical. It’s too big and open to heat effectively and there was no nearby village to supply food so everything had to be carried in for the 2000 or so guests who would arrive all at once. But it has some really neat features. One of the most famous is the double helix staircase. Two staircases spiral around each other and you can stop at the internal windows and look at your friends going up the opposite stair.
And there are fire-salamanders everywhere, and who is not a fan of fire-salamanders?
And, as usual, the gardens were vast and impressive.
There was an equestrian show at an outdoor pavilion on the grounds that I missed, and I’m a bit sorry I did because it sounded amazing. Next time, I guess?
Mushroom Cave
So you’ve got a vast network of damp, dark, underground, limestone tunnels. What do you do with them? Grow mushrooms of course. We visited a cave used to grow shiitake, champignon de Paris, oyster and ‘blue foot’/Pied bleu mushrooms. The blue foot were my favorites, but Sylvia, surprisingly, was a fan of the Parisian. We got to pull some directly out of the beds and eat them. Later, in the shop we purchased a half kilo and made risotto for dinner out of them. I brought back a jar of the blue foot and have yet to decide what to do with them.
The tour was officially in French but our guide spoke English so she took the time to either translate for us or to pantomime so effectively that we didn’t need to know exactly what she said.
Of interest: the shiitake mushrooms are grown in cubes resting on the floor and they said it was important to their growth to periodically whack the cubes. I’m wondering if ‘mushroom walloper’ is a good thing to put on your resume.
Of course there’s extra tunnel space. What to do with it? In this case a stonemason and and artist came down and carved an underground village there. Many of my photos didn’t turn out. There were shop doors, with a cat sneaking along, trees and balconies.
And just outside there was this pretty little cluster of flowers.
Château de Chenonceau
This château has everything: white stone towers, a river, grand rooms, complicated gardens, a tree-lined path and a hedge maze. We may be early in our journey, but I declared it “Peak Castle” all other castles are downhill from here. Technically I consider this a ‘palace’ – a non-defensive structure, leaving room for me to really enjoy some less elaborate and more defensive structures. While we were there we saw a few people paddling by in canoes which also seems a great way to view it.
I was impressed by the amount of copper-ware in the kitchens and the vast black-and-white checkerboard tiles in the long gallery that spans the river, but the best part was definitely the exterior of the castle and the grounds, which were stunning.
e
