Looking Down

Let me start by telling you about me and looking down.

I. DON'T. DO. LOOKING. DOWN.

Well, the fact is that I do, but let me explain that it is the fact that in order to look down you have to go up that is the problem.

I do go up.

I would not be able to be a hiker if I didn't sometimes go up. Up is where the best hikes are.

~

When I was eight my sister was eighteen and a recent high school graduate. The family tradition was a graduation trip--the whole family. Our trip took us to Chicago, where we had a room on the seventeenth floor of the Conrad Hilton Hotel. Once we got moved in, my Dad took my sister and brother and headed down the hall. Being an obnoxious and curious eight year old, I followed. I think my Mother knew where they were going and had more sense.

Where he was taking them was to the fire escape so that they could look down. I realized what my mother knew already about herself and probably about me--WE. DON'T. DO. LOOKING. DOWN.

~

 

but

 

~

Knowing this, even for the past sixty years I continue to go up--and stand petrified as far from the edge as I can and look down.

Yes. I have, over the years, been to the top of the Washington Monument, the Empire State Building, the Space Needle, the roof of St. Peter's Basilica, the roof of St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, and who knows how many other UP places.

~

 

Let me tell you the story of going to the top of the dome of Santa Maria dei Fiori in Florence--the world famous Duomo.

 

I spent a college year at Gonzaga in Florence. Having made many weekend excursions to various parts of Italy, some classmates and I decided to do some local touristy stuff. To get to the cupola at the top you climb a stairway between the outer and inner shells of the dome. It is narrow and steep and winds around the dome to reach the top.

 

As we were going up, others were coming down. That included a small group of Franciscan Friars in their brown habits--one being a very diminutive older (to us) balding (or tonsured?) man whose voice we heard as we came nearer and continued as we went up and they continued down. What was he saying? Well, roughly translated from the Italian which I spoke quite adequately at the time: "If I ever--puff puff--get my hands--puff puff--on the idiot--puff puff--who talked me into--puff puff"...and the rest faded as we moved farther and farther apart.

 

 

 

So, as each opportunity to go UP comes along, I think of that little friar so many years ago, and the fire escape in Chicago, and I go UP  and stand back petrified and look down.

 

~

 sometimes
~

When I was in India in 2000, my group went out to the edge for a group picture.

You can see them here making their way to the edge of the cliff. You can see that they would be looking down on the valley. there they are on the edge.

 

without me.

When we traveled to Russia in 1998, we hiked in the Stolby National Park in Siberia. It is a famous place for rock climbing. I climbed to the top of one of the large boulders and my son or husband took my picture looking down.

They had to do that because otherwise the rest of the family back home would not believe I had done the climb. They know I don't do UP.

 

In fact, when the whole family went to Silverwood Theme Park a few years before that, hubby and I had ridden one of the larger roller coasters. When we regrouped for lunch the kids did not believe me, so we had to ride it again with them as witnesses.

 

In 2010, when we hiked in the Highlands of Scotland, we were climbing some of the Corbetts. The Corbetts are "mountains" that are between 2000 and 3000 feet in elevation. Munros are over 3000 feet. You can see here that we were looking down. Elizabeth is much closer to the edge than I am.





After Scotland we traveled to Wales, where we hiked with Liz and George and looked down on the sea.

 

 

and then to London, where we looked down on the Thames, the Houses of Parliament and the Embankment from the London Eye.



 In Seattle, we have looked down from Seattle's "Big Wheel" and from the Space Needle.

 

This Spring we looked down into the Grand Canyon at Phantom Ranch.

 

And a couple of years ago I looked down the stairway at Maryhill Museum at Sasha and Lisa.

On one of  our first snowshoeing treks we looked down from Nisqually Vista at the snowboarders below the glacier.

 

It was certainly not the only occasion at Mt. Rainier to look down.

White River

Road to Sunrise from Sourdough Ridge Trail.

Busy day at Sunrise.

 

But my favorite picture looking down is this one from a flight from Seattle to Phoenix about twelve or thirteen years ago.

 

 

 

 See if any of the other headbanger members are like me, not wanting to go up, but finding some way to take a picture looking down. Their links are in my sidebar near the top.

 



Headbangers--Spare Time? What's that?

The headbanger theme this week is Spare Time.

I told Craver when he proposed this theme that since I am retired, there is no such thing as spare time. This week I proved either that or that my memory is totally gone.

If I had some spare time, this is what I would be doing.

The other headbangers have already posted, and I told them to go ahead and vote without me. Check out what they have done from the links on my sidebar.

Signs of Fall

Our theme this week, given us by Lew, is signs of fall. I think that Lew probably has a great many good fall leaves to show in his neck of the woods.

There is a reason that MY neck of the woods is known as the Evergreen State. But we DO have some colorful leaves as well. There are a few in my yard--my birch trees are turning. I could find a great display at the Yakima Arboretum. But our weekend took us over the mountains to Tacoma for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Light the Night Walk, so I have a few out of the box signs of fall.

You are probably wondering about the strange scene that I chose for the header--definitely out of the box--and I will get to that. But first, the Walk. You see, for us a new sign of fall has become the trip to Tacoma to participate in this walk. We will do it every year for as long as we are able..

 Ranney got to be in the survivors' group photo. His cancer is still with him, but treatment is keeping it suppressed so that he can continue to enjoy life. There he is with the red hat in the back.

We raised our red lanterns in support of blood cancer patients.

The white lanterns are survivors. The yellow are in memory of those lost. There must have been at least a thousand participants in the walk. Do you see Mount Rainier peeking out of the clouds? What a great setting for the walk.

 

We did see some colorful fall leaves along the route.

Event parking was at a high school parking structure, and another sign of fall was taking place in the field  below.

On our way home on Sunday we took the route through Mt. Rainier National Park for a quick hike to Grove of the Patriarchs. That is always good for some fall color. The mushrooms in the previous post were also on this hike. 

 And more gold and red at Box Canyon.

 

 

We went on home by way of White Pass. Now, I did mention the Evergreen State, and there across the valley are prime examples. But wait, you may say. Why are some of those needle bearing trees so yellow.

It is a myth that evergreen trees do not lose their needles. They just don't turn yellow and drop all at once like deciduous trees do with their leaves. EXCEPT for the tamarack. Tamaracks needles turn yellow in the fall and lose the needles.

 

So that brings us to the image used for the header.

What does that have to do with fall?

 

That is Rimrock Lake in the fall (on Sunday to be exact.) It is one of several reservoirs in the Cascades  that fill from the snowmelt each spring, and are drained into the irrigation systems of Easter Washington by summer's end. I hiked to the middle of the lake to an island once.

In the spring it looks like this.

 

So there are my out of the box signs of fall, well, and a few very traditional ones.

 

The other headbangers will have some amazing signs of fall in their blogs, found from the links in my sidebar.

'shrooms

From our hike on Sunday at Grove of the Patriarchs.

 

A Few of my Favorite Things ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪

Raindrops on roses

 

and whiskers on kittens

 

bright copper kettles

 

and warm woolen mittens

 

wild geese (and tame--sort of)

 

that fly with the moon on their wings

 

These are a few of my favorite things.

 

Those are Maria von Trapp's favorite things.

I would say that my favorite things are traveling and hiking.

 

Made even better with hiking while traveling.

 

Gairloch, Scotland with our hiking tour.

What are the favorite things of our headbanger friends?--check out their blogs on my (right) sidebar links.

We are walking for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society this coming Saturday. While not a hike as such, it could be included in our favorite things. A link to our sponsorship page is in my left sidebar.