January 1, 2014.

We classed it up for the new year. On this last evening of our big road trip, we bedded down for the night in a yurt at La Pine State Park. It was glorious. A bed. A place to retreat indoors if we wanted to. With a table and stuff. Light. It was amazing. Felt like a four-star hotel.

The next morning, after breakfast tacos cooked on the camp stove, we took a short walk in the park. It was a bright and sunny, but cold, morning. A developed path led to a pretty overlook of a river bend. After being in such remote, desolate areas of the state, it felt downright urban to be here. There were cars and people and dogs. Cameras. Cell phones. Hints of civilization.

Any chance to stretch the legs on a long journey is a welcome opportunity. We’d driven an ungodly number of miles in the last week, and I was never looking forward to being in the car. Maybe I couldn’t appreciate the towering Ponderosa Pines, icy river and endless sunshine in this moment. But I think being out in it was still valuable to my soul.  It didn’t take long for nature’s luster to wear off and soon we were back in our cars to return home.

I will have to come back to La Pine State Park to give it another chance on a different day, with a different mindset, with time to explore. Maybe not as the last stop on a big trip 🙂