Baby it's cold outside

Sorry I didn't make it here last night. I was whipped from a troubled sleep the day before. I was woken up in the middle of the night by something furiously scratching underneath my floor. It was loud and scary. It sounded like a freaking bear trying to claw its way into the house. I spent a couple of hours tossing and turning and pounding on the floor with a broom to try to convince it to move out. I may have succeeded. I didn't hear a thing last night, but then again I was so tired I would have slept through an earthquake.

Meanwhile it's freezing here this morning. I sleep with the window open and it was 60 degrees in the house when I got up. Very abrupt change for this part of the world. Usually you ease into the cold weather here but still 51 degrees outside feels warmer down here without the bitter Arctic winds you get up north.

Anyway, I have a couple of hours this morning to do a little catch up so let me start with this pix from our hike a couple of days ago. John was kind enough to escort me on yet another trail I've been afraid to try alone. This one was a little longer and actually a nicer hike although there was less to photograph. A lot of incredible fungi but the light wasn't right for closeups as we went out late in the day. This picture was definitely the highlight of the hike.



Needless to say we didn't avail ourselves of the facilities. The good news is, there's still another mile or so of trails we didn't get to so we'll probably go back again at some point. Maybe there will be some better vistas on the outside ones.