Parrots and Puttering

Today was a day for puttering.  We completed our backpack yesterday amid the pouring rain, and the storm continued as we got back to the RV.  We left all the wet gear outside, hoping to dry it off today, and only took in the stuff we could throw in the dryer.

This morning we woke up, decided to do some P90X-Stretch (partly to work out the sore muscles from hiking and partly to get ourselves back into a regular early morning exercise regimen), made some coffee after our shower, and took a walk around the campground to see how everyone had fared in the rain.  It dawned sunny, and already the air outside was warm, so it was nice to enjoy the autumn smells as we walked with t-shirts and no wraps.

The stream in the campground was running full and cold, and the sunlight streamed through the nearby trees:

A wolf maple tree up in the top area of the campground was showing its last colors:  bright yellows, oranges and reds:

We completed our walk and, after a hearty breakfast, starting drying out all the gear in the mid-morning sun.  We had tents, backpacks, boots and other gear spread all over the picnic table and hanging from every conceivable place outside the rig.

We had had to get our propane tanks filled just before our backpack, and went over to the office to settle up.  Just after we arrived, a woman came by with two parrots on her shoulders (!?!):

She is the "wagonmaster" for an RV camping group called "The Happy Wanderers" from Connecticut, who periodically venture out together and stay at a selected campground for a weekend.  This was the weekend for our campground, and we had seen all of their vehicles streaming in on Friday in the rain.

The two parrots are her pets - one male and one female.  The male was very vocal but not particularly friendly to strangers.  The female, while demurely silent, was very easygoing and would, in fact, sit on peoples' arms.  Here's a photo of Kathy getting to know the female parrot:

Having been diverted for about an hour to chat with the parrot lady and our campground host, we returned to our site and continued the drying and cleaning process.  David took the opportunity to do some cleaning of the truck that had been deferred for too long.  By the time late afternoon rolled around, we had completed these chores and had time to plan a wine-tasting tour for tomorrow.  More on that in the next blog entry.