W51 of Y4

Andorra/France

We decided to use Columbus Day weekend to cross 2 things off our list.... Andorra and an RV trip!

Here we go!  Dinner in the RV while Jeremy braves the Autostrada.

Whitney claimed her "room".

Morning view!  Jeremy drove the first night as far as he could and then we pulled into a truck stop and slept with all the truckers. He woke up that morning and drove while we all slept. 

So cuddly!  

The smooth rocking back and forth of the RV kept these 2 asleep until noon!  Just like when they were babies and would fall asleep in their car seats. :)

Passing the time

The most unusual find of this trip... a pizza stand on the side of the road in the Pyrenees.

We had to get one just to see if it would work!

The most amazing thing that happened on this trip... 
Filling up an RV with gas is not as easy as a car - you can't just go into any gas station.  After we got close to a quarter tank we were getting worried that we had not found another gas station that we could pull into.  It was also concerning that it seemed to take forever to go from full to half tank but then went from half tank to quarter tank really fast!  The RV would tell us how many miles to empty but since we were basically going straight up through the mountains we were losing fuel a lot faster than the RV thought.  When our GPS said we were 3.4 km to the gas station we were trying to get to, the RV said we were 1 km to empty and we were on a narrow, mountainous road that went straight up.  We decided to pull into a look out area that just happened to be right there so our RV didn't die on the road which would have been sure to cause a lot of chaos for other drivers and high potential for accidents.  We were really scared and had no idea what to do.  The only option we could see was for Jeremy to start walking up this steep, very narrow road (with no shoulder) and HOPE to not get ran over, HOPE that the gas station that our GPS found was even open, and HOPE that they had a gas can or something to put the gas in so he could walk back down and put it in the RV and we could drive the rest of the 3.4 km to drive there.  Although this was our best plan, it wasn't a good one.  It was dangerous and scary.  Jeremy went out of the RV to think about this plan and the kids and I stayed inside and prayed.  All the sudden, Jeremy walks up to the RV with these 2 people holding a gas can!!  My eyes immediately filled with tears....  how can it be that he found someone in the middle of the pyrenees who 1. spoke English 2. had diesel fuel with them 3. were nice and helpful.  All three of these conditions were highly unlikely that we never even considered this to be a possibility!  But, in fact,  God sent them there at that precise moment to answer our prayers.  Christian was from the UK and Helena was from Russia and they were the nicest people we have ever met.  They refused to accept payment (aside from a couple red vines) and just asked that we pay it forward when the opportunity arises.  They literally may have saved our lives.  I was really grateful that our children were able to witness a miracle during this trip and was able to see, first hand, the power of prayer and faith.  

We made it!!
While only supposed to be a 12 hour drive, it took us about 16. 

Our home for the next couple days

Breakfast after a good nights sleep

Kayla seems to love the RV life

Our campsite was next this huge track where they had the special olympics going on while we were there.  We had front row seats!

Andorra La Vella - Old Town

A 10 minute walk from our campsite put us in the middle of the old part of the capital

Dorks!

Cute Andorran Lady

An old prison

Fresh water from the Pyrenees mountains. 

Andorra La Vella city center

10 more minutes and we were in the middle of the city center

It amazed us that there was just a booming, large city nestled up so high in the mountains

This sculpture was donated to the Andorran government by Salvadore Dali's agent

I found it interesting that Andorra has the longest life expectancy than any other country in the world but one of their major crops is tobacco.  Advertisements for tobacco were everywhere and Andorra is one of the only countries left in Europe that still allows smoking in restaurants. 

Caldea Thermal Spa

Time for some R & R

Heated mineral water through the entire place.  So relaxing!

Every hour there was a water/light/music show....  water was shooting down from all of the faucets on the ceiling.

This. Water. Is. FREEZING!!!!  I don't know how he did this!

Then Whitney made Connor look weak!

Whitney is the true MVP!

Aiden knew better than to event try!

Back massagers?

Eucalyptus sauna

We practically had this whole place to ourselves for the whole day!  It was amazing!

Friday night dinner in the RV

Resting up before hitting the road again in the morning

Leaving Andorra....  which way do we want to go?  One road goes to Spain and the other goes to France.

Not sure we will ever be able to travel the "old-fashioned" way ever again....  this was just too much fun!

Chamonix, France

Our next campsite was chosen because there is a beautiful hike from the campsie leading between 2 glaciers in the French Alps.  However, after arriving we learned that the gondola leading to the trail was closed for the weekend.  Bummer!

The campsite was gorgeous!

The glaciers in the distance

Family meeting to decide what to do over a hot bowl of oatmeal. 
We decided to explore the city and then hit the road to get home a day earlier than planned. 
(full transparency: the primary motivation to leave early was to watch the Chiefs game Sunday night)

One of my favorite parts of any trip we go on is watching the kids appreciate the beauty and sights around us

This was a beautiful site right here!  

We had to convince Aiden to share

Aiden couldn't wait... he sat right down and started eating an entire baguette all to himself! lol!

A delicious little French snack prepared in the RV.

The drive had some of the most breathtaking views of any trip we've been on since living in Europe

Kayla was a great traveler!  She was pretty much Jeremy's co-pilot the entire trip.

 As much fun as driving through exotic countries and breathtaking mountains in an RV is...
there is just something about eating 7-layer dip and watching your football team play an amazing game in the comfort of your own home!
Life is good!