In case you have never visited the Pacific Northwest, let me sum it up in one short sentence: It is beautiful!
Seriously, beautiful! In Western Washington alone we have two mountain ranges, two National Parks, numerous towering mountains, an inland sea, almost countless lakes, rivers, and streams, the Pacific Ocean shoreline, islands by the dozens, a temperate rain forest, National forests, state forests, glaciers, dormant volcanoes . . .
And then, the local parks, and in today’s Gospel According to Bill, let’s talk about the Olympia Park System, a well-deserved shout-out for some protected beauty I don’t mention often enough. In Olympia, population around 40,000, we have Squaxin, LBA, Watershed, Yauger, and forty-six others; add to those the woodlands on the campus of St. Martin’s University, totaling 250 acres of forested trails, and the woodlands of Evergreen State College, which boasts 1,000 acres of pristine forest and trails.
Walking and hiking trails? Seemingly everywhere you turn in Olympia. Biking lanes and trails? Repeat after me, seemingly everywhere you turn in Olympia.
I have lived in this city since 1990 and there are parks I have yet to visit.
Some are on The Sound, as in Puget Sound; some along Budd Inlet; some along rivers; some along lakes; many simply the focal point of neighborhoods built around them, like Lions Park, like the old town squares found in New England, the hub with spokes pointing in all directions, wagons ho and go west, young man, and by the gods this area of the world seems to have understood, way back when the city was no taller than the kneecap of a grasshopper, that nature is vital to the emotional balance of man, vital to the sanity of man, vital to the very survival of man.
Have I criticized this city in the past? You bet I have, for there are issues still unsolved, unsettled, unresolved, but in the same breath, Olympia’s leaders and citizens deserve a collective pat on the back, for “just living is not enough, one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” And if you know where that quote is from, without looking it up, you are a certified lover of nature.
Listen, you know and I know, we’ve got trouble in River City, or whichever city you live in. These days if it ain’t the economy it’s politics, and if it ain’t politics, it’s the environment, sides for and against, pitting neighbor against neighbor, sometimes family member against family member, reminds me of Civil War Missouri, truth be told, and times are tough for the Middle Class, if that class still exists, and wo be onto you if you are lower than Middle Class, and prices are rising, the quality of life is sinking, and there just seems to be a general unrest among the animals in the zoo of life . . . but . . . I submit to you that a walk through a city park, although not an elixir for all that ails us, sure as hell can’t hurt. Get out there and commune with nature. Hug a damned tree. And, what the hell, maybe say hello to your fellow citizens while you are out there.
Pax vobiscum, all of you, and may you all find the wonders that surround you.
A shout out to myself. I am working on an “Intentional Living” series of videos, and the other day I finished with Step Three: Taking Action. You can find it on YouTube by following this link.
Okay, I’m outta here!
