Our "hike"

Early last week, we decided that one day this past weekend, we would go for a hike. The two of us haven't really gotten outside much together lately, so we made a point of reserving a day to get out and do something. Unfortunately, Shawn was kinda sick for a large part of last week, and so when the weekend rolled around, he didn't really want to go out and do something that would just exhaust his still-recovering system.

For his birthday back in November, part of Shawn's gift was a book called "Hiking in Snohomish County" (which is where we live). So for Sunday's day out, Shawn looked through the book to find a hike that looked like it wouldn't be very far away, and that would be pretty easy. He found one that claimed to have no elevation gain, and it would only be about 3 miles. (And yes, for us, 3 miles would be a really short hike.)

We followed the directions in the book, and we found ourselves in a park. Really close to a town. In fact, I'm pretty sure that we could see nearby houses from almost every part of the trail we were on. So we decided that a more accurate term for our activity would be a "walk," not a "hike." We had both worn our hiking boots (expecting something more strenuous), but it turns out that was a good thing, since the park we were walking through had somewhat recently flooded. The trail was nothing but mud, and in places, we had to walk through the huge puddles that were still covering parts of the trail. In fact, part of the trail no longer exists! The park is next to the Skykomish River, and when the river flooded, large chunks of the river bank were washed away...including part of this trail.

Overall, our walk wasn't quite what we were expecting. But hey...we got outside. In fact, we even got to enjoy a little bit of sunshine! And we were able to appreciate the nature of the Pacific Northwest. We both love to see how all the moss grows all over the trees in this area.

Have I mentioned before that I'm married to quite a talented photographer? Shawn has a knack for taking amazing pictures, particularly of flowers and other things in nature. This is my favorite from Sunday. We're planning to look this up, but if you know what plant/bush/flower this is, please feel free to let me know!