Lees in France

Today we stayed home from our French church and had a quiet morning drawing and reading.  At 3:30pm we zoomed into our church service back home, Grace Community Pres. It was comforting to see familiar faces, the back of heads, and hear English. I did not leave church mentally exhausted today! My Aunt Dale sent individualized monthly art lessons and an art supply kit for each kid. I enjoyed doing art all week long.

Our weekend ended with a short drive to a hiking place with incredible views Table d’orientation du Puech des Mourgues. One review mentioned a 20 minute hike from the parking lot. Perfect, we thought.  Randy made a picnic dinner and we took off, bringing Cody too. Google maps and our understanding of the directions only had us go around a triangular block one extra time. We are getting better! 

We found the parking lot and the path to the top. The exposed path to the top was dry and rocky. Randy and I looked at each other both thinking, “Should we do this? We will be in pain in the morning.” Randy was 6 weeks post knee surgery, I am 5 months into plantar fasciitis, and Cody is 10 months old. We ventured on not knowing the route ahead, yet understanding the future pain to come. The route was beautiful, very rocky, and NOT recommended for strollers or skates! We saw a guy rock climbing, a guy running, a small party of young 20’s, and a family with smaller kids than ours.

The view was absolutely amazing. We could see mountain peaks, the Mediterranean Sea, and rolling hills. These rolling hills reminded us of the Blue Ridge Mountains back home. We watched the sunset, relaxed, and ate our dinner. 

Eventually, we noticed the other family leaving the top. Hmm, we realized it was about to get dark and we had at least 20 minutes to walk on a rocky path. Could we make it in time to the bottom before dark? We did not bring flashlights and our phones were on low battery. We took off, the path seemed different. I found myself commenting on things I had not noticed on the way up, such as the tall carin formations, 6 patches of dug up dirt, a piece of flat rock that you could balance on and tilt back and forth. Great, we started down the wrong path! The light was quickly fading into the ground.

I will spare you the minute by minute details, however we made it back to the car just as the last light vanished into darkness.