Jenny Lake, August 16, 2008

I don't know if I can adequately put into words how much I love Jenny Lake. I mean, obviously it's a special place to me. But even if it didn't have the tie to Cora...it has got to be one of the most beautiful places on the face of the planet.

My friend Aubrey and I planned this trip a couple weeks ago. A few days ago I was playing around with date calculators online and realized that Aug. 16th was the anniversary of the likely date of Cora's conception. It felt like fate. We just coincidentally planned to be in Cora's place on the anniversary of the beginning of her very short life. So I wanted to take up some flowers. For the last little while I had been wanting to take up some wild sunflowers. They just make me happy. You'll be driving along drab greeny-brown terrain, and all of the sudden there'll be a splash of bright yellow. It's like the earth is celebrating something. What better flower is there to take Cora on her day? So we pulled off the side of the road at one point and cut some sunflowers.

The lake was beautiful as always. It was great to just go and spend time there. My other visits to Jenny Lake are usually short since it's a stop on the way to somewhere else (or at the end of a long day because we got lost and the lake was frozen over anyway, so it was terribly cold). It was great to just sit in the sun and wade in the water and watch Erin and Myla play. Erin was so excited by all the rocks. She kept picking them up from the lake bed and handing them to me like each one was some incredibly rare treasure. It was so much fun. Myla just kept trying to eat them. lol.

Anyway, pictures:

The sunflowers, in a little round pool somebody made.

Erin and Myla playing in the water

A butterfly landed on the sunflowers. I loved it. The cut flowers were technically dead, but could still give sustinence and life. What a beautiful symbol.

And about a million baby trouts. I'm actually quite proud of this picture. It was hard to get because 1) you couldn't get close, they'd swim away, 2) you couldn't move, they'd swim away, 3) the fish were swimming very fast, even when they were close, and 4) the water was moving.


And to make a great day even better, I felt Reeses move for sure on the way home. I've been wondering the past few days, but yesterday it was so definite. SUCH a great day!