journal entry 8.11.2024
pits and hills

I’m still here in Idaho. The room I’m sleeping in was apparently reffered to as “The Pit” because of how dark, quiet, and easy to sleep in. The house like most of the homes here, is situated on a hill looking towards the lake, another pit of sorts. (this one carved by glaciers from the ice age.............and then dammed up raising the water level and flooding the meadows)
Part of the inspiration for dinner pit came from my grandpa’s hillside backyard.


a few days ago my grandpa and I hiked up some hunting trails on mountain behind us, at one point we missed the ridge we were supposed to follow to the end of the hike and found ourselves at the beginning of a dell (small wooded valley). I was admiring the sheer hillsides in 3 directions trying to explain my foundness for pits, and being in settings where you don’t know whats beyond 200 feet due to some large piece of environment, whether valley or skyscrapers. I noticed at the chinese garden how a few strategically placed trees and architecture create a wall of horizon allowing you to imagine whatever you want lying just out of sight (some sides are the faces of buildings, but like I said I find enjoyment there as well)



anyways my talk of looking at a wall (and the fact that we were going to head back) made my grandpa bring up mountain climbing on rainier and the difference in view going up vs going down. One way it’s a wall 5’ from you the other way is as far as the eye can see. Now that’s an extreme, but on a moderate hike I wonder how many would prefer the view looking at growth climbing upwards with walls and hills, vs the larger field a view falling and disapearing? 



I’ve also come across a book that my aunt gave to my grandpa, Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape. so expect to see some more peer reviewed definitions of geological terms.