It was a lovely and remote feeling location - remote enough and high enough that it took a few days to even begin to acclimate to the altitude (I live at nearly sea level! What a difference!). Luckily, the temperatures are cooler that high up, since it has been MUCH warmer in Utah than our typical Seattle summer climate to which I am happily accustomed. There was also a thunder storm every afternoon which helped to drop the temperature about 20 degrees(F) for a few hours following. Hurray for summer rain!
We were surrounded by coniferous forests and mountain streams. Interspersed with lodges, playing fields and sport courts...
We each had a little 'rustic cabin' per family. It was very quiet. And dark at night - despite the full moon that week.
It made a very atmospheric environment in which to read the last volume of Harry Potter. I generally wanted to read a bit longer than the other members of my family wanted to be awake, so much of that book was read in the dark, by flashlight. It felt like my childhood all over again. At least I didn't have to pull the covers over my head to hide the fact that I was still up.
The complex was cross-sectioned by mossy streams and trails....
And if one continued further up the mountain, you were quickly surrounded by endless groves of the graphically black-and-white-barked trunks of quaking aspens.
When I was younger, I found these aspen groves absolutely magical. Especially in the fall when their leaves all turned golden at the same time. I thought it must be how Lothlorien (of Tolkien fame) looked and would make a point of visiting "middle earth" every autumn that I lived in the area.
There were a couple of feeders hung outside the lodge that were frequented by clusters of fierce and territorial hummingbirds - chasing each other off quite vocally (I didn't realize they had such loud voices!). And so many varieties! Ruby throated. Green backed. Brown bodied... Fire-y little, warrior birds!
The roadways were lined with dozens of varieties of wild flowers, on which lit nearly as many varieties of bees and butterflies. It was gratifying to see so many butterflies in one place, since their populations are so depleted in many areas.
Wild yarrow - one of my favorite wild medicinal herbs.... (All the yarrow in my garden is yellow. I wonder if I need wild growing here as well...? hmmmm....)
Briers, bracken, and thistles.... It all provides a lovely understory for larger animals -
- some of the funnest to observe being a trio of moose that frequented the grounds. This afternoon it was the baby, rather than the yearling accompanying the mother moose. He hung about the shore -
-while the mama grazed in the pond. (They eat algae or something, don't they?)
And in the parking lot below our cabins we stumbled upon a fairly tame, still beautifully spotted, mule-deer fawn.
Who was quickly joined by its twin. And then their mother. They were quite unfazed by my trailing after them, snapping pictures. In fact, I tired before they did, and I left them to their grazing.
It was lovely and renewing to be around so many living, growing things (well, maybe not all the millipedes on the floors of the cabins when you'd wake up in the morning)....
Here's one of the fairy nieces holding the newest addition - my 6 week old nephew.
And here are the nieces, down in the valley in front of a fountain designed by one of my favorite artists, Jim Christensen. He's a local. I got to take a class from him in college (Water Media or something). He is such a personality - it was one of the most interesting courses I've ever taken.
(Close-up detail of one of the fountain statues. How fun to see your paintings translated into fully embodied three dimensions!)
There were any number of activities available - from watching various family members traverse the rope course...
...to throwing pots in an open studio over the river. I think *everyone* should have an open air studio, spanning a mountain stream - with the sun, and the breezes, and the birds to keep you company.... Ahhhhh...... Spend a couple of hours a day out there with your hands in clay and I suspect you have a recipe for world peace.
As much as I like to paint, there is something about the tactile and three-dimensional....
We also got to celebrate a double birthday - my first-born turned 18 the same day my nephew turned 9 (makes it easy to remember).
Here's my gorgeous boy (with his focused 'game face' - he's in the midst of an intense badminton match) - happy entry to adulthood, baby...
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