On the morning of October 9, Daniel and I awoke to a drizzly day in Brooklyn. We’d arrived in New York a few days previously to visit Daniel’s daughter. Katjia recently moved to New York to attend Pace University and we wanted to visit her before we began travelling internationally.
This is my third visit to the beautiful state of West Virginia. During my previous visits I wasn’t able to go on any hikes, so this time I set aside a morning just for hiking. I didn’t have a lot of time available to me, so I chose Lost Trail at Beech Fork State Park. With a mileage of 3.6 miles, it’s not super long and it’s a short drive from Huntington.
Founded by Swiss immigrants in the mid-1800s, Helvetia is a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. To get there, our GPS took us on a route that involved driving on a gravel road for half an hour. Due to the area’s isolation, Helvetia has largely maintained its Swiss traditions. Despite a population of only 59 people, the town boasts a number of businesses including a cheese shop, a bed and breakfast, and Swiss restaurant called the Hütte.
Daniel and I awoke bright and early on Thursday morning ready for adventure. My in-laws, Mary and Greg, had a big day planned for us. West Virginia is a beautiful state and each time we visit Daniel’s family introduces me to someplace new. This time we piled in the car and headed east towards the Monongahela National Forest.
Footsteps echoed as I walked downstairs in our home for the last time. The sound bounced off the walls dramatically without any furniture inside the house. It was a strange feeling, leaving our home. Daniel and I rented this beautiful old house five years ago and have many happy memories here. But it was time to move on.
After I quit my job at Microsoft, Daniel and I decided to spend some time traveling around Washington state to visit family. With our trip around the world only weeks away, we weren’t sure when we’d get a chance to see them again and wanted to say good-bye. We decided to make the trip as short as possible, so I put together an insanely ambitious schedule that involved driving all over the state. We drove from Seattle to Spangle to Spokane to Palouse to Nooksack to Bellingham to Seattle again in a 4-day period. That’s a total of 823 miles.
After staying put for a couple of years, I’m excited to announce that it’s time for some new adventures. Daniel and I both just quit our jobs and we are planning to travel the world for a few years. We have an empty nest now that his daughter is off to college, and so we figured now is a great time to go on some adventures together.
Sun streamed through the blinds in our bedroom at Sumas Mountain Lodge as I tiptoed out the door seeking breakfast. We’ve stayed at this rustic hotel many times before, but apparently our previous visits had taken place on the weekend. The ground floor restaurant, Bob’s Burgers and Brew, apparently did not serve breakfast on weekday mornings. And so that is how I found myself eating a breakfast of microwaved oatmeal on my wedding day in a gas station in Sumas Washington, suitcase in tow.
A few months ago, my sister Bethany asked if I wanted a bridal shower or bachelorette party before the wedding. So far, my focus has been on ensuring that the wedding is as simple and stress-free as possible. The idea of playing tedious parlor games or traipsing around in a veil and a tiara had me breaking into a cold sweat. No, thank you.
We sit with our backs against a rock, holding hands and watching the shadows lengthen. Mt. Baker rises majestically behind us and Mt. Shuksan towers before us, its ragged top obscured by clouds. We had considered hiking further but aren’t prepared to face the snow hugging the steep trail ahead. So we stop and sit companionably in silence, drinking in the view and the soft afternoon light.
It’s always fun to discover new trails. On a recent trip to Lummi Island, I took the opportunity to check out some footpaths in the area. There are three trails that I know of on Lummi Island, all managed by the nonprofit Lummi Island Heritage Trust. The Baker Preserve Trail is the best known of the three, and so I decided to start my explorations there.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about doing trail maintenance work. Considering the thousands of miles that I’ve logged on well-loved trails, it was becoming a source of embarrassment to me that I’ve never volunteered to help maintain a trail. So, I recently joined a Washington Trails Association work party at Soaring Eagle Regional Park. Located on the eastern edge of the Sammamish Plateau, the 600-acre Soaring Eagle Regional Park a hidden gem among a dense network of suburban sprawl…
