Pieces of the Puzzle

I am back from my disappearing act. Thanks for stopping by. I will have to catch up with all of you soon. Like an addict, I savored every bit of my trip…now I want more (droool!).

The first day we went white water rafting on the river rapids below the mountains. It was quite an adrenaline push. The fact that I knew how to swim was consoling enough not to get a heart attack every time a huge rapid doused me with so much force that I almost lost balance. The high point was when a friend fell off the raft (*suppressed laugh*) and we couldn’t get him aboard for a while. He swears I pushed him with the oars.

Next day was the starting of the hike. The hike started off with a serene walk in the woods along a gushing stream cascading on small stones, smashing the big rocks. Crossed the stream on moss covered logs with sprouting mushrooms. Every single leaf in the forest was covered with dew. Slippery stones and bright green ferns. White flowers with transparent stripes not found anywhere else on the planet. Interesting rock formations. Clearings showing the mountains tops covered in clouds. Like gigantic chimneys. Blue mountains as far as the eye can see. Saw the majestic south face of the mountain we planned to climb to the very top. Halfway during the climb, clouds encompassed us. It was like walking through the freezer aisle of a grocery store. In spite of the cool breeze, we were sweating from the hike and could see our heads smoking. Little waterfalls adorned our path. After a long tiring hike, we reached a point where we could get a 360 degree panoramic view of the mountains below. Looking above, we saw only the sky. We knew this had to be the top! We were even above the clouds. The strangest part was- we could hear it raining…below us. It was like a dream not be awakened from.