Well the rain was kind of a mixed blessing. Whlie it was much cooler than it would have been during our backpacking excursion, we also had to make our hike into base camp up a few paths that were still carrying water down to the creeks. It did not help that most of the parts I am thinking of were also overgrown with salmonberry bushes, so at parts you couldn’t see the loose, wet rocks you were walking on, as you went up a 6-7% slope. Needless to say, we were glad that things had a chance to dry out on Saturday and that Sunday was nice and sunny for our trek back to the trailhead.

So what did I do to recover after such a trip? The only way one could after that particular weekend, by staying up late reading Deathly Hallows every night until I was through the book. I really enjoyed it, and that’s all I will say so that I don’t ruin it for anyone.

So with  backpacking and Harry Potter behind me, I now get to look forward to my family visiting. They actually fly in tonight, and we’ll go meet them tomorrow morning in Portland. As a family we haven’t always been close by any stretch (it’s my humble opinion that an older brother who enjoys seeing how far he can throw you tends to also throw kinks into that relationship). However, recently we have all started to enjoy each other’s company quite a bit more. I really miss hanging out with my little brother (who I got to share an apartment with for a year when he first started at Texas Tech), and my parents are so much nicer to be around now that their relationship is better than I’ve ever seen it. Add in my older brother’s kids, who I really like hanging out with as long as I can also get some adult time, and this promises to be a great week. I just pray that the won’t get on each other’s nerves too much with all of the driving that they will be doing.