Outdoor Activity

While I was in school, we would walk the Burke Gilman to Gasworks all the time.  Now that I'm a bit more mobile (car + a bit more $$), I love all the outdoor activities that are in range.  We spent this last weekend at Mt. Rainier, rode the bus up to Paradise, and took in the views.  Closer to home, I enjoy using all the trails (via my bike) and having views of the lakes.

A summer or two ago, I lived 5 minutes from Greenlake. My boyfriend got me to try rollerblading (which I had previously made endless fun of) and voila, I found my new favorite thing to do outside. We went probably five days a week until it got too cold. This year I haven't had quite as much time to be outside thanks to a physically demanding day job, but blueberry picking was a lot of fun and a great way to get fresh, cheap and local produce (there's a farm in Bellevue - sadly, I think the season is over). I also made it to the Olympic Peninsula for some hiking, which was a great time.

I used to live in Buckley, and my dad would take me rockhounding up in Greenwater. It ended up being quite a bit of climbing and hiking, but it's a lot of fun. We also used to go for bike rides at the Vale (sp?) tree farm. It's gorgeous in there.

Recently, my husband and I will make a day of walking around Seattle. We park down by the waterfront, then we walk to Uwajimaya Village, Pike Place, and Seattle Center. We tried this yesterday, unaware that the Rock N Roll Marathon was going on. It ended up making us walk more because we had to detour around the marathon route, but by the time we got to Pike Place it was packed full of people.

Yesterday was my first trip to Paradise..What a great experience and hike! In fact, yesterday was my inspiration to begin doing what I need to do to get my activity level back to what it used to be. Being one with nature on the trails and finding the snow was a lot of fun and I look forward to taking advantage of the weather and the trails ...

To me, Northwest Washington is like paradise! There are so many beautiful places to explore and photograph! I am from the capital region of Canada (north-east of the continent) and though it's truly beautiful it is very limited in that the long, cold winters make it almost impossible to enjoy the outdoors year-round. I find that here it is possible to enjoy nature anytime of year (though some more comfortably than others:). I even find that the rain in winter has such a fresh and rejuvenating quality to it. I do miss the sun though but being outside when the sky is grey (instead of watching the clouds from behind a window) helps to get over that. My favorite place on earth so far is the Olympic Peninsula, more specifically Cape Alava and Point of the Arches. I am most fascinated by the tide pools and could spend a lifetime just observing the creatures on the Pacific Shores:) I know, I'm such a dreamer:P

This is my (1st) post since I just joined this site.  I am "JamesInTacoma", and I also spend a lot of time in the outdoors.

If you are not from here, and move here you need to develope a "contrarian" approach to living in the winter.  That means you need to decide to
"like the rain".  In my case, I decided to pick up the sport/hobby of "drift boat" fishing in the Fall Winter for Steelhead/Salmon.  Every week it rains...I am "happy", because the rain causes the rivers to "rise"...and just after that, the big winter rainbow trout called "Steelhead" go into the rivers.

When I go fishing, I get to use my nice "northwest climbing gear" for something besides running from "Starbucks to Starbucks" in Freemont.  I usually take (1) or (2) people, and we arrive with "hot coffee", at the river, like the Wynoochee or Satsop just North of Olympia.  I put my big "Row Boat", called a drift boat into the water in the dark, and spend the next 6 hours, "rowing downstream" and hopefully catching a fish or two along the way.  We see everything from herds of Elk along the river, to Eagles and Ospreys, to an occasional Otter.  The river in the morning has a "mist" over it, which is kind of cool, and kind of spooky.....What amazes me is that my hobby must use about 3000 calories a day...but, although I have become "strong", I really have not balanced out my eating to lose weight....  So I finally have decided to "Get Serious" again, and really focus on losing, as just part of "wholistic health". 

If any people of this "group" live in and around Tacoma, I would be interested in possibly meeting/talking?---I work out at both, Balley's and All Star Fitness, and ideally would like to meet another "Male", workout partner to try and get even more "serious" about the workout process.