Sounds and Smells

Do you like to camp? I do. You know that stillness in the campsite, when you get up in the morning? I get that when I walk out of the house here. In fact, we get that on our deck, too. Somehow, even when you hear noises, there is a quite stillness. I know that doesn't make any sense. Right now, I'm sitting on the deck at my family's cabin (also on the West Shore). I hear noise from highway 89 (the main road, a couple blocks down the hill). I hear individual vehicles as they go by, not a constant background noise. Occasionally, there is some sort of construction sound. There are a lot of bird sounds -at least three different kinds but I'm no expert. I also hear a few insect sounds. There is no wind now, but that would add a rustle to the trees. I guess my feeling of stillness is because I can hear things like insects and individual birds and a rustle in the trees. As the summer season gets going, I'll hear every motor boat start up or cruise by.

It smells like the outdoors, like camping. Like the mountains. Each season has a different scent, and I love them all. We just walk outside, onto the deck to smell it. Even opening the windows smells like camping. It smells like Spring now, of course. On the warmer days, the warmth of the sun heats things up and intensifies the smell, giving a hint of the smell of summer to come.

Here in Tahoe, we get to experience the outdoors, all the time. This is one of the things I love about Tahoe.