Mountain Girl

I dreamt of mountains last night. Big mountains. I awoke and realized it has been a long while since I have seen big mountains. As I lay there listening to the first big rain of the season, I thought of one of my favorite quotes.

“The mountains are calling and I must go.” – John Muir

I can relate. I’m not a mountain girl in the sense that I want to live in the wilderness or even go on a backpacking trip. And I actually have an irrational fear of being attacked by a wild animal, such as a bear or mountain lion. The first time I climbed Pine Flat on my bicycle I asked my friend Pedro if there were mountain lions up there. I’m not even much of a camper, though I’m not completely opposed to it, as long as there are hot showers. My parents weren’t campers or even very outdoorsy. Our weekend excursions always included a motel, usually a pretty cheap one.

I do love to hike, though, and I love the outdoors. When I speak of mountains, I just want to see them. I want to gaze at them. I want to spend time around them. They take my breath away. A very long time ago I was asked, which would you prefer, a home on the beach or a home in the mountains?  I didn’t even have to think about it. Mountains. Given that I love the warmth and don’t like being cold, along with all the other things I mentioned in the previous paragraph, this may not make much sense, but if I were to step out my door to any view of my choosing, it would be great, big mountains.

I think I know where this comes from. My mother is from Wisconsin and when I was growing up, we would go there during the summer, by car, to visit family. We always went by way of Yellowstone National Park and would spend an extra day there, but it was seeing the Grand Tetons for the first time that surely planted this mild obsession. I have a memory as a very young girl of my mother waking me up to look out the window at a meadow full of moose. I saw the moose, but it was what was beyond that stuck in my head. The mountains. My mother told me those were the Grand Tetons and from then on, every summer that we were going to make that trip, I would ask her if we were going to drive on the same road and see the Tetons.

The road to the  Grand Tetons.

It has been a very long time since I’ve seen that beautiful mountain range. I’m thinking a week in Wyoming on a dude ranch will get me in very close proximity. A girl can dream…of mountains.