Day 19

Last night we had a campfire. I am surprised campfires are allowed in the park with all the wildfires in the surrounding areas. G3 sat at the fire and read his astronomy book. Those of you who read his paper on constellations know he is interested in the intersection of science and mythology found in the night sky.

We slept in this morning, figuring we needed to recharge our internal batteries a bit after getting such little sleep the night before. For breakfast we had coffee, hot chocolate, and oatmeal all easily made with hot water boiled on our camping stove.

Since we got on the road we have kept very busy. We’ve been go go go for more than two weeks trying to see and do as much as possible. Therefore, we decided today would be a low-key relaxing day. Of course G3 mumbled, “Hiking isn’t relaxing.” Apparently, after eleven years he still doesn’t know me very well.

We hiked the 4 1/2 mile Avalanche Lake trail. Smoke continues to obscure our views but it was still an enjoyable hike. It was 66 degrees when we started — cool enough for Kati to join us. However, it did climb to 82 so by the time we finished she had started to melt. The lake was shallow, more shallow than the Peconic Bay at low tide, and the water was cold. We did take off our socks and boots when we got there to soak our sweaty feet. The hike was easy, only an elevation gain of 500 feet and since we started at a much lower elevation than yesterday there was no chance of seeing another mountain goat.

Lunch was variations on peanut butter. Kati ate peanut butter and jelly. G3 went with peanut butter and Nutella. I’m a purist, only peanut butter for me.

The campground is on Lake McDonald. This afternoon we went swimming. I expected the water to be cold but it was just chilly. It was the best swim we’ve had thus far on this trip. The water even felt clean.

We then had some time to just kick back around the campfire reading

At ten o’clock at night there was an astronomy ranger program at the campground. G3 was super excited about it. He made sure we left in plenty of time because he was so eager to learn something new about the universe. Homeschool science is finally going well. The program started with a PowerPoint presentation. G3 found it interesting and he drank in the information. Since it was dark, I struggled to keep my eyes open. After the presentation, one guy tried to set up the telescope — one more powerful than the one G3 has — but he was having technical difficulties. While he worked on it, G3 set up his telescope and the other guy pointed out a double star for G3 to examine. He then pointed out other stars and constellations. Unfortunately, they never did get the powerful telescope to work. G3 wasn’t too disappointed. He enjoyed his brief individualized tutorial about the night sky.