The Mountain Climb

I'll bet you didn't know that we are climbers. Oh, yes. We are strong and tenacious and highly skilled. And when presented with a challenge, we cannot resist.

Um, yes, this is the challenge to which I am referring. Well, okay, I guess you're right, it's more like a hill. But in the Far Grandma and Grandpa's town this is considered a mountain. Badger Mountain, to be precise.

And, well, okay, to be precise, I guess we actually hiked it. Climbing was not really necessary.

We made sure to bring the proper equipment--sticks...

...and monkeys.

The two pictures at the beginning of this post were taken from the Far Grandma and Grandpa's house. The trail was on the other side of the "mountain".

It was a beautiful hike.

From the top we had views of the river winding through the cities on one side...

...and the Far Grandma and Grandpa's neighborhood on the other side. Here you can see their house--it's the one a little to the right and slightly down from the center.

We could even spot the nuclear power plant located in the area where the Far Grandpa spent his career as a nuclear physicist. See the cloudy looking thing close to the horizon?

Here it is, closer.

We have noticed that the Far Grandpa emits a slightly greenish glow in the dark.

Kidding, of course! But did you know that this one power plant provides enough electricity to power the entire city of Seattle? (Though the power from this plant goes somewhere else.) And, contrary to popular misunderstandings, it is more safe and clean than most of our country's current sources of power. (There's my plug for nuclear power.)

Speaking of power, the boys' leg power appeared to be greater than last year evidenced by the fact that they hiked these three miles with ease. Looks like we may have a little less crying on our hikes this year.