Cle Elum

Went camping with the Scouts over in Cle Elum this weekend. About 125 mile trip to the dry side of the Cascades (including a 4 mile dirt road). Think “northern California” in terms of climate. Much much drier. The trip was fun, basically a goof off weekend with no responsibilities, which was nice. The air there is very dry, and our campsite was in a gorge that made dawn come late and evening come early. What was most striking was the 50 degree difference in temperature between 3 PM and 3 AM. We shivered through our Saturday night and prayed for dawn so we could get to Mass, and then go home and enjoy a luxurious Sunday nap. Peter left his coat out and it was covered with frost in the morning. But all told, still a fine time! I slept well last night!

Oh, and as it happened, a reader wrote saying he was going to be visiting family this weekend–in Cle Elum–and would I like to get together. I thought “What are the odds?” So I sent him the campground info and sure enough, he and his wife drove out (it’s a fur piece, about 20 miles from Cle Elum proper, if there is such a thing as “Cle Elum proper”) and we hung out for a while. They were in town for the annual family “Brick” celebration, in which everybody tells a story about the dumbest thing they did this year and the winner gets a brick with a ribbon round it, which they cherish until next year somebody (hopefully) does something dumber. Sample story from my reader:

To give you just but one sample of the epic nature of the event I’ll recount one of the highlights a few years ago with my cousin who happens to be a nurse in Seattle. As is customary among nurses, she frequently straps the blood pressure cuff around her arm for convenient transportation. Unbeknownst to her, on the same morning a new doctor from England was transferring to their hospital, she had inadvertently velcroed the drawstring to her scrubs to the blood pressure cuff. When the new doctor entered the room, she extended her hand to shake, which, of course, pulled the drawstring. Standing in her underwear, she quickly reached down for her scrubs trying to recover. To which the new doctor responded, “Well, you Americans sure know how to make a chap feel at home don’t you?”

Note to self: Don’t tell my family about the time I deliberately shoved a button up my nose.