A Valley Like This

Driving along the North Cascades Scenic Highway is a spectacular experience.  The Washington Pass is breathtaking, made all the more special because the highway eventually leads to Mazama, Washington, to a gorgeous cabin where we spent a few days with our friends Kathryn and Ben.

I was very struck by the fact that William Stafford’s poem, A Valley Like This, was displayed on a huge panel at one of the lookout points along the North Cascades Scenic Highway.  The poem is so beautiful…don’t you agree?

William Stafford poem posted on one of the lookouts along the Cascade Scenic Highway

I was looking at these mountains as I read the William Stafford Poem

Ah, one more view

Below are more photos from our scenic drive and our stay in Mazama.  Interspersed is some free-writing from our precious days spent with Kathryn and Ben.

The Cascades…

though this streak of fine weather persists, autumn is sneaking her way into the scene…cool nights tinge the leaf tips of maples and other deciduous trees to reveal hints of red, gold, and orange highlighted leaves in the morning…and though these mornings are cool, mountain sun dazzles us by noon, pine tree oils warm up and send their fragrance into the forest air, happily we hike mountain trails that lead us to waterfalls, rock walls, thick forest….monument trail leads us to eureka creek bridge where we have lunch…our damp workout-wear, free of our backpacks, quickly dries with the mountain sun

“the long party that your life is…”  with Kathryn and Mountain-Man Rick

our friends decided to make santa barbara their home, sweet santa barbara where rick was born, where winter days are warm, california sun-kissed land… but the beauty of Mazama and their comfortable cabin with its tower overlooking the river, forest, and mountains beckons them to come visit this home, too..

outside/inside, a continuum

and so we are nurtured by Ben’s fabulous culinary skills, meals that still make my mouth water just thinking of them..feline entertainment and bengal kitty softness lies under my fingertips as furry friends preston and hampton vie for all the love that comes their way..they are beautiful gentle cats with wild rosettes on their fur, if love can be weighed -which we know is an impossible notion-preston and hampton are a combined 40 pounds of pure love and sweetness, more than a handful but enough joy to fill the hearts of our friends and us, their friends…

dinner time

the word “companion” literally means “the person you share your bread with”..cheers to our beautiful companions

two heads are better than one! too bad i didn’t get a photos of their handsome faces

we sit outside the cabin, looking out over the river and riverbed, which is drier than usual this time of the year after a hot hot summer with very little rain, and we see a teenage bear quickly crossing the river and stones…my heart skips a beat, then beats faster!  we are seeing a bear, rick calls out to her, she stops, looks at us, and continues on her way…nature welcomes us to mazama

cabin deck and river where we spotted our bear

Mountain Man heads back to the cabin

..while i hang out on the hammock

Mazama…