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Best of January 2020

31 Friday Jan 2020

Posted by wyndes in Best of

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I’m jumping the gun slightly — I’m writing this post first thing in the morning on January 31st, so it’s possible that today might turn out to be the best day of the month. But, you know, somehow I don’t think so. I woke up this morning after a night that didn’t include nearly enough sleep on a stomach that hadn’t had nearly enough food and it’s just not the kind of start to the day that makes you think your day will prove inspiring. Plus, today’s plans include returning a rental car to Enterprise and retrieving Serenity from the dealer where she spent the night because they couldn’t finish everything that needed to be done in one day, so… yeah. Not looking like the best day of the month.

Also not the best day of the month: my dentist visit on Wednesday. I was pleased to be told how great my gums looked, much less pleased to find out that one of my old fillings appears to be developing a cavity underneath it.

Also not the best day of the month: the dermatologist visit back at the beginning of the month, which resulted in far more literal pain than I would ever have anticipated from a dermatologist visit. My face is finally starting to look better, but it still hurts. Fortunately, they haven’t called so I’m assuming my biopsy results are normal. I never really like waiting for biopsy results, though. It’s just annoying to have medical uncertainty looming.

Many other days were also not the best day of the month. I’m ruling out all of the days where I had to force Zelda to take antibiotics on general principles, because she hates them, doesn’t understand why I’m forcing things down her throat, and it’s a moment or two or ten of torture for both of us.

And all of this makes it sound like it was a bad month. It really wasn’t. It included two driveways, plenty of games, plenty of good food, time with many of my favorite relatives and friends, and lots of learning and appreciating, even if not enough creating. I appreciated sunshine and dog snuggles, the best gluten-free pizza I have ever tasted and really good sushi, lots of new music and some excellent walks with R and Z.

My learning included at least half a dozen worthwhile books, including The Four Disciplines of Execution; Well Designed Life: 10 Lessons in Brain Science & Design Thinking for a Mindful, Healthy, & Purposeful Life; The INFJ Writer: Cracking the Creative Genius of the World’s Rarest Type; Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel (Before You Waste Three Years Writing 327 Pages That Go Nowhere); Winning the Story Wars: Why Those Who Tell (and Live) the Best Stories Will Rule the Future; and The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick). (Also, I should really start adding dates to my book list because it was remarkably difficult to figure out what I’d read when. My favorite of these books, though, is definitely Well-Designed Life, which I’m actually still reading.)

Yesterday morning I decided that it was time to set some business goals: all this learning is well and good, but the whole point is to use it to build my business, so I can stop worrying about needing to find a job. Then I realized that my business goals have to support my life goals — they come first. And my life goal is to have a life where I get to have breakfast and conversation with my dad on a regular basis; go out to lunch with my son now and then; play games with my friends; take great walks with my dog… my life goal is, in fact, to have the life I’m living. Even when it includes unpleasant vet, dermatologist, dentist and van service results.

Back to the best of the month: the day that stands out was Tuesday, when R & I visited Gainesville. I suspect that’s partly just because it’s so close in time, but that’s okay, it was a really good day, and I’m glad I got to have it.

Best of December 2019

01 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by wyndes in Best of

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I have about five posts I’d like to write today. The photo retrospective, one picture from each month, that I’ve done for the past couple years. A year in review post, given that 2019 was packed with travel and adventure and friendship. A post with thoughts about the new year — maybe not quite resolutions, but plans, anyway. Even a decade in review post, given that the 2010s were… well, a busy decade. An intense decade, even. I might regret not writing that one, come 2030 when memories of today are blurry and faded, but if I’ve somehow managed to forget how very, very challenging some of the teens were, I suppose that’s all to the good. I will certainly not forget how incredible some of the teens were, but those years are already beautifully documented. May 2017 for the win, IMO.

Meanwhile, today is New Year’s Day which means it’s time for a best of the month post. December didn’t include much travel: three driveways, spread across central Florida. It did include much food, much music, a lot of games, and wonderful times with people I love. I could pick a dozen moments to be highlights, but I’m going to stick with one.

The morning of the 27th, R came out to the van to see when I was leaving. I offered him a cup of coffee, and we turned the passenger seat around, and he sat in the passenger seat, I sat on my bed, and we chatted while we drank our coffees. Then we walked Zelda all the way around the block, past “the wall of chihuahuas” — four or maybe five chihuahuas, all barking their heads off at Zelda, who was entirely oblivious. We played one more game of Ticket to Ride on the porch, and then I headed off.

What made it such a perfect morning? I think partially it was because we’d already had three days together — the longest amount of time I’ve had with him since the summer of 2018. We’d gotten past the “how are you doing?” and “what are you doing?” conversations and into the zone where you talk about walls of chihuahuas. It felt cozy and easy and.. yeah, just nice. In a month of much good, it’s a moment I want to remember.

Best of November 2019

04 Wednesday Dec 2019

Posted by wyndes in Best of

≈ 11 Comments

I am finding it hard to believe that it’s December already. Where did November go? I swear we must have skipped a couple weeks, because it zoomed by at light speed.

I failed to achieve any of my November goals in November — I didn’t finish revising A Precarious Magic, I didn’t succeed at NaNo, I didn’t finish writing Cici 2, I didn’t even take the van in for an oil change.

I did, however, visit friends. And I played a lot of games. My current favorite is Ticket to Ride, which is a game where you build train routes around the US. I think I played it once before and was terrible at it, because I had no idea where any of the cities were. But we’ve played twice now, and I’ve been highly competitive. Not only do I want to win, I want to build the longest route and have the most destination cards and go out first. I’m not competitive, usually — I like playing my best, but I don’t need my best to be better than your best. I don’t care if I lose as long as I played well. But I’ve found it so satisfying to have really good interesting routes.

I’m also jumping the gun on New Year’s resolutions. It’s the end of the decade, a thing that wouldn’t have occurred to me yet except that John Scalzi blogged about it and then a Jimmy Fallon video I saw on Facebook talked about it, too.* Given that it’s the very beginning of December, I’m sure I’ll have been reminded of this another twenty-hundred times before the end of the year and be totally sick of the idea.

But conveniently for me, I wrote about the decade ending ten years ago. Do you know what I wasn’t doing in 2009? Writing. Anything at all. And yet, about three weeks after that post (where I was thinking about meditating and exercising and losing weight), I started thinking about writing again. The 2010s are therefore, for me at least, the decade of words. I am not making any predictions about the 2020s, but I did decide it was time to put Streaks back on my phone and start paying attention to walking and meditating and taking photos again. Early New Year’s/ new decade resolutions!

*The Jimmy Fallon video included John Mulaney beautifully describing the 2010s. I had no idea who he was. Never heard of him, don’t think I ever even saw him before. Now I want to watch everything he’s ever done, probably on repeat. In fact, I have to admit, this blog post got greatly delayed because I had to watch videos.

It also got delayed because I got a new phone in November and it came with Apple Music. I’m far too poor to pay for a music service, but wow, I love it so much. I’ve been creating playlists like crazy, including one for the season. This has involved listening to endless variations of classic Christmas carols trying to decide which one fits best with the overall tone of my list. Do I want Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers or Mickey Mouse singing “Deck the Halls”? Etc, etc. Much fun.

Oh, but this was supposed to be a best of November post. Oops, I got distracted. Yeah, that’s the theme for the month, I think. And I’m supposed to be making dinner right now so I can write with a friend in half an hour, so I think I’ll just say best of November = playing games with friends.

But I will also say: A Precarious Magic. In celebration, Christina took me to her hair stylist. I couldn’t decide between blue and purple but she said I didn’t have to.

Best of October 2019

04 Monday Nov 2019

Posted by wyndes in Best of

≈ 4 Comments

Today is not the last day of October. It’s not even the first day of November. Four days into November and I still haven’t written a Best of October post! What a disorganized blogger I am. Although in my defense, I finished a book and I’m 4700 words into a NaNo project, planning on getting back to it as soon as I post. So, yeah, words are being written.

October — wow. It started out at a driveway in Maine, included a quick Boston visit with some fantastic sushi, a night in a parking lot because of lousy weather, and a too-brief family visit in PA. And then, of course, my adventures in Virginia and North Carolina. Two national forest campgrounds and dispersed camping in a national forest, a national park campground (on the Blue Ridge Parkway), an Army Corps of Engineers campground, and a county park, followed by two more familiar driveways.

scenic view
The Jefferson National Forest, according to my photos app.

Looking back over my daily words, I was sick for a tremendous amount of the month. Not the kind of thing I blog about usually, but boy, did I whine about it a lot in my morning words. Fortunately, that’s not going to be what I remember from the month. Instead, I will remember writing good words in a beautiful forest, feeling peaceful and happy while walking Zelda, appreciating some really incredible scenery while I drove — the Blue Ridge Parkway is gorgeous — and lots of nice sociability with family and friends.

But for my favorite place, the true highlight of my month, I’m going to pick Little Fort Campground in the George Washington National Forest, where in my morning words, I wrote:

Today is a day for thinking about Fen and appreciating my life. 

Ooh, I did mean to write about moments of awe. The best part of my drive yesterday was when I actually starting thinking about 2019, trying to remember where I’ve been and what I’ve done and it was… amazing? I feel like that’s such a strong word, but the reality was a canyon in Texas and the night sky, and feeling awed, and a farm on the Olympic Peninsula with Pam and loving the air & the oysters, and those sand dunes with Suzanne and sitting in a beautiful parking lot, and Fort Bragg, rainy sea glass beach, and cupcakes, and sushi with Chris, and a shooting star in Maine, and the front porch of Trish’s house, writing with a view, also in Maine, and so many, many beautiful memories.

But the things that really stood out were things like last night, listening to the wind in the trees, feeling these moments of awed surprised connection with nature. Night skies and water sunrises with fog and the music of the trees. Z is now up and just about to tell me that it’s time to open the door and it’s also time for me to eat breakfast, but it was really — well, amazing — to drive down the road and feel grouchy about driving and rain and traffic and have that turn into memories of beauty. And all beauty of the single past year. I am phenomenally lucky and blessed. Yes, my choices brought me here, but that doesn’t change the fact that I am lucky and blessed. 

Morning words are a little more incoherent than words I would usually post, but the three days that I spent in that forest were, for whatever reason, days where I really savored my life. Really good days, in other words. And I’m going to call them the best days of a solidly good month.

Best of September 2019

30 Monday Sep 2019

Posted by wyndes in A Precarious Magic, Best of

≈ 6 Comments

The light at sunrise here is so beautiful. The moment when the sun crests the hill of trees, directly across the river from the van window, and the true light reaches the water is a moment. Not the slow change from night to day, not the slow lightening of the sky, but a specific two minute period where suddenly the van is golden and the leaves of the trees are outlined in color, a translucent bright green instead of the usual mass. The color of the light is different than at any other time. It’s not that it’s brighter, I don’t think — and actually the shadows are very long, so no, it’s not brighter, it’s a contrast between darkness and brightness, but it’s a glow. And the fog usually has its ghost tendrils dancing on the water, but they are still in shadow, so the trees and lawn are bright and green and golden, but just beyond them is misty shadowed gloom. Yeah, it’s cool as anything, and truly beautiful. 

Autumn tree with river beyond
Not sunrise. You can tell because the river is not shadowed and scattered with wisps of fogs. But none of my sunrise pictures capture how pretty it is . This one at least gets the light on the leaves almost right. Almost.

And for 30 days in a row, I’ve gotten to see it. Well, more or less, some mornings were overcast. But how do I pick the best out of all those days when they were really all very much alike? Much time spent sitting at the computer, but not at all in a bad way. I spent much of July sitting at the computer, pretty much annoyed and hating everything I was doing. This was all sitting at the computer mostly loving what I was doing. (Until the last two days which have been really terrible, frustrating, annoying writing days. More about that in a minute or two.) Some walks with the dog, although not usually very long walks. A little bit of kayaking. The occasional trip into town for groceries, propane, tank dumping, and once, a delightful meal with a friend of a friend. Some good food, although living without a kitchen sink became annoying enough that I basically moved back to van-life cooking. Quinoa bowls and sous vide protein for the win. But always a beautiful view, almost always lovely weather. Even the rainy days were nice because they were cozy in the van. 

There were some days that stick out. I had my worst ever dump station experience, a true disaster, sewage everywhere. Ugh. That was not the best day.  I binged on reading for a few days, accompanied by warm baths, and those were nice. That baked cod with goat cheese I made was delicious, and I had gluten-free chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream as dessert with it and that was all very satisfying, even though the cake was so-so.  

But honestly, I think the best day(s) were the ones when the writing was going well. There was a day when I — realized something? Made a discovery? Had an inspiration? Well, lightning struck. I had an idea. A good idea, that once I had it seemed so damn obvious that I couldn’t believe I wasn’t heading toward that idea all along. And I’m sorry to be so convoluted in my talking about it, but I don’t want to get too spoiler-y. It’s not a twist, exactly, but it’ll be more fun if you’re as surprised by it as I was. Anyway, conveniently enough — or in one of life’s lovely coincidences — that was also the weekend when I saw the shooting star. So I’m picking the weekend of September 21-22 as my best days of the month of September 2019. 

And moving on — I only have a few more days here and I really, really want to finish writing this book before my life becomes disrupting. But the last couple of days were major writing struggle. I wound up cutting out a section/plan because it was just too ambitious. Yesterday I wrote in circles for hours — literally, hundreds of words going nowhere — and finally gave up and went and took a bath. Having a bathtub available is so lovely. I’m going to miss it. But the time spent staring into space while immersed in warm water made me realize that I needed to let go of one of the ending scenes that I’d been planning all along. I was trying to get the characters there during my writing in circles, and it just wasn’t happening. So I’m hoping for better things for today’s words — at least I can see where I shouldn’t be going now — but I’m feeling anxious and stressed about whether I can actually finish this. I have to remind myself that endings are always a challenge, always hard for me, but I so, so, so don’t want this to turn into another Grace. Word by word, right? One at a time, that’s all it takes. In terms of actual word count goals, I’ve hit them — if it was just a numbers game, I could call the story done. Alas, readers rather like conclusions (as do I), so somehow I have to get there. Time to get started on that! 

Best of August 2019

01 Sunday Sep 2019

Posted by wyndes in Best of

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August was a lovely month. I started in Pennsylvania, zoomed through Vermont & New Hampshire, enjoyed a brief stay in Maine, lingered in Massachusetts, then started over again: back to PA, then MA, now Maine. Camping was lots of driveways — both old friends and new — but also a state park, an Army Corps of Engineers park, and a national forest, all of which were lovely. If I had to pick a favorite of the campgrounds, it would be the ACoE park, Winhall Brook, in the Green Mountain National Forest of Vermont. Such a beautiful place. I’d love to go back there someday and stay for a while. Oh, and a KOA, where I finally got to take advantage of all the amenities — the swimming pool, the trampoline, even the tetherball. And the camp store for ice cream and candy. Summer fun at its best!

August also included much, much good food. Most of it seafood, but I would be hard-pressed to decide which of the many fish I ate was most delicious. This week included a lobster pad thai and some incredible sea scallops, but the cod Barbara cooked in Rockport also leaps to mind. I think of cod as a “sure, fine, it’s okay” sorta fish, but Barbara turned it into a “wow, delicious” fish — flaky and smooth and flavorful. On the other hand, the sea scallops Deb cooked last night were probably the best sea scallops I’ve ever had and I already like scallops a lot. Decisions, decisions. I’m not going to make one, just going to be grateful as I appreciate the memory of all my delicious meals!

August also included lots of people. I’m not going to make any effort at all to pick a favorite visit, but when I someday reread this post, I think the things I’d most like to remember are looking at family pictures and reading my grandmother’s scrapbook with my aunt & niece; mini-golf & ice cream with my niece and nephew; and yesterday’s kayaking on the river with Deb and Zelda. Zelda was a reasonably good kayaking companion — she only jumped in the water once, we didn’t overturn the kayak, and there was more tail-wagging than whimpering. Actually, there was no whimpering at all, which is a good sign for my September plans of kayaking regularly. Of course, now that I’m thinking back, I’m remembering lots of other random fun moments, too, but that’s what happens when you have a lovely, busy, sociable summer month.

Looking through my photos of the month made me realize that it really took me far too long to figure out that I had dog spit on my camera lens. They’re all blurry and diffused. But here’s one of the prettiest sunrise I saw, taken on the one night I spent at the garden house. It doesn’t do the sky justice, but it was a gorgeous morning.

a sunrise over a green field

Wow, and I just remembered that August also included a quick visit with R and M! And a visit with Pam and her daughter at a highway rest stop in New Hampshire. Sitting around a huge campfire at the Travato meetup. Zelda playing with her toys again. Oscar, stealing my phone. Video games with my nephew. Early morning walks in Rockport. Yeah, it was a good month.

Best of July 2019

31 Wednesday Jul 2019

Posted by wyndes in Best of, Zelda

≈ 6 Comments

For a moment, when I thought about writing this post, I thought, “Oh, no, I haven’t taken a single picture in July.”

Duh. Totally wrong. I took many, many pictures, because the best part of July was spending time with the Best Brother Ever’s puppy.

Best Brother Ever’s first dog says, “Seriously, it’s time to save me from this little pest.”

Also, of course, BBE’s kids. Well, and him. And his wife, aka Best SIL Ever. But mostly the puppy. 🙂

Still, the nicest part of this exact specific moment of the month is that my own puppy is doing really well. I’m a little scared to write that, of course, because time is not on our side, but she’s eaten for several days in a row and yesterday she actually ate all her dog food and then seemed interested enough in her bowl that I gave her more and she ate that, too. And this morning she woke up at her historically normal time and wanted to go for a walk. Joy! It’s amazing how moments that you took for granted for years can become special, but this morning’s walk was definitely special.

In a nice moment of serendipity, I was hunting for a USB drive to transfer some files to my nephew’s computer, and I found one that turned out to have some old photos on it. Fourteen years old, in fact.

I’m sure that when I first saw this photo, I thought about how messy my hair was and how much I hate my freckles and how fat my arm looked, because, you know, photos. I don’t like them and I don’t post ones of me very often. But now I look at it and I see how sweet my puppy was and how much I loved her, and I’m glad this photo came back into my life.

Best of June 2019

01 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by wyndes in Best of

≈ 2 Comments

The last days of June 2019 were a whirlwind. Well, a whirlwind followed by a couple days of the kind of complete and utter laziness where even taking the computer down from the overhead compartment seemed too much like work.

The month started in Yellowstone, and included stays in Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. There was a national park, a state park, the Far West Fishing Access campground, boondocking outside a national park, an Army Corps of Engineers campground, a city park, three national forest campgrounds, four county parks, a KOA and two driveways. Not in that order.

And I will pause for a moment to mention Wolf Creek Park, the only campground that I did not write about during the month as it happened. It was… weird. It was a county park in Ohio, where I spent one night while I was on the road from Michigan to Pennsylvania, and it was perfectly nice but completely empty. Most campgrounds have a host, so there’s always at least one other camper, but Sandusky County had an online payment system and not a single person at the campground. I was totally alone. The campsite I chose was in a loop around an open green space and I’m pretty sure that it would have been pleasant even if it was crowded. As it was… it was pleasant, yes, but also spooky. There was a lot of traffic noise from the nearby highway, but I somehow felt like I was trespassing, even though I had paid my $15.

A vast expanse of green grass with a tiny silver van in the distance, in front of some trees and a blue sky.
Alone at Wolf Creek Park, Sandusky County, Ohio.

Moving on — it was such a busy month that there are plenty of options for the best moment of the month, but as I have learned in my almost three years of full-time van life, the best moments are almost always about the people. In June 2019, it was the mini-reunion with college friends in Rochester, MI. Sitting on the front porch and laughing about our yearbooks; reading letters I wrote when I was 18 (my handwriting was so much more legible back then!); walking to the farmer’s market; enjoying the Motown museum and the pedalpub boat ride; and especially playing SongPop Party, the most ridiculous “Name That Tune” game, which was so very entertaining, despite the fact that I was horrifically bad at it. (A week later, I am still amused that in about fifty rounds of the game, the only times I budged from the bottom of the chart were when I chose the Taylor Swift and One Direction categories. Yay for modern pop!)

Picking a best campground, though, is impossible. I stayed in so many beautiful places. But I’ve definitely moved national forests up on my list of campgrounds to consider. They don’t usually have electricity, so they’re not great for me in the heat when I need AC for Zelda, and their campsites tend to be smaller and not necessarily level, but those three campgrounds were true highlights of my trip east. I was moving fast to make the reunion and blueberry season, but they would have been beautiful places to spend a relaxed couple of weeks appreciating nature. Maybe next year!

And meanwhile, it’s time to get back to writing a book. My own adventures were fun, but I’m eager to get back to enjoying Fen’s adventures instead!

Best of May 2019

01 Saturday Jun 2019

Posted by wyndes in Best of

≈ 6 Comments

What a month May 2019 was!

It started on a beautiful morning of bird-watching at a county park in Oregon, included a state park and a parking lot in Idaho; a state recreation area and an independent campground in Oregon, plus a hotel in Oregon, then a county park in California, and then a driveway. But that was just the beginning. Eventually, I made it to a county park in Oregon, then a driveway in Seattle and a driveway on the Olympic peninsula, followed by a national forest campground in Idaho, an independent (and free) campground in Montana and then another independent (and very expensive) campground in Montana. Fourteen different places, five different states. It was a busy month!

And it was also a delightful month. I was terrible at the part where I wrote a book, but I was extremely good at the part where I thoroughly enjoyed my life and spent lots of time with people I love.

I’m not even going to try to pick a best moment, though. There were simply too many excellent choices. I barbecued peeps and soaked in a hot springs under the stars. I brought the dogs to a restaurant and found cool clothes at thrift stores. I failed miserably but entertainingly at building a campfire. I got to spend time with R and hear stories of his adventures. I went to multiple beaches and breathed deeply of fresh air on morning after morning. I ate great food — gluten-free cupcakes and fresh oysters come to mind — and took some good photos. (If I had faster internet, I’d post dozens of them.) I even went kayaking with my dog!

A white Jack Russell terrier sitting in the grass.
Zelda, content in the grass

I could probably spend the next two hours thinking about the past month, remembering all the things I liked about it. New moments keep coming back to me, things I wrote about at the time and things I didn’t. Playing games, watching Person of Interest, eating spicy seafood medley. Laughing about coconut milk. More laughing about coconut milk, which I thought was one of those stories where you had to be there, but turned out to be funny when shared, too. Having P’s co-housing friend J tell me how much she enjoyed Cici and how eager she was for the sequel. Just so much goodness.

But I’m still in the midst of the goodness, with stories to tell about the places I am and the places I’m going, plus adventures to have, both big and small. (Today’s adventures will include dumping the tanks and visiting CostCo, woo-hoo!). But if I get my act together, it might also include Yellowstone National Park! And I also need to write about my Thursday, where the need for clean water led me to make some unexpected, expensive, but quite delightful choices.

Best of April 2019

02 Thursday May 2019

Posted by wyndes in Adventures, Best of

≈ 4 Comments

April included one national forest campground (Panther Flat), one state park in Oregon (LaPine State Park), one night off-grid at the Painted Hills Unit of the John Day National Fossil Beds (about which more later), and many nights in S’s driveway in Arcata. 

It also included my birthday, which was a lovely day that included a beach walk and a chocolate cupcake and brunch with new friends. But that day was not the best day of the month. 

April 18th might have been the best day of the month. To be honest, I have no idea what happened on April 18th. I think maybe nothing notable? I think maybe I wrote good words on Fen and enjoyed some sunshine in Arcata and maybe went to yoga? Because the only reason I’m calling out April 18th as a good day was that on April 19th, I wrote in my journal, “true moments of happiness, yesterday was such a beautiful day, even writing happiness”. But I gave myself not a single specific detail about why I’d liked it so much, just wrote about the feeling of waking up delighted. I don’t wake up delighted every day. In fact, I’d say I don’t wake up delighted most days. So it’s nice to know that I did on April 19th and that I thought at the time that April 18th had been beautiful, but here it is two weeks later, and honestly, I’ve got nothing. 

So since April 18th is lost to the mists of time, I’m going to say April 29th wins for the best day of the month. And it was quite impressive! 

On the 29th, S and I left Panther Flat on our way to Bend. We had a lovely time in Bend. We started with brunch at a fantastic restaurant, the McKay Cottage Restaurant. On the way there, I was telling Suzanne that the only hesitations I’d had when picking it were the reviews that mentioned that parking was gnarly and that there was always a wait. S scoffed, saying “On a Monday morning at 10? We’ll be fine.” Ha. Apparently, at McKay Cottage, there is a line even on a random chilly Monday morning in April. But deservedly so, because the food was delicious. My omelette was the best omelette I’d ever had. I didn’t even know it was possible to make omelettes that good. I’m gonna have to step up my omelette game, because mine are nowhere close.

Afterwards we had a fun hour at REI and then another fun hour at the Goodwill Store. But by the time we gassed up and got back on the road, it was later than we’d anticipated. We considered our options — a super quick visit to the fossil beds and then hurrying on, or a night at a spot in the fossil beds vicinity? Since we still have plenty of time, we decided to try a Bureau of Land Management site on the outskirts of the fossil beds. 

Under other circumstances, it might have been a terrible decision: a long, long way down a bumpy isolated road, we reached a spot with room for a single camper. Maybe two if you’d been willing to be cozy. But we were the only ones there. And the weather was sunny, if cold. 

And it was absolutely incredibly gorgeous. The light was so bright that none of my pictures do it justice: photographs always seem so flat when the sun is so clear and sharp. But here’s one that shows the van from the adjacent hill, and another one that shows the view from the campsite. 

Serenity, parked in the Painted Hills
Serenity, parked in the Painted Hills. The light was already so bright that the photo doesn’t accurately represent the greens around us.
The view from the edge of the campsite.

It was glorious. 

S set up her camp cot and we walked the dogs, then ate dinner, and as it got colder we each retreated to the comfort of our own beds. In the night, I opened the window a few times to admire the stars — it was a clear night and there were millions of them in view. 

So the 29th — an incredible meal, fun with a friend, a beautiful camp site, happy dogs, and a clear starry sky. The best of a honestly delightful month. 

The 30th was also a darn nice day, and might have won if it hadn’t included a little too much driving and a very sore throat, but more on that one in my next post!


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Just catching the sunrise
A little patch of flowers in the wasteland.
Spring is on its way. Yay!
The second rainbow on the right is a little hard to see in the photo so look close.
Pre-Epcot breakfast, made by Frisbee. Total SuperHost. All the stars!

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