back to nature, back to home
Aug. 18th, 2024 09:50 amErin and I went camping last weekend with a couple dozen other folks. Camping remains a Good Thing for me generally. This spot in particular is just fantastic. It's on a sandy bank of the Stillaguamish river in the Washington Cascade Mountains. The river's, I dunno, fifty feet? a hundred? across, and the bed's filled with large rocks. Out in the middle it's deep enough that I can't touch bottom, but if you choose your path carefully you (I) can walk from one side to the other without fully submerging.
It's exactly what I needed. Sunlight and warmth and more sand than muck underfoot. I was barefoot outdoors for two straight days. I went swimming repeatedly, in water that was cold enough to be chilly but not so cold as to keep me from going in. I sat on rocks in the sun and watched tadpoles and water-striders and dragonfly larvae. I walked a small laybrinth, I found a bit of spiritual reconnection.
The ritual itself was a wash, mostly because my ability to social has been malfunctioning for at least the last month and a half. But it was good to be out in the woods and water, and out with other folks.
We drove up to her place on Monday, and I drove back on my own yesterday. It's a long drive but it remains absolutely gorgeous. Over twelve hours conifer forest gives way to scrub desert which turns into deep rocky canyon, then foothills straight up against river delta farmland. Majestic. Coming from the Appalachians, I didn't really believe mountains could be that big or that close.
I like driving the Fraser Canyon (roughly, Highway 1 between Cache Creek and Hope). I especially like driving down it: up is nice but for whatever reason one gets the best views going back down. Or maybe it's just that I'm more often driving down alone so I have more mental space to take in the scenery. Whatever the reason: when I can take a day to do that (two days, really, one up and one back down) and the weather's decent, I'm happy to do so.
And now I'm home and catching up on a great many things, including sitting with / petting / brushing Mr Tuppert. It is Good.
It's exactly what I needed. Sunlight and warmth and more sand than muck underfoot. I was barefoot outdoors for two straight days. I went swimming repeatedly, in water that was cold enough to be chilly but not so cold as to keep me from going in. I sat on rocks in the sun and watched tadpoles and water-striders and dragonfly larvae. I walked a small laybrinth, I found a bit of spiritual reconnection.
The ritual itself was a wash, mostly because my ability to social has been malfunctioning for at least the last month and a half. But it was good to be out in the woods and water, and out with other folks.
We drove up to her place on Monday, and I drove back on my own yesterday. It's a long drive but it remains absolutely gorgeous. Over twelve hours conifer forest gives way to scrub desert which turns into deep rocky canyon, then foothills straight up against river delta farmland. Majestic. Coming from the Appalachians, I didn't really believe mountains could be that big or that close.
I like driving the Fraser Canyon (roughly, Highway 1 between Cache Creek and Hope). I especially like driving down it: up is nice but for whatever reason one gets the best views going back down. Or maybe it's just that I'm more often driving down alone so I have more mental space to take in the scenery. Whatever the reason: when I can take a day to do that (two days, really, one up and one back down) and the weather's decent, I'm happy to do so.
And now I'm home and catching up on a great many things, including sitting with / petting / brushing Mr Tuppert. It is Good.
