Day 13: Les Calanques

Hey folks, I'm drowning!  Between my own class load (physiology, microbiology, plus chemistry, physiology, and microbiology labs), the kids' classes, baseball, frisbee, soccer, dance, Girl Scouts, cello, violin, piano, choir, church activities, church callings, laundry, dinner, dishes, etc., I am swamped.  I really want to get caught up on this blog, but I'm going to have to learn to truncate.

So, Gap.  We arrived in the pitch black, so waking up in the Hautes-Alpes was a brilliant surprise.  

The place we stayed (it's actually in Freissinouse) was perfect for our one-night stay.  We had the entire second floor of this house to ourselves with comfy beds, clean sheets, nice bathrooms, and a very friendly host.  She even helped us reconnect with a forgotten bag of sneakers.  I'm so glad too!  Next to passports, our running shoes might be the most expensive belongings to replace.

Lovely as the home was, we didn't hang out for long.  There is a branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that meets in Gap at 10:00.  This tiny unit welcomed our family warmly, even translating one of the talks so that our kids could understand.  Our own ward in Salt Lake is quite small, so I think it was good for us to witness the commitment and faith of those worshipping in congregations far smaller that our own.

Afterward, we took a moment to walk through downtown Gap.

From Gap, we hustled down to the coast so that we could check into our AirBnB outside of Marseilles at three.  Out of our many AirBnB experiences, this was the only one that we wouldn't repeat.  Check-in was a hassle because the host dictated what time we had to be there--this seems a bit presumptuous.  The place was also smaller and dirtier than the rest.  It wasn't a big deal since we were only staying for one night, but I'm glad we didn't book longer.

The one thing that was great about this AirBnB was its location.  It was about 20 minutes from Cassis, the starting point for this great hike I'd heard so much about from Christy and Lance.  We passed this beach while walking from the parking garage to the trailhead.  Part of me was ready to skip the hike and just hang out there.

I'm so glad we kept going, though.  This was a hike to cherish.  We started off at the Calanque de Port-Miou.  I'm sure Jason's inner pirate wanted to commandeer one of those boats.

If you're looking for pinch yourself views, this is the place.

Before long, we reached the Calanque de Port-Pin.  Being a weekend, it was busy.  Beautiful as it looked, I was glad that our itinerary had us hiking on.

Right around this point the trail ended and we realized that we'd taken a wrong turn.  After backtracking to the correct fork, we had to choose between the longer high road and the shorter low road.  The bigger kids and I chose the high road while Jason and Annie chose the low road.  (And I'll be in Scotland afore you.)

The high road was pretty darn scenic.  You can tell we were working hard and really booking it by how red all the faces are.

Before reaching the next calanque, you have to descend all that elevation just gained.  The kids really enjoy this semi-technical stuff.

At last, les Calanque d'en Vau.  The great thing about coming later in the day is that we had the place nearly to ourselves.

This was perhaps the loveliest swim I've ever taken.

Annika enjoyed searching the clear water for fish.

Jumping for joy.

Genuine smiles all around.

The trek back out.

This picture's a little trippy.  It looks like you've reached the end of the world and the ocean falls off completely.  So does Eli's head.

While hiking later meant we had the Calanques to ourselves, it also meant hiking out in the dark.  We made it back just as the light faded.

And there you have it: Lucky Day 13.