Day 1 of Hiking: “La Rocca,” More Lighting Woes and Harrison Ford

I am exhausted. 


We started Day 1 of our hiking trip by driving east along the Tyrrhenian Sea to a small coastal town called Cefalu, which is known for its beauty and a very big rock a.k.a. “La Rocca,” located within its borders. There are seven other Americans with us, along with our Backroads guides Giovanni  (no relations to yesterday’s driver) and Ania.  While the town is absolutely gorgeous, our first hike could not be described as a “warm-up.” Besides the town’s beauty, we apparently came for the big rock. 


The hike descriptions we receive each day always look good on paper. Today, we had three hiking options, with the longest being about eight miles which promised at the end, beautiful views of the town and the sea. Since we had walked 11 miles on our first day in Palermo, we thought, “How hard could it be?”  We clearly didn’t look close enough at the height of that rock because too big a chunk of that eight miles was uphill with too many smaller rocks to either walk on or climb over on the path to the top.  As I ascended, even with a walking stick in-hand, I experienced my first fall, which was unfortunate for both my left hip and my long-suffering left shoulder. As falls go though, it was minor and now, it’s done with. I love these trips, but my thoughts vacillated between, “Could they have picked an easier hike for Day 1?” and “I’m just too old.” Tomorrow, I assume I will be doing the “jump down” step for any downhill hiking options as I believe I will not be able to bend my knees with any great fluidity. 


We finally got to our swanky hotel and upon entering our room, I sat down and couldn’t get up-until the investigation began on how to put on certain lights.  As part of its swankiness, our room has high-tech buttons all over that control some lights, but not all. For example, there was one button near the toilet (which is separate from the rest of the bathroom) but that, I found, was to move a small window shade up and down.  I saw a lightbulb in the ceiling so I knew that there had to be a switch somewhere.  But after 15 minutes, and a whole lot of grumbling on both our parts, regarding “Why does this have to be so hard?” we decided to rough it and just stay in the near-dark. At dinner, however, it became clear that we were not the only confounded couple. One of our fellow hikers said that, after a similar investigation, he realized that the light for the toilet was located near the bed, which by the way, is nowhere near the toilet. After returning from dinner, we tried it and eureka, there was light!  After such a hiking extravaganza, at least we wouldn’t have to be in the dark for the next two days! 


Although completely enthralling, figuring out our hotel lighting  was not the biggest news of the evening. Harrison Ford, at the age of 79, is filming his fifth Indiana Jones movie somewhere nearby and is staying at our hotel!  Apparently, we missed him in the bar by five minutes this evening.  The first thing that immediately crossed my mind after hearing this news was whether the film required him to climb “La Rocca?” If we see him tomorrow, we will know immediately by the way he is walking….


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Joe Montana and the Bloody Weather

 There used to be a commercial after major sporting events that would say something like, “Joe Montana, you have just won the Super Bowl for the San Francisco 49ers, what are you going to do next?”  And Joe, like so man big winners, would say, “I’m going to Disney World!”  I think it’s fair to say that I have absolutely nothing in common with Joe Montana, but in the last month, and particularly the last seven days, I, like Joe, have been asked a similar question, because I am now officially retired.  I can’t tell you how many people have recently asked me, “You’re retiring? What are you going to do?”  I didn’t feel the need to outline for them my short-and-long term plans on how best to fill my days or to remind them that “retirement” usually means cutting back on work and relaxing more. Instead, I just told them, “I’m going to Ireland!” And thus, my one and only similarity with Joe Montana— we provided others interested in our future with a short response that  seemed to say it all.  
Read more

Thank You PBS: Our Bags are Packed!

 I love PBS television shows—particularly when they come from the United Kingdom. Give me a Masterpiece Mystery from London, Glasgow or any small island off the coast of Scotland, where murder and mayhem seem to be an everyday occurrence and I’m thrilled to death—once the closed-captioned is turned on so that we can understand what is being said. Sometimes, it’s the only way we can follow the plot! There’s nothing like hunkering down on a cold Sunday night and watch the PBS line-up with the remains of my wine from dinner and an Oreo…or two. And it’s because of those Sunday night shows that our bags are packed and we’re headed to the Dales of Yorkshire.  For the last three Januaries, we (mostly me) have waited with bated-breath for the beginning of new season of “All Creatures Great and Small.” The program is based on the books of James Herriot, a Scotsman who came to the Yorkshire Dales, pre-World War II, as a young veterinarian to work with a somewhat quirky, older vet, in a somewhat
Read more

Air Travel: It’s Every Man (Woman) for Himself!

 As I continue to age, I am realizing that air travel is not for the faint of heart. No question, this is a young man’s (or woman’s) game.  Nearly 40 years ago, I remember on our honeymoon flight to Europe, wearing a lovely skirt and blouse set, coordinating heels and carrying on a toiletry bag that matched our checked bags.  This was all before my skin had yet to really age, and now, I can’t for the life of me remember what I needed or included in that cute little case.   The whole experience seemed so civilized.  Now, I’m wearing comfortable jeans, a scarf, regardless of the weather because of the varying airplane temperatures, running shoes for my inevitable sprint from one gate to the other for my connecting flight, and of course, carrying all my bags on the plane with me because standing near those luggage carousels waiting anxiously for my bags at the end of a long journey is often too much for me to handle.   This morning was no exception.  Even though I retired at the end of la
Read more