Back to Wenatchee

This was the weekend of our lab trip to Lake Wenatchee. This time the snow was deep on the ground. Eliot chattered the entire way up, practising some phrases like "How're you doing, BUDDY?" (apparently a hilarious statement, which we must owe to Abby and Barry). Barry's arrival was her weekend highlight. She twirled in joy and couldn't stop hugging him, except when he disappeared to the bathroom, when she wandered disconsolately, asking "Where's Barry?". She got pretty friendly with all the guys, though she judged Marc "too scary".

We cooked, ate, drank, played Cranium (Blaise and I, and Barry, the winning team, despite some holes in the area of recognizing hummed popular music), watched movies. On Saturday we rented showshoes and went on a hike along Lake Wenatchee. Anselm had initially been crushed as his snowpants somehow got left out of the very fast packing, but he recovered. He did a lot of off-roading and climbing through the snow, despite the lack of snow-invulnerability. After a mile (a long way on snowshoes! and more like three for him given his unwillingness to keep on the path) he eventually wore himself out-- he'd also bounced, somersaulted and wrestled his way through the morning. Fortunately, our weekend hero, Barry, performed a bit of mini mountain rescue.

Today everyone gradually disappeared after breakfast in time for us to meet up with Robin, Paul and Rachel, whose cabin was five minutes away. We did some cool sledding together outside their cabin, and ate a huge lunch before racing home.

I think we are starting to get this snow thing. It was very beautiful, and a lot of fun. Anselm had a ball. Eliot is immobilized and nervous in her snow clothes, but hopefully she'll be more into it next year.