Day 1...

We hit the mountains and the music playing was not far behind. It was made known to my children that anytime they enter a mountainous zone this music must be playing on the ipod, cd player or whatever space age music playing thingy they have when they have children. An acceptable alternative is Gaia by James Taylor if there is no JD available. I realize he is singing about a Greek deity but still: the tympanies pounding as he describes looking back over the mountain being helpless, speechles, breathless: it doesn't get much better than that.

Here is the view from our cabin:

These kind of scenes make me think...a lot. About me, my contribution to the world, my wife, my love for her, my children, my infinite amazement of their lives, my God, our relationship, His relationship with His children. It does a soul good to contemplate the meaning of life periodically. My conclusion: family. Immediate. Distant. And everything in between.

We saw the first of what was to be many deer. Here she is:

I went outside to see her up close and the kids wanted to come with me. I knew for sure once we opened the door it would run away. I explained to them how deer were very nervous creatures and we needed to be quite so as not to scare her away. We opened the door and Reagan let out a shriek of delight the likes of which have not been heard since I found out they brought back Carnation Instant Breakfast Bars. Much to my surprise, the deer came closer. And another one appeared. She had a buddy and they apparently were not too afraid of humans.

Normally, I am not one for giving wild animals food because as a conservationist I believe if we feed these animals they will become too dependent on our source of food rather than their own means of getting it thus rendering themselves incapable of self-sustenance when it counts, in the dead of winter. But I threw caution to the wind and we fed them some bread. We almost literally fed them from our hands:

This would become our nightly ritual. Morning ritual too for that matter.Those deer were hungry.

We spent a quiet evening at home and got ready for the big day ahead. Day 2 tomorrow.