Beating the heat in the Caves

Today is was 36 degrees, according to the weather report.  It must be right... it felt like it!

This morning, before it got too hot, Rodger and Simon cut the grass and I did some housework... tidying and cleaning.  Then we did some planning for our 3 day/2 night trip to the South, starting tomorrow.  Fingers crossed that our Airbnb is legit... I'm always leary about them, and we didn't have a great experience with the VRBO in Paris.... in the end, as long as we have a clean place to sleep, that's all that matters. Right? :-)

 So we decided it was time to visit the Grotte de Chorache... Caves!!   Oh, so cool in there... literally.  10 degrees!

 I think this will be one of the highlights for the kids this trip.  They were so facinated by the caves... the "soda straws" of calcium carbonate, the crystal clear waters/rivers that run through the caves, the stalactites... amazing!!  Besides the areas that the public is allowed to view (by guided tour, in French unfortunately), there are an additional 33 kms of caverns that have been explored and only reserved for speleologists to discover.   The tour took 1 hour.   Like I said, it was a definite highlight for all of us and it was a perfect day to visit.

From there, we continued along the Gorges de la Bourne again... the crazy cliffy roads that scare me silent.... haha... yes, it's true!  At one point, we had to stop dead in our tracks because a big semio-truck decided he couldn't continue on the road, and he was trying to back up... make a u-turn perhaps?  What??  And further along, another big truck swerved into our side of the road because the cliffs above were too low for his truck... okay then, we'll just switch lanes... and I use the term "lanes" very loosely here.

We stopped in Villard de Lans for a wander... it is actually bigger than we thought.  It's a pretty little alpine village with lots of shops and restaurants, and an area where the road is blocked off for people to play large wooden games.  So fun!  The kids were so excited to find an official Euro Cup soccer ball... in Villard de Lans of all places.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa, they used some money from you to buy it together!  I don't think they are going to actually use it, just drool on it.

I cannot pass by a field of sunflowers... I just cannot.  Could you?  (The kids say, in unison, yes, we can!!).  One of them has our church in the distance.  Love, love, love.