Travelogue, part 3

My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing.
~Aldous Huxley

After we dropped Karen off, Diana and I drove up the hill, past the Japanese Gardens, and found a cemetery up at the top of the mountain with an amazing view of Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, and another mountain we couldn’t identify, nearly as tall.

We first hiked down the other side of the hill to find the meridian line marker, the Willamette Stone. It’s the meridian line and baseline from which all the property lines for Oregon and Washington were marked. As a history teacher, how could I resist? Plus the hike was beautiful, through a lush green forest. You can read all about the Willamette Stone here.

We hiked back up the hill (quite a hike, and we were tired – this was one long day of hiking, and I’d been up since 6 am, and my roommies not long after because as hard as I tried to be quiet, once someone’s up in the room, it’s hard to stay asleep. I was just grateful I’d been able to fall asleep when I woke up at 3 am (6 am NJ time, and my normal rising time!) and walked across the street to the cemetery. There were some beautiful gravestones, filled with poetry. You’ll have to wait for that picture – it’s still on one of the disposable cameras Di and I bought after we realized we were REALLY sorry we hadn’t brought a digital camera. (I won’t make that mistake again!)

At the end of the cemetery were memorial benches, and we sat and admired the view and talked for a long while, until we got too cold and went back down the hill to pick up Karen and crack open a bottle of our Hip Chicks wine.

We finished the evening giggling and talking and drinking wine. It was an amazing day.

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.
~John Muir