Impressions

Upon walking into the Las Vegas airport I was met by gambling machines.  They definitely attracted people who would otherwise be bored, but I thought about how sad it was for people to simply be throwing their money away in the machines.  Although I was slightly curious about what the games were, the sounds were irritating and started to give me a headache.  Overall my impression was a sick feeling in my stomach over the hold that gambling can have on people.  There may be many people playing who are not addicted, but the power of addiction is enormous.  I am glad that my gate has none of the machines.  The sick and sad feelings I had upon encountering so much gambling prompted me to pray for the people who are trapped in the addiction, and also for us as a culture that constantly pursues more, even while there are so many people in far greater need than we are.  Constantly pursuing more is not the answer, God is.  I know that there are many other addictions and sins that ensnare us; but seeing the gambling opened my eyes again to the sin in our world and in my own life, and our desperate need for God's healing and the restoration of shalom.

Small Airlines

On Wednesday my parents decided that they might travel to Southern BC on Friday.  I was supposed to fly there on Friday afternoon.  I had originally bought a round trip ticket with a special price as long as I traveled within a certain time frame.    The deal had been for one flight at regular price and another one for $99 plus tax.  As it turned out, the cheap part of my ticket was the part I had already used.  I called the airline, and for a fee of $50 I was able to credit my ticket to be used anytime within a year from the purchase date.  That meant that I was able to get over half of my ticket price credited, and that was after the $50 fee.  So, instead of paying around $300 for one way I paid $200 for my flight, cancellation fee, and taxes.  Now I have enough to pay for most of a flight home for Christmas.  I was a little surprised at how easy it was to change my flight, but that is one of the benefits of working with a small local airline.  Thank you Hawk Air.

I got soaked...

at the bottom of this waterfall.  I put my hands in the pool at the bottom of the falls while being drenched by the mist.  Operation: Success.

Like on top of the ski hill, there was a lot of snow left at Twin Falls.  Some summers there is no snow in this area at all, but this year there was still a lot left.  A short detour off the side of the trail brought me to this cool snow tunnel.  The small stream of water pouring off the front of the tunnel and the constant dripping inside were evidence of its impending doom.

Hudson Bay Mountain

Yesterday afternoon we hiked up on the ski hill of Hudson Bay Mountain.  I have been up there many times in my life, but other than when I have been up there in the winter, I have never seen so much snow up there.  There were snow patches all over: in the shadows, in the lower places, along the edges of larger rocks, and above us on the ridges.  We walked around some of the snow patches and across a few others.  Even before we left home we knew it would not have been a good time to try hike up to the peak, but being up there and seeing how much snow was left affirmed that fact.  In addition to the snow, there were lots of wildflowers, little streams and waterfalls, marshy areas, lakes, a few marmots, and LOTS of bugs.

Only one other year have I seen ice on Crater Lake.  This year not only was there ice on the lake, but also a large snow patch in front of it.  We decided not to cross the snow because we had been there before, we had a ways to go yet, and we did not particularly want to hike with wet feet.

After Crater Lake headed across the 'prairie' - the area on top of the ski hill which is also above the tree line.  Thankfully we were able to avoid getting our feet wet despite the streams and marshy areas.  At one point a marmot posed for me before returning to its hole.

We also stopped to get a view of town before heading down the mountain.  We could see some rain moving across the valley, but we didn't get any of the rain until we were in the van driving back home.

All the streams along the trail and across the 'prairie' are great for refilling water bottles and simply drinking with your hands.  We crossed a number of streams; some were small and we could simply step over them while others required jumping across or finding some good stepping stones.

In all we walked for about 2.5 hours.  It was not overly strenuous, but still good exercise.  At points I was warm in shorts and a t-shirt, but later I was glad to have a sweatshirt to wear.  The cool air and the breeze made my hands cold and stiff, but not quite numb.  Looking around up on the mountain I was reminded of God's greatness and majesty.  What a wonderful way to spend Sunday afternoon!

I have a new cousin !!!

Martin William Donald Vis was born this afternoon.  Congratulations Uncle Dave and Aunt Margaret! We are all very happy for you.  I am excited to meet my new cousin in less than a week before returning to Louisiana.

Tim Horton's

Even though I do not drink coffee, when I am in Canada I like to go to Tim Horton's.  I like to go partially because it is Canadian, but also because I like their donuts.  Last night my friend, Natasha, took me to Timmy's for tea.  I also had an apple fritter, my donut of choice, to go with my tea.  Yummy!

Backyard Visitors

We have had a couple of regular visitors in our back yard this summer.  One of them is pictured here, and there is evidence of the other one in this same picture.

In the picture you can see our friendly woodpecker.  There have actually been two of them, this one is the male and therefore the more colorful of the two.  He is working on the clothesline pole, which has been dead for years.  Below is the birdhouse, which holds the evidence of our other visitor.  We have had a squirrel visit who decided to enlarge the hole of the birdhouse.  If you look closely at the picture you can see the rough edge all around the hole where the squirrel chewed on it.  The squirrel's activity prompted my dad to prune the neighbor's tree a little so the squirrel couldn't get to the bird house.  There is already a metal sheet around the pole below the birdhouse to prevent access from below.  Dad had to prune it a couple of times, but since then the squirrel has left the birdhouse alone.  We still see the squirrel as he runs along the back fence, but the only visitors near the birdhouse have been the woodpeckers.