finding good things

We just returned home from a weekend in Yosemite. Considering that it was a spur-of-the-moment getaway, it's amazing how it all fell into place. We found one available tent cabin at a great "rustic mountain resort" called Yosemite Bug, a cheap, fun place to stay. It did me a world of good to spend a few days not caring how I looked, being away from my computer, and in a starkly different, beautiful environment.

Saturday morning, after savoring every last bite of our blueberry buckwheat pancakes at the cafe, we swung our rested legs into the car and drove into Yosemite Valley. We hadn't been there in about 6 years. It is truly a facinatingly beautiful place. When people first set their eyes on something as enormous and magnificent as Half Dome or El Capitan, they turn into children again for a moment. There is nothing you can do but stand there and be filled with wonder. Some of the peoples' faces I saw looked almost puzzled, as if they were thinking, "Can this be real?". We drove further into the heart of the park and stopped in Tuolumne Meadows where we found the trailhead that led to Cathedral Lake.

Jon and I had a whole lot of thinking to do over the weekend. We'd been presented with a real opportunity to relocate, and although it wouldn't involve moving terribly far from where we live now, it isn't a matter we were taking lightly. No longer was this possibility a creation of our assumptions and imaginations -- it was there in black and white, right in front of us, and right within our reach. So while we hiked up the sometimes steep trail that led us to thinner and thinner air, we talked. We squinted to look closer at what was in front of us, and stepped back, to the left and to the right, trying to see this opportunity from every angle possible. Then the actual scenery around us really started to show off, so we reacted the only way a person really can in the presence of something this beautiful -- we stopped and let this surreal world amaze us.





By the time we made it back to the car, we had made a lot of progress toward a decision about whether or not we should pack up our cat and move. Being out where the air is so free of pollution and the land is so uncorrupted and uncommercialized by humans had a remarkable effect on our states of mind. I don't remember when we had been this calm before.

After another delicious dinner at the cafe, we stayed there in the lodge where Jon read and I wrote in my journal. Sitting comfortably with our herbal tea, we spotted a game on the shelf and decided to give it a shot. While we trash-talked our way through two action-packed rounds of Skip-Bo, we quietly heckled the band playing just outside the doors on the deck. How can someone actually be into reggae? I'm sorry, I know I'm a music snob, but these guys were horrible. No, Mr. Lead Singer going overboard with your reverb levels, I am NOT feeling "irie", so please stop asking!

Before I stop, I have to say -- if any of you friends ever want to hike up to Cathedral Lake and want a couple of tour guides or just a bit of company for the journey, give us a ring. We're available most weekends and only charge a small fee.

For more photos of our weekend, go here: www.flickr.com/photos/69635962@N00