Hiking Day Two

After our morning supermarket run we walked about a mile to the next trailhead. Today would be the only day that our group splits. One hike would be 9 miles and the other hike would be 14 miles.

The initial part of our hike was along the coast high up on the hill.

We walked through a forest area and visited an old abandoned monastery. 

When we reached another abandoned castle or farmhouse (it's hard to tell which), our two groups split.

The group I was in continued straight east toward the distant ocean. The weather continues to be perfect. Temperatures in the mid '70s and a very light breeze. Once again, not a cloud in the sky. It was warm as we hiked for miles without shade.

We stopped for lunch in the shade at "Totem."

You are a couple of critters we came across:

At the end of the trail on a jagged point was a lighthouse and restaurant. We met Chad there and he escorted us to Cadaques a few miles away.

Cadaques seems to be the quintessential Spanish Town situated on a Bay of the Mediterranean. All the buildings are whitewashed.

We found our hotel at the far end of town and it took a dip in the Sea.

Cocktail hour was on the hotel terrace overlooking this beautiful town. Dinner followed at a tiny little restaurant with four tables. Serving us or the owners, a husband and wife.

It was a great night of dining and entertainment. When the owner / waiter learned that Scott did not like seafood, he took 20 euros out of his pocket, laid them down in front of Scott, and told him to go across the street and buy a pizza.

After consuming large amounts of sardines, fish, and other delicacies, everyone enjoyed ice cream desserts before we headed back to the hotel and crashed.

Our First Day of Hiking

But for our 7:45 a.m. alarm, Jo and I would have slept until noon. Breakfast was at 8:15 and we then met in the lobby at 9:15 for Chad to give us a rundown on our first day's hike. 

The hike through the Pyrenees today would be our longest and most difficult. We were hiking only to the adjacent town a few miles away, but we were climbing the Pyrenees and then descending in a big u shape.

To prepare for our hike, we walked to a grocery store and purchased our lunch.

We then walked two our trailhead where we would look as fresh as we would all day.

We hiked on a trail that led from the Mediterranean ocean, through the Pyrenees, all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. The trail was well marked with two horizontal lines, one red and one white (The red and green marker was for a different trail which for a while shared ours.)

The footing was difficult. It was a combination of jagged large rocks and many loose jagged rocks.

At the top of our climb was in ancient monastery. We stopped there to enjoy our lunch and the views.

At this point, we split up. Jorgy, Eric and I climbed another 600 ft to the top of the mountain where we toured a 12th century fort. The views from there were spectacular.

We then headed down the mountain to our destination hotel. It was another beautiful town of the Mediterranean. We all headed to the beach.

Onward to Costa Brava

Chad picked us up at the airport and then we headed to downtown Barcelona to meet everyone else.  We then took the 2-hour drive to the beautiful Costa Brava area of Spain. (See the circled area north east of Barcelona. We are 18 mi from France.)

We had a few hours before our welcome cocktail party so we headed to the beach in dove into the Mediterran.

Others hiked up to the top of a hill adjacent to our hotel. 

We stayed in a very quaint and very old hotel with narrow staircases going every which way. It was common for people to get lost getting to their rooms. 

Jo and I had a beautiful room with a large terrace on which we had our cocktail party. It was a beautiful evening and sunset.

We then headed to a nearby restaurant for an incredible meal which must have included about a dozen different dishes finished off by a main course of fish and some delectable desserts. A couple bottles of wine were consumed (by each person). 

Dinners here in Spain start at the time that I typically go to bed. When the meal was over, we all went back to the hotel and immediately fell asleep. It was a great first day.

Hanging out with the Upper Class

I view myself as a "coach kind of a guy." I am always happy flying in coach. However, Jo has placed us on KLM's "Premium Comfort." I think that she spent enough money on her Delta AmEx shopping for this trip that the upgrade was free.

 

While there is some discomfort flying in the section above our class in life, that feeling was quickly (but maybe temporarily) allayed by the rich folks' perks.

First, there are several outstanding choices on our dinner menu (while I suspect our people in coach are given finger sandwiches). Second, an even better selection of alcoholic beverages:

Jo has ordered one of each and I am encouraging her to share some with me.

However, the biggest highlight is the auto dimming windows. You push a button and the window goes from perfectly clear to black. Very cool. 

Also, I don't have to push a button to recline the seat. It is all electronic. What's next? A functional entertainment system?

Amsterdam, here we come.

SPAIN

No, this is not a continuation of the 1949 Ford blog. (The Blogger program requires a home computer to create a new blog. Because I am sitting at the airport without my laptop, I simply will be adding on to this old car blog.)

This hiking trip to Spain has been years in the making. We put our deposit down before the pandemic and we have deferred it until now. We had the great luxury of being able to pick the trip dates as well as the group that will accompany us. That is thanks largely to the fact that Jack's colleague, Chad, owns the company (Parallel Adventures) that offers this trip. 

Those accompanying us are:

Jorgy and Flicka (see also the "Alaska or Bust" blog);

Laurie and John;

Scooter and Michelle; and

Betsy and Eric.

Of course, our leader, Chad, will be with us every step of the way. He graduated from Bowdoin so we know he is a good guy.

Jo and I are the last to leave the States. (I figured I would need more time than Scooter to recover from the Twin Cities Marathon - which ended up being canceled due to heat). Everyone else is already in Spain or some nearby country enjoying the scenes and culture.

What I suspect will be the most monumental aspect to this trip is the fact that Jo had to pack everything for our two-week trip in one carry-on as opposed to her steamer trunk. Before being picked up this morning, we watched a few YouTube videos from Rick Steves on packing light for Europe. Both Jo and I repacked and admirably, Jo got everything into a carry-on (however it did have a zipper to a expand it)! We are off to a good start.

We diligently followed the rules and arrived at MSP three hours before our flight. We took full advantage of the smorgasbord in Delta's club.

We just got an email from KLM telling us that the infotainment system in our flight to Amsterdam is not functional. We are frantically downloading things onto our tablets. 

A lot of time has passed since my last post. I did not work on the '49 for a few weeks while I was on a bike ride (www.chrismntony.blogspot.com).  When I got back to it, I finished the non-cosmetic work. After restoring the engine and mechanical parts of the car, I moved on to the body and interior.  

The paint was bubbling.  I took my buffer out to buff out the bubbles.  It did not work.  Removing the bubbles left the primer showing.  The car needed to be repainted.  We were now about two weeks before the wedding.  Most conventional body shops would not paint a classic car.  Many of the classic car shops had a wait of several months.  A friend recommended a national paint shop chain nearby. The estimate there was about 50% - 75% cheaper than the other shops.  I feared that I would get what I was paying for.

I stripped all the chrome off the car and took it in.  While the car was in the shop, I buffed all the chrome and restored all the light fixtures. The light lenses are all glass.  How times have changed.

A week later, Jo and I went to pick it up.  But, they painted it the wrong color.  It was clearly a lighter shade of blue.  Also, the paint job was poorly done. It was now a week before the wedding. The shop resanded and repainted the '49 and we went back to pick it up fearing another problem.  However, it looked great!

With a week to go, I started the process of putting all the chrome, lights, and trim back on.  I worked late every night.  I found seat covers on eBay that matched the car very well.  (The original cloth seats looked quite good, but the top of the rear seat near the window was pretty well gone due to sun damage.)

By the Thursday before the wedding, the '49 was ready to go.  On Friday, I chauffeured Ben and Jack's girlfriends to the wedding hotel.  I parked the car in front of the main entrance and left it there.

The '49's first job was to take the bride to the "First Look" at Theodore Wirth Park.  (For those not familiar with the so-called "Frist Look," it is an event created - best I can tell - for convenience to take the place of the tradition of the bride and groom seeing each other for the first time that day at the alter.  The "First Look" allows the bride and groom to see each other earlier in the day for photographs to save the guests from the delay caused by the photo-op between the ceremony and reception.) I covered the new seat covers in back with a white bed cover.  In my tuxedo, I shined the car while waiting for the bride and talked to folks who stopped by to admire the car.

Then, the bride arrived.  As beautiful as the '49 looked after so many months of work and a fresh paint job, it paled in comparison to Anna.



Driving to the First Look was a special time with Anna.  I watched her in the rear-view mirror.  It seemed like yesterday that Anna and I would have our pancake breakfast while watching Pee Wee's [Herman] Playhouse" (that was before his arrest). 

Waiting at the park was the wedding party. The boys played football in their tuxedos.  The girls all looked beautiful. The weather started looking menacing. Then the sleet started. The sleet was actually better than rain as we stayed fairly dry. Everyone was laughing (and running for cover).  I was glad I had installed a new heater core in the '49!

I drove Clay and Anna to the wedding.  The rest of the evening was one of the greatest events of my life. So many good friends and family having such a wonderful time.  It went so fast.

The '49 did was not far from the festivities.  It sat quietly and majestically in front of the main entrance. Tied to the bumper was twine. Tied to the twine were tin cans. The rear window displayed: "Just Married." After the music had stopped an all had gone home, the '49 took us to the hotel.  It was a beautiful ride and I could have kept driving all night. 

After all the wedding activities were over, Jo and I drove the car for a week or two, but unfortunately, snow was soon in the forecast.  Reluctantly, I took the '49 to the Car Farm, covered it up, and put it to rest for the winter.






I look forward to next spring.