1/23-24/21 Ellen and I went up to Camp Serendipity for an overnight stay Saturday and Sunday.

There had been a little new snow, the temperature was cold, and the skies were supposed to be clear so we planned to do some snowshoeing. We stopped and chatted with Marilyn and her friend Gary on the way up. We arrived at Camp Serendipity a little before noon and parked below the concrete staircase.

There was a lot of ice on the steps and the steep snow steps were a little slippery, but we successfully brought our gear up the stairs in one trip. I built a fire while Ellen fixed our lunches.

After we ate, we went back down to the truck and drove to the South entrance to Lake Wenatchee State Park. On the way, we saw Rebecca walking on the road, so we stopped to introduce Ellen and Rebecca and chatted a little about the weather.

We proceeded on to the State Park and learned that there was no parking available except possibly at the Nason Ridge Sno-Park at Kahler Glen. When we got there, a car was just pulling out of the parking lot so we took that spot. All the other parking places were full.

At this point we didn't have a plan and we were both unfamiliar with the area. We studied the maps at the trailhead and figured that we would be able to snowshoe over to the lake and get some pictures. We started out not knowing exactly what to expect, but there were signs on the clearly marked snowshoe trails that led us to Lake Wenatchee. After about an hour, we got there and were delighted by the views. We came out on the southeast shore of the lake with beautiful reflective views of Dirtyface Mountain, Pole Ridge, and Wenatchee Ridge. We took a lot of pictures and then went back more or less the way we came. We were confused a lot when there were branches in the trail with no indication of which one led to the parking lot.

Ellen used the map on her phone to help us navigate and we managed to find the correct trails and find the truck just before sunset. We drove back to Camp Serendipity with just enough daylight left to park the truck and walk back up the stairs to the cabin. I had sprinkled ashes on the most dangerous steps when we left, so that made walking back up a lot easier.

I practiced the piano while Ellen fixed dinner and we had a delightful, relaxing evening. In the morning we had our breakfast, I practiced the piano again, and we packed up and left for home around 9:00. That was a very wonderful trip that was too long in coming.

1/25-29/21 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 5 days: Monday through Friday.

I had an early morning eye doctor appointment and left right after that. There was occasional light rain all the way over the pass, but the roads were nicely plowed. I arrived at 11:30 and found that my driveway had still not been plowed. I was able to back in to my normal parking place with no problem.

There was a couple inches of new snow but I was able to walk up the steps anyway. I brought my gear up in one trip. I hoisted the flag, built a fire, and then had my lunch and nap.

When I got up, I split and stacked all of the firewood rounds I had down at the cabin. Then I cut the slab to length for the casing legs. I marked the slab in preparation for ripping it into two legs.

Earl called and we had a nice conversation catching up on things.

On Tuesday I practiced the piano and then went out on the front porch and bucked and split a tread blank and the old tread I had removed from the staircase. Then I ripped the slab to separate the two casing legs.

After lunch and a nap, I tried using the sled to haul firewood. It worked pretty well but the second trip broke the sled, so I switched back to pulling down the big rounds with a rope. It snowed about 2 inches during the day. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading.

On Wednesday it had snowed about 3 inches overnight. After practicing the piano, I worked some more on the casing legs.

I got a call from Ellen asking me to call someone at the insurance company. I called and learned that I need to take a bunch of special pictures of the cabin for insurance purposes. I also called my doctor's office asking about insurance forms that they were supposed to send.

I got my boots on and went outside to take pictures of the cabin from all sides as the insurance company requested. I had to do a lot of postholing through deep snow and when I got up on the high rock to take a picture of the back of the cabin, it seemed too dangerous for me to return directly to the front porch. So I postholed along the ridge to the east and down to the upper roadway to get back safely. Then I went inside and took a bunch of pictures of the entire interior as they requested.

After lunch and a nap, I spent the rest of the afternoon writing.

On Thursday morning after practicing the piano, Dave called, and we had a nice long conversation. Next, I planed the two casing legs and discovered that they were splintery along the edges. I glued those splinters and bound up the glue joints with mason's string and set the legs aside to dry.

After lunch and a nap, I split all the firewood I had dragged down and stacked it. Then I dragged down a few more rounds from the woodshed.

The weather was warm enough that I was able to shovel snow off the steps without too much problem. Then I took some more pictures for the insurance company of the pump control, the washer dryer hookups, and the manifold above the range hood.

On Friday morning I practiced the piano and then scraped and sanded the casing legs so they are ready for varnish. I left for home at 12:45 after another fun week.