City Hikers

the family, grilling on the fire and they feel as if they are in the wild middle of nowhere? Or when a fancy passenger car is stopping by a trailhead, and you see the office guy with his wife taking a half mile trail with a gear that is enough for 10 day backpacking, and a survival kit for the jungles of south America? This W/E it was us. We were the city hikers…


Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 – As expected and forecasted, the day started cloudy, Still skeptic about tomorrow, but they still insist it’s going to be nice. Patti feels better today and the headache is fading away. Patti felt so much better that she wanted to sit down and work., bit she did not have a place to sit, and opened her laptop in the kitchen table. This is not right, I thought – we need to get you a desk too. Maybe a little smaller – but still a place to sit.
Going on Office Depot website, we found that the desk from the same theme, one notch down is actually on sale, and could be picked up in a store. For $170 that is a bargain! We bought it online, and drove to pick it up.
Patti was excited, and actually built most of the desk by herself! Within couple of hours we had a double desk office , and could work together. That was fast: Plan, buy, pick, build, work.
Looking forward for tomorrow – get out to nature again!
4th of July, 2011 – Yes, today is the day. The independence day of our country. 235 years old!
We had a slow and late start this morning, but the weather was promising. They say that they did not have a sunny 4th of July in this state for centuries, so it must be an experience of a lifetime.
After a small search around us, we decided on the North Cascade National Park, North East of us, about 80 miles away, and about 2 hours drive.
We did not take anything! All of our hiking gear is in the RV anyways, and my new camera is still in repair, but we are going.
Once out of Everett, and off the highway the land looked more like what we know and like – small farms and country living in its glory. I miss that. When driving in a car, you don’t even notice too much the high grade uphill or downhill roads, you just drive in the comfort of the A/C and the sound of the stereo (Still – the highway on Sirius XM)

We stopped at the visitor center and chose a nice trail recommended but the ranger. Most of the park is still under 10 feet of snow, she said. It will be open only in August, so we have a good reason to come back. Before we got to the trail we stopped at some nice view points and took some nice pictures of the breathtaking views. The trail itself was around 3 miles long, climbing 450 feet to a view point above diablo lake. this is one of the shortest and easiest trails in the park, which offers over 400 miles of hiking trails. The first part was very thick rainforest trees and brush, letting very few sun rays go through the branches, and provide some kind of a mystic atmosphere. After a certain height, the thickness clears up, and the sky is visible, and today – a blue sky and a warm sun with all it glory.

Independence or War

When we cam back home, it was already around 9:00pm although still light outside. I think it doesn’t get dark here until 10:30pm or so.
After a shower we went to bed but something was not right. We heard the sound of war all around us, Heavy artillery, guns, tanks sound and a strong smell of gun powder, but there was no siren and the radio seem to ignore the street fights, as if everything is OK.
The enemy stood strong against our forces, as even close to midnight the sound of the rockets and canons was still loud. Only after midnight the enemy retreated, as the sounds started to go further away. We won, I thought, we won again! the US is independent yet once again! that was a close call, and a very rough night.
Here are some more pictures from the hike: