Local Wonders

 

February is our time to “explore” local towns and trails.  There’s not so much to do in the yard and the weather is too challenging to travel far, so we roam near-by downtowns and the trail network right outside of town.

On Saturday, we went to Salem—the state capitol. It has a lot of “rural culture” on the outskirts and a fairly nice downtown, which is a blend of high end and sketchy businesses.  We ate at Wild Pear—packed but well-staffed and tasty—and wandered through a furniture store to look at the lamps when the cold rain started.  When the clouds lifted, we walked across a new bridge on the riverfront to an island that had once been a sawmill and is now a conservation area. It’s a wide network of trails, all within sight (and sound) of downtown.  Red winged black birds called to one another across the wetlands. Ducks quacked.  Mark also wanted to visit the German cake shop Konditorei, which is right outside of downtown. You walk past the cement bunker of City Hall and the public library, a cool park with a constructed waterfall, and several massage parlors, and there it is.  Huge cakes.  Happy kids. It was a good visit; leaving home for a few hours to wander somewhere no one knows you and you do not know what is around each corner breaks the patterns of your mind in positive ways.

Today we took a friend and walked on the Cardwell Hill trail network, which wanders along and above the Mary’s river for several miles. It’s a gravel road and trail, so little mud, and it is always quiet. A few bike riders, a few dog walkers, but mostly just us. There’s a steep climb at the beginning that can be intimidating but we know how long it lasts now and just head on up. In February, there are no wildflowers blooming yet, so we look at the fat mosses and lichens hanging from branches, consider the impact of the ice storm on the trees, and stare across the valley and the doug fir forest.  Just as we crested the hill, we came to a small bubbling puddle, about four inches across. The water was neither flowing in or out, but bubbles were coming up from somewhere underneath. We watched it in wonder for several minutes coming and going. What are we seeing?

February is a hard month. Just the dailyness of it all… the rain, the mud, the clouds, the endless round of grading papers or fixing software bugs, the slow decline into greens and squash for dinner  every night because every other vegetable is past its prime or eaten.  The temptation to Hermit Up is great. But when we leave town or enter the woods, there is still, as always, something new to see.