{"id":573895552,"date":"2023-03-16T16:12:50","date_gmt":"2023-03-16T20:12:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/?p=573895552"},"modified":"2023-03-29T17:26:33","modified_gmt":"2023-03-29T21:26:33","slug":"the-andorran-and-french-pyrenees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/blog\/2023\/03\/16\/the-andorran-and-french-pyrenees\/","title":{"rendered":"The Andorran and French Pyrenees"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup<\/a> it was time to work our way back down to Barcelona. We’re flying back tomorrow. Boo to that. Vacations are great. Andorra is beautiful. We should stay here. <\/p>\n

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Don’t think we didn’t try to figure out a way. <\/p>\n

Anyway, leaving the parking lot, we had two options. Left, or right. And the GPS said we had three choices. Two routes with tolls, and one route without a toll. <\/p>\n

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The Yankee was driving, and she hit the touch screen, aiming at the no tolls route. We turned right out of the parking lot.<\/p>\n

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That’s opposite from where we came, but we’re inherently trusting of the GPS, aren’t we? Anyway, we continue to climb higher and ever higher into the mountains.<\/p>\n

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We’re up in this area where there are signs warning snowkiters<\/a> of high winds here at 6,233 feet. We’re almost 1.2 miles above sea level.<\/p>\n

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Come to find out — and it is funny how people can make the same realization at the same time — we were headed to … France. Also this was one of the toll routes. But the views were worth the price of admission.<\/p>\n

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This is how I’ll remember the mountains. Not that the memory is bad, but I like the fuzzy feel, rather like a memory or dream sequence in a bad TV show. <\/p>\n

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But if that’s not for you, here’s the same mountain. Not sure why the camera took the moment off. Maybe it was a French-Andorran frontier issue in the software.<\/p>\n

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Anyway, we drifted peacefully down through the mountains. The altitude got lower and the temperatures warmed up. We found ourselves in a delightfully rural little corner of southwestern France. Not a part of the trip, but now a part of the trip. <\/p>\n

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By here, the car and the road was hooking around back to the south; we’re heading toward Barcelona. <\/p>\n

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So there are two countries in this post. The first few mountains are from the Andorran Pyrenees, the rest are from the French Pyrenees. Even in France we saw Catalan flags. <\/p>\n

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Here’s a video version of some of these beautiful mountains, and more. <\/p>\n