Jenny Walty

We were so lucky to spend an active Saturday outdoors with perfect sunny weather before the hurricane pushed the rain up on Sunday. David, Brynna, Emily, and I climbed up to the top of Mt. Hor, a great hike through the maple, birch, ash, and fir woods to see Lake Willoughby from above and a vista for a miles to the east into NH. After the hot climb up and back down in was refreshing to dive into Lake Willoughby's crystal waters and spend the rest of the afternoon with the naked babies on the beach. I would've taken the plunge off of Devil's rock but David didn't want me to get the car all wet.

After another delightful dinner, Brynna, Emily, and I spent the evening out around the firepit warming our toes and watching for shooting stars. The few lacy clouds on the south-western horizon were lit up as the moon sunk and the milky way glittered across the sky. I saw two of the brightest shooting starts I've ever seen, with big bushy tails that left their image on my retina after the "Oooh" had breathed out of my body. I had my eyes glued to the sky waiting for these Perseid meteors, and as it got darker we realized that there were hudreds of faint streakings, tiny pieces of dust from the tail of the Swift-Tuttle Comet.

We craned our necks up at the night sky way past our country bedtimes while Emily retold her favorite myths and Brynna delayed going in until we saw one more...