the wilderness man returns

Nate came home on Friday night.
He even brought me (a picture of) a flower. See:

He had days of adventurous adventuring under his belt.

He faced sheer rock faces, crossed the river several times a day, bouldered and climbed rock (and I mean BIG rocks), he got up early and looked at birds (can you say 'Peregrine Falcon'??)

And he did all of this while keeping track of 14 year-olds and ensuring that no one met a rattle snake teeth-to-skin (there was an "encounter" but a "safe distance" apparently was kept).

See, he had a good time:

A highlight was the coatimundi tracks (and scat, which you should say, "thanks Sarah for not posting the several pictures you have of said scat," and to that I will say, "you are more than welcome" and then restrain myself from going all TMI about the scat; but I will add, "yuck."):

And here is another close encounter. This one is only a bear:

Hi bear,

Thanks for coming by and not tasting anyone.

Don't come back now. Y'hear, Mr. Bear?

I'm glad Nate went, because he was so excited to go. I'm glad he's home because I need him. He's a necessity around here. And I'm very glad he came home when he did, because thanks to him I am now in recovery mode from the dang-bronchitis rather than the dying-mode of the dang-bronchitis. Also, he plays a huge role in our Pokemon-ing and Nintendo playing around here (that would be "vintage" Nintendo in case you were wondering).

Now, if I can will myself better to give the guy a decent Father's Day tomorrow...