Not Meant to Be

These are the only photos I got on my visit, was going to take more today and tomorrow, but....well, you have to read the post to find out why I didn't.A very wonderful dog indeed!
My cat trapper friend and dog Gus.
Woods near West Fir.
I needed to get away very badly, for even a couple of nights and asked my friend in West Fir if I might come up and camp in their yard.

She said to come, that they now had a one room cabin, with its own out house, no less, in their backyard and yes, I could use it and stay a couple nights. We were going to swim at the nearby Reservoir.

I went Friday afternoon and got there in time for dinner, which was pleasant out around their outdoor fire pit. We told stories and joked around and relaxed under the stars around the fire til almost 11:00 p.m. I think. Then I retired to the cabin up by the tracks. I was instantly asleep.

Trains roar by, not very many feet from the cabin, which is very cool, a pre fab my friend built herself, with a comfy bed, a dresser and they left me a railroad lantern, for light. My friends' hubby is a railroad conductor.

I slept well, but by morning, my stomach was acting up--too much exhausting work, the last couple of weeks and then rich food for dinner the night before, that my stomach is not used to.

We took the dogs for a walk down in the old mill site. Last time I was up there, which was a long time back, old broken concrete walls still stood, here and there, but that has all been removed. We walked down to the covered bridge. Tomorrow, there is going to be a big 100 mile mountain bike race through the hills and woods around West Fir, my friends told me. Three loops of 33 miles each they do and the fastest completes the race in 8 hours. Some ride the extremely steep route on single speeds! Once back from the walk, I took another nap.

We were going to head over to the nearby Hill Creek Reservoir. I wanted to go for a swim. I'd thrown in a boogie board I got at a thrift store. I intended to try to make a boat out of it along with other objects. I want a boat--to be out on the water. But I never got around to it.

Mid May, I promised someone I'd take them to the airport for their vacation, so they wouldn't have to pay for airport parking. Somehow, I wrote down the wrong date. I thought it was Thursday morning I was to make the drop off. It's actually tomorrow morning. I found out my mistake when checking my e-mail on my friend's laptop.

I was so mad at myself for ruining my own mini vacation! What a mistake to make on the first weekend of relaxation I have had in ages upon ages. I had to drive home so I could honor a promise made two months ago.

Doesn't that suck? It really does.

Well, at last I got a good nights sleep out in West Fir. It was great to see my friends, too. The cabin was so dark and quiet. I'm not used to that here. I have to fight constant noise from cats tiffing and running around when I try to sleep and the constant light of all these darn street lights everywhere.

It was wonderful to see the stars again and experience a bonfire. They have a wonderful place. Almost every night they have a bonfire under the stars. The cabin is only slightly larger than the one I spent a few months living in up in Alaska, in my risky youth. I could live in such a space so easily. I like things small and simple.

One night is better than no nights away. I do miss the outdoor life very much. I want out of this concrete jungle.

I think this mini vacation will go down in my memory like my three hour HB vacation, when I took Tiny Tim down to K and N, who adopted him and got three hours to enjoy Huntington Beach before I had to catch the flight back. And I did enjoy my three hour HB vacation to the fullest.

Just like that three hour vacation, I loved every second of my night away, from the moment I whooped with delight, when on-ramping onto I5 south.

Speaking of K, N and Tiny Tim, they recently moved, from HB, to Bellingham, WA. On the way through, with their caravan, of moving truck and two cars, they stopped in Albany briefly, so I could see them and say "Hi" to Tiny Tim. Kate took these photos and sent them to me, once they arrived in Bellingham:
This is me in front of their cats, including Tiny Tim, whom I think is the far right carrier.