30th Birthday Spectacular

This Thanksgiving was my 30th birthday, and Simiao helped me celebrate in style by making a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner for myself and some friends from Sage.  The next day we drove to Breitenbush Hot Springs to spend a weekend hot tubbing and hiking.    Driving back in the daylight, we were intrigued by the partially drained Detroit Lake and stopped at the Detroit Lake State Park Mongold Area to explore the drained lake bed.  There were a few remarkable things about the exposed wasteland:  first, the underabundance of lake life.  No water plants at all were visible, only tree stumps, and bare rock.  The occasional crayfish shell could be found, probably the remains of bait from recreational fishing.  Second, evidence of long submerged human habitation was visible in the form of ancient asphalt and concrete foundations as well as the occasional exposed pipe.  Thirdly, we found a submerged hot spring where steaming hot water flowed from the exposed lakebed!  I've posted some favorite pictures from these adventures below.

I could barely contain my glee at my dangerously chocolaty birthday cake!