the road not taken

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."

robert frost wrote these lines in the classic poem 'the road not taken' in 1920. ever since i had to memorize it in the third or fourth grade i have loved it. there have been so many moments where i have felt like i've taken that road, and it really has made all the difference. today was one of those days. literally. we drove around the country side in our little three by three by three mini bus. see below. (it was a tight squeeze, but it wouldn't have been better any other way).

today was less of a sight-seeing adventure and more of a get lost in the country side kind of deal. allison and i claimed the front seat (yes!) and became the official radio controllers and map navigators. for the first couple of hours everyone was mostly asleep (i'll admit, i had a few dozy periods) but after hitting a little gas station market and getting some treats i was ready to get serious. we headed back out on the freeway, saw a sign for ancient roman ruins, and decided why not? we went for it. we followed a few signs for this town called 'jublains' and then the signs disappeared, and we were basically lost. allison and i pulled out the map, a legitimate, old school map, and became official navigators. we deemed ourselves gwen and the map kid, (i'm gwen). you have to have neat navigation names when using a real nap (plus everyone else was asleep so nothing was keeping us from acting like crazy kids) and tried to find any sign of the little teesny towns we were driving through. no luck. it was alright though because we were getting a delightful taste of the rolling hills, furry cows, blue skies, little farms, and all around perfection that is french countryside. after completely giving up on the ruins and getting on a road big enough to make the map we found another sign for the ruins. the road not taken. we decided to take it, and then decided that we were probably the only 'tourists' to ever venture this way. let me tell you, it was worth it. our little countryside drive made all the difference. i loved navigating us through little towns all the way back into chartres. we took the road less travelled by, and we saw beauty that was literally indescribable. what a perfect way to end such a wonderful trip. moral of the story: when you get the chance, take that less traveled road.

our 'real' map

meet the map kid and gwen

and now, for some of our adventures:

we started the day off on a little beach port island called St. Malo,

i still can't get over the ocean.

sunrise over this quaint little town

mm.

me in malo

okay i apologize but i HAD to post this.

i took several of these today. so great.

they were missing out!

french cows are furrier.

(please forgive my through the window driving shots!)

when we hit the little gas station market i was determined to find a delightful treat, and that i did. i bought us some 'scoubidou' which is apparently french candy boondoggle. (remember boondoggle?) after about five minutes of trying to remember allison and i finally figured it out and made some quality treats that everyone else got to eat. operation begin acting like little kids.

allison with her 4 by 4

yeah, that's a boondoggle fish.

treats being eaten

swirly!

once we got to the roman ruins we decided we needed to stretch our legs and all get a little riled up. allison had the grand idea to play a little game. first we decided on a some 'gauls and romans' (a roman ruin take on cowboys and indians) and when that wasn't the most successful, we changed to capture the flag. we picked teams and everything. allison's scarf from israel became one flag, and mine from france the other. we then started a seriously intense game of capture the flag in the ruins of the roman fortress from two thousand years ago. how many people can say they have done that? road less traveled my friends. it was SO fun. and though there was no winner, i got really, really close.

group at the ruins

wet shoes and ruins - too much running around like a crazy kid in the wet grass

our battlegrounds

(they even kept the little museum open late for us - unheard of in france - probably because we are the only visitors they have seen in years!)

what the fortress once looked like

quality hideout

the french team. (the almost victors)

the israeli team (unfair advantage)

after our game we were all hungry for lunch. we ventured through a few one-creperie towns until jamie declared that she was having a kebab no matter what. we made our way into this deserted little middle of nowhere place and were greeted with a 'deviation' or detour sign. we took it and what do you know. star kebabs. and here are our star kebab eaters. 3 in a row?

seriously so good.

and now for a quality sequence of through the window/ windshield country side shots.

i wish i could have stopped every few feet to take pictures, but alas, this was the best i could do.

please imagine you are listening to french radio - 'Nostalgi' our favorite channel.

pretty ponies.

green grass

heavenly skies

so much sunshine

after our country adventures we made it to chartre, a very famous cathedral.

i mostly liked this little cabbage growing outside the cathedral the best.

but chartre was neat too.

it was a good day. moral of the post: take the road not taken, and act like you are in the third grade all over again, because you will not be sorry.