5/7/2010 Sunshine!

The sunshine today made everyone forget how hard it rained and blew just 5 days ago. So many postings on Facebook today mentioning the sun and blue sky. And it was a beautiful day. Made me think about how lucky I am to be somewhat retired at a fairly young age and be able to enjoy days like this. I ran errands all day, so didn't take my walk until nearly 5:30, but that seems to be the time I enjoy most to be out walking. It is quiet then, the birds are all chirping, and quite often most people are home having dinner, so I am alone on the trails. Today was no exception.  I walked the 2.9 mile trail up Ovenell Road almost to the recycle center and then through the woods and back down Ovenell again, and never saw a soul. Once I got into the woods, remnants of the wind storm Sunday and Monday were quite evident, with at least two places scattered with fresh sawdust where some "logging" had to take place to remove some of the larger trees that had fallen across the trail. The trail was still quite muddy in the shaded areas, too, from the rain we had earlier this week.

I don't think anyone can really envision what the forest here is like unless they walk through it. It is full of very old growth timber: huge fir, hemlock, and cedar trees as well as old oak trees.  This stump or stumps is a conglomerate of what appears to be at least 4 or 5 trees that stood as one not too long ago.  My guess is, we lost them to a windstorm.

I also saw, and ate, my first salmonberries today. I knew there were wild blackberries along the trail, but didn't think about the salmonberries. Now I'll have snacks if I get hungry on my walks.My time was pretty horrible for this walk, but I was really enjoying the walk and all the nature around me, and stopping to take pictures everywhere. Nice walk! My route is here: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/709762

5/6/2010 Country Club Loop

What a gorgeous day it turned out to be. As is my fashion, I delayed my walk until about 5:30 PM. By then the skies were blue, clouds were gone, and so was the wind. It was a great evening for a walk, with only a sweatshirt needed. (I do look forward to a time soon when no second layer is necessary, though.)  I have been putting off walking the country club loop, but not sure why, it's only 2.5 miles and takes just under an hour. It seems so daunting though when I picture it in my mind. Must be the hills...
Anyway, it was a nice walk. Not a single car passed me during my entire walk, which is a rare occurrence. It was very quiet and peaceful. I even spotted a rabbit out near the road enjoying dinner.  I spent the walk taking in the sights and smells of spring, noticing that many of the trees that bloomed earlier are already losing their blossoms. Am wondering what will take their place, as the flowers bloom three-fourths of the year around here. Some of the Rhododendrons are really stunning with their huge, huge, blossoms. If any of you are looking for a home, I passed 8 houses for sale on my walk today, including two condominiums. Houses range from $650,000 to $330,000.
Looks like it is going to be nice for the next several days now, so I look forward to some nice walks. My route today is here: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/708593

5/5/2010 A Sign of the Times

Tonight I was over at Office Max in Mount Vernon checking out office desks, so when I got out to the parking lot, I decided to take my walk around the area there. I headed north through the deserted Wal-Mart store parking lot and then all the way down to the CottonTree hotel and back. Thirty minutes in all, 1.3 miles. I am sort of fascinated with the way America just discards commercial buildings. Across the street a ways from the now empty Wal-Mart, are a vacant, discarded Joes Sporting Goods and an Albertson's store, a large amount of retail space sitting empty. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart builds a brand new store just a 1/2 mile away, and at one point Winco was going to build a new store up the road--while this prime property sits empty.  I have heard that there is a covenant on the Wal-Mart property made with Safeway that prohibits another grocery store from moving into the Wal-Mart site. Cities should think more about the future when they allow building permits.  Another thing I walked past tonight was what used to be, until Tuesday, a Frontier Bank.

Now it is Union Bank of California. Notice the plastic sign. I have seen those go up on other banks in the area the past few months as bank after bank closes. Scary times for financial institutions. Frontier is the 6th Washington bank to go under so far in 2010; that's over 1 bank a month. Kind of makes you want to start keeping your money in your mattress--not so easy now with a Tempur-Pedic.  Maybe in my cowboy boots in my closet. I don't use those too often.  Here's my route: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/707372

5/4/2010 Lopez Island

Wow! What a treat today! My friend Pat Fitzgerald invited me out to Lopez Island today where she and her husband have a cabin, so we spent a bit of the afternoon walking on two trails. One was a little over 2 miles long, the other just under 1/2 a mile.  The first walk was out to Iceberg Island State Park, an area I hadn't ever been to before on the island, and I'm not sure too many people except locals know about it. The entrance is gated with a no parking sign and private property signs, but just down the road a ways from that is the official state park sign. Pretty nice secret, Lopez Islanders!  The trail is pretty much grass and dirt, and winds through a mostly pine tree and fern forest before opening up to a rocky point. The weather was beautiful all day; blue sky and sunshine--unlike what I left at home this morning. 

After we did the first walk, Pat drove us to Watmough Park, and oh my gosh---it is only .23 miles through the woods, but ends at a most beautiful bay. The water was crystal clear close to the shore and beautiful blue farther out. Tiny little fish were jumping everywhere--guess it was feeding time. It was actually pretty breathtaking there. So peaceful too. We sat on the logs for a bit taking it all in. What a great way to spend the day! 

You can see my routes here; my Trimble AllSport program even worked on the islands! 

Iceberg Island:

http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/705607

Watmough Bay: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/705662

5/3/2010 Windy, Windy, Windy

We are having very unusual weather here, as is the whole nation, it seems. The wind has blown for a couple of days now. I slept with my window open last night and I have to say the wind kept me awake by blowing my binds around so much. News reports say we have had 40-50 MPH gusts here. And it is snowing in the passes--in fact, they called for a winter storm warning today. I think they need to change that--it is, after all, May. I hadn't really been for a GOOD walk for several days now, and since the sky was blue, even though it was windy, I decided to give it a shot and headed for the Port. It was a good decision. I had a nice 2.2 mile walk around the outer loop trail at the Port of Skagit. I was protected from the wind for the first part of the walk, although I could hear it blowing all around me, and there were signs of the strong winds along the trail--as you can see in this picture. But mostly it was small branches. I didn't get hit by the wind until I got to the back side of the trail, along the airport runways, and then it wasn't too bad except for a couple of blasts where I could barely walk. It reminded me of one of my first walks this year out on the Padilla Bay trail. Once I got back into the trees again, I was fine, and the wind was actually at my back on the last leg--kind of pushing me along. I was plenty warm with a great wind jacket on, but my hands got cold--I shouldn't have let the blue sky fool me. It was just barely 50. Hardly anyone else on the trail today, in fact, my car was the only one in the parking lot--gee, I wonder why?
Tomorrow I am heading to Lopez to visit my friend Pat and go for a walk out there. Should be nice. Hope the wind is gone. Here's my route today: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/704364

5/2/2010 The Elliptical Trainer

It poured down rain today and was windy too. Not a nice day at all. Of course, had I gotten out early I might have missed the weather, but that didn't happen, and by 5:00 PM, I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do. I had already missed my opportunity to do a Mall Walk. And then I remembered (how could I forget, really) my Elliptical trainer in my bedroom. So my walk today was 30 minutes on my Elliptical.  I was a bit worried that people would think I was a slacker, but I think an elliptical is similar to a treadmill; and believe me, 30 minutes on my elliptical for me is a killer. Well, it used to be worse; now not so much that I am walking every day. In fact, I think I should do at least 15 minutes on this every day in addition to my walking; but not sure that will happen.  Today did make me wonder what I am going to do when October and November roll around though, and not only will the weather be like it was today but colder and darker...not anything I am looking forward to. Think there might be many mall walks in my future.

5/1/2010 Roller Rink Memories

I REALLY didn't want to go for a walk today. I REALLY didn't.  I was tired, slept until almost noon, and finally a little after 8:00 PM drug myself up and to the store for food. I hadn't thought about my walk all day, but once I was at Fred Meyer, I decided I might as well go for my walk, and did the entire block around the store. It was just over 1 mile around the block and took me about 25 minutes. Since it was getting pretty dark, this was an area where I felt safe walking, was fairly well lit, and had sidewalks.
I took this picture with my cell phone. Not sure what kind of tree it is, but thought it was really pretty the way the branches were solid with blossoms all across the top. It was near the grounds of an insurance office.

As I rounded the block behind Fred Meyer, I came upon the Skagit Skate Roller Rink. The back door to the rink was open, so I stopped for a couple of minutes to watch the skaters. Man did that bring back memories. In Hoquiam, where I grew up, we had the Harborena. All during junior high and high school, that was the place to be on the weekends.  It was a big old building at the base of a bridge; not in the best part of town. I don't even remember if there was any parking--I guess our parents just dropped us off there and picked us up later. That's where I learned to do the Hokey Pokey, and dreamed about becoming one of those Roller Derby ladies I saw on TV. We had skating parties for birthdays, church functions, and club outings. They had spotlight skating, speed skating, partner skating--all the traditional roller rink fun. As I was peeking into Skagit Skate, they were all doing a dance--like a line dance, and as I got to a spot where I could see what I thought was a DJ, it was actually a video playing on a huge screen. A lot has changed at the roller rink since the 60s, I guess, but it was good to see that it was the same, too. Good memories. here's my route today:  http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/701917

4/30/2010 Four Months!

Wow! I can't believe it has been four months already! A third of the way through 2010 already. I was in a meeting most of the day today in south Seattle, and headed home at the worst possible time--the middle of rush hour. Once I finally got through Seattle, it was already past 7:00 PM, so I pulled off at the Outlet Mall at Tulalip and did a quick 30 minute walk. It actually felt good to get out of the car and stretch my legs. The rain was just sprinkling at this point with a bit of wind, but I always carry a variety of coats in my car now, so I was prepared. I only walked for about 25 minutes and got in just over a mile. Not too much going on around the area, except for at the casino.  The Outlet Mall area is nice to walk around though, since it has sidewalks, is fairly well lit, and has lots of traffic. I just did a down and back on the main road; didn't loop around behind the stores since it was getting late and was dusk already. Someday I'll do this one in the daylight and take pictures. Not the greatest way to celebrate 4 months of walking, but hey, a walk's a walk...

4/29/2010 Around the Block

Since I was heading to Seattle this afternoon, I decided to take a quick walk in between phone calls and when I had to leave. I had about an hour between my last conference call and when I had to leave, so I did a quick 30 minute walk around the loop here by my house, the one I have to walk like 4 times to get in 30 minutes of walking. But it's a walk, and the flowers are very pretty.

This is an old neighborhood, so most of the trees are quite large and the area is full of blooms this time of the years. This pink dogwood tree is just one sample of the color in this area.
Sometimes when I walk this route, I wonder if people think I am nuts, as around and around I go.  There is one steep hill, and I tend to go down the hill and then around instead of the other way, where I would end with the walk up a steep hill. Perhaps I am a bit lazy....I was hoping to get in another walk tonight in Seattle from my hotel to the 5th Avenue Theater, but Kelli talked me into driving since we had free parking. In hindsight, it was a good move, the play wan't over until nearly 11 PM.

4/28/2010 A New Route

I really didn't want to go for a walk today. Today was my only day home before I leave again, so I delayed my walk forever today. Finally about 5:30 I drug myself up and thought I'd just walk out to Highway 20 and back again like I did the other day, but as I started walking, it seemed easier, and I just kept going. I decided to see how long the route would be if I circled around Ovenell Road and back through the Country Club. It's 2 miles, and took me 45 minutes. Not bad considering the hills there are to climb on this walk. I passed a farm on the way and this curious llama came over to the fence to visit me and pose for a picture. Quite nice of him, I think. This is really a pretty nice route; one I think I can do fairly often, especially when I don't want to have to drive somewhere for my walk. I'll have to keep my on these sheep and the llama. Bet they look strange when it's shearing season.  Here's my route today: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/698051

4/27/2010 Leavenworth

Leavenworth--and no pictures. Today after reading technology plans all day, sticking around Wenatchee for dinner and Alice's bedtime, and then heading home, I stopped in Leavenworth for a 30 minute walk before it got too dark. I knew by the time I got home, it would be way too dark. I stop in Leavenworth quite often on my way home to get a coffee at Starbucks. Tonight I was too full for that, but a walk was a good idea. It was just getting to be dusk, but I was surprised at the number of people still out walking and shopping, even in the middle of the week. My guess is Leavenworth is never a quiet little town; it seems there is always something going on there. I just walked from the Starbucks parking lot up past Gustav's, then around the funky little triangular street all the way back past the building where Stone Cold Ice Cream is (and no, I didn't get any) and then back to my car.  It didn't take very long, but a walk's a walk as I have been saying all year.  No rain, fresh air, stretched my short legs, and off I headed home! 1.29 miles today.