JUNE CONTINUES TO FEATURE WATER SPORTS
THE MORNING AFTER THE HIGHEST TIDE
Water sports include everything from moving tents away from the pending floods until they look like a geodesic dome from REI! Husband and wife robots swimming in a green salad bowl or a very large cereal bowl. Thinking in terms of an air mattress being more than just a bed. Watching the DNC rafts and wondering how "green" will fit into the decor of the campground if the river continues to rise! Plenty of water to brush, bathe, do the dishes, etc but unable to reach the components to do any of those things without first finding waders and making waves to the vehicles.
A glass of wine, a snort of port, laughter beyond measure among friends and realizing how very, very lucky we are to be where we are, when we are and with who we are. Rather than in Louisiana, Missouri where flooding is removing not just fun stuff but essentials like home and hearth. In AZ while we are floating, joking and over run with liquids, fire season has already destroyed thousands of acres and years of timber along with the livelihood that those areas provided. A reminder in both cases that Mother Nature is in charge, no matter what we want to think.
SUNSET ON HALFDOME 6-18-11
PAUL AND OTHERS AROUND A GREAT CAMPFIRE
EXERCISE BEFORE HIKING
It is fun to have family arrive in beautiful weather and lucky enough to have a spot high and dry enough to camp, have a campfire and enjoy great meals.
June and it is still raining and snowing!!
June 6 is a mixture of rain/clouds/blue skies. Ever changing and keeping you on your toes. Interesting people and stories. I offered to take photos for a young couple on our boardwalk. He was proposing and was trying to take shot of themselves using a cell phone. So I took them both and then redid the proposal one while I was available.
Another couple in an older BMW convertible with the top down was parked where I was walking. I said they were optimistic and we talked for a bit. They had wed in August 2008 and the next day they took 20 of their wedding party to the top of Half Dome!
Today while picking up lunch items at Curry Store two fellows were talking about the Dogwood so I answered their questions. Then as per usual we talked about where we were from and all of us were from the San Diego area. One of the things the wives really wanted to see this trip was "Oprah's Site". A good laugh when they found out that was where I spent my summers and plans were that sometime before they left they wanted to check out the 'hallowed ground'. They are camping in Upper Pines in a tent and felt they were among the oldies until we discussed age. Mid 60's is NOT oldies to us any more.
The rain and cold is really getting old but it can't last forever! Last night before bed we could see a LOT of lightning flashes down the valley towards the west. Only a tiny amount of thunder could be heard so it must have been quite far away. Into bed by 9:30 and then came the wind. Probably the hardest I can remember in all our seasons. You could hear "stuff" falling from the trees. Then came the rain which while not really hard and heavy, lasted all night.
The dogwoods are fading and the Azaleas are beginning.
One of my fellow volunteers and I made a short hike up to Mirror Lake and back. Went to where the warning sign was about the rockfall on Half Dome Side was posted. Photo below was where Paul took one of the early ones of me when we were making the same hike, only going clear around.
When we got to the place near the sign we saw hundreds of cairns which North American trail marks often called
called "
ducks" or "duckies". Someone or lots of someones had put in a lot of work on these and they were indeed very interesting.
An early breakfast as we both had meetings. Mine was cancelled and Paul's was over soon so we met for lunch and a bit of computer time and now perhaps it is time to return to camp and have some 'reading time' which frequently translates into 'nap' time.
