A Summer Day Out

Today my daughter needed to drop off a work application at ten off of 84th St, so we got Nick to come along and drove on out to Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood. I don't know how many acres there are but there must be miles of trails. I used to drive out there regularly for walking years ago before I started my evening work schedule. A lot of improvements have been made.

First we walked around the circumference of Waughop Lake, a shady path on a warm, breezy, perfect sunny day, only about a mile. It was replete with ducks and ducklings, "lings", as well as awkward adolescent lings. Lots of birds but no cormorants. Bunny rabbits you usually see at dusk and when there are no people with conversations or walking dogs; we didn't see any rabbits.

We hadn't had much for breakfast, if anything, so we went back to a restaurant near the park entrance, Hunan Gardens, which had lots of vegetarian entrees. There were veggie pot stickers and spinach & tofu soup. I found out what "princess tofu" is and the kids, not being vegetarian, had other things. Pearl had the chicken, Nick had butterfly shrimp. Pearl drew a butterfly-shrimp on a napkin, making it look like a pleasant and delicate creature.

Back we went to Fort Steilacoom, refreshed, and walked one of the many trails up the hill this time, picking ripening pie and bing cherries on the way. The apples and blackberries are still in blossom. At the top of the hill is a near-360 degree view of Puget Sound, Western State Hospital with its dramatic red brick fortress-like buildings, and Mount Rainier. We sat at the top on a wooden bench under a pine tree that's just begging for a swing, and played a word game I learned as a child, called "I'm Going West."

Pearl and I festooned our hair and hat with blossoms on the way down. Then we drove down to the town of Steilacoom and the ferry dock, sat on the rocks while Pearl threw rocks into the water, and an Amtrak and a freight train went by. We drove home a new way past a park I wished I'd seen before [but we were headed home now] and came home savoring the sun, sky, breezes, and salt air, as well as the pleasant hike.