4/4/2010 Home Again, Home Again!

The bad news is that I packed my pedometer today, so I wasn't able to get it out until I got home. It is like a part of me now, and I'm not sure how I packed it away. Anyway, we left the Wenatchee area today after church, an Easter Egg hunt at the house, and a nice Easter dinner. Got home about 7:10 PM and by 7:50 PM, I was ready to head out for a walk. Since it was nearly dark, I opted to do the small loop street near my condo, Patricia Lane. I had to make 4 loops to get in a 30 minute walk, and it came to 1.39 miles. I remember only being to walk that loop once before calling it quits a while back, so to make it 4 times in a half hour is great. There is one pretty steep hill on the loop, and I do have to admit I opted to walk down that hill instead of up each time around. What amazed me, though, is that it didn't bother my knee to walk down hill. Pretty great! In just a few days, it will be nine months since my surgery, and I never imagined I would be doing this great.
I noticed tulips were blooming in the yards, and I could smell smoke from the fireplaces burning on this cool, spring evening. It is nice to be back home, although for only a day. Tomorrow night I head out again and won't be home until Friday. If it's nice tomorrow, I might head for the dike trail or out to Padilla Bay.
Here's my route tonight: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/668221

4/3/2010 Exploring the Neighborhood Some More

Today being Saturday, there was quite a bit going on at Lindsey and Carl's, so not much time to get out for a walk until after dinner, so at nearly 7:00 PM, I headed out to explore the neighborhood a bit more. I was trying to find a way to walk to the loop trail without having to negotiate the steep hill near their driveway. I ended up doing a loop walk that went 1.35 miles in just over 30 minutes, but I wasn't able to avoid hills--the steep one, yes, but not all hills altogether.  The area where Lindsey and Carl live is built up on what was old orchard land--as is much of the development, I gather. But it makes for interesting yards, because many people still have remnants of orchards in their yards. Some just three

or four trees, some many more. I also passed what must have been an old sorting shed or packing shed at one time, that is for sale now. I was struck by the old building marked by a beautiful wooden oak door. It appears that someone had plans to renovate at one time. I'd like to know the history of the building. Fruit trees are starting to bloom over here, too.

Wish I knew my cherry trees from apple trees from pear trees, but I don't. Just know that these blossoms were very pretty. I am thinking they are Apple trees. Guess I'll find out later this spring when I return to the area. here's my route today:

http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/666828

4/2/2010 Snow in April?

We woke up to cold and gray skies today, and sure enough, before long it was snowing, and sticking. This should have been April Fool's Day--a joke by Mother Nature. It is actually sort of cool where Lindsey and Carl live that we can watch the weather approach. This morning we could see snow in the hills and mountains to the north and watch it come across the river towards us. No playground today and no Loop Trail. We headed to Fred Meyer to walk the aisles! 1.65 miles, most of it in the store pushing Alice in the shopping cart. Pretty sure we covered the whole store. Spent quite a bit of time in the toy section and ended up making a few minor purchases just for Alice. Between that and food, it is quite amazing what sort of bill you can rack up when you spend an hour in a store.  When we got back home we made Easter Bunny cookies after our afternoon nap. A good task on a cold snowy day.

4/1/2010 April Fool's Day

Today was a beautiful day in East Wenatchee and since I had left Christie to fend for herself with two year old Alice for a couple of days while I enjoyed Phoenix, we had to get out of the house, so we took Alice to an elementary school to play on the playground there. We actually took her to gymnastics first, only to find out they were closed for Spring Vacation. Since Alice was so excited to "jumpy jumpy" we headed to the playground so she wouldn't be too disappointed. After that we went to lunch where I found a new way to get in some mileage while I am working. Right before we were to head into lunch, I was reminded that I needed to be in on a conference call for work. Since I didn't want to go into the restaurant and talk on my cell phone, I stayed outside in the parking lot and paced around during the call. I'd say that was a creative way to get in some walking. I walked for the 20 minutes I was on the call. Add to that the rest of the day with a 2 year old, and I had plenty of exercise. I might try the walking and talking routine next time I have to make a conference call. Much better than just sitting on my duff!

3/31/2010 Three Months!

Today, I completed three months of walking. Can't say I have seen a drastic change in my weight, but I can say I am wearing some clothes that I haven't been able to wear in over two years. That's a good sign! Today I clocked just over 3 miles of urban walking to and from hotels, parking lots, and airports, and on my feet all day giving a workshop. Amazing how the miles add up that way. I have also noticed how much walking I tend to do at airports--lots of walking to and from and in between gates. I was actually sorry I couldn't have stayed in the Phoenix area a bit longer. I forgot how nice the warm weather feels, especially when it is still in the 70s and 80s at 8:00 PM at night. I'm really missing my annual week I used to spend in Palm Springs every year, and think I might have to go somewhere warm in May now, when all my travelling slows down a bit.

This picture is something I haven't ever seen before, a walk up/drive thru Starbucks. We stopped here this morning to get our coffee before class. This Starbucks has nowhere to go inside and order. You walk up and place your order or drive thru. I think it's a great idea--for Arizona, not for Washington.

3/30/2010 Scottsdale, Arizona

This morning I flew to Phoenix for a training tomorrow. After a webinar this afternoon, my travelling partner, Kathy Dorr and I headed to Scottsdale to attend a Spring Training game. Alas, we arrived just as the game was getting over. Quite the disappointment, and a fast game, if you ask me. We were only 2 1/5 hours late. As we were leaving, we noticed a nice park nearby and decided to take advantage of the situation and get in my daily walk. We only walked for 35 minutes, but it WAS 90 degrees out, so the 1.43 miles we put in was plenty for us without water or hats. It was really a beautiful area. We started out parking at a place called Osborn Park, but we ended up in an area called Camelback Park. We walked along a golf course, under a highway, and past ponds filled with carp, turtles, and birds. It was a very nice walk. I saw a bird that I haven't seen before and that we don't have in Western Washington that I know of. Not sure what it was; I'll have to find out, but it was really pretty. We also saw a large turtle sunning himself on a log. The trail is all paved and goes on and on from what we could see. It's also divided either for two way traffic or for walkers on one side and bicyclists on the other. Not sure. But it was glorious to walk in beautiful sunny, warm weather.

Here's our route: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/661688

3/29/2010 The New Neighborhood

Today, by 3:30 we hadn't made it out for a walk yet, so I took Alice out to visit the new neighborhood after she got up from her afternoon nap. She loves to go for rides in her jogger stroller, so it's no problem convincing her to go. In order to get to the Loop Trail, we have to negotiate a very steep hill down to get to the trail and up to get back to the house. Yesterday when we did that, I had Alice's mom push the jogger up the hill on the way home. Since I didn't want to negotiate all that myself today, I opted to head the opposite direction and walk through a cul de sac in their neighborhood. That way, we also didn't have to get on the main highway. However, in order to even get in 30 minutes of walking, we had to walk the route 3 times or so. It came to 1.2 miles but should count for more if you are pushing a two year old in a stroller. Actually Alice was very well behaved and enjoyed looking at all the trees along the way. Some were in full bloom as this picture shows.  My route and data are here: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/660641

3/28/2010 Finally a Good, Real Walk!

Today after everyone on the moving team left, Christie, Lindsey, and Alice and I (and their dog Buck) went for a walk on the Loop Trail. We walked a total of 2.57 miles in just under an hour. It was a quick 10 minute walk from Lindsey's new house to the trail head. Since we had Alice in the jogger stroller, we opted to head on a northern route on the trail which seemed less hilly than the other way. Not sure if that is really true, but we managed just fine. The Loop Trail is really very nice and paved, which is a great benefit when you have a stroller. It was also nice for me, too, because with the stroller, we didn't get going too fast. It was a bit cool out, but Alice didn't seem too bothered by it, and although we started her out with a hat, gloves, and blanket, soon she had them all off. She held up very good for sitting in a stroller for an hour. She especially liked seeing and hearing the birds. Buck was also pretty well behaved and stayed fairly close to us when we allowed him off the leash. I look forward to lots more walks on this trail now that Lindsey and Carl live so close to it. here's our route today: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/659796

3/27/2010 Moving Day!

Today we moved Lindsey and Carl to their new house. Whew! I clocked in 5.28 miles, many of it up and down stairs. I am quite thankful that their new house is all on one level. We started moving them about 8:00 AM and by early evening we had them just about all moved in. Well, all their stuff was moved--not unpacked. Anyway, not a formal walk today, but lots of walking indeed. I was actually amazed at the end of the day to see over 5 miles on my pedometer. The new house is very close to the Loop Trail, so I plan to walk that at some point this coming week as well. It wouldn't have done me any good to try and take pictures yesterday or today because I realized I had once again left my camera card in my computer at home. I will have to head to Office Depot or Fred Meyer tomorrow and get a new one. No picture of my own to post today, so I am borrowing one my friend Christie took.

3/26/2010 The Outlet Mall

Today I headed to East Wenatchee where I will be for the next 9 days. On my way, I stopped at the Outlet Mall in Marysville to pick up a couple of things, and as I was driving in, I noticed a couple walking the loop around the parking lot of the mall. Perfect place for my walk today, so I delayed my trip east of the mountains a bit and spent 30 minutes walking around the parking lot of the Outlet Mall. All in all I got in 1.3 miles and no one looked at me oddly. No pictures today, though, because I left my camera packed in my luggage in the car.  I am in East Wenatchee to help my goddaughter Lindsey and her husband Carl move to a new house. I am sure I will be getting plenty of exercise the next few days, and their new house is only a short walk from the Douglas County Loop Trail. I am pretty excited about that!

3/25/2010 The Mall

Today was a very rainy day; pretty typical spring day here in the Pacific Northwest. My friend Christie and I opted to walk the mall instead of braving the cold, wet weather. We nearly lost count of the laps we made, but we covered 2.9 miles in about an hour. While we were walking, we noticed the number of closed up store fronts and then we started counting those, 11 in all. That's at least a quarter of the shops in the mall. In some shops they have set up things like a mall information center in one and a sitting area where they are advertising the Tulip Festival. I guess it's better to put anything in a vacant store rather than just have it sit empty. If you have ever attended a large conference and visited the exhibit area, take note next time. Quite often the conference people or the exhibition company will fill up empty areas of the exhibit hall with tables and chairs. That's not done to give us all a comfy place to sit--it's to make the exhibit hall not look so empty. Same idea.  But back to the mall...not my favorite place to walk, but it definitely protects me from the rain, and I am never alone in my walking escapades there. Hope it doesn't rain tomorrow.