Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Birding at Ridgefield National Wildlife Sancutary
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, we had the chance to visit Ridgefield NWR and do some hiking and birding. On Black Friday we have a tradition of trying to get out into nature. We’ve been doing this even before REI made a big splash and closed their stores on Black Friday, encouraging their employees to Opt…
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Gloomy Day at Brightwater
Our school schedule is light this week, so we took advantage of a little less school work to head out for an afternoon stroll. I chose the Brightwater Center because I hadn’t been on many of the trails yet, and we wanted something easy and close to home. I had to bribe my kids with…
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Sunset Snowshoe at Gold Creek for New Year’s Eve
A few weeks ago, REI was advertising an event they were doing on New Year’s Eve. Their plan was to bring folks up to Gold Creek, have them snowshoe around the pond, provide food, lights, warming fires, and good cheer to welcome in the new year. It sounded so fun, but was expensive and sold…
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Whidbey Wanderings
You know it’s going to be a good day when your adventures include a ferry ride. And sleeping in, and hot cocoa. We had a fun trip two Fridays ago up to Whidbey Island to explore and do a short hike and some bird watching. After sleeping in, we gathered our gear for the day and…
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Birding in Edmonds
I love Wednesdays. I drop Gabe off at his classes, and Annika and I work on her school work. Then we have a few hours in the afternoon free before we have to get Gabe. Yesterday we decided the November sun was too amazing to ignore, so after we finished our book work, we went…
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Changes on the Blog
I’ve been making some big changes on my website – and then I broke it. I think I have the majority fixed, but you may still find a few quirky formatting errors. I’ve hidden my old web pages, with their antiquated HTML. My big project for the winter months will be to work on the…
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Larches in the Rain at Cutthroat Lake – 10/9/15
We were out of town for a few weeks at the end of September, and I thought we had missed out on our annual trek to see the larches turning colors. However, last Friday it turned out we had an entire day free for an adventure. The weather looked drippy, but not horrible, so we…
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Naches Loop Hike – 9/11/15
Fall colors are showing up in the high country, and we were fortunate to go out earlier in September to see them. We wanted to get up high before the snows come and seal off the mountains. Naches Loop is easy and sweet, with views that can’t be beat, and it had been several years since…
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Iron Horse Tunnel Bike Ride
We had the chance to go for a family outing today, and my husband suggested biking through the Iron Horse Tunnel at Snoqualmie Pass. The boys had done this last year, so Annika and I were game to try it, too. There is a large trailhead off the Hyak exit on I90, and it’s just…
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First and Second Burroughs, Mt. Rainier, Aug. 20, 2015
Usually I go to Sunrise during the peak of the flower season, which is also the peak bug season. But this year we didn’t make it up there until recently. The flowers are mostly gone, except for a few intrepid late bloomers, and much of the herbal foliage is dry and crispy. Everything looked faded…
Got any book recommendations?