The other day I took off early in the morning to scoot on up to Lake Angeles. The weather was perfect, I was the first one on the trail and I enjoyed the solitude as long as I could.

Once I hit the lake, (about 2500 foot elevation gain in 3.5 miles), I found a patch of sun, layed my head down on my backpack and woke up two and a half hours later. It felt so good.

I spent the rest of the day exploring around the lake, napping here and there and then found a nice out of the way spot to curl up for the night. It was about perfect.

The week before at work was insane. We had a Navy Blackhawk helicopter make an emergency landing at our heli pad and then the next day two inmates attempted to escape, taking one of my friends hostage while the other smashed though the fence forcing one of our officers to shoot him. The insanity that followed was draining to the body and soul. People were stepping up and doing jobs that normally don’t get done by staff. We were doing laundry, making meals, hauling trash… Lock downs aren’t all that fun. We work harder than ever keeping the place running.

I had three days off and spending those two up in the mountains was the best thing that I could have done.

Sunday night I got home and went with the family up to a friends house for a barbecue and fireworks. I showed the kids how to make a simple snare and played a lot of fetch with the dogs. Good times were had by all.

Monday the 4th was a rare day in this area. Fourth of July in Forks is almost ALWAYS spent in the rain. This year sunburns were a common sight. It was nice.

I showed up to work on my Monday surprisingly refreshed and ready to go. Things still aren’t completely back to normal, but I thrive on chaos. We own this.