Guys Around Here
On the matter of checking out guys, I have always followed Seinfeld's advice. "Don't stare! . . . [it's] like looking at the sun! You get a sense of it and then you look away!"
I think I am very discrete. Yet I am amazed when somebody somehow seems to know, and the guys around here seem to have a sixth sense about it. And they don't like it.
There is a new lifeguard at the pool this summer. He has very generous biceps, and he always wears a sleeveless shirt or a tank top. Yesterday he wore a tank top. I was sneaking glances at him while I was stretching before swimming. And I mean, I would have an arm wrapped behind my head, pulling down on it with the other arm, and casually look his way. Who pays any attention to where someone doing that is looking?
This is actually not a story that typifies what I'm talking about, because it involves a third person. There was a second lifeguard as well, a girl. She and the hunk sat at a table at the far end of the pool. Before I finished stretching she leaned over and said something to the other lifeguard. He sat up straight, turned in his chair and looked right at me, then turned away, pushed his chair back behind a corner so he was out of my line of sight, leaned back, and put his legs up on the table.
Hyper-sensitive, I tell you.
And if he doesn't want to be looked at, he needs to keep some clothes on.

Coming Down From Vacation/Coming Down From the Mountains
The weekend was great. We successfully camped out three nights in a row. Rob had another new tent, a second attempt to find a tent he could stand up in. This one actually worked out. Last summer's attempt to find a tent he could stand up in was disasterous; the one he chose turned out to be a really crummy design and it collapsed in the middle of the night.
We ended up camping at Julian Price Park because it was so late by the time we got up there Friday we figured Linville Falls was full. Price was almost full and we had a time finding a decent spot. The place we settled for was right on top of a second campsite which we hoped would stay vacant, but somebody pulled in after dark. He turned out to be part of a group camping farther away so he hung out with them and didn't bother us. We had comfortable rhododendron screening between us and our other neighbors.
Friday evening it was a little chilly. Saturday morning it rained and I just lay in the tent as long as possible. That afternoon it cleared up and became a beautiful day. we hiked some around Linville Fall, and there was still obvious damage from the hurricane which went through there last summer. Both banks of the river were lined with trees that had been flattened by the flood waters. The visitors' center was open but hadn't been very long. The little store was mostly empty space. The railing on a bridge had been ripped off and had a temporary replacement.
Sunday was overcast all day, but we got out and hiked to a smaller waterfall and rented a canoe and went out on the lake at Julian Price.
Monday after we broke camp we went on a hike along the Parkway which a guidebook described as "moderate." "Moderate," my foot. My legs are still sore.
But the Linn Cove Viaduct is really pretty impressive, you have to admit.