Welcome to my afternoon runs at White Pass.
Eadie and I put the camera on the table to take this one. I can not be grateful enough for my amazing life.
Here where two trails are connected by a steep, rocky, trail I tried going for the Leonardo Dicaprio "King of the World" pose, but the table started to slide on the (unforgiving) rocks and I look more like Frankie Avalon in a beach movie.
There is a steep trail on loose rock that connects "Dark Meadow" with some loop below. Eadie and I met up here at this picnic table. She is such a trooper: I made fun of her shoes two years ago when we did this that she borrowed some from her daughter Jill. Now she has blisters. What a wonderful boss/friend/trail partner.
Here's another part of the Dark Meadow loop. I think one of my lungs is on the "connector trail" that comes up from the lodge. During the winter, this is the cross country ski area where we skate ski.
This is part of the trail at "Dark Meadow". :) It's a 1.5 mile loop I do twice. I run in Heaven.
After work, at 2, Eadie walks and I run around the cross country ski trails. I can not believe I get paid to work with people I would choose to spend time with in this amazing part of the country.
Terry Stark and I work in the cafe in the bar during the ski season. The mood is different in the summer: fewer adults and no alcohol. But Terry is Terry and that's all that counts.
This is our morning "smoke break". After we get breakfast prepped and before the kids show up, we take a break. Eadie and I don't smoke, but we'd hate to miss a break. Now that the director of running camp showed Eadie how to stretch my hip, we'll do that while Terry smokes.
July 14. Now I am working at Running Camp at White Pass. Eadie and Terry are trying to light pilot lights. I just asked them not to blow us up. We get to the Pass at 5:30 each morning.
This was my favorite entry in the Gay Pride Parade: the Rat City rat. Because I grew up painfully close to White Center (Rat City), this was the cutest thing ever. And he was fully dressed.
Nothing says fun like a Gay Pride Parade. Actually, I was a bit taken aback. Gay or straight, some people should not be naked in public...Robby asked me to go to the parade with him. It was the world's longest parade...it's probably still going on.
This is one of the Discovery Team crews. I am a substitute crew leader and this was training day. We hiked! Regretted my 10 mile run before work when I had to do two, two-mile goat trail loops with different teams. This was a fun day of discovery team. A day I actually worked, one kid and I spent an 90 degree day on a side hill in the sun wrestling with Scotch broom ( a noxious weed).
This is my new bike! A Specialized "Dolche" which means "more than you can afford" or else "dessert" I think in Italian. As spring began, I started running a lot. Then I would ride my old (but much loved) bike on the 30 mile loop (I'll take you on a photo ride with me one day) with Cheeseman and soon realized I had only two gears!!! Yikes (though the word I said was much harsher and started with an "f"). I needed a new bike. So, being the prudent shopper, I found all the bike shops in Olympia, open on Sunday, and could let me walk out that day with the bike of my dreams. I love my bike.
Summer 2009 made it! If you would have told me six months ago winter would end, I would have been skeptical at best. But I had a rennaisance of sorts when I returned from Florida. I went back to working weekends at White Pass, lost weight, and got back into exercising starting with skate skiing!! Working at the Pass, skating before work, and being with fun people got me jump started for spring.
