Our first mudslide

The problem with blogging for about five minutes a day is that it becomes awfully hard to keep up with events - chronologically, I'm at about mid-July with stories that I've taken notes on and wanted to tell. Add a first week of classes, and the internet being wonky for a day or two, and it's pretty obvious to me that some events will have to remain a mystery to even you, our faithful readers. (Oh yeah, this is old news, isn't it?)

So maybe a landslide blocking the road is a good metaphor here. Or, heck with the metaphor, at least an interesting picture or two...



Two hours into a three hour drive to a national park outside of Shangri-La, we ran into the scene above - a shallow stream ford over the local road that had been totally covered in mud and rock, with a handful of highway workers clearing the way with hoes, picks, and shovels.




(Ysa, waiting quite patiently)

The Removal of a Very Large Boulder:

After watching for a bit, it became quite obvious that this was going to take a while, so there wasn't much choice but to head back the way we came. Another two hours back along winding mountain roads, a stop at a small roadside restaurant for lunch, and we were back home again.

On our way out of the restaurant, we saw a big earth mover (Front loader? It's been awhile since the boys were fascinated with construction equipment, so I'm rusty on my terminology) headed the other way towards the landslide, so I'm guessing that all of the other stranded travelers were freed up as well.