Snow at night turns to rain after midnight. All day today, we are to have rain showers. By night, they will change to snow again. Heavy snow. Causing slowdowns for sure. Tomorrow. With even more snow. The day we are to leave.
But anticipating weather in the mountains is a fool's errand. You just don't know how much, of what, when, and with what consequences. I wasn't surprised to see that snow last night, and I am certainly not surprised that it warmed up, and that some of the snow cover is diminished in the valley. Looking outside at our wake up time, I see this:
Who knows what the next 24 hours will bring.
This day is supposed to be slightly different. We did not plan on skiing (and that's a good thing, considering the possibility of heavy rains). We had only one activity and I scheduled it many months ago because it's otherwise impossible to get a slot for it: dog sledding. But can you even do this in the rain? And would you want to?
Those are the questions in my head as we go down to breakfast.
One of us (me!) is super not hungry. And yet...
My daughter joins us, we linger. Snowdrop entertains us!
We make some changes to our plans - giving up on a dinner out tonight (eating in the hotel will keep us dry!), reviewing the morning possibilities. How about another try at the museum?
Snowdrop and I head out. Down the hill. Staying dry so far!
The museum is small of course. It traces village life from about 150 years ago to more recent times, when Saint Martin opened up just a few ski lifts and trails. We looked over the farming implements from those earlier days and watched a movie on hay gathering -- the old way.
Not much of it is new to a person coming from Wisconsin, where dairy farming was (and is) a way of life for so many. Still, it's interesting to track the transformations in the village. The attempts to rein in winter sports here now, so that Saint Martin never will become just a ski destination.
The museum visit doesn't take long, but then we don't have much time, because we want to eat lunch before the dog sledding expedition (should there even be a dog sledding expedition). We go up the hill again and then turn around, this time the three of us, heading back down to Le Montagnard -- the place we ate lunch yesterday. It's colder now and of course, there is the occasional drizzle. It's definitely not an "eat outside" day!
In we go. We're at the point where we know what we want: lentils in Alpine pesto (for me), fried fish (for the girl), some cheesy-melty thing for my daughter.
And now we have to figure out if our dog sled adventure is going to go forward. Back up the hill to the hotel, a check of emails, messaging -- no mention of cancellations. And I have to say, the rain has really eased to a very light drizzle. If that.
Off we go!
You have to walk some twenty minutes to the meetup point. This is the same path that looked so pretty yesterday. The mixed weather did a number on the fresh snow cover!
Still, we persevere. And we are rewarded for it! The dogs arrive promptly at 2 and they are full of energy. Their trainer spent a few minutes explaining their work, their breed (there are huskies and he tells us that people really love these guys for their looks, but there are even better sled dogs than huskies -- his own teams have a mix of breeds that work well together). But don't pause for pictures now. These guys are really anxious to get going!
I get in one sled with Snowdrop, my daughter takes the second one.
And we're off!
If you are in the sled, you cant take great photos. But we do pause at the turn-around point, and this is a remarkable moment because the weather momentarily improves. No precipitation at all. Just the beautiful mountain scape before us. I hand over the camera to the dog trainer.
Wait -- you can see the girl in that? Let's do a close up:
The dogs are well trained, but they are antsy to go. We're off again!
And now there is time to say a big thanks -- to these remarkable animals who love nothing more than to run with a sled.
We walk back full of gratitude. The rains held off, the dogs were terrific, and as we approached our hotel, a winter rainbow pokes through for us.
And this really brings our stay at Saint Martin de Belleville to a close. The rains (soon to change into heavy snow) do come down this evening and that's just fine, as we have packing to do. My daughter will be returning home tomorrow, to the boys, to her work. Snowdrop and I will take the train to Paris, just for a couple of days there before heading home.
One last meal together -- dinner, at the hotel, just like on our first night here!
And then we say good bye. Snowdrop's mom is leaving very early in the morning. Cross your fingers on that snowstorm, for her, and for us too -- for our own trip to the train station in Chambery. I'll surely let you know how that all turns out! For now, one last good night from Saint Martin de Belleville.
(Just me and the girl, forging ahead...)
with so much love...
