Spring is Springing
And I'm brushing up on my French
With Daylight Savings Time in the rearview, it’s time to get ready for longer days and more opportunities for outdoor adventures. So long, winter! Not that we really got one in the first place. Here in the state of Colorado, we just experienced our warmest winter on record. It was also the third lowest snowfall ever recorded. Our mountain snowpack is reported at just 61%1 of normal and falling. We’ve also had more fire danger warnings this winter than I can ever remember. We have evacuated or prepared to evacuate at least three times since December. As I write this, we’re in another 2-day stretch of high winds and low humidity. And that means… fire danger. It’s gotten tiresome and it takes a mental toll. We were pre-evacuating Christmas week! We had all of our wrapped presents boxed up and ready to go up to my parents’ house in Loveland. Until we heard that Loveland might be evacuating also… Please everyone do a rain dance for us!
Suffice it to say, it’s been a weird “winter”. But now it’s time to welcome the longer days and greener vistas and embrace the opportunities to be outdoors. We’ve done a few short bike rides here and there during some of the warmer days, but nothing too noteworthy. We had a fun little ride around Louisville last weekend. As is often the case, we ended up at a local establishment.
Looking further out, however, there is some excitement to report. We’ve booked a trip to France in early September where we will be doing a 6-day bike tour of the Burgundy region (Bourgogne). Obviously, this area is well known for it’s wine production. Additionally, the town of Dijon is famous for its mustard and Burgundy is the birthplace of coq-au-vin and beef bourguignon, natch. Comme c’est délicieux! Aside from gastronomy, however, the area is rich in history in and of itself, which I hope to become more acquainted with.
Our trip will start with three days in Paris. I’ve never been, so I’m very excited to see this magical city. I know three days is not nearly enough time, so we will have to plan wisely. Please send any recommended spots you think we’d enjoy to the comments section. I’ve already got my eye on The Cheese Museum and Musee d’Orsay. We’d also like to catch some live jazz and will be staying near a jazz club called Sunset/Sunside. I don’t really care who is playing as long as we get a Parisian jazz experience.
For the bike tour, we went with an outfit called BikeTours.com. They operate internationally and had decent reviews. So far I’ve been impressed with the booking experience. I requested the trip online and then waited one week for them to confirm it. A few days later they sent us our list of hotels. The tour is self guided, but they provide routes and maps and someone will be delivering our luggage to each hotel. I believe breakfasts are also included. This type of freedom on a trip is very enjoyable. We like being able to choose our own pace and side trips (read: wineries) and meals. They offered an option for standard bikes or e-bikes. We chose standard since the daily mileage is manageable and it’s not very hilly terrain along a voie verte, or greenway. We’ll be cycling along canals and past vineyards and quaint countryside. Que c’est jolie! We also chose the upgraded lodging package. I’ve never been to France and at age 55 I don’t know if or when I’ll return, so I figure I had better savor the experience and get as much enjoyment from it as possible. That’s what money is for, right?
Speaking of money, I’ve decided to semi-retire, which just means that I’m not planning to return to my school job next year. It frees us up for travel just like this. I have lots of fun ideas for part-time employment that won’t interfere with travel, so I’m not saying I’m actually retiring. Just moving on to different things. I’ve been enjoying another Substack blogger, Jo Barnes, (“The Over 50 Nomad Club”) who writes about how to fund international travel with small business ideas. I like her sense of adventure and her ability to make her business ideas work. She recently put out a deck of scratch-off travel cards called “This Big Travel Challenge” that are a fun way to add excitement to any adventure. I just purchased a deck and I’m hoping to have some fun with these this summer - and in France!
On a similar topic, I recently watched a great Ted Talk about “multipotentiates” - people who have many different callings. This really resonated with me. I tend to get bored if I stay with one thing for too long. Which is why I really enjoy writing because I can choose the topic, the target audience, and also often the medium/publication. I do plan to keep writing! I better hurry up and get a million subscribers to this blog so I can fund these trips. Haha. But seriously… tell your friends!
For today’s musical accompaniment to the article, I’ve chosen “If I Had A Million Dollars” by the Barenaked Ladies because not only would that fund a lot of fun trips, but it mentions “Dijon” in the lyrics. (Why DON’T we have Dijon ketchups???)
https://www.koaa.com/weather/weather-science/colorado-snowpack-drops-to-61-of-average-as-record-breaking-heat-threatens-further-decline-soon
Enjoy your "semi-retirement" and your trip to France! Let's get together for coffee.