Smoke On The Water

By the end of July, 2015, a good portion of the Pacific Northwest was on fire. The summer was even hotter and drier than usual and the seasonal fires reared their ugly heads, hazing out the sun and driving people into their homes or out of the valleys altogether.

Though my section the Rogue Valley (yes, it was mine by now) was not affected by the fires themselves, the smoke settled quickly into the bowl of the mountains. We cancelled hiking plans and anything outside really, due to the intense dry heat and air quality issues and hunkered down for some corny movies, video games, and card-playing.

By the third day of that, however, knowing my visit was coming to an end, we decided on one more river day mission and headed out of town a bit to Griffin County Park for a little outdoor relaxation time.

 

Despite the smoke, it was exactly what we needed.

 

This guy rocks "chilling out" like no one else I know. ;)

Life is so HARD!!!

 

We did a bit of swimming, made brief friends with some rafters, and I, of course, spent much of the time trying to capture the serenity and peace of the calm water under the smoky sky.

 

 

Never one to be left behind, there was also some time with this beautiful lady:

 

 

 

Eventually the sun did burn through most of the smoke. The boys had set up a canopy in the edge of the water and taken out their respective materials for a little 'R and R'.

Relaxation and reading, that is!

 

 

And I did my darndest to capture for posterity that feeling that I now knew I would never be able to find anywhere else.