This is a blog dedicated to the Okanogan Valley and its simple outdoor wonders. To access sites listed in this blog you will need none of the following; ropes, light weight anything, heavy duty anything, rafts, hiking boots, freeze dried foods, and hopefully no four wheel drive.
Mostly this blog attempts to seek out every swimming hole, walking trail, camp site, wild apple tree, and overlook that a person can get to in a day, often with a baby, and with no more preparation than putting some sandwiches in a bag, or throwing a floaty in the trunk. If you are looking for a new swimming hole, well look no further, because here they are. (Assuming that is I ever get around to writing this blog.) We hope to have maps, directions, GPS way points, pictures and find all of the hidden secrets, because we believe that the Okanogan has that many magical places to share, and partially because the authors, currently my sister and I, are so attention hungary that it helps us keep a journal if we believe someone else may read it.
On a more philosophical bent:
In reading this blog, or using it as a tool to explore your surroundings, you will not see character tested, nor will anyone find out from what they are truly made. This is a blog about maximizing enjoyment in our free time. I believe that there is a balance that has been lost in our culture for enjoyment. It is currently believed that a person can enjoy ones self in one of two ways. There is relaxing, which means doing absolutely nothing in front of a television, and then there is the experience, which means pushing beyond (insert reference to some part of ones character here) to find something profound. Well I don't want to do either one of those things.
All of my life, I have been afraid of heights, a little overweight and had poor hand eye coordination. My sister swims faster than I do and my best friend pretty much covers all of the other bases for more extreme endurance/speed/agility, so I have pretty much hated every minute of those half competitive hikes up steep things, in which I stare at another persons back all day, praying the (insert something profound here) is just around the corner. The same can be said for all of the high things I thought I was going to fall off of, or the swims I thought I might drowned halfway through, or the trails on which I have been half lost and feared I might never find that stupid pile or rocks again.
As for the other extreme, I am going to assume you are already pretty good at sitting on a couch if you are reading a blog.
