My plans for the long weekend were patchy and unconfirmed as I set out in my car alone on Saturday morning, but I had three goals. I wanted to climb. I wanted to camp and explore more of the valley that runs out from the Coulee’s dramatic basalt columns into a dry glacial plain before diving over the cliffs of the Columbia River Gorge. And I wanted to sail. A good friend of mine was going to be starting aRead More
I remember exactly how I felt sitting in a cheap plastic chair on that little balcony during my first night in Cairo, feet propped up on the railing as I stared out at a softly glowing haze thick with dust and sand. Al Qahirah’s tradewinds blew a hot, dirty night breeze into our faces, and despite already knowing that the city’s air was notorious for turning its residents’ lungs as black as pack-a-day smokers, I was completely in love.
Another season of gathering is here, only this one takes place not indoors around stoves and fireplaces, but out in open spaces. Instead of wrapping blankets around ourselves, we spread them on the ground and lay back with our eyes wide to the heavens. This is the season that reverts everyone back to their 8-year-old selves, floods us all with a heart-punching nostalgia for the simplicity of being young and dirty and half-clothed and free.