Mud Theme Park

A couple of weekends ago Daniel planned a little day trip up to a some of the provencal hill towns in the area. Because we are cheap and all the highways cost money we drove through twisty roads that wind through the hills to reach out destinations. It made for a very slow, though beautiful, little trip which left me feeling a bit queasy by the end.

Jonas loved having the windows rolled down and the wind in his hair.

Wandering around Ruissillon

When Daniel told me about this village, Ruisillon, I thought he was saying that it was the location of the biggest okra desposit in the world. I didn't think about it much but I was a little struck by Daniel's new found interest in okra, as well not having really associated okra with French food before. Anyway, I came to find out that it is the largest deposit of ochre in the world, i.e., ochre clay. This village is unique because all of the buildings were contructed using this clay and therefore the colors are very interesting.

Anyway, this trip included a hike along the "Sentier des Ochres" (ochre path), and it was only then that I realized my mistake of dressing Jaxon in his nice white pants...

Initally I had hope that I could wash it out, but after several rounds in the wash and realizing that the buildings have retained their color from this ochre for hundreds of years, I acknowledged the uselessness of my plight and threw the pants away.

Regardless, Jaxon had the time of his life playing in this "mud theme park" and ultimately his joy more than compensated for sacrifice of the pants.

After that we visited Gordes, another hilltop town, but it was too far past naptime to really do it justice.