Quartz Mountain is Dead... Long Live Quartz Mountain

We had a very nice "weekend"... really a "week start" at Quartz Mountain. I had not been back there in more than 10 years.

It's completely changed, of course. At least, the lodge is all new. Those of you who knew me from of old remember the years I spent working for the Oklahoma Arts Institute. I spent three weeks at Quartz every year in June, and six weeks, on and off, from September through the end of October. I knew the place... the old lodge, anyway... intimately. It was full of memories and meaning for me. I knew the smell of the old lodge building -- a mixture of aging carpet and a particular type of cleaner and disinfectant. I knew what was in all the cardboard boxes packed on shelves upstairs in the outdoor amphitheatre shell. (The one labeled "knee pads and tennis balls" actually contained... knee pads and tennis balls. Don't ask me why) I knew the trees and bushes around the old site like the back of my hand.

But the lodge burned down about 12 years ago, and then, after I left the Institute, they rebuilt it on a grand scale. The entire footprint of the place is different. The only thing that was the same was the row of pavilions behind the lodge by the lake, and the old amphitheatre.

I went with mixed feelings, expecting to be bombarded by memories of my time with the institute. It was a good place, but filled with anxious memories of hard work, long hours and exhausting duties. When we first arrived, I took Gray and Grayson on a quick tour of the pavilions, and those did, indeed, evoke memories. But then we went back to our room, and it was all new. The ghosts, good, bad and indifferent, don't live there anymore.

After I realized that, it was a whole different experience. I didn't have to have "ownership" of the place. I didn't have to be the expert. Nobody there knew me from the old days. I was an innocent civilian, just there to enjoy the beautiful mountain landscape and the nice new lodge facilities. What a relief. Quartz Mountain is dead.

Long live Quartz Mountain.

We had a good time. We climbed mountains and saw wildlife and paddled in the lake. It was a good experience because we all could enjoy it together. Gray was, of course, in his element. Climbing and hiking off ahead of us. I enjoyed the chance to really climb and explore the mountains that I had been near so many times and never had much of an opportunity to really experience. And I was pleasantly surprised at how enthusiastic Grayson was for rock climbing. I was worried that it would be too tiring for him, or he would be scared. But he marched bravely on, relying on Gray's strength to haul him up over some of the more difficult places, and not seeming particularly afraid of the heights and the climb. There were a few times, in truth, when I had visions of the damage a real fall would do, but I just put it out of my mind. I can't protect him from everything. And he's big enough to climb rocks. So we climbed. Up one mountain, down between two, then up again the next one. Then down a very steep and difficult drop to the lake where Grayson did a little skinny-dipping and I went wading. I would have been happy to get in, myself, but we were within sight of the road and I thought I would spare innocent travellers the vision of my saggy ass wading into the lake. Venus on the halfshell I am not.

It was a three and a half hour climb, and Grayson did great right through to the end. Afterward, he claimed he was scared on the descent, but at the time he was a real trooper.

I've decided we're going to take regular weekend trips to experience all the cool places Oklahoma has to offer. Last fall we went to Beavers Bend, to do a little canoeing on the river. This summer, Quartz Mountain... and next, I think Alabaster Caverns up by the panhandle, to see the bat flight. Or maybe Little Sahara for some dune-buggying. The state has lots of cool places to see.