Happy Trails to You...

Historically, the Perkins family has not been very, well, outdoorsy. Having spent a good portion of our lives in Southern California, we associate being outside with relentless heat, stinging sunburns, dust everywhere, prickly brush, angry insects and unquenchable thirst. Since we hate all those things, we assumed that we hated being outside. We sought shelter everywhere we went. Things like camping & hiking were automatically crossed off the list of things we could ever enjoy.

Then we moved to Washington. Sweet, beautiful Washington. And we realized that being outdoors didn't have to be absolutely miserable. Unfortunately, we still associated being outside with wanting to die. In an attempt to overcome our fear of nature, we set a goal to go on three family hikes over the next 90 days.

Yesterday was our first hike. We went out to Issaquah and climbed the Chirico Trail (thanks Eric, for the tip!). Chirico Trail is actually part of a paragliding school. The trail is something like 1.5 miles long and winds up a mountain to two different launches for the gliders. The path isn't paved, but is so incredibly well maintained that it might as well be. This was our first hike, so we didn't make it all the way up to the launches, but we did hike for an hour up & an hour back down. We were so proud of our kids. They walked that whole way all by themselves with no complaining. Not too shabby for a bunch of city kids!

Anyway, the hike was beautiful. And it was cool, crisp & delightful outside. Instead of dust, there was light mud. Even a patch of snow up towards the top. Also, no bugs. Not a single one. We wore coats to stay warm instead of sunscreen to keep our epidermis from going up in flames. There were no unquenchable thirsts, no thorns stuck in our socks, no cries for sweet, merciful death to come rescue us from our hike. It was actually, pleasurable. I think it's safe to say that we Perkins have been reformed. We are well on our way to tree-hugger-status. Go figure!