Girl’s Weekend

Last Sunday, Sika, Mandy and I went up to Breitenbush Hot Springs Resort for Girls-Only Getaway. (Keith stayed home and took care of the kitties and probably walked around in his underwear all day – bachelor style.) When we arrived at Breitenbush (just two hours south of Portland), it was raining and a bit foggy. The parking lot was surrounded in snow piles taller than we were!

We had arrived a bit early for check-in, so we toured around the property and noshed on blueberry scones (Thanks, Keith!), and had a little snowball fight. Finally, we checked in to our cabin, which we lovingly dubbed Camp Tri-Titty-Boo-Boo. It was a snuggly little cabin with geothermal heating (energy harnessed from the heat from the earth). We unpacked our stuff, made ourselves at home, and quickly ran out to the hot springs for our first dip. We chose the “Silent Pool” at the end of the open meadow with the river view. It was amazingly therapeutic to sit in that hot spring with rain falling all around us, looking out into the foggy meadow. The only obstacle was trying to find the right nook amidst the stone-lined tub for optimum relaxing. At the Silent Pool, we were expected to be silent, but we three couldn’t resist being silly and gabbing as long as no one else was there to be bothered by us. When other bathers arrived, we knew we were expected to harness our giddiness and be quiet. Knowing full well our limitations, we politely left to a different pool where we could be chatty again.

The shenanigans started when I grabbed someone else’s pants from the clothes hooks by the Silent Pool. We walked down to a different pool and I looked at the pair of Levis in my hands and suddenly remembered I wasn’t wearing Levis that day. “Whose pants are these?!” I asked. They weren’t any of ours! Embarrassingly, I had to walk back to the Silent Pool to return the Levis to whomever they belonged. I sheepishly looked at the strangers in the Silent Pool and (trying to respect the oath of silence) theatrically pantomimed that I had taken someone’s pants and was very sorry. Ha ha! The silent meditation was broken, we all laughed, and I slinked back to the other pool with my friends, totally embarrassed.

Dinner was at 6:00. We gathered at the Lodge after the dinner gong was sounded. The meals there – oh – the meals… They were divine! Better than any of us could’ve expected. Buffet style, but definitely gourmet vegetarian (and mostly organic) cuisine. We gorged ourselves, since we’d had very little for lunch. Those scones only got us so far. After dinner, the rain persisted, so we didn’t feel much like being outdoors, so we tried to find a nice place to cozy down and read, or play games. The Forest Retreat is sort of a large yurt, tucked in the forest, with skylights and glass doors opening out to face the river. It was empty – we thought – so we tried to settle there, until the previously unknown inhabitants scared us out – large black ants. We retreated to our cabin.

Breitenbush is a no-alcohol environment. We respected that rule – but decided to break it anyway, and cracked open a bottle of wine to share between us. We played the “drawing game,” which, anyone in my family knows what that is. Our stupid drawings made us laugh, and then we all finally settled down and went to sleep.

Monday morning, at the signal of the breakfast gong that rang out over Breitenbush, we dragged ourselves out of bed at 7:30 am, with more enthusiasm than ever should be expected; especially coming from me (I don’t do mornings). But breakfast was at 8:00 and the food was, of course, delicious.

After breakfast, Sika went back to the cabin to chill out, and Mandy and I took our cameras and toured about, photographing everything we could. We came across a small family of deer (there were three that we could see) resting by the Massage House. So we were taking photographs of them, when someone or something spooked them from the opposite side of the trail and they all suddenly got up and bolted toward us. My first reaction was to jump out of the way, but I pushed back that urge and instead lifted my camera to take pictures as they rushed toward us! I imagined being trampled, but figured I’d probably survive, and it would be a pretty cool story to share (“Oh, this scar? I was trampled by a herd of deer…”), and so I stood my ground. Luckily, the crowd of four, maybe five, deer veered out of our way and ran up the path to our right. The adrenaline of that moment gave Mandy and me legs of jello for a little while after that. We walked (or wobbled, seeing as how our legs were jello) to the bridge and took photos of the river. I insisted on carrying my binoculars with me everywhere, in case I spotted something interesting with feathers. This must’ve horrified people, because there is something fishy about a person carrying binoculars around in an area where there are a lot of naked people bathing in hot springs. Well, tough, I figured. I’m a bird-watcher, and I can’t help appreciating the wildlife. I was mindful not to point my binos at the naked folks. But I did earn the nickname “Peeper” for obvious reasons. Well, Peeper got her first, very good look at a Western Meadowlark that day, and she was pleased.

We ran into Sika in front of the lodge and she had her funky old camera with her and was ready to go around and take photos, so I joined her in more exploring, and Mandy went back to the cabin to chill out. Sika and I walked around and took photos, but didn’t see the deer this time around. We did, however, step all over in the evidence that they left as proof that they were once there. Sika earned herself the camp nickname of “PoohFoot” for that reason. We milled about practically until lunch time, when we met up with Mandy and stuffed ourselves at lunchtime after the call of the lunch gong.

After lunch, Sika went off and did her own thing, and Mandy and I took an afternoon dip in the hot springs. We showered at the Bathhouse, which had an amazing window that looked out to the river, and then gathered for a yoga session at 4:30 the Lodge, while Sika went to the Massage House for her massage.

Patches of blue sky gradually expanded throughout the day, and snow fell now and again, but at the end of the yoga session (which, for me, was a pitiful reminder of how out-of-shape I am) a most beautiful sunset spread out over the sky. I’ll have to take Sika’s word on that. Unfortunately, I was facing east, in “corpse” position, closing up the yoga session as the sunset came and went. I did notice the entire room turn golden at the end of the session, but assumed it was because all my chakras were finally in line (kidding).

Dinner happened at 6:00, as scheduled, and we feasted like queens! After dinner, Mandy went back to the cabin to hang out, and Sika and I immediately got ready for a hot spring dip at dusk. Actually, we had not yet tried out the sauna hut, so we headed over there first. Everything outside had a ghostly blue shade as night crept in, and a bat swooped in front of us as we walked to the sauna hut. The doors into the sauna hut were tiny, like a hobbit’s home, and we ducked inside. The sauna was completely dark, save for the little bit of muted light that came in from the small windows around the hut. And there was a crack between the entrance doors, and from outside, a green solar light sent a laser beam of green light into the sauna hut, which was filled with foggy steam. It looked like the effects in a dance club and I did my best J-Lo impression (Sorry, Sika. That was probably a little scary.). Through one window, we could see the family of deer, grazing outside in the dusk. After we steamed ourselves into potential brain-boiling, we skittered over to the coolest (104 degrees) of the Sacred Pools. We stared out into the meadow as the sky fell dark, and stars started to peek out. We were inexplicably lucky to have a visible sky at night. We migrated up to the hottest of the pools, the Silent Pool (108 degrees), where there were fewer trees blocking the night sky. We stared at the constellations, knew only a couple, so we made up as many as we could. Sika was much better at it than I was. She saw a giraffe and two snakes fighting, and I saw a breadbox. I haven’t seen a sky of stars like that in a few years, I’m sure.

We spent a long time out there, but couldn’t shake the thought that it was a shame that Mandy wasn’t with us to experience it all. So we pulled ourselves out of the steaming water, reflecting the night sky, and we hiked back to the cabin to drag Mandy out of her comfy bed. Poor girl was sleepy and delirious, but we assured her she would not regret it, so she came out with us. She admitted she’d attempted to find us at some point earlier, but her wind-up flashlight was feeble and she gave up fumbling in the dark.

We all went back to the sauna hut, and out to the warm pools for more starry-skied bathing. The fog was beginning to settle, and the stars had dimmed, but the night was still enchanting.

Tuesday morning, we felt sorry knowing we had to leave that day. I’d laughed so much over the last couple days that my stomach hurt! And, maybe the yoga also had something to do with my muscle soreness… but we truly did have a great time. Breakfast was amazing, and we took in as much of the whole place as we could. I had my morning coffee all alone out on the meadow (see last blog post), then we packed up our things, sang some silly songs from the musical we’d been “working on” during our time there, took some final photos, and bid farewell to Camp Tri-Titty-Boo-Boo.

Peeper, PoohFoot, and PoohShy (that was Mandy’s nickname and the story of its origin will not be disclosed - ha!) left Breitenbush after one final and delicious lunch.

Two hours later, we were back in Portland, stinky and delirious.

Tuesday Morning Coffee

It was about 34 degrees, crisp air, with lots of blue sky despite intermittent snow fall, and I was surrounded by towering evergreens. I was bundled in my coat, sitting outside on a mountain far from the city. I was on the edge of a meadow, overlooking a snow-lined river, looking beyond the river, to the snow-dusted trees that stretched across the mountain tops in the distance. A crowd of proud robins dashed and posed in the short grasses of the meadow. Varied thrush hid in the shadows of the forest, too shy to pose with the robins, but made themselves known by calling repeatedly in their single-noted, hollow, echoing trill.
A large doe grazed in the meadow just a few feet in front of me. She eyed me cautiously as I sat silently sipping my coffee. I warmed my hands around the clay mug, etched with leafy designs. I stared at her thick winter coat. It was brown and grey and shaggy. My childish instinct was to reach out and curl my fingers in her fur to feel the warmth that kept her, but I restrained, and sat still, appreciating her presence so near to me. I sipped my coffee.
Three more deer (two young doe and one young buck) approached from behind me and greeted the large doe and joined her, grazing in the grass in front of me. A fifth deer (another young doe) approached from my right, not hesitating at all, and joined the others, in a semi-circle formation around me, their heads bowed, grazing. I wondered what it must’ve looked like from someone else’s perspective, to see five deer forming a semi-circle around one lucky person, sitting there with her morning coffee.
Heavy tromping sounds came from my right as a large buck, with fuzzy winter nubs on his head, appeared from the trees. He was muscular and tall, and less trusting of me. He saw me move as I drew my mug to my lips for a sip of quickly cooling coffee, and he stopped and stared at me, his ears pushed forward. His alert stance drew caution from the other five deer, and they lifted their heads from grazing. All six stared at me, ears forward, black tails flicking. The buck moved cautiously toward his family, and completed the semi-circle before me. In that moment, I wished I was a part of the herd, a part of the semicircle, and not the outsider.
I sipped my cool coffee. The dregs that had settled on the bottom of the mug coated my tongue and made my teeth feel gritty.
The large doe turned and wandered further from me, into the meadow, at the advice of the cautious buck. All followed behind her. And my mug was then empty.

And here I sit, one day later, on a Wednesday, sipping my morning coffee in front of the sharp glare of the computer screen, and under the hum of fluorescent lights.

Carving memories.... into my skin... with a hot glue gun and needle

I’ve recently been getting back in touch with several old friends, some of whom I’ve not talked to in 10 years (maybe?). Anyway, I’ve lost count of the years that have passed. Reconnecting with old friends inspired me to look back at my old journals and read through some of the old notes that we passed between us. I have this box full of junior-high school memorabilia. Days after I dove into these relics of my past, I heard about a show called "Mortified" where people get up and read personal entries and/or letters from their old stash. Isn’t that just the way the universe works? I just HAD to see the show. I saw "Mortified" at the Someday Lounge in Portland on March 8th and died laughing at other people’s horrific teenage experiences. You can check out the website for the live show here: http://www.getmortified.com/.

I’m not sure how my own memorabilia stacks up to the entertainment of others, but while I’m on the topic, I thought I would share an embarrassing page from my journal. Errors in spelling, grammar, or political incorrectness have been preserved for authenticity. Clarification, for the sake of understanding who/what I’m writing about, has been added in parenthesis:

March 30, 1994

Today, Emily (my sister) died her hair brown. People were mistaking her for me. Mostly my friends. Last night I got two pictures of *sigh* Johnny Depp! I got them from the newspaper. Mom found them for me! One was with him and some fat lady. The other was him with a retarded boy. So I cut out the retarded boy. They were both from the movie "What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?" I wanna see that so bad! *sigh* He’s soooo fine! Last night, I carved his initials on my left hand, just below my right ankle and a J on my left leg! With a needle. Sounds gross, but, it didn’t hurt. I did the J with a hot glue gun. Now that hurt!