On my Saturday morning walk to do the labyrinth, I noticed that the cacti were finally starting to bloom! There’s only a few plants that have flowers, but I am glad I was able to at least see a few before I left. I wish I could stick around for another week or two when I am sure there will be many more blooms. I also saw a buck standing in the yard of the main lodge, he stood stock still and just stared at me as I went past.
I had been hoping to go visit a friend of mine I’ve known since kindergarten who lives about 3 1/2 hours away in Montana. Unfortunately, the weather and the amount of driving I was going to have to do on the trek home made that a no go. Instead, I packed up my camping gear and drove to a campground in the Custer National Forest, just off the Beartooth Scenic Byway. It was a small campground with all of the sites next to the Wyoming River, so I got to listen to the wonderful sounds of a rushing river all night. Before I settled into the campground though, and I went into Red Lodge and checked out a few of the art galleries in town. There’s an old elementary school that has been converted into an art center and all kinds of artists – visual, musical and more, have re-purposed the old classrooms and offices into studios. It was really fun to go around and look at the different local artwork from sculptures to paintings to quilts to photographs, there were also large metal and wooden art pieces outside as well. One of the art galleries had really vibrant paintings and awesome iron sculptures.
It had been raining on and off during the day, but luckily by the time I got back to my campsite to make dinner and relax, the rain had stopped so I could sit outside and enjoy the beautiful scenery around me. The next morning I got up and did a few short hikes nearby, including one to a sweet little lake, where there was a family fishing. It was such a wonderful spot to read and do the exercises in the final chapter of the Life Worth Living book that I’ve been reading for the last two weeks (I highly recommend this book, it’s based on a very popular course at Yale and it really makes you think about what’s important in your life). It seemed a very fitting spot to do that work.
I had been hoping to at see a bear from a distance, NOT close up, but didn’t see any live bears at all. I did, however see four metal bears in a metal car in someone’s front yard and a large green dinosaur with a saddle on its back. I also saw a huge group of bikers at the Bear Creek Saloon, the only business in Bear Creek, a town of about 50 people.
When I got back to the retreat center, Erin and I saw a group of four adolescent raccoons exploring the perimeter of the property. I have never seen small raccoons like that – they were pretty cute, not something I would I thought I would ever say about raccoons! We played our final game of Quiddler and sat up talking for awhile, then I went into the kitchen to get some water and saw a beautiful rainbow over the barn, awesome end to the day!
