The mountains came out this morning.

I've heard tell that they don't always make an appearance, and despite our bellhop's insistance that we had a view of both Mt. Hood and Mt. Saint Helens, the darn things were just shy.

Then suddenly, there they were - looking as alien and as imposing as anything could.

I'm used to the gentle slopes of the Blue Ridge and the Appalachians. Well - perhaps sometimes gentle is not the word for them, as they can be as foreboding and wondrous as anything I've seen - but these mountains are insane. They rise up out of the landscape so...unexpectedly, so insistently.

I know that this sounds rather stupid for those who have grown up with these creatures, or for those who now see such things daily. But I can't stop looking.

When I was little, I used to pretend that the piles of clouds in the sky were snow-capped mountains and that they were a permanent part of my landscape. I could look at them long enough and actually convince myself that they were real and that they were right there in front of me. I tried to imagine what life would be like with such an entity looking down on me daily - watching my life and being an integral part of it.

When I tricked myself into this - I got a shiver of excitement - that something like this could actually exist.

And here - they really do.

I keep looking out of the window with amazement - expecting the mountain to dissipate and turn into another shape and then gently float away on the breeze.

Yet they do not. It does me good to know that they are real...

Tonight I also ran into an old colleague of mine from the Crisis Museum of Art - Brady. We talked for forever - about work, about life, about music - about everything. It was so great.

I miss the folks at the Crisis everyday. They are some of the most wonderful people I know. I wish I could move several of them over to Ye Olde Boat Museum and keep them with me - keep them safe and happy.

Funny how one sometimes has to travel clear across the continent to find out how much you miss someone who's in your own backyard.

If only the snow-capped mountains could come home with me, too....