Sometimes, it feels like we’ve been on the trail for a month, but I’ve just got to keep reminding myself, it’s only been 4 weeks.
We did go for a walk around town last night and there was a live band in the central plaza, but instead of beer, we opted for sprite and salty French fries. We didn’t stay out late since we were planning on getting going early today.
A word about getting going early–don’t let Pam handle the snooze if you want to get out of bed early. The alarm went off but instead of hitting the snooze, she shut it off. Next thing we knew, it was noon. The room darkening storm shutters work like a charm. It worked out for the best; the caretaker folded all of our laundry and put it in our window. We had to change bungalows because ours was already reserved for tonight, but that just took a few minutes to move all of our crap.
First priority for today was some good greasy food. We had noticed a snack shop yesterday that offered American food. We finally got a good hamburger, fries, and a coke. They even had catsup and mayonnaise (we have gotten so tired of dry sandwiches that we even appreciate when they spit on them).
The snack place was right next to the national park office, but when we started across the street, we saw the ski lift was running. The ski area is not actually in town, but it’s 3500′ above town and can only be reached by gondola from town (or walking which was out for us today). We bought tickets to head back up to see the pass we missed because of the fog.
We got our money’s worth on this one. This has to be the longest gondola run I’ve ever seen. It takes about 20 minutes to get to the ski area at 6000′. Then we caught another ski lift that took us up to 8000′. This is the top of the black runs. From here, we could walk up a little higher to look down on the pass we walked over 2 days ago. We seriously need to reconsider how long it takes to walk these mountains when a lift can get us there in under an hour.
I am somewhat terrified of heights (actually, extremely terrified). This phobia makes sense because anyone can fall off a cliff (or out of a lift) at any time, unlike a fear of storms and getting struck by lightening where you have a better chance of winning an Oscar than getting struck by lightening. Engineers have logical phobias! Pam was just fine with the wind blowing the gondola and the cars bouncing up and down. I completely freaked when I found out that we could raise the safety bar at any time.
When we left the gite this morning, Pam told me I should take a hat because the sun was so bright. I told her that if I take a hat, I’ll end up losing it. She insisted so I told her it was her responsibility to make sure I didn’t lose it. She only had one thing to do, other than look pretty, and she blew it. I left my hat at the ticket counter when we bought our lift passes, so I got to wear her baseball cap to keep the sun off of my folically challenged area. When we went to get on the gondola for the trip down, the attendant gave me my hat. They had apparently sent it up trying to cover for Pam.
Round trip to top of mountain on lifts in under two hours–walking (for us) two days. Oh well, we’re getting stronger (in theory). Next up was the park center which had some great exhibits and photo shows. We watched a few videos and spent about an hour there. Isards are on our list of mammals to be watching for in the high country.
We still aren’t in the mood for any alcohol (no, really, not even a beer) so we headed to a grocery store to buy some liquid refreshment. While walking around, we decided to just buy some more food for supper tonight and breakfast tomorrow. Once we go back to the gite, we are done until we hit the trail again (whenever that may be if Pam is in charge of alarms).
It was time to do a food shakedown. It turns out, that I have been hoarding food and this has got to stop. We figure we have enough food for 9 suppers, 3 lunches, and 4 breakfasts (plus all the drink–tea, coffee, etc). I think it’s good practice to get used to carrying 5 days of food since we will have to a few times on this trip when (if) we make it that far.
We ate our dinners and got all packed up for tomorrow. Pam has set her alarm so we should be on the trail by 2p at the latest.
