It's Sunday Morning...

Prepare for a random discussion that happens to focus on extreme terrain, all of which I've been exposed to in the last 24 hours...some in-person, some via projection. Let's begin in the infamous Lewiston, Idaho, home of Hell's Canyon, housing the appropriately named Snake River. Now, imagine this picture completely covered in pristine, deep, white snow and you will see the same view I had this week out of the airplane window.

Another point of note, as we were landing the night before, the flight attendant pointed out the gentleman sitting at the far right of the front row in his army camouflage fatigues, with his backpack belted into the seat next to him reinforcing the part it plays in his life, was returning home from Baghdad. The next thing you heard was applause from around the plane, all breathing a sigh of relief on his behalf.

The minute that door opened he raced down the stairs, across the runway and into the arms of his family. His 3 year old boy stood apart and cried simply because his daddy was home. The airport lobby was full of many others who were sharing in that same sigh of relief.

Then we jump to Switzerland and a mountain called the Eiger. This mountain has the sheerest face of any European mountain, standing 13,000 feet in the air makes it the ultimate challenge for true,
diehard mountain climbers. I don't use that term loosely because it has claimed 60 lives of those who have insisted they could best it. One of those was the father of the individual you see in the picture below. He was a demanding father who expected only the best of his children and demanded to know why when their performance delivered something less.

Nevertheless, his legacy to them was the need to prove themselves. At least that has been the case for his son who recently did climb the mountain and prevailed, even as he passed the spot where his dad had fallen 4,000 feet to his death. Clint Eastwood even made a movie about the climbing challenge this mountain presents in the early 70's called the Eiger Sanction, an excellent production with guaranteed palm sweating scenes. And yes, that is actually Clint you will see on the face of that cliff in some of those scenes.

This brings me to yet another geographical icon by the name of Vesuvius, and its impact on a thriving community called Pompeii, but I'll save that for a separate blog due to the length of this one already. Hopefully, this has provoked some thought as was my intention.