Saturday, August 13, 2016

Thursday, August 11, 2016 On top of the world


Thursday, August 11, 2016
My humans have me tied to the stairs.   I want in so I will jump through the hole!  Hey, this worked earlier for me!  Why am I hanging off the floor!  Humans!  Help me!  Here is my maternal human running to me!  SAVE ME!
What a breathtaking view to wake up to.  Having been all over the world, this area is as pretty as I've ever seen.  Lynn joined me on my morning walk.  We started up the highway, and turned up the first street we saw heading past the hayfields (okay, they may be wheatfields, whatever!).  The picturesque mountains hang in the background.    The air is crisp and a little on the cool side, but the sun is shining bright.  A huge hawk flew down from the tree.  Then the white tailed deer started popping up.  Lots of them with their big waggy tails.  And a baby with spots, way too cute.  They were all over!  At one point, we counted 15 deer.  We hated that the street ended and we had to return.





Unfortunately, we can only stay here at the Mountain View Motel and RV park for 2 days.  There is a blues festival this weekend and everything is booked including overflow areas.  I could easily stay here another few days. 
We packed a lunch, and with Jake and Lynn, we headed up to the fire lookout station at Hat Point.  A beautiful canyon road takes us to the town of Inmaha.  The mountains are brown, but have many strata with rocky outcroppings, layer upon layer.  So many photo ops!  A creek has followed the road with aspens and pines.  We pass the tavern and start on the 24 mile journey to a fire lookout station.  It is a dirt road, but fortunately for us, it has recently been regraded.  But no amount of grading can change the fact it is a one lane road carved into the side of a mountain with steep dropoffs!  And, if a car comes the other way, somebody is going to some hellacious backing up!  The terrain is brown and brush starting off.  For about 5 miles, we slowly climb, and hope nobody will come the other way.  The views are stunning.  When we get to a lookout point, we pull out.  From here on, the road is slightly wider and less threatening.  We pass through pine forests.  We twist, we turn.  We ultimately arrive to the top of the world.  Visibility is forever.  Wildflowers are exploding:  fireweed, paintbrush, asters and bear grass.  The Snake River is below, and across the river are various varieties of rugged mountains; some alpine, some brown and brushy.  They are known as the seven devils.  To me, they are eye candy. 




We climb the tower to the lookout level, oohing and aaahing along the way.  Spouse and I then climbed to the top to visit the ranger.  This is an active fire station with views over 50 miles away.  The skies are clear with a few puffy clouds, and from every angle, the scenery is overwhelming.  There are picnic tables overlooking the river 6000 feet below us.  We got back to the truck and grab our stuff and walk to the picnic table.



Is this a guy thing?  My Spouse packs up the backpack with our lunch stuff.  He actually moves the tuna out of the way to get his friggin' soda, then leaves the tuna in the ice chest.  So when we get to our picnic table - a long ways away, we are tuna-less.  I go get it to walk off the steam, and on my way back, I see a total Sound Of Music photo op!
 


After we eat, we begin our descent, down from the stratosphere.  Will we run into another car?  Yes... but only in the right spots, what a relief.  Going back down was not nearly as scintillating as going up, probably because we were on the mountain side, not the drop off side.  We did make one stop there to get some firewood... Spouse can NEVER pass up a freebie...  There is free ice at the RV park...  he is such a hoarder!
We fuel up, then come back for a rest before we go to dinner.  I took Rudy outside for a wee walk, then tied him to our stairs.  People are out and about, and I am not worried about him getting attacked so I come inside for a few minutes.  Then I heard a big commotion and see Rudy flying thru the hand slide on our screen door.  The only problem was his leash was NOT long enough to allow him to land on the floor.  So, hanging by his neck in a hangman's noose he swings to the left, and then to the right.  I run to him and get him on his second swing and free him, apologizing profusely.  Cat Protection Services, come take me away!  Is this one of his nine lives?  But once I put him down, he purringly walked into the bedroom and climbed up on Spouse, who was taking a nap.  When I went to talk to him, he was purring up a storm, so obviously, this didn't bother him.  Spouse told me he did it earlier in the day when the sprinklers came on.  But he was tied to the upper stair, which gave him just enough leash to land on the floor.  It must have been very surprising that it didn't work the second time!  His poor neck is really getting a workout this trip!
Spouse did some work on our leaky kitchen faucet.  He made a few calls for parts.  The response he got:  It is antelope season, be back the 16th.  Needless to say, the faucet will remain leaky!  Hmmm, sounds like our son-in-law...
We had dinner in town, sitting on a pretty patio with a semi-feral black mamma cat.  We were told they tried to get her and her 4 kittens, but she keeps moving them, so right now, they don't know where they are.  But they allow her (she is called Lasagna) to roam the patio begging for handouts.  Of course, she got some from us.
When we got back, we used some of our free firewood to light a fire in the firepit.  There was a meteor shower tonite, and through the milky way, there was the occasional streak across the sky topping off and incredible day.

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