Cold and Sunny with a Chance of Mountain-Climbing

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Me and my big mouth

Today was another clear, beautiful day, although I did not get a chance to go outside. The weather was fine; work, not so much. In lieu of an adventure in rush hour traffic, I took a nap. I was still in a somewhat downcast mood when I woke up, but, like the weather, things can change really fast.

It happened when I ran into one of my managers at dinner. She is one of the head honchos at the hotel, and this means everyone (self included, of course) is slightly in awe of her. She is really quite nice to me though, perhaps because I'm shy and living thousands of miles from home. Anyway, she was telling me about a recent hike she took in the mountains, and how tall and yellow the grass was, and how beautiful the view was from the top.

Now, I'm a relatively outdoorsy person, which is not to say that I'm in any shape right now to go for a romp in the countryside. Be that as it may, every time we have clear weather and I can see the mountains surrounding Huhehaote, I can't take my eyes off them; they are so beautiful. I did a lot of hiking as a child in the Rockies and the Smokies, and I miss being able to do that. Hearing about the mountains led me to comment, "I like mountains, too."

The instant it came out of my mouth, I knew I was in for it: suddenly, I had an invitation to go hike a mountain on Sunday. Now I need to get proper gear (it must be insanely cold up there), and I just know the grown-ups are going to put me to shame: I'll be huffing and puffing the whole way up. But I went from having a somewhat boring weekend ahead of me to having perhaps the next big adventure locked in. I am pumped.

Yodalay-hee-who!

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