Chapter Five: The Corninator 2000

Some things in life are simply inevitable.  For example, if you go to a corn maze with your youth group, you will inevitably wind up waging a war among yourselves complete with advanced weaponry, rules of combat, and pun-based catch phrases.

What?  That doesn't happen to you?

I should backtrack slightly.  

In late October, in celebration of the season, we took the youth group to a corn maze put on by CSI (College of Southern Idaho).  It was an absolutely gorgeous fall day in which to enjoy a corn maze.  Clear blue sky.  Crisp air.  Dry corn husks rustling in the slight breeze.  The smell of a fire and grilling taking place somewhere on the horizon. 

When we arrived at the corn maze, I immediately announced to all the kids that we were going to race through the corn maze.  “Older kids versus younger,” I declared, “and the winner gets a pig!”  So as soon as we entered the actual corn maze, the younger kids took off running.  I ran after them long enough to make them sprint around the corner, and then turned back to resume walking with the older youth. 

We meandered through the corn maze, making no special effort to choose a correct path.  (“Ellie, that’s a dead end.”  “No it’s no-wait, yes that is a dead end.”)  We grabbed ears of corn lying on the ground, casually shucking kernels and tossing them into the air.  I twisted a full corn cob off a stalk and began carrying it around.  

“His name is Akbar,” I told the kids.  They didn't get it.

Eventually, despite our shocking lack of effort, we made it to the end of the corn maze.  We peered through the tent marking the finish.  No sign of the younger kids.  In the spirit of the season, we decided to go back into the corn maze and try to find and scare them. 

“Okay guys,” I said, “We have to leave some sort of sign to prove that we made it here first.”  Katie began shelling a pile of kernels onto the ground.  I used two stalks of corn to make the sign of a cross on top of the pile of corn.  “Perfect.”  We headed back into the wild.

I started creeping along the edge of the path, making military hand signals to urge the rest of the group along.  We would creep along the path, come to an intersection, and then stop, listening for any hint that the children were nearby.  This continued for about ten minutes, with several false alarms.  But suddenly…

"They’re coming!  Quick, hide!….shhh…shhh.” 

We did not make it under the cover of the corn stalks in time.  They found us immediately.  But in those brief frantic seconds, where we had run up a row of corn, attempting to quickly hide, I had an idea.  

“Let’s play hide and seek!”  

This suggestion was quickly met with a chorus of approvals.  We laid out the ground rules.  One group would hide while the other group counted to 60.  Once your group was hidden, you couldn't move until you had been spotted.  You could hide anywhere.

Did I mention how big this corn maze was?

The younger kids went first, and although it took a bit of wondering through the corn maze, pausing in the hopes of hearing whispered voices, we eventually found them in the back corner of the maze.  Then it was our turn to hide.  As they started counting, we took off SPRINTING, running not with any real destination in mind, but rather just trying to put as much distance between ourselves and the kids as possible.  

Several twists and turns later, I spotted a tall-looking clump of corn stalks directly ahead.  “Does this look good?” I whispered to Katie, Kayla, and Chani.  They nodded.  We went back a few rows and then darted down one row, winding up in the middle of the thick patch of corn stalks.  Then we squatted down in the dirt and settled in to wait.

We didn't wait very long.  The younger kids found us almost immediately.  They came straight to our hiding spot.  It was like…THEY KNEW EXACTLY WHERE WE WERE HIDING.  

Khrista, one of the youth group leaders, informed me that this was exactly the case.  That the younger kids had followed along behind us when they were supposed to be counting, waited until they saw exactly where we hid, and then came and “found” us. 

Blast. 

The thing I was most angry about was that none of us had noticed what must have been an only too obvious trail of younger kids following along behind us.  Nonetheless, I knew that we must have our revenge!

And thus was born the Corninator 2000.

It started out simply enough.  The younger kids had run off and I was standing around with the older kids, absently shucking corn.  An idle thought popped into my head.

“Hey, you guys, what if we each took a handful of corn kernels and found the younger kids and made it rain corn on their heads?” 

Enthusiastic head nods and smiles. 

We started gathering up kernels.  Then I looked around.  

“Hey, you guys, what if we took an empty corn husk and filled it with corn kernels, and then we’d have a much larger amount of corn kernels to rain on the younger kids heads?” 

*Very* enthusiastic head nods and smiles. 

We started our production line.  Everybody took a husk of corn, twisted the corn cob out of the husk, and then began shelling the corn cob and filling up the now empty husk.  As we filled, we worked on our catch phrase. 

“Okay,” I said, “We need to have something to yell when we meet the younger kids, so that they know that we mean business.  Also, it needs to be a pun.”  The kids started throwing out corn-related words that could potentially be made into puns.  Maize, corny, husk, kernel- 

“Wait, that’s it!” I said, “Kernel.  We can say something like, ‘Kernel Corn says hello!’”  

Katie burst out laughing.  Everyone else did too.  And, catch phrase secure, we renewed the filling of our Corninator 2000s. 

Before too long our Corninator 2000s were packed to bursting.  We gathered up the top of the stalks and began looking for our prey.  I explained that as members of the Corn army, we had to stroll casually everywhere we went, Corninator 2000s held primly behind our backs.  And to add authenticity, we should speak with British accents.  This led to some interesting encounters with the other people in the corn maze.   

“Excuse us,” we would say, when we crossed paths, holding back giggles and Corninator 2000s, “Enjoy your night,” we would end with, before casually strolling away from the innocent parties. 

Finally, after much casual strolling and British speak…we found them.  

“It's them!” Chani exclaimed.  We grouped up.  

One of the younger kids rounded the corner.  She stopped when she saw us.  “There you are!” she exclaimed.  Her eyes narrowed.  “What are you doing?”

 

“Nothing,” we said in our British accents, facing her while slowly walking backwards.  She started stepping towards us.  The rest of the younger kids rounded the corner.  We kept stepping backwards, luring them towards us.  I took a deep breath.  “One, two, three…” 

“KERNAL CORN SAYS HELLO!” we all shouted in unison, and then…

We made it rain corn.  

"I went in a corn field today and met Akbar."

-Julian Smith

Chapter Four: In Which I am Amused

I have a confession to make.  

Before this weekend, I had never…*sob*… been to an Amusement Park. 

I know.  I’m so ashamed.  I have, however, ridden the Dragon Wagon at the county fair.  That’s gotta count for something, right?

I found out that the youth group was going to Lagoon, an amusement park near Salt Lake City, the first weekend after I started work.  And I thought, hmm, what better way to bond then through mutually shared terror and fear? 

I was so right.

I told all the kids that I was an Amusement Park virgin, and that they would have to break me in gently.  This immediately led to such conversations as this:

Ellie: “Yeah, I have this system where I do things in levels, working my way up.  So I want to start at Level 1 of Amusement Parks and go from there.”

Jacob: “You should go on Wicked first.  That’s a good one to start with.”  [Muffled giggles.]

Chani: “No, don’t be silly. [Pause.]  She should go on Colossus first.”  [More muffled giggles.]

Ellie: “…NO!  I HAVE A SYSTEM!”

Fortunately, one of the kids, Kelsey, took pity on me, and volunteered to be my guide into the wonderful world of Amusement Parks. 

We arrived at the park late Saturday morning, having faced a 3 hour drive to get there.  The sun was shining, everyone was talking excitedly, and I…I was smiling, because I was very excited, if slightly nervous, to face my first Amusement Park.  We set our stuff in a picnic shelter we had rented, and then…we were off!  To big thrills, tingly chills, and everything in between!

This was the first ride I went on:

Ha ha!  Just kidding.  That was the *Fifth* ride I went on!

No, but seriously, Kelsey took me on a ride called La Bombarda first.  It was basically a kiddie roller coaster that played Beach Boys music while you rode the track.  I sat in the car.  I pulled the lap bar down very securely.  I put my hands on the seat in front of me.  I took a deep breath, and…

WHOOSH!  Several turns, curves, and drops later, we were finished.  My first roller coaster ride ever.  And I…I wasn’t sure I liked it.  My stomach had definitely *not* liked it.  And I thought to myself, This might be a long day…”  

The next ride we went on, The Bat, had you sit in a suspended car with your feet dangling while you went through the track.  It, also, was somewhat of a kiddie roller coaster.  I sat in my seat, pulled the chest harness down securely, held on to the handles, and…WHOOSH!  The ride finished.  And I thought to myself, You know, that was kind of fun…

This time I didn't have to fake the smile on my face. 

We went on a couple more non-coaster rides, including a modified Dragon Wagon that went in a super-fast circle forward and backward, a Haunted House where you rode a cart through it, and the aforementioned Merry Go Round.  Then it was time for this:

The White Coaster was built in 1921, making it one of the oldest roller coasters.

This was it, my first legit roller coaster.  And it was wooden.  And the cars clanked.  And…IT WAS AWESOME!  When we finished riding it, my back felt like it had been cracked out of joint.  It was so bumpy.  But it was also fun, and as soon as we finished, we went back and rode it again. 

Still caught up in my adrenalin-junky high, when Kelsey suggested we go on Colossus next, my brain, full of endorphins, let my mouth reply, “Yeah!” before I even knew what was happening.  The endorphins died off a little once we started waiting in line.  At the White Coaster, there was no line, no time to think about what you were going to do.  You just hopped in the car and away you went.

There was a *lot* of time to think about what you were about to do on Colossus.  Time to watch car after car go through the entire ride.  Time to hear the frenzied screaming of the people riding it.  Time to contemplate just how high the two loops you went through were.  Time to feel the rush of air as a car zoomed past you in excess of 60 mph.  Time to hear Kelsey laugh nervously and say, “This is a big jump, are you sure you’re okay with this?” 

Thanks Kelsey.

You can see the people go upside down!  And then later, when they go past
the track that is right  in front of the camera, you can feel the giant blast of air they create because of how fast they are going!

And the line inched forward, and I kept a smile plastered on my face, because I wasn't going to let Erich, who loved to say things like, “Boy, this looks pretty rickety,” or, “Man, that track goes awfully high up,” see me sweat.  I was going to go on this thing if it killed me. 

I tried to avoid thinking of just how possible that was.

Eventually the line ended, as all lines must do, and before I knew it we were inching slowly up to the top of the track.  Hannah was sitting next to me, her first time on Colossus as well, and she was yammering a mile a minute as we inched forward, which was good, because it distracted me from the 100 foot drop and two loop-de-loops we were about to enjoy in scant seconds.  Clickity-clickity-clickity-clickity-clickity-click-AHHHHHHHHHH-WHOOSH-WHOOSH-

I cannot lie.  I kept my eyes closed for almost all of it.

But when I finished, I knew, I *KNEW*, why people keep going back on rides for more.  Because it’s freedom, it’s the edge, it’s letting go of your control to launch yourself forward, surrender yourself over to the twists and turns and ups and downs of a force beyond you, and feeling the exhilaration of going to the utter limits and back again. 

In short, roller coasters are a lot like life.

By the time the day was done I went on Colossus twice more, on Wicked three times.  (Wicked included a 150 foot boost straight up and then down, and was probably my favorite ride there.) 

When you crested the top, it looked like you were falling into thin air.

I went on the Spider, which halfway through the ride started the car spinning in circles, and went through my first Haunted House, which ended up being me leading about 7 of the kids through the dark, holding hands in a line, and successfully avoiding jumping or screaming at any point in time, even when someone jumped out from behind me because they blended in with the wall so perfectly.  To be fair, they probably weren't used to dealing with someone who grew up in a household where for quite a period of time the thing to do was stand directly up against the bathroom door to throw yourself at someone once they finished up their business and opened up said-door. 

I ain’t no rookie in the scaring business.

But man, it really was an awesome day.

HOORAY!

”It is in the compelling zest of high adventure and of victory, and in creative action, that man finds his supreme joys”"-Antoine De Saint-Exupery

If you want to watch videos of some of the coasters I went on, here you go:

Colossus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2ekzcQvtmo

Wicked: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCVJaZ1zrT4

Chapter Three: Welcome to Eden, Population 410

Do you ever feel like there is so much happening in your life, that when you try to talk about it, you can’t compress it all down enough to fit into mere sentences?

That’s kind of how I feel right now.

So many new things. 

A new town.  Eden.  Well, really two new towns as Hazelton is only a few miles from Eden, and right now I’m actually living in Hazelton.  Small towns surrounded by miles and miles of farms.  Lots of farmers in the community as well as lots of migrant workers.  A very large Hispanic population.  Getting anywhere takes forever because nothing is close to anything else.  It takes 15 minutes for me to get from my house to the church.  30 minutes to get from Eden to the nearest city, Twin Falls.  10 minutes to get from my house into Hazelton and Eden proper.  I’m using a lot more gas than I’m used to!  But people wave at you when you pass them on the road, even if they don’t know you. 

Lots of wide skies and open roads.

A new house.  Jerry and Evelyn, a couple from the church, are very graciously sharing their heart and home with me until I can find a place to live in Eden/Hazelton.  They live in an old farmhouse with a field right next to it full of cows and a canal in the back of it full of carp.  (Okay, probably not full, I haven’t even gone fishing in it, but Jerry says there’s probably some carp in there.)  Jerry is a Packer fan and likes to play the guitar.  Needless to say, we get along well together.  Evelyn is the kind of person who makes you feel right at home.  She says I’m one of her kids now. 

Here are some pictures of what the house looks like:

The side/front of the house.  The part closest to the camera was added on a couple years ago;
the part to the left is the original farmhouse.

The back porch/patio area.  This is on the other side of the house from the driveway.

A view of the back of the house.  The road is directly in front of the house.  The driveway is to the left.

  This is my view when I look out the window:

This is the view from the new part of the house, overlooking the back patio.

Jerry and Evelyn don’t own the cows; they rent the field out to a Mennonite farmer named Kendall.  Evelyn is glad because it means that when the cows get out, all she has to do is call Kendall and he’ll come and herd them back into the corral.

The cows get out a lot.  And when they do they like to moo.

I expected to wake up one morning with a cow starting at my face.

Also part of the family are Squeakers and Shorty, their two dogs.

Squeakers looking much calmer than she normally does.  She also is never inside the house.

Shorty, with his usual look of patient suffering as Squeakers is a derp behind him.

Squeakers is the puppy; she’s a mix of various kinds of breeds, and Shorty is a very old Australian Shepherd with bad hips.  Shortly doesn't like Squeakers, and is constantly trying to herd her away from me.  Squeakers likes nothing more than to jump up on you and give you lots of kisses; she will get as close to you as possible when you pet her.  They are both fulfilling the dog-shaped void in my life for which I am very grateful.  Jerry and Evelyn also have three cats, all tabby’s, who are semi-friendly but I have only been able to pet one of them because they are somewhat shy.  I did get to watch one of them take a mouse that she had killed and play with it in front of the window.  That was…educational. 

They like to curl up on an old blanket in the back of a pick up truck in the garage.

Evelyn and Jerry have an old barn/garage that is full of a lot of cool stuff.  Like bicycles.  And hand grenades.

Check out that sweet banana seat!

TAKE COVER!

In all seriousness, though, Evelyn and Jerry have been the most amazing blessings I could have imagined.  They have taken me in, and treated me like one of their own at a time when I definitely needed it. They have made me feel at home.  For that they have my tremendous gratitude. 

So, new town, new house, and also…new church.  

Trinity Lutheran Church, in Eden, ID, is a small church.  On average about 100 people worship there on Sundays.  The youth group has 5 kids.  The sunday school has two classes.  Most of the congregation are 3rd or 4th generation members, with their grandparents and great-grandparents having started the church.  

Despite all this, however, Trinity doesn't *feel* like a small church.  It has a gym with hardwood floors, which is pretty sweet. It has a playground outside that has teeter totters, a merry-go-round, a metal slide, and a tube that you can roll people in.  It has a ministry called King's Kids, which meets on Wednesday nights, and ministers to over 60 kids each week, most of them Hispanic children whose parents work on the farms.  It has a worship team.  (It only consists of guitar and piano, but still, it's a worship team!)  The members help with a thrift store in Hazelton.  They run a soup kitchen during the winter.  

Big things are happening in a small place.

I  have a nice room as an office, although I share it with various other groups on Sundays and Wednesdays.  Evelyn and Jerry bought me a new desk and chair, and all in all it is a pretty sweet set-up.

What it looks like when I'm working.

So that, in short, is a small glimpse into my new life.  I'm leaving out about 500 million things.  I have seen more new sights, met more new people, and tried more new things than I think I have in the last 10 years of my life.  Every day is a learning process, but I'm slowly getting there, and who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Vincent (Gattaca): "I was never more certain of how far away from my goal than when I was standing right beside it."

Chapter Two: The Mountains of Mordor

Starting over is hard.

The last two years of my life have been spent at Camp Luther.  I knew the place upside down and backwards.  I knew how things worked, where things were, what to do, where to go.  If life was a book, I was in the middle part of the chapters, where the hero has finally settled into his adventure and things don't look quite as grim as they did at the start.  

Now I’m starting over.  Camp Perkins, Chapter One.

Now I know that this too will pass, and I’ll eventually get to know the people, and the place, and things will be swell.  But it’s going to take a while. 

When I moved to Idaho, instead of heading straight to Trinity Eden I detoured to Camp Perkins first.  I got to spend a week touring the place and meeting the people who I will be spending the summer with.  And I’m very glad I got this week, to come and to meet everyone who works at Camp Perkins, and to begin learning about the place and its history and its quirks.  I've gotten to do a lot of fun things.

I went kayaking in Lake Perkins, and forded the inlet over to the much larger Lake Alturas.  Lake Alturas gets as deep as 300 feet in some spots, and every drop of it is crystal clear mountain water, as is Lake Perkins.

Some of the crystal clear mountain water.

I got to see a literal babbling brook, kayak under an old wooden bridge that you could smell the years on, kayak over sunken logs that looked like I could reach out and touch them, even though they were ten feet down, and see a large fish at the bottom of the lake.

I was most excited about that last one, actually.  It was a pretty big fish, probably two feet long, and I could see it perfectly even though it was probably about 15 feet down.  You don't get to do that in Wisconsin!

The view entering Lake Alturas.

I went hiking with Katie, the office assistant at Camp Perkins.  We hiked a trail that ran through the woods next to the lake.  The trees surrounded us and all you could hear was yourself and the noise your feet made as you stepped over branches.  We had to ford two streams along the way, stepping on rocks and logs to avoid getting wet.  Along the way I got a chance to ask Katie a ton of questions about the more mundane details of life at Camp Perkins, questions that she graciously answered without fail.  And when we arrived at our destination, the opposite shore of Lake Alturas, we sat on a fallen log in the sand and ate some launch while surrounded by the lake and mountains on all sides.

I watched Snow-White and the Huntsman in Signe’s cabin.  Signe is the Director of Programs at Camp Perkins.  She let us all pile into her house and fed us ice cream and talked at length about how Kristin Stewart acts exactly the same in every movie she is in. 

I played Settlers of Cataan with Isaac, Levi, Tracy, and Aiden. (Seasonal staff, seasonal staff, Program Director, and Maintenance Director, respectively.)  We played in the Loft, which is a loft in the Lodge full of old couches and chairs where the staff can hang out in the summer.  I got my butt kicked, which I blame on bad luck more than on bad tactics, and got to see the competitive nature of everyone at the table. 

I played Funnel Ball with a group of Outdoor Ed kids.  Funnel Ball is essentially Angleball, except you can only take three steps once you have the ball and missed shots are automatic turnovers.  We played in the Rec Field, which is more appropriately called the Rock Field, as it is all dirt and gravel and rocks. 

I went with Isaac and Katie to a Fireman’s Ball at a Bar in Stanley, the closest (small) town to Camp Perkins.  We got to listen to The Billy Goats, an Idaho folk band, and I got to experience my first taste of real, authentic Idaho-ian culture.

They had a guitar, a violin, a double-bass, a mandolin...it was great!

You know in movies where people in small towns go dancing, and they do swing dancing and everyone is wearing jeans and belts and checkered shirts and cowboy hats?

It’s not just in the movies. 

Needless to say, I had a blast, although I could not quite find it within myself to join in the swing dancing, and stuck to a little bit of head bobbing while standing against a pillar. 

I participated in a ladies retreat with participants from Grace Lutheran Church in Pocatello and was welcomed in with open arms.  The ladies were incredibly friendly and kind.  They wanted to know about my life, about my new job, about me, and they wanted to know ways that they could help.  One of the ladies offered to connect me with the youth director at Grace, saying she she knew how important connections can be when starting out at a place.

I drove with Signe, Katie, and Kristin (camp cook) to Stanley, and as we drove all of the mountains were covered in a heavy, thick mist.  They exclaimed over the few aspens we passed that had changed colors for the fall, I exclaimed over the mountains, and we all went in to the small diner in Stanley to enjoy a delicious breakfast.  I had absolutely amazing oatmeal pancakes, dense and delicious, as well as a buttery-sweet blueberry scone.  

I played guitar during Campfire for Outdoor Ed, and discovered what I already knew.  The more familiar a setting is to me, the more it drives home the point that I am a stranger in a strange land.  There is nothing so peculiar as the intimately familiar being twisted in a different way.  And that’s what makes me long for home the most, when I begin to think that I have arrived at some place I recognize, only to find that the rules have all been changed and that I am lost.

But Campfire also drove home something else I already knew, and it is this: God is the same wherever you go, and the rules for serving Him do not change. 

Issac, Aiden, Kristin, Levi, Me, Signe, and Katie

“You can't stop the future

You can't rewind the past
The only way to learn the secret
...is to press play.”

Chapter One: An Unexpected Adventure

Author's Note: This post is slightly old, as I was having trouble uploading pictures off my phone.  The following events took place on September 19th-20th. 

For the past week or so I have been getting ready for the longest road trip of my life.  Eau Claire, WI to Stanley, ID.  Roughly 1500 miles.  Covering the states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho.  And my reward for this long trip?  Arriving at the places where I will be working and living for the next year.  Camp Perkins in Stanley, ID and Trinity Lutheran Church in Eden, ID.

I did my best to prepare as well as I could.  I cleaned my car inside and out.  I went and got an AAA membership.  I booked a hotel and planned gas stops.  I stocked up on snacks.  I managed to fit the majority of my life into my car.  I programmed the GPS.  I was ready.

Let's rock and roll!

Before this trip, the farthest I had ever driven straight shot was about 10 hours.  That was only once, however, and it was with another person.   The farthest I have ever driven by myself is about 4 hours.  Needless to say, I set a lot of new records with this trip.

Record Number of Driving Hours in 48 Hours: 22 hours
Record Number of Driving Hours, Straight Shot: 12 hours
Record Time between Pit Stops: 5 hours
Record Number of Road Kill Spotted: 74 dead animals

Honestly, the most surprising thing about this trip was how relatively easy it was.  I was prepared to get bored, to get sleepy, to want nothing more than to get out of the car and stop driving.  And while by the end of each day I was always very stiff and sore from sitting for 10-plus hours in a car, I never got bored and I never got tired.  Each state had its own challenges for driving.  Minnesota had the most traffic and construction to deal with, which was why I was glad to get that part out of the way early on in the trip.  North Dakota was great for just eating up the miles.  Lots of straight roads with almost no traffic.  You could just set the car in cruise and head for the horizon.  Montana was where the mountains first began to make their presence felt, and they just got bigger as I headed through Yellowstone into Idaho.

One of the hardest parts of this trip was that once I got to the western edge of North Dakota, I kept wanting to stop the car and get out to take in all the amazing scenery.  I also wanted someone with me to exclaim over all the cool stuff we were seeing.  While I did not have a person to do this with, as they wouldn’t have fit in the car, I did have Cow.

This is Cow:

Hello!

He sat on the front dashboard the whole trip, with his cute little face looking at me.  Yes, Cow is a boy.  Don’t ask me how I know.  Whenever I saw something particularly awesome, I would look at Cow and say, “Cow, isn’t that amazing!”  And Cow would agree that, yes, it was pretty amazing.

It’s always nice to have someone to share an adventure with.

Cow with cows.

While there was amazing scenery for much of the trip, there were several spots that stuck out.  The first was Teddy Roosevelt National Park in the western part of the North Dakota.  It reminded me a lot of the Black Hills in South Dakota, with just an endlessly stretching view of hills.  Here are some pictures of the numerous hills that formed up the park:

I got to drive through these hills later.

It was *really* windy.

It was incredibly windy that day.  Like, I’m talking about a wind that stayed consistently at 30mph with gusts even greater than that.  When I was driving, whenever I passed trucks on the road my car would be flung a little bit to the left once I got past them and faced the wind once more.

The next spot was driving through Yellowstone, which was probably the highlight of the trip.  I drove probably 2 hours or so through the mountains of Yellowstone, and it was stunningly beautiful.  Mountains jutting up everywhere you looked, covered with alpine pines.  Craggy rock faces right up against the road.  Crystal-clear mountain streams bubbling merrily over rocks.  It made me want to get out and go camping, right then and there.    Here are some pictures, although obviously a picture does not do it any sort of justice:

Lots of mountains and trees and rocks and streams.

My head looks as big as a mountain here.

A bubbling mountain stream.

The final spot that made me go, “Wow!” was driving through the Galena Pass, the mountain range that leads into Camp Perkins.  At this point in the trip I knew I was very close to my destination (under a half hour), but I also knew I had to go to the bathroom very, very, very badly.  So I was not able to take in the beauty of these mountains as much as I should have.  At one point I just had to stop, however, and take some pictures, bathroom or no.  They were just…too…EPIC!  Here it is:

When I caught a glimpse of this it took my breath away.

One slight disappointment about the mountains was that in many places smoke (from various forest fires) made the views not quite as grand as they normally were.  In a lot of places they had signs asking drivers to turn their headlights on because the smoke created a fog-like atmosphere.  At the end of the day, though…they were still freaking mountains!

And so it came to pass that 38 hours, 1500 miles, 1 bag of Swedish fish, 3 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, 1 nectarine, 2 bananas, 1 bag of goldfish crackers, and a handful of snap peas after setting out in Eau Claire, I finally arrived at Camp Perkins.

Made it!

One adventure down, many more to go!

Bilbo Baggins: "I want to see mountains again, Gandalf, mountains, and then find somewhere where I can rest."