Day 8, Part 3: Saturday, April 29th, 2006
Pomona College and Claremont, California
Eventually, I head back to the Pomona campus in time to take pictures of my favorite buildings in the twilight. I cross paths for the second time that day with Dr. Trent Smith, who--along with my former roommate, Jeff Mulert--first introduced me to the joys of wilderness hiking while I was in school here. I miss out on the opportunity to take Trent's picture, but we shoot the breeze for awhile, trying to sort out the vagaries of working in medicine and academia in the modern world. Career and family seem to be the primary topics of conversation all weekend long, and since I essentially have neither, it's somewhat amazing to me that I can discuss anything with anyone at all. But Trent's personality--like everyone else's--has remained the same, even though his life has changed, and so it's anything but difficult to talk with him, even though we haven't spoken in ten years.
After I say goodbye to Trent, I wander through campus in the gloaming, camera in hand.
This is Mason Hall, home of the foreign languages departments and what used to be the linguistics program.
This is Wig Hall, my freshman dormitory.
Dan and I roomed together in Wig 14, which is the room closest to the corner on the bottom floor of the building--which we used to call "The Basement," for various obscure reasons.
Right behind Wig Hall is Wig Beach, which is actually a large field and not a beach at all. I learned how to play Beach Volleyball here, nonetheless. There was also no fence on the field back when we were students here, so it used to be prime territory for playing frisbee, as well.
I'm pretty sure that this is where we used to eat.
Beyond Merrill Field and through the smog, you can see the silhouette of Mt. Baldy--the mountain that Trent and Jeff and I first climbed in 1993.
On Saturday night, my friends and I eat one more dinner together in the old gymnasium before saying our last goodbyes to one another. Without knowing when I'll ever see them--or this place--again, I head back down the road, towards the mountains and the deserts and the way home.
