William Has A Fantastic View

Charlene and I headed to McCall Saturday for a day in the woods. First, a hike to Williams Peak Look Out with Mark, Lianne (brother-in-law and sister), Dad and Raina. 3,100 ft of climbing in around three miles. It was Mark's first hike with the family... and possibly the last. Maybe we should have taken him up a little less of a mountain the first time around, but we initially thought the climb would be around 2,000 ft.
As we headed back down, water was scarce. By the time we got to the bottom, we had to fill up in a spring coming out of the mountain. That's possibly the best water I've ever had! No, I'm not scared of getting giardia when it comes directly out of a great filter (mountain hillside) and have done this many times before. Just gotta watch out for where it comes out and how much it's falling over rocks.
We followed that up with a trip to some nearby hot springs along the South Fork of the Salmon River that had been on my list for a while. Sugah (a.k.a. 16 mile) hot springs were a welcome visit after a day of hiking.

On the way up

A swing seems like a fitting addition to a look out
Luckily we didn't break it

The view from a look out never disappoints

Sugah hot springs... the previous soakers decided to soap it up, but that wasn't a bad thing as we weren't super clean after a mountain climb (I know, double negative, but you'll get over it)

Since it's that time of year, we followed through with an old tradition

Greenspan Concedes That T-shirt Sales Are Down

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aJ8os6vTknLk&refer=home
Highlights from the article: (only partially onioned)
Former Treasury Secretary John Snow says:
"The U.S. needs ``one strong national regulator'' to oversee firms and fix what Snow called ``a fragmented approach'' to regulation. ``Steps to restore transparency and responsibility in the marketplace will go a long way towards restoring stability and confidence,'' he said."
Category 1 cyclist Matt Weyen reacts:
"So you're saying corporations should actually 'trickle down' their wealth? Maybe stop firing even the best employees one year before their retirement kicks in? Should the 'employer/employee contract' still mean anything?"
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan answers:
"Yeah, pretty much, it's a simple process. We thought we'd go against it anyways. The way we knew the U.S. had a problem was that our slogan t-shirts haven't been selling very well. If you want to buy into it anyways, here's the link:"

It's Time For Hot Spring Visits Again

I've been to a fair number of hot springs in Idaho now. Rocky Canyon hot springs have been the best so far... at least as far as the free ones go. Even up against the pay for places, these springs are extraordinary. They were an especially welcome trip this time around since I've been doing what most cyclists have been doing lately, pumping iron.
Mom fording the river

There are at least 12 pools. I didn't check out the top since the lower pools were the perfect temperature.

Charlene and Shealynn

Weird Weekend

It all started with snow Friday night... October 10th in Boise, Idaho. I knew the weekend couldn't possibly be normal with such a strange beginning.

Give it two months and I'll expect this.

Next, for some reason or another, I decided to show Charlene how to make a funny face that pops taught me waaaaaay back in the day. Turns out she's pretty good at it and told me she'd kill me if I kept the picture... hmm, wonder what she'll do when she finds out it's on my blog?

To perfect this, place your tongue over your top lip while pushing out the bottom lip as much as possible.

Sunday consisted of a different activity... hiking to find a thing I'd heard was a mini-Stonehenge.

Once we found it, the question of what it's used for came up immediately, any guesses?

After such odd events unfolding, I decided to try my hand at something else... turns out that I can walk on water! Eddie Money could have used this trick back in the 80's to get his woman back. Maybe they'll put me in Joe Dirt 2?

Job Satisfaction

Could corporations that treat their employees like expendable piles of dirt be at the root of economic problems? An economy is based on how much a nation produces of both goods and services. Unmotivated employees being pushed to produce via fear of losing their jobs mixed with stagnating wages rather than desiring to produce out of their own accord may reduce that overall production, right? The push-pull idea's as old as dirt.
Check out these reports:
http://www.conference-board.org/utilities/pressdetail.cfm?press_id=2582
and
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060724005163&newsLang=en

Maybe companies should focus on job satisfaction? Seems to be working for Google... and Europe.


I promise to write a more happy-go-lucky blog next... I just thought I'd put in my 2 pesos in the midst of an economic melt down that is likely to affect my, and your, future.

If you needed a warm and fuzzy this time too, I'll finish it off with a great photo of the East Fork of Moose Creek at sunset.

Once Wasn't Enough

Sam's blog listing wasn't enough... feel free to add it to your blog too.