July, 2021
This second day (a Sunday) in Darrington was glorious. I couldn’t have asked for better weather for this camping trip.
I don’t ordinarily attend church (though I have in the past), but I did this Sunday morning because my family here does. It was wonderful, the music and the camaraderie, the faith and the love of the people in this small country church were really special. I really liked that. And I liked sitting next to my sister who is quite a bit older than I am, but neither of us cares about the years, we just love each other. And her daughter, my niece, is the most wonderful niece anyone could have.
After lunch, my sister and my niece and I ventured forth in their car for a summer day’s drive around about the area surrounding Darrington. It’s mostly woods and forests, and rivers, and bog lands, and lakes around here … and homes and farms and gorgeous blue sky, and birds. I didn’t take pictures, I just sat in that car and loved every minute of being in this world and being with family and our conversations. BUT, we came around one corner of the road to discover the view below … a warm afternoon, a glowing field, with cows and a home and a barn, with hills all around, and handsome Mt. Baker right square in the middle of the view.
Mt. Baker is my favorite mountain on this planet. 🙂
Eventually, we headed back home into Darrington with its quiet streets.
Across the street from their home, at the school, the Hosta plants had just recently burst forth. I was here in July, but it’s cold up in these hills even in July, so the Hosta pops up a bit later than it does for us down in the lowlands.
Then I glanced up at Whitehorse Mountain again. Wow! Reader SteveW has been up there. On the very top! Oh my nerves!
Love that wisp of snow/ice being blown off the mountain top.
Another ridge was nearby (below). How do people climb these things?
And below is another peak off in the opposite direction, to the northeast of the home where I stayed.
I’ve not been around mountains and high ridges like these much in my life. I was mesmerized. They’ve been here so much longer than we have. I wish they could talk. It seemed they would be visionary, have truths to tell us, if only we knew how to listen.
I’m currently on this camping trip in July, 2021. But back in April of this same year, I had driven up to visit these same relatives with just my truck, not bringing the trailer. As I drove away from Darrington in the late afternoon in April of that earlier trip, I looked out my driver’s side window to the left and saw the mountain below. Oh that looks cold.
And then I noticed the range of peaks and ridges around this one mountain. No telling how high that mountain really was, how much further it went up into those clouds.
And this was in April, in spring! Winters here, if you’re ready for them, must be glorious.
Ah, but for this camping trip in July, it was actually warm, at least during the day. Thankfully, my family folk allowed me to plug into electricity by using a power cord that ran under their garage door and so I had toasty warm and quiet electric heat at night (no fan cycling on and off from the propane heat system). Even in July, nights are chilly up here. But tasty, hot pizza for dinner this Sunday evening helped a great deal. 🙂
Tomorrow I leave Darrington and head to my first “Boondockers Welcome” camping site. Stay tuned.