Mountain isn’t the right word, but it’s the one I keep using. The Rockies are mountains, the Appalachians are mountains. They don’t have anything like that here. What they have here are mounds of barren rock, some reaching heights that are frighteningly tall. I keep trying to figure out what the landscape is missing and I’ve not been able to put my finger on it. More trees? Colors? I’ve never seen anything like this before.

This morning we visited a local LCMS church. They have three Lutheran churches in this town: ELCA, Wisconsin synod, and LCMS. The church we visited, we were told, has five retired pastors as part of its membership. Today they had a guest pastor and did Divine Service three. On the bulletin board was a missionary letter from a couple we knew a short time during seminary. Both of us were pregnant and due with our first babies.

After that we went back to Sylvan Lake, which is the same place they have the trail entrances for hikes. This time though we went to the beach. It wasn’t packed or overly crowded, though the parking lots again were full. They have hikes you can do around the lake which we did about halfway just to see what was over there. The kids saw a man who was naked changing his clothes. I turned around but Dad said it was okay.