Shining, Shimmering, Splendor

     When I left this blog I was about to get 3 hours of sleep and then embark on a journey to Mt. Cook.  We got out of Dunedin at 4:16 a.m. and after taking a shortcut and making a wrong turn, got in the front of the line for reservations at the Mueller Hut at 7:40.  About 30 to 40 minutes ahead of schedule.   I attribute our obtaining the tickets to my Kiwi Host Dan's beastly driving and short cut sniffing skills along with the roads being completely clear at the ungodly hour.  The spectacular sunrise as we barreled through the straight valley roads was a good omen for things to come throughout the weekend.  We couldn't have had better weather if we had gone in the middle of summer.

  A fresh thick blanket of snow earlier in the week provided for surreal scenes and made our hike seem more adventurous.   It was one of the more challenging if not the most continuously challenging hikes I have ever done (4 hours practically straight up) but I loved every minute of the leg burning and heavy breathing.  We took time to swim in a small alpine pond, have lunch, and ambush the trailing members of our crew with snowballs.   The sunset cast a soft fuchsia glow on the towering Mount Cook.  Sunrise the next morning was nothing short of spiritually awe inspiring.  On top of Mount Olivier, the 360 degrees of splendor absolutely swallowed me up and cannot be described in any other way than poetic.  Sunlight beamed off of the snowy tops and ran down the mountain like a magnificent golden liquid as the sun rose higher above the horizon.  All of this came about on a last minute decision on Friday night to scrap the weekend plans and work and hit the road.  What a good decision.

     Now it's Tuesday and I've gotten a good start finally on my research papers.  I'll probably post my ethics one here when I'm finished, which will hopefully be less than a week from now if I plan to turn it in on-time.  I had planned on posting about the disgusting feeling I have right now after getting this Hare Krishna $3 lunch and then drinking a mountain dew earlier today; luckily I remembered about this weekend.  My digestive system still would thank you for your thoughts and well wishes, though.  Love to you all.