Weekend Treat

I had time to snap a quick photo of my new house color including trim before I left for work on Friday. It looks so sweet. After work I left directly on a weekend out of town hosted by a Buddhist friend and mentor. She gave me a ride, and grilled me on my life so far. She scared me with tales of cabin traditions such as playing games while only talking with fake accents. On the way we stopped for food for the weekend. Of course I had to snap a photo of the library next door.





Her cabin is on National Forest land. She and her co-owners lease the land, and own the cabin. No new building is allowed, and the government agency wants buildings dismantled whenever possible. It's as close to camping you can get with enough of the comforts of modern living: plumbing; full-sized beds; and electricity. The owners were allowed to keep the outhouse because sometimes the water gets turned off. Some things sometimes missed, but not essential: internet access and cell phone connection.

The first night there we played UNO and Clue, and drank Pina Coladas. I messed up the clues at Clue. The next day more folks arrived, and after breakfast and some puttering about, we went on an easy (for them) hike. I didn't plan to do the whole thing because I didn't want to hold the others back, but they didn't seem to mind waiting. A hike for me by definition includes weight training. I've noticed recently that when I walk with others I have to be careful of this. When I forget myself and try to keep up with others I can't get enough air. So I was going to ferry the car to the end of the hike.

I kept going though. When we stopped for lunch, we were more than halfway through. I'm not very hungry in the midst of a workout. Somebody else got most of my sandwich (but of course I made up for it later with snacks, as we all did).

We passed by Enid Lake.

and this big boulder, about 15 feet high. J seemed quite sure it came from a volcanic explosion.

After I got home, I saw this NOVA episode on a Northwest Megaflood. I'd wondered about that, if that had anything to do with the big rocks, but I had no clue about altitudes. Our mutual friend the scientist had told me about this flood that washed down the Columbia River basin. I researched the question, and must conclude J must be right. Enid Lake is 1102 meters high, while the flood at its height reached 170 m. (See page 5 here.) I found this cool blog on Pacific Northwest history while doing my research.

Mango the dog found snow, which made him very happy:

and S found a Medicine wheel which needed mending, so she fixed it.

See the full slideshow and more narrative from the weekend right here.