A Breath Of Stale Air

Take a deep breath... ....AH! That's nice isn't it. Some nice clean air - er, well, it looks clean when you don't see it like this! YUCK! That is the sun over Black Mountain on Saturday evening - there are more mountains to the right of the frame, but good luck finding them through the smoke! My camera actually had a difficult time focusing, and when I look closely I can see that nothing is really in focus at all. I took this picture around 8:00 p.m. - nearly an hour and a half before sunset.

My parents were in town Tuesday evening until Saturday morning, so they missed the major smoke in the valley, but still experienced the joy of haze in the Missoula valley. As standard on vacations, we were up early - well decently early - and we were up even later, midnight was standard and so was eating super around 10:00 p.m. That really threw Laura for a loop, considering that is usually her bed time! Additionally they were able to enjoy the heat we are experiencing - especially the 100+ days. To date we have had 8 days above 100 and 23 of the past 24 have been above 90. The one day it wasn't above 90 it was 88. Wonder why they fire season is out of control this year???

Thursday we packed up the van and headed down the road for Idaho. Coeur d'Alene and Sand Point to be exact. Laura and I had to do some geocaching along the way, and I found a cache that involved a swim and diving 10 feet under the water to retrieve the cache! That's my kind of fun. Well, when we left Missoula at 6:15 Thursday morning it was already 70 and warming up fast. By the time we reached the cache in Idaho around noon, it was raining and 57! WHAT IS GOING ON AROUND HERE!?! I decided to opt out of the underwater adventure and stay high and dry - perhaps we will make a trip to Idaho another time.

We spent the early afternoon in Coeur d'Alene eating lunch and taking in the boats around the floating boardwalk. My family was there 13 years ago, but it was discovered that this wasn't one of the highlights of that trip because most of us didn't remember being on the boardwalk, well most of us except dad who probably could recall where his footstep was thirteen years ago and what was said at the time. I could remember a few things about the area, but nothing really 'brought me back.'

We made our way north to Sand Point later in the afternoon. For some reason that is one place I remember the most about that vacation thirteen years ago. If you are familiar with the Sand Point area then you probably have seen the rope swing as you cross the bridge into the park on the east side of town. Well that's what I remember the best from that vacation - the rope swing. I think it is because it was the first rope swing that I actually had seen that went over the water and actually work. Most of my rope swings were on flat ground and didn't swing much more than a few feet, so this was a big improvement!

We took some pictures at the park and continue back to Missoula. We made it back around 10:30. A full day on the road and sight seeing, but always interesting and a good time.

Laura has not taken a vacation with my family before, and this simple one day trip wasn't much for her to experience, but we can't just throw her into the pool and expect her to swim with us, so we are breaking her in slowly. I think she is catching on quickly though. Especially on Friday evening when we drove up onto the mountain and took some more pictures. After we took one picture, dad told us to 'shuffle around.' Well, far-be-it for us to simply just move like sheep. I began clapping my hands and stomping my foot while my brother Rylan hummed a ditty, which in turn cause mom and my sister Lana to dance around into a new place. Without much thought we found a new place to stand. Looking back at us was Laura, the confused look on the face indicated we had done something quite abnormal and caught her off guard - I guess she still has some learning to do.

Work is picking up for me again, and that means I am tired at the end of the day. The heat is what really takes my energy away. I wear jeans all day to keep the dirt and weeds off my legs, and by mid-afternoon I am sweating up a storm. Today, I lost two pounds and I ate my entire lunch, plus I drank about 50 ounces of water. I have to admit though, working in the heat and then going for a run, followed by ultimate frisbee is really starting to take the weight off and I am feeling better about that. Sunday evening, Laura and I went for a 9-10 mile run and by the end of the day I weighed it nearly 8 pounds lighter than I did in the morning! WHOA! A lot of that was water weight and I put it right back on, but I know darn well that I still need to lose about 10-15 pounds in the next 10 weeks to be running a little lighter for the half marathon.

Well, it's getting late and tomorrow I have a full day of work followed by another three mile run and ultimate frisbee. I need a good nights sleep to keep on top of things. Until again

-=Nolan=-