The Flying Machine

Hmm.

Posted by Sarah at 9:55 PM | Permalink

Man, I'm an idiot. So I was just puttering in my kitchen and a few minutes ago I got a knock at my door. A baseball-capped, bearded fellow stood there. It took me a second, and then I placed him - he was one of the guys who'd helped fix my window earlier this week.

He said, without preamble, Hi, I was wonderin' if you'd like t' go to th' Mexican restaurant sometime?

The first thing that came to my mind to say was, Oh, I'm sorry, but I've got a boyfriend, and I don't know what he'd think about that.

He said something along the lines of, Oh, that's ok, and turned to walk away, when I leaned out the door and smiled and stuck my hand out - I'm Sarah, by the way.

I'm Charlie, he said. I'm their oldest son.

Their. Their. Their. The neighbors. My landlady and her family. The landlady's son!!!! My brain started misfiring. Did I really just turn down the landlady's son?

Before he left he told me if I ever needed anything to come see him, he lives downstairs in my building. I put on my best gracious face and told him I would, and that I sure appreciate your stoppin' by.

Now.

1. I don't technically have a boyfriend. (yet?)
2. I could have at least gone to dinner as friends.
3. I do need to meet people in Ontario.
4. Dude is my landlady's son.

Then again,

1. Even impeccable manners to not require one to consent to a date with a stranger who knocks on one's door and invites one out without even an introduction.
2. Just because one is for serious NOT USED TO BEING IN DEMAND BY THE BOYS does not mean one needs to say yes to just anyone.
3. I have a sneaking feeling he's not my type.

And, really,

1. After the dudes fixed my window earlier this week, I came downstairs to get some junk outta my car, and he was outside the landlady's house, and offered to give me a hand. I said that I was fine, my box wasn't heavy, and he said, you sure? Perhaps I should have known this might be coming.

Posted by Sarah at 5:59 PM | Permalink

Alright, alright, gossip time.

So I went camping this weekend. It was freakin' great. I'm amazed that the very first person I met in Boise turned out to be someone with whom I so enjoy spending time.

I drove back from Eugene early Saturday morning after a great evening spent first with T's parents and then a friend of his who I met this summer, E, who happens to be a wonderful guy. We got dinner and then spent a few hours hanging out at the Bier Stein, gazing at the glory of its long tall wall of coolers full of good beers from all over the world. Loved it. If I remember to ask him for the pics we took, I'll post 'em sometime.

I stayed out late enough Friday night that I ended up having a bit of a late start back east. This was compounded by a stop at the TJ Maxx in Bend, where I got this gorgeous Cambridge Dy Goods plaid shirt and a good corkscrew. I made up for some time by booking it across 20 (not one cop in a 7-hour drive!) but still got home late. I'd planned to be home by 2 or 3 and out the door by 3 or 4. Didn't get out until 5. But I made it - dashed inside, showered, packed, left the car loaded with a week's worth of stuff from Eugene, grabbed a snack, and made record time to Boise (door to door: 50 minutes).

Z had already started making dinner when I arrived, so within a few moments we were downing some salad and veg and tofu, loading the car, and hitting the highway. Up 'til this point I hadn't actually known where we were going - just that it would involve hot springs, camping, and hiking.

So we set off - 2 hours on a narrow dirt road next to the middle fork of the Boise River and its reservoir, nothing but dirt between the car and the cliff-edge, moonlight on the hills and My Morning Jacket on the stereo.

Finding a suitable hot spring took a while. One was scummy, one was shallow, and one was packed to the gills with drunk (but thankfully clothed) rednecks, extended family of all ages in tow. We ended up at the shallow one - which actually turned out to be perfect for lying down and looking up at the stars... as long as you kicked your feet every few moments to stir the scalding-hot water coming down from the hillside with the cold water coming in from the river, which was separated from the spring by only a homemade rock wall. It was seriously lovely, though, and more than a bit romantic!

By midnight we'd moved on to the bigger spring, which was now vacant. It looks like this by day (not my picture):

After another couple hours of soaking, it was time for sleep (ha!) and sleeping in (ha!). Cali had wandered far afield in search of breakfast by the time we got up, so we fed her, had some breakfast (mmm, dry Cheerios), and broke camp.

The rest of the afternoon was a 'shwhackfest up a nice hill above the river - a couple thousand feet of elevation gain and some seriously steep terrain. Plenty of scree and slippery pine needles too - at the top, Z clambered up what had to be a 5.7 rockface while I took Cali around and up a dodgy gully. The view at the top was totally worth it, though. Afterward we had a chill drive home at sunset, made some dinner, lounged by the woodstove, and called it a night. Good times were had by all.

If you wanna see some pictures, you can click on the one below for the set!

Posted by Sarah at 12:20 PM | Permalink