Fri 18 Feb 2005
Spanish Vacation, Day 1
Posted by Sandi Atherton under France, spain, vacation
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It was time to set off on our Spanish vacation and I was so ready for it. I was ready for the warmer weather and the souvenir shopping. We woke in the wee hours of the morning, packed up the car and kids, and off we went.
While planning our trip to Spain we realized the drive was long and we needed to stop for the night somewhere in southern France. Our research led us to an interesting discovery. Between the French and Spanish border in the heart of the Pyrenees mountains, there is a whole other country called Andorra. It is a small country all of about the size of Indianapolis. It is said to be a major shopping Mecca because of low taxes. I have had my heart set on visiting Andorra. (Yeah, for the entire month since I discovered it was there.)
I should have known when we were still 2 hours away and starting to see snow…
I should have known when we kept passing snowplows…
I should have known when we realized the temperature was dropping rapidly…
I should have known when we saw signs warning of road closings…
I should have known when we arrived in a small mountain town that seemed to overflow with people…
THINGS WERE NOT GOING TO BE GOOD!
And of course Ken says I should have listened to him when he said we do not want to go into the mountains in February. I do not remember hearing him say that!
Needless to say, here we were stuck in a small mountain town (Ax-le-therme) with no rooms in ANY hotel left open. Everyone heading to their ski vacation resorts was stuck here waiting out the warnings of avalanches. Thankfully the town was a cute one and good place to explore a bit. We decided not to chance getting stuck up there for an entire week and ditched the shopping spree in Andorra. The tourist office found us a hotel in a town just north of this one and since we were headed back that way to go around the mountains instead of through them, it was a good plan.
The town we explored was an interesting one. It had a small hole in the ground where hot springs surfaced, small alleys that lead to ski lifts, and every little kid we passed had a sled tucked under his arm. Not one person in town was as ill equipped for snow as us. We walked around in our winter coats and regular pants as we passed family after family dressed in snowsuits. It was not long before our kids began their cries of complaints about being cold. To be perfectly fair… I was pretty darn cold too. It was time to find that hotel and settle in for the night.
