France and Spain

Quick drive thru France and Spain - April 11th - 15th

We left England via the ferry from Dover to Calais France. France has great motorways but a lot of expensive tolls. The roads in Spain were excellent with less expensive tolls. Both were very scenic.

Aire (rest area) in France. This was a good lunch stop.

Our stop for the night in France. It was in a quaint little town not far from the motorway.

This camper van parking area was in Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine.

After dinner we took an evening stroll thru town.

The visitor center for Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine. You'll notice we had a full moon.

The French countryside was beautiful.

Our 1st night of 3 in Spain was at a free aire in Miranda de Ebro.

Again we took an evening walk thru town. We were parked along side the Ebro River.

We strolled thru the old town square.

One of the side streets in the old part of town.

Art work in the center of a roundabout in the new part of town.

View of Granada from our campground on the 2nd night in Spain.

 Traffic safety signs in Spain.

View along the motorway. A lot of our route was thru the mountains. There were lots of viaducts and tunnels. It was dramatic.

We finally arrived at the southern coast of Spain.

Our 3rd night was in a parking lot in Algeciras where we caught the ferry for Morocco. Gibraltar is in the distance.

On the ferry to Morocco. Good bye Europe hello Africa for about 4 weeks.

England

London and Bath, England April 1st through the 9th

On April 1st we arrived at Chad and Champa's where the Sprinter spent the winter. We stayed for a week preparing the van for our travels this year. Everything was in good shape except the house batteries were completely dead. We don't know why, but they are charged up now and working good. Before leaving England we spent a few days in Bath to make sure everything was working good and to get us back to the routine of living on the road.

While in London, we went to see Beautiful, The Carol King Musical. We really enjoyed it.

 Chad and Champa came to the theater with us.

 The opening scene from the musical.

While at Chad and Champa's, we visited a local nursery. The flowers were wonderful. I miss having a garden.

We visited the RAF Museum while the Sprinter was being serviced.

 WWII planes at the museum.

To make sure everything was working in the Sprinter we went to Bath for 3 nights. We stayed in a caravan park we found on Park4Night. Park4Night has been the best travel tip we have received. We use it almost every night.

The caravan park located just outside of Bath on the River Avon was also a marina. I love the river boats.

 We took an evening walk along the river toward Bath.

 Store window in Bath.

 River Avon and the Pulteney Bridge.

 The Royal Crescent. The building is amazing. It was built in 1767-75.

 Bath Abbey

 Angel on stone ladder on the face of Bath Abbey.

Stonehenge drive by. We have never visited Stonehenge because of the hordes of tourists that are there, but driving by it on the motorway was a good way to catch a quick view.

USA

Skiing in December, January, and March while we were in the USA.

Over the winter we went skiing in Mammoth, Squaw Valley, and Sun Valley. We have turned into fair weather skiers, so you will notice the sunny weather on all ski days. Each time we went skiing we lucked out by arriving after storms that left feet (not inches) of fresh snow and sun shine.

 Skiing at Mammoth on Christmas Eve.

 Skiing at Mammoth on Christmas Eve.

Squaw Valley - This was the third year in a row we have been to Squaw and we have never seen this much snow. This was a record breaking year.

Every chair was running at Squaw so we were able to ski most of the mountain. Previous trips there had been too little snow for many of the runs to be open. This year there were a couple of areas closed because of too much snow.

Squaw Valley - On clear days you get views of Lake Tahoe.

Driving to Sun Valley we hit snow on Highway 62, only an hour from home. It was the end of February and it was snowing when we left the house.

Our first time skiing in Sun Valley and the weather and snow was perfect. The locals said we picked the best two days of the season.

Views on the ridge top at Sun Valley.

Sun Valley - Looking at Seattle Ridge. We had a really good lunch at the lodge at the top.

 Record of our ski day on the Strava app.

 Views of the mountains driving home from Sun Valley.

England

London, England

We finished our trip with 4 days in London, arriving October 30th and flying home on November 3rd.  It is nice to be home, but looking forward to going back to continue our travels.

Tower Bridge and the Girl and Dolphin sculpture

City of London

Leadenhall Market

The "Walkie Talkie" building

Fall color in downtown London

Interesting office building in the South Bank area. London is full of modern office buildings.

City Hall located along Queens Walk, a very scenic walk along the Thames.

The Shard

Another interesting office building

Tower cranes on a building site in downtown London. There was construction every direction you looked.

View looking south from Westminster Bridge toward the Vauxhall area of London.

Waterloo Bridge and the River Thames

Palace of Westminster and Big Ben

The London Eye

Piccadilly Circus near the theatres in London. We saw Stomp and Kinky Boots. Both were excellent.

There was a royal welcome ceremony for the president of Columbia. 

The ceremony included a 41 gun salute.

The classic phone booth, still is working order.

Lion in Trafalgar Square

"Really Good" sculpture in Trafalgar Square

Sculptures in the City of London

Graffiti of William Shakespeare near the Globe Theatre

The Sprinter parked for the winter. A very nice home away from home!