I was cold at 2am this morning. I woke up feeling happy and excited about
being here. I felt good, as good as the
sound of the wind and river, as soothing as the air here and as gentle yet
strong like the campground here. Got up at
8:30am, weather was overcast, cool and dark.
The wind blew the clouds away and the sun peeked through at 9:14am. Then the grey returned, and it was chilly
again. I am amazed at how much I enjoy
the cold over heat.
I met the camp
host who is in her senior years but she exuded the energy of a twenty year old, it
was very interesting to watch her. She
looked happy and content.
Saw my neighbor Lisa and we chatted about many things. She said her husband got child cancer at 19
and had to loose a leg, he had fifty percent chance of survival and survivied. They are leaving a day early to go to
Vancouver then to Yellowstone. She joked
about bears in Yellowstone and news of a family gone missing, how that would be them. I joked back, “Then there would be jobs opening at De Anza College.”
I wondered if I should have brought my passport. I think it would have been a distraction,
open to Canada travel and I’d really be on a different track. I would need another two months on my trip. I did not allocate two more months for this three month summer trip making it a five month trip.
11am, the spinach didn’t make it to day five. I decided to reorganize my trunk, well
honestly, I can’t say it makes any bit of difference. I reshuffled things around, shifting
things. I don't know, I just have to organize sometimes and reorganize and move things around. I just feel better afterwards.
I went to visitor center and chatted with Ranger Katie
from Montana who gave me great info on what is open and what is
accessible. I pretty much have my tour
laid out here.
This entire place is North Cascades National Park. However the parts around the dam, lakes and
surrounding i20 all belong to Dam
Recreational Area, this includes the campgrounds. It is strange that someone decided to cut
through the National Park and others all agreed to allow it. This was the interruption of energy I picked
up when I first arrived. It wasn’t
suppose to be this way.
I went to “To Know a Tree” trail by loop A with two
layers of softshell jackets on and even so I felt chilly. It took me three tries to locate the
trail. I saw the amphitheatre and fire
pit there. I also went by the walk in
sites and they are nice with bear vaults off the river. The river is beautiful in jade blue green,
they call it Glacial Green here. I tried
to learn about the different trees and cedar, pines, I must say I am still
confused after reading signs and looking at trees. I am not a very good student in terms of
picking it up right away.
It is beautiful here, everything is beautiful. I don’t have to go anywhere. I can just sit on the bench, in the car, or
lay on the hammock and enjoy the scenery.
My plan for this afternoon was to sit and do art. While I sat and ate roasted very yummy
potatoes, a camper van drove by, honked, and waved at me. It was the woman I saw this morning at the
restroom who felt my hot water kettle was a good idea. They pulled over to pee at the restroom. The woman Patsy came over to inquire how it
was that I was alone. Patsy and her 80
year old husband Bob decided to pack up and leave because of the on and off
rain showers. Bob isn’t feeling too well
either. They came with the heart of
gathering me in because I was alone. I
felt and saw that, so I offered French truffle chocolates to them and said I’d
offer tea if there was hot water. They
went to their camper and got hot water going.
I pulled out my tea selection and decided on Tie Guan Yin tea. Patsy came back with hot water, cheese,
crackers, popcorn, paper towel to share.
I pulled out roasted mini peppers, potatoes, vegan jerky. A quick hi of inquiry turned into a full on
two plus hours of chatting and picnic. Patsy
would have unpacked and stayed but Bob was not feeling well from the
weather. 
Both Bob and Patsy became vegetarians in 1998. Patsy one day had diarrhea and learned she
can’t process meat. She does do fish and
egg. Bob is 80 years old and will turn
81 come September 2nd. They
recommend I travel young. I told her I
was getting older and she responded, “What I wouldn’t give to be 36 years old
again.” Our conversations ranged from
her kids to her neighbor, self destruction, relationships, autism, thyroid
function, borderline diabetes, quinoa, amaranth, beans, salads, overweight,
people who eat fast food, allergies, vitamin D, energy level, Paris, Florence,
oil paintings, Beethoven, Renoir, sleeping pad, tent, bikes, ipad, and itouch. Time flew by as we chatted from one thing to
another.
Bob worked on building these campsites before Cascades
became a National Park. That it was all
a part of Mt. Baker. Then he quit and
started his own canoe building business.
His canoe looks like fine guitars.
They are both too old to lift their canoe off the basement. Now he does oil paintings in the first two
months of the year. They are fine
paintings.
All the chocolates were gone, and tea was drunk. I would have enjoyed sitting around a fire
with them and continue this fine affinities with each other. I hope they make it home safely in wet
grounds. The funny thing was the sun
came out as soon as they left. I laid in
my hammock and just savored the reunion with Bob and Patsy. I think we must have been friends in the past
so we picked up this life now just like that as if we had been around each
other all along, no distance, no strangeness between us. I love this weather, misty clouds over the mountain, a moving sea of clouds. It really reminds me of Taiwan. It’s just beautiful to watch. I just don’t seem to get bored of this. A deer walked by, it was bigger than the other one I saw with round ears and black tail.
It was a cold
night and I just feel totally unmotivated to clean up or do anything. Called it a night at 8:12pm and there was
still sunlight out.
