My name is Marion Vermazen. I am a traveler, hiker, reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, YouTuber, Spanish and French language student, knitter, weaver and genealogist.
Today we drove across Utah, with a few stretch stops, to Dinosaur National Monument. We parked the car and checked out the Quarry Visitor Center, then took the tram up to the Quarry Exhibit Hall. The Exhibit hall is built right over one of the rock faces with hundreds of fossils still in the rock.
Next we took the Fossil Discovery Trail back down to the visitor center.
From Dinosaur National Monument we continue on about an hour to the small town of Rangely, Colorado where we are tonight.
We started a month long U.S. road trip today. It is fun and exciting to be on the road again. We are going to Duke’s 55th High School reunion in Iowa and to my niece’s wedding in Tennessee. If you would like to see our planned itinerary you can see it here.
We drove 405 miles to West Wendover on the Nevada/Utah border. We stopped several times to stretch our legs..
Friday morning in Giverny we had breakfast in our room. We had a baguette and croissants delivered fresh to our door. The OJ, yogurt, jams and butter were already in the fridge.
Around eleven we packed up and then went to see Monet’s grave in the cemetery.
We drove to Orly airport. On the way we stopped for one last picnic lunch. I will miss French bread and cheese!
At Orly we turned in the car, checked in, and then spent a few hours in the lounge waiting for our 6:30 flight. our flight was long but uneventful. We landed in San Francisco at about 9:30. Allison picked us up at the airport. We spent the night in Walnut Creek then drove home the next day.
It was a fantastic trip. We are tired but very glad to be home. Soon Duke will get to work planning the next trip.
Today was a wonderful day. We started out by going for a walk in the grounds at Chateau du Boulay-Morin.
As we were checking out the owner insisted we needed to have a cup of coffee. He told Duke “You can’t drive without coffee!” So we had coffee and chatted a bit. He told us that if he was American he would have voted for Trump. But now no! He said “Trump has made America a 0!”
After leaving the Chateau we went into Evreux, the town where we had dinner last night, and had croissants and another coffee at the Boulangerie.
We got to Giverny too early to check in so we strolled around a bit and bought some souvenirs. Then we had a picnic lunch in the garden of the Museum of Impressionism.
About 2:00 we checked in to Sous La Glycine. This B&B has one room in the basement. It’s perfect, cute and very comfortable. We are right on Rue Claude Monet just down the street from Monet’s house and garden.
Monet’s garden and house close at 6:00. A couple of weeks ago we bought advance tickets for 4:30. It was perfect. While we were there the crowds got smaller and smaller. And the gardens!! Oh my goodness they are wonderful! The colors, the light, the artistry. It was fantastic!
We took our time wandering through the gardens. It was surprising how many empty park benches we found. We had to check out each of them.
The things that surprised us about Giverny was how untoutisty it seemed, in spite of the massive crowds. And when we walked to dinner after everything was closed the streets were empty.
As I said at the beginning it was a practically perfect day. Tomorrow we return the car at the airport in Paris and fly home.
After we checked out of our hotel Wednesday morning we stowed our luggage in the car and then went to see the Honfleur church. It is wooden, and unlike any church I have seen in France. The guide book says that Honfleur was putting all their money into building defenses against the English so that when they needed a church they had their expert boat builders build the wooden church. It does look a bit like an upside down boat. It’s a very pretty church.
From Honfleur we drove east along the Seine to Jumièges Abbey. It was Normandy’s largest abbey. In 1791 after the French Revolution it was taken by the government and sold, and turned into a quarry. We wandered among the ruins and then napped under a tree.
On our way there we stopped for a picnic and then took the free ferry across the Seine. The river seemed to be flowing the wrong way! We learned that it is tidal for 105 km inland.
We spent the night at the Château du Boulay Morin south of Rouen. For dinner we went into nearby Evreux and had a wonderful meal at a Moroccan restaurant, La Baraka.
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