Interrupted

My Life Thus Far
2016-02-21 08:40:33 (UTC)

Bright and Early Is Not My Jam

For whatever reason, I didn't sleep well last night. I was up past 4am (so of course I'm exhausted now. This will be short), and I was back up by 9am. I really wanted to take the kids on a nice hike. The weather was perfect for it, and I'm doing my best to stick to the pledge I made to myself: being more active, and spending more time in nature. It was a fabulous day for it, too. Not just the weather, but my frame of mind and the kids' attitudes.

We weren't even sure where we were going this morning. I tried figuring it out last night when I couldn't sleep, but everything that looked really cool is currently under feet of snow. I know lots of people hike the higher elevations in winter, but I hate the cold and fact of the matter is, we aren't prepared for cold weather hiking. We have no winter weather gear (other than the kids' subzero jackets, and my North Face). I threw out the idea of hiking up Storm King (the smallish mountain that looms over Lake Crescent), but upon investigating the trail details, we discovered that it isn't super kid friendly. There's steep cliffs and terrifying drop offs. Kiki is afraid of heights. I wouldn't do that to her, especially in winter when pretty much every trail is a little slippery with mud.

After vetoing Storm King, Annie suggested we go back and finish the Spruce Railroad hike. We made it about 3 miles in before needing to turn back (making it 6 miles we finished). We never got to see the bridge crossing the Lake, or see what the end looks like. Kiki and Keenan weren't opposed to the idea (since the trail is relatively flat and easy to traverse), so we went back to Spruce Railroad, and we took Colin with us.

Before making it out to the lake, I stopped at Country Aire to look at the local produce and vegan products they have. I need to stop in there one day when I don't have plans to go hiking. Or after I'm done hiking. They have the vegan egg in stock, Follow Your Heart cheeses, and a tub of Earth Balance the size of a tub of Country Crock. They had the vegan toona (pretend tuna fish) too! So many things I want to try! Country Aire is definitely one of the few things I miss about Port Angeles.

I was pleased with how much easier the hike was for me physically. Last time we did it, I genuinely felt like there were moments where I wanted to die. Today I got to truly enjoy nature and take in my surroundings, instead of focusing on how hard the hike itself was. Each subtle improvement makes me feel like I'm on the right path, and I'm getting stronger!

For a treat, I took the kids to the Black Bear Diner. There was alarmingly little on the menu for even a vegetarian to eat. The offered a gardenburger (which has egg, so not vegan friendly), but pretty much everything had some kind of meat in or on it. Or egg and dairy. I ended up eating steamed broccoli and a side of fries. The fries were the saltiest thing I've ever eaten. So bad. I just finished eating a plate of mangoes, plum, and an avocado to make up for it.

Okay, now sleep. I have to be up in 6 hours for a work meeting. Bright and early is not my jam.





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