I dreamed I was hiking in Big Bend. The trail went past a farm with a black cow and a white horse, who followed me with friendly curiosity until it became clear I was going to feed them. Another hiker came in off a side trail at the foot of a steep, rocky slope, and asked where the trail went. I said that it went up to the main lodge area in the Chisos basin, but first it went by an older, more historic building that used to be the main lodge, but was now more of a retreat center.
Sure enough, after hiking up the slope, we could see the old lodge, looking like a Swiss chalet, across a glen. It had three steep roofs in a row and was painted pale yellow. There was a sort of lower arcade with shops and cafes, and a lot of young people were hanging around. The stairway down to the lower level was a wide, funnel shaped spiral, so that people going down started in slow circles, that tightened and sped up until they dropped down the last few feet spinning.
I went down the stair myself, and was dropped into a boat out on a mirror smooth bay of jade green water. There was another boat nearby, and we were all taking turns being catapulted out into the water. When it was my turn, I fell deep into the bay, surrounded by a green, hazy light. The water was warm, and felt thick and heavy against my skin. I rose slowly to the surface.
When my head broke into the air again, I was back at the retreat center in the mountains. I was in an upper arcade, open to the blue sky all around, beneath dark hardwood timber a-frame rafters the color of cherry amber. A white adobe Spanish mission perched nearby, its small black church bell tolling in a white arch. I walked across a narrow stone bridge to an octagonal viewing platform, under a red tile roof. There was a lovely view of mountains all around, and the sun setting golden in a rose and amethyst sky. I continued hiking up the mountains through thin patches of snow. The I woke up.
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