Jerry Johnson

We’ve gotten a lot of snow this winter. And then it got cold. Like, really cold. Night time lows below zero, and daytime highs hovering around 20.  So the only thing to do with this kind of weather is go swimming.

Last year, we took Clara to a developed hot spring near McCall and she loved it. This year we decided to give the undeveloped hot spring a try. Spoiler: She had a blast. Our biggest concern was keeping her warm during the one-mile hike to and from the springs. She did fine in her little blue down suit, but then, it helps that the hike was so short. I’ve written about these hot springs before, and since then, I’ve been back only twice (including this trip). I meant to make it an annual tradition, but after Clara was born, we just couldn’t seem to make it work. Now that we know that hot springs are a hit, I’m hoping we can visit more of them before we end up leaving the northwest.

Similar Posts

  • Puppies for Sale

    The puppies are now over 8 weeks old and oh so cute. As you can imagine, seven growing pups indoors can create quite a mess that is hard to keep on top of. On top of that, any time you step into their room, they all mob you for attention. So, as spring weather has descended upon the Palouse, we found scrap lumber and fencing and built an outdoor playpen for the dogs. So far it is doing the job. It’s also giving the pups some much needed fresh air and sunshine, which in turn tires them out so all…

  • Another conference, how about that?

    Somehow, I managed to go to two conferences in one semester. Tomorrow, I’ll be heading to Port Townsend, WA along with several other members of the department for the bi-annual Evo-WIBO conference. This is a small, regional conference for evolutionary biologists in the Pacific Northwest. There are only going to be around 200 or so people attending (compared to the 2-3000 at SICB), and there is only one talk session at a time. So lucky me, I got chosen to give an oral presentation. Did I mention it’s a small conference? It begins Saturday morning and ends Sunday at noon….

  • The Last One

    Since last week, we had been down to three puppies. Three is much more manageable than seven, but still a crowd. In fact, having two out at a time was still a handful. Tuesday, I made up posters advertising the rest of the pups, and in less than 24 hours, we had two more sold. This left us with one Pink Girl to care for. Having one puppy isn’t so bad. They’re a lot more mellow by themselves, they don’t eat as much, and most importantly, there’s not as much pee and poop to clean up. Of the three that…

  • What have I been up to?

    It has been quite some time since I last made a post here, so I’d say I’m a bit overdue for an update. For the past two and a half years, I have been living in northwestern North Dakota. Saying this is an adjustment is an understatement. North Dakota is considerably flatter than any place I’ve lived, and there are almost no trees here. Winters are extremely harsh and long. We can have weeks where the daytime high does not exceed 0º F, and the wind will send a chill to your core. Our corner of the state doesn’t get…

  • |

    Nostalgia

    times square, originally uploaded by Matthew Singer. I’m going to start this post by sharing a few photos I shot on Kodak T-Max black and white film way back in 2001 during my freshman year of college. Film. Back then, my little school of 1600 had a darkroom that the photo club and art department shared. It was in the basement of one of the dorms. When the art department got its brand new building, it got a brand new state-of-the-art darkroom, and the club took complete ownership of the old darkroom. I’m not sure what’s left of the facility…

  • Mount Rogers, VA

    Well, my time in Alabama has come to an end. To catch up on this thing, I spent the fall season at the McDowell Environmental Center as an educator down in northern Alabama. I enjoyed it so much that I returned for the spring season. The area is a sandstone highlands carved into canyons by the rivers. Its beautiful and biologically diverse and very interesting. I had a great birding season with 117 species this spring, lots of wildflowers, and good herping. The season ended May 19, and on Sunday the 21st, I headed north with Damascus, VA as my…