Coupe Icare and a Field Trip to Chamrousse

On Sept 19th, we went to the Coupe Icare festival just up the road near Crolles. It was rained out on Saturday, so we expected to see a lot of paraponters and hanggliders on Sunday. There were quite a few in the sky when we arrived, and as we walked there, we saw a hang glider completely fall apart - pieces of his wings were floating in the air, and he went swirling down with bright orange flare smoke trailing in a small emergency parachute. He landed in the trees and within just minutes, the rescue helicopter was there, dropped a man down and pulled up the medic and jumper. It was quite shocking to see that happen, but we read in the papers the next day that he was fine.

I'm not sure if we just got there too late, or if that put a halt to the jumping that day, because we only saw a few more paraponters after that, and they came off of a different part of the mountain and circled around to the landing area. It was still a fun day, and we enjoyed spending Sunday afternoon with Wendy and her daughter, our friends who we went with.

Here is Piper and Wendy's daughter walking back together, so sweet.

and running....

On Friday October 8th, I went along with E's class for a field trip to Chamrousse, a mountain across the valley that is part of the Belledonne range. I didn't contemplate riding up a curvy mountain road in a bus until I started to get on the bus... thankfully there was still a seat in front open and I quickly sat where I could keep an eye on the road. A few of the kids were also sitting in front and trying to not get sick. The teachers and I were ready, holding plastic bags just in case. Thankfully we didn't have to use them!

We arrived and went to an area where there is a plateau and a view of the mountains behind Chamrousse. Unfortunately, it was quite a foggy dreary day, so we didn't have the best views, especially in the morning.

The guide gave all the kids some maps and compasses and taught them how to use the compass to orient the maps correctly and use them to find their way around in the pasture.

Here the kids found a large rock...

And off to the next target on the map...

We saw some strange and bright mushrooms on the ground.

And as the day went on, the sky cleared more and more.

Here's E showing his map

and compass. He was good at orienting the map correctly and reading it. I was surprised how well all of the kids did after a little assistance the first few times.

Crossing a stream..

and up into the woods.

We had a picnic lunch and some play time for the kids, then settled down back at the starting point and spent some time talking about the view and the different contours of the land - the mountains in the background, and the evergreens and finally the prairie right in front.

Then the teacher handed out pencils and had the kids draw the mountain scene. I was amazed at how well most of the kids drew the landscape. They really focus on the arts in the French schools at a young age.

Then we went for a little hike through the woods...

and back through the prarie back to where the bus was waiting for us.

With the exception of the bus ride on windy mountain roads and lack of restrooms all day, it was a really great field trip! Speaking of lack of restrooms, those kids can hold it - I only took 2 girls to use the woods all day long, and I was the only woman along with our class... so the rest of the girls in the class held it all day (as did I!).

All in all, a fun and educational day for E and his classmates and an enjoyable field trip for me as well - what's not to love about a day trip in the mountains?!