Back From The Mountains

It was indeed a grand weekend and the weather was beautiful, just a bit cooler as fall settles into the mountains. I spent the time hiking some old favorites one more time for nostalgia sake and talking to my Ranger Barrett about the old architecture of the park that I had observed in my many visits. We talked about wooden water mains, fire plugs and other turn of the century infrastructure. At his suggestion I met and enjoyed a conversation with Ranger Michelle Hart, Barrett's girl friend, and she was as bright and charming as I would have expected for her to be my friend's friend;-) She also possessed a wealth of knowledge about the Paradise-area history and architecture and I enjoyed a long conversation with her, going over many old pictures of the park. That topped off a day where I dashed, literally, up to Panorama Point and back after hitting several lowland hikes. I met some interesting young folks from Europe and Asia along the way and chatted with them a bit about their American experiences and reveled in their different accents and colloquial sayings...what fun! I ended up the day quite exhausted, but pleasantly so, and ready for a cold one by the campfire, looking up at the stars and thinking of loved ones far away, especially the one held the closest to my heart and yet seemingly the farthest away. What a perfectly lovely day, followed by a perfectly melancholy evening!...Life just does not get much better than this...l8r