Taking Advantage of a Long Weekend and Good Weather

Well, Thanksgiving weekend is almost over and the Nonerick clan decided to take full advantage of the long weekend and amazing weather. In Seattle, it doesn't happen very often that the sun comes out for 4 days straight--especially at this time of year, which tends to be the darkest and rainiest season.

Ryan and I wanted to get out and soak up some vitamin D, but we didn't want to battle holiday traffic and risk getting to a trail only to find it muddy or snowy. In other words, we didn't want to work for recreation. So, we went to my favorite nursery, Swanson's to pick up a few plants for winter containers outside our front door and to see Swanson's reindeer and holiday train set display. This year, Swanson's is hosting Dasher and Blitzen. I think this is Blitzen:

Blitzen looks a little thick around the middle. Maybe he stores up fat as energy for his Christmas Eve duties--think carbo loading before an endurance event like a marathon.

Today we went to our favorite park in Seattle, Discovery Park, which has everyone you could want. 2.8-8 miles of walking trails in an urban forest and/or along the beach of the Puget Sound. Usually on clear days, you can see the Olympic Mountains across the Sound, but the few clouds in the sky shielded the snow-capped Olympics from view... bummer.

Ryan checking out the view and hoping for a glimpse of the mountains.

This is Soma's favorite tree in Discovery Park.
As you can see, the tree is massive, and Ryan and Soma enjoy the tree for different reasons. Ryan likes thinking about how old the tree is and how unusual it is to find such a large tree in a city. Soma just wants to chase any squirrels that scurry up the tree to avoid him.