Andorra and La Vuelta

We are back in Girona and I survived a solo road trip with the kids. We left on Monday afternoon and headed towards Andorra. Aurelia has been potty trained since June, so we made a few stops. Maybe more than a few, but thankfully she is willing to do her business on the side of the road. We arrived at our hotel in Andorra after three hours of driving. The kids were full of energy, so we walked to the park in the middle of Andorra la Vella. What an awesome park! The kids had a blast and played for a long time.

We decided to stay in and order room service on Monday evening. Of course, Andorra is like Spain and we didn't eat until late and the kids were not in bed until even later, but I figured it was okay since we were on vacation.

Tuesday was Rory's rest day. The kids and I played at the park all morning and then we drove about 20 minutes to Rory's hotel. We had to wait for him to finish training, so the kids played in a random rock parking lot. A lot of bike racing is waiting and waiting, so the kids are able to find random things to entertain themselves.

Rory finally arrived from his training ride and the kids were so excited to see him. They hadn't seen him in nearly two weeks, so it was a sweet reunion. Aurelia refused to let go of his hand as we walked to his hotel.

 Of course, it is difficult to be in Rory's hotel for very long on a rest day because Rory needs to actually rest and the kids want to play. We had lunch with the team (Eston was very excited about this) and then said goodbye. Of course, the kids did give "resting" a try...

The kids and I played a bit in the afternoon and Rory called as we were getting ready to go to dinner. He wanted to see the kids once more (he was only able to spend about an hour with them earlier in the day) and he asked if I could bring them back up to his hotel. The kids were excited about the chance to see him again, so we headed back up the mountain and Rory sat with us while he had our dinner. He eats dinner with his team, but he was happy to sit with us and enjoy another hour of time together. The kids did not go to sleep until 10:30, so we were super Spanish during this trip!

Wednesday was going to be the big day--an epic mountain climbing stage. The kids slept in until 9am, so we had to hurry with breakfast to get to the race in a timely manner. The start was just a five minute walk from our hotel, thank goodness. Of course, once we arrived there was not much to do but wait.

We did purchase some La Vuelta goodies to keep us occupied!

 Family members do not usually get any special treatment at a race. We can get to the bus area to see our significant other, but even that is tricky as there are fans everywhere and it is just not a very private setting to have a family moment. It is odd to have strangers snap photos of you while you chat. We also watch the race with everyone else, which usually means we can't really see a thing. See Rory in this awesome photo I took? Yep, neither do I.

 The race started and we ran back to the hotel and piled in my car. We drove up to the mountain town where the finish was taking place. Traffic and parking was a nightmare, but we figured it out and got as close as we could. The road to the top of the mountain was closed and the line for the gondola was hours (!!!) long, so we decided to walk as far as we could and then watch the race pass. Eston and Marc did a quick grocery store run for snacks and water to get us through the day.  Aurelia was asleep in the stroller and we piled rain jackets, food, umbrellas, etc in the stroller and took turns pushing it up the steep incline. We actually had the best time laughing about how funny we all must look, but it was so much fun. After about 3km we found a nice little area to set up camp. It drizzled a bit, but we had plenty of gear to keep up warm and dry.

We were sitting in front of a gorgeous mountain house and after a bit the family who lives there came out in their yard and they were chatting a bit with us in Catalan. They were so excited that we knew people in the race and the woman was super sweet--she let us use her bathroom and brought little treats out for the kids. There are always nice people wherever you go, really!

 We watched the race go by and we were on a very steep section, so the riders were going pretty slow, which delighted the kids. We may have cheered slightly louder for the Catalan riders. Well, rider. The kids loved cheering for everyone and Rory gave them high-five's as he passed. 

Having friends there to help was a lifesaver. I always bring "side of the road" activities, but having a group of friends with us made things so much more fun. The kids laughed and played and our friends helped me so much. I am so grateful.

We walked back down the mountain and by some miracle the team buses were parked next to our car! We were able to say goodbye to Rory as he loaded the bus for his shower and meal. The kids were so thrilled.

By this time it was nearly 8pm! We all piled back in the car and went down the mountain to town where we had a nice dinner. The kids were so Spanish and did not go to bed until 11pm, hahaha!

On Thursday morning I had to drag the kids out of bed at 9am because we had to pack up and leave the hotel. We drove to the start and managed a few minutes with Rory outside the bus.

We watched the peloton leave Andorra and jumped in the car to head back to Spain, though I went the opposite way to avoid traffic. We took a slight detour through France and though it added about 15-20 minutes to the drive, it saved us hours of sitting in traffic. We went straight from Andorra to futbol practice in Girona, so it was definitely a long day!

Games of Thrones filming is in full effect and as I type there are three large trucks sitting in front of my house. The generators are blaring and I can hear English below my kitchen window, which sounds odd. Eston and I watched a stunt double jumping the stairs on our street this morning, which delighted him. She was hooked up to this weird harness and jumped from a trampoline-type thing to a bunch of pads. Eston liked the "3, 2, 1...action!"