Our 'Back Yard'

We are blessed to live so close to Lincoln Park - a 135 acre, waterfront park with trails, athletic fields, playgrounds and more.  It's less than 50 yards from our front door - but we don't take advantage of it nearly as much as we should.

Karri and I try to walk Jack there most days.  Sometimes it's just one of us with the dog, but it's especially nice when we can both sneak away.  This is frequently the only time we have alone together the entire day. It's amazing how a 20-minute walk through the park can help ease the stresses of the day.

We've developed a standard loop, starting out walking north along the bluff above the water, then heading down the stairs that wind their way to the water, then following the beautiful waterfront path - looking out over Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains - to the southern end of the park, before heading up the hill and back to the house.  I think its a little over 2 miles altogether.

Here's a shot I took yesterday (with my phone) of the sun setting over the Olympics.  This time of year, the sun is setting much further south on the horizon than it was mid-summer - and much earlier too!  This was taken at 6:38pm.  In late June, the sun doesn't set until 9:15 or so.  You can see how clear the sky is and and how calm the Sound is... although the water is usually pretty calm year-round.  About a minute later, that small wisp of clouds made it look more like a forest fire in the Olympics than a sunset.

And here's a shot of Karri with Jack taken today (again with my phone).  We were up on the bluff, just above the stairs we take down to the beach.  As I mentioned in my last post, the weather has been amazing.  It's definitely cooling off, but I love a clear, crisp fall day.  So does Karri.  And so does Jack!